April 26, 2014- Hockey

On Saturday I played street hockey outside since it was a really nice day out. I usually don't play street hockey, but since the playoffs started, I started watching some of the games on T.V. The excitement of the games got me in the spirit, so this weekend I even played street hockey outside with my brother and the other neighbours. Unfortunately, I didn't get a goal, but I did get one assist to a goal. Running back and forth on the street gave me a good workout, and at one point I was out of breath. I noticed that even running back and forth with a hockey stick at a slower pace still increased my heart rate. I can only imagine the workout the Canucks get in each game they play. Hopefully next year the Canucks will make it to the playoffs! 

April 25, 2014-Scottish Mile

On April 25, everyone participated in the Scottish Mile and a fun relay race for fitness Friday. In the beginning of the block Mr. Neufeld was asking a few other people and I if we knew what the Scottish Mile was, however I wasn't familiar with the name so I was curious as to what it was and how it worked. When the gym teachers were giving us a demonstration and explanation of what the Scottish Mile was,  I instantly knew what they were talking about. As I was listening to the gym teachers, the Scottish Mile at first seemed to be not that difficult, however my thoughts changed completely when we actually started doing it. The Scottish Mile was very tiring because we were jogging for 15 minutes straight. In my group was Mikayla, Brianna, Manzula, Amrit, Myranda, Shiho, Gaby, Pallvi and Marcia. It was nice to work with Shiho, Myranda, and Gaby because I have never worked with them before. A few people from the group were not able to keep up with the rest of the group's speed, and so then the remaining six people in the group including myself were able to jog for the whole entire time without stopping once. Near the end of the Scottish Mile I got a cramp and usually when I get a cramp, I stop to walk but I didn't want to let my team down and so I continued jogging at the same speed until I made it to the end. There were certain points during the run where I really wanted to stop when my legs were aching, however if I stopped I knew that not only would I be disappointing myself, but I would be disappointing the whole entire team. While my legs were burning and there was a cramp in my stomach, instead of using these as excuses to stop, I fought through them and it payed off at the end because I was able to not let the team down and make Mr. Neufeld proud of all of us. For the second part of the gym block, we did a relay run with batons. I first started as being the eighth person in my group and so I was the last person to be handed the baton to. When the first person started the run, I was paying attention at all times to see which one of my team members had the baton. Even though I was the last person to run, I was still observant because in gym class, you always have to be alert and ready to move. When I got handed the baton, I sprinted as fast as I could to the next person because I knew that after I sprinted for a short amount of time, I would have a large amount of time to rest. As a result, this fitness day was very beneficial to me as it allowed me to push myself harder and get the chance to get a good workout as a team.

April 21, 2014- Easter Egg Hunt

This Easter weekend I took the initiative and planned an Easter egg hunt at our local park with my smaller cousins. While our mom's sat on the benches, us kids stayed active. This was my chance to get a good workout while having fun at the same time. Instead of walking around and hiding the chocolate eggs, I instead ran around the park where there were trees. I ran a few times around the same area to confuse the smaller kids on where I was hiding the eggs, and this also allowed me to get a good workout. Also, I made my younger cousins run as well, and I told them there was a time limit of 15 minutes, and they definitely were out of breath after the hunt was over.

April 17, 2014-Choice: Volleyball

For the gym block on April 17, 2014, it was choice day and at first I was thinking of asking Mr. Neufeld if my friends and I could play badminton but as you know, I have already played badminton in past choice days and it was time to try something new and explore my interests .Even though volleyball isn't my favourite sport and I may not be as skillful in this sport, I still decided to play it. Some of the people playing on the same court as me were Marcia, Karen, Jason, a couple of grade tens from Mrs. Phillips class, and a few grade nines from Mr. Pederson's and Mr. Vaughan's class. When we started playing I was alert and focused on the ball. I was always in ready position too. There was one time when we first started playing when the ball came shooting at me and so I protected myself from getting hit in the head and therefore I didn't get the chance to hit it. However after that incident, I learned from it and always tried to hit the ball whenever I had the chance too. Even when I did hit the ball and it ended up going in a different direction, it was still better than just standing there and doing nothing because it showed I was trying. There were many funny times while we were playing that made my whole team and I laugh together. On this choice day I was able to get out of my comfort zone and try a sport I was a little scared of to begin with. At the end of the block my opinion on volleyball changed completely. I now find it to be a really fun engaging sport that I would like to practice more and get more skillful at by June. This is one of the reasons why I enjoy choice days because it allows you to discover new passions and try out different things.

