Departments

Physical Education

The Charles County Curriculum for grades 6 - 8 in the middle school program is divided into four major topic areas. Within these topic areas, all activities will appear. The following is a list of the topic areas:

Fitness
Team Sports
Individual and Dual Sports
Lifetime and Leisure Activities
Rhythmic Activities

Each topic area deals sequentially with all activities. The activities are broken down into a progressive order of instruction to provide an optimal number of opportunities for individual growth. Opportunities for group participation are provide. Activities are designed to provide needed movement experiences.

The cognitive understanding of movement is stressed in the curriculum. Here the emphasis is placed not only on understanding a specific activity, but also on appreciating the importance to one's total well being.

The Charles County physical education program demonstrates the belief that physical education is a unique and essential part of a student's total educational experience. The curriculum is correlated to the state goals, competencies and objectives and includes a wide variety of activities, which address cognitive, psychomotor and affective areas of development.

These experiences are to provide preparation for successful participation in physical education at the high school level. In addition, a foundation for electing recreational and physical activities for life should be established.

Our physical education program involves all students in the school in physical activities which have proper values in human growth, development and behavior. We are concerned with physical fitness as an important part of total fitness which also encompasses mental, social and emotional fitness. Our program is structured so that the students may be helped to become physically fit. Our basic aim is to develop useful skills, habits, and interests in an individual so that he or she might want to participate in physical activities during all the years that lie ahead.

Our program offers a variety of individual, dual and team sports and activities for boys and girls with emphasis on instruction in fundamentals and practiced under normal playing situations. We attempt to teach those sports and activities that can be accommodated by our school's facilities and equipment.

The activities listed below will be used to teach the following skill themes based on national standards, fitness, and group initiatives, integrated movement, striking, throwing and catching.

PROGRAM ACTIVITIES:

Volleyball Soccer Fitness Testing (2x per school year)

Physical Fitness Softball Tennis

Basketball Dance Track and Field

Health* Co-Operative Games

*All students are required to have 9 weeks of health.

TECHNOLOGY UTILIZED:

Pedometers

Heart Rate Monitors

Insta-Pulse Analyzer

Body-Fat Analyzer

Fitnessgram

GRADING PROCEDURES:

45% - Daily active participation (daily rubric)

Preparation, participation and behavior

55% - Student Portfolio

Fitness testing and concepts, fitness portfolio, fitness activities (health related and skill related), log journal, skills tests, and written/oral tests

Long-term PE goal for the year: quarterly review & revision

Fitness plan artifacts

Pedometer log

Heart rate/instapulse log

Journal/reflection

Self assessment

Fitness scores

Written or oral tests

3. Skill-based performances plan artifacts

Self or peer analysis

Journal/reflection

Skill based goals

Written or oral tests

This school year students in physical education will have the opportunity to compete in four sports against the other six middle schools in the county. In December, students in grades 6-8 will be able to participate in the middle school archery tournament. In February, students in grades 7 and 8 will be able to participate in the middle school volleyball tournament. In March, students in grade 8 will be able to participate in the middle school basketball tournament. In May, students in grades 6-8 will be able to participate in the middle school track and field meets. All students are strongly encouraged to participate in these competitive sports.

We are pleased to have the following teachers return to Milton Somers in physical education and health:
Mr. Eric Wittenbach is teaching physical education grades 6-8.
Mr. Andy Norris is teaching grades 6-8 in physical education.
Mr. Bernie Jamieson is teaching physical education grades 7-8.
Ms. Julie Snavely is teaching physical education grades 6-8.
Ms. Christel Andy is teaching two quarters of health education and two quarters of physical education grades 6-8.
Mr. Barry Miller is teaching is teaching health education grades 6-8.

If you have any questions regarding the physical education or health program you should contact your child's teacher or the department chairperson, Bernie Jamieson, or call 301-934-4664.