April 15, 2014-Community Run

On April 15, 2014, we participated in the Community Run. I was glad that we were able to do the Community Run because we haven't done this in a while. I wanted to take less walking breaks as possible in order to jog for the whole entire run. Running up the hill to start off the run was very tiring and after doing that, my heart rate escalated and I instantly knew that this wasn't going to be a walk in the park. In the beginning of the run, I ran mostly with Karen but toward the middle of the run I had to run alone because we were both going at different speeds, as I was a little bit ahead of her. I knew that it was going to be hard to run with a friend because everyone's pace will differ from others and even though it may be more fun to run with a friend, at the end of the day, you're creating your own active learning journey and in order to do this, you need to show everyone your ability, not the combined ability between you and your friends. If you're able to find a person who is just as fit as you, then that's great but if you're forcing yourself to stop during the run to wait for a friend when you know you are capable to keep on running, then that's a problem. The teachers were really supportive and were my motivators for this run. For instance, the very last part of the run Mr.Neuf encouraged me to keep on going as I was so close to the finish line. This told me that if I just bare 1 more minute, then I will make it to the end mentally stronger than I started. Based on Mr. Neuf's stopwatch my time was 27:37, which I am very proud of and next time if we do the same route again, I plan on getting 25 minutes as I know I have the strong foundation (teacher support) to take on this goal. Here is a picture with Pallvi shortly after I completed the run:

April 13, 2014-Surrey Lake Park

Today on April 13, 2014, because it was a really nice day out I went to the Surrey Lake Park with my family in the evening. At the Surrey Lake Park my family and I walked on the pathway for about 20 minutes. Afterwards, I jogged along the pathway for about 30 minutes. It was nice to get some fresh air and do a light jog as a form of exercise. I liked how I was able to run in a different atmosphere too because I think this is the first time I have done a jog here at the Surrey Lake Park in a while. Here is a video while I was jogging:

April 11, 2014-Hill Run

On April 11, 2014, the gym block took part in the new hill run. I have never done this hill run before and so I was eager and excited to participate in it. Before we started, Mr. Neufeld encouraged us to use a pedometer which recorded the number of steps you took. I took one because I really wanted to see how many steps I would be able to take throughout the gym block. The hill run was definitely one of the harder fitness activities I have took part in.  This hill run was more tiring and challenging then the other hill run by City Hall. I was able to do 7 laps by the end which I am very proud of because Mr. Neuf said we should do somewhere between 5-10 laps.  During the first five laps that I did, I did not stop once while running and I persevered my way to the top. When I got near the top of the hill my legs were burning but I managed to make it all the way up there through the motivation in me. During the sixth and seventh lap I was exhausted and I was breathing very heavily too. It took me some time to catch my breath and breathe normally after we did the run. After the whole entire gym block I took 5834 steps which is so close to 6000! The video was taken while I was running my seventh lap up the hill. 

 

 

 

April 9, 2014-Speed Ball

On April 9, 2014 our class played speed ball outside on the field. It was our first time playing speed ball and I thought it was very fun. Although I didn't get the ball that many times, it was apparent that I tried very hard by continuously running. At times I found it difficult to get the ball because other people would pass the ball to their friends and wouldn't pass the ball to new people. I think a goal for the next time we play speed ball, would be to try to include people who don't normally get the ball very often, more into the game which will definitely make the class fun for every student. I would want to play speed ball again because it was a mixture of two sports in to one game. I thought that it was really fun and next time I want to get the ball more times which will make it even more fun. On the whole I liked Mr. Neufeld's choice of activity for this gym block because we were able to get a really good exercise in a fun way outside in the sun!

April 7, 2014-Capture the Flag

On April 7, 2014 our class played capture the flag on the field. The class and our T.A had to work together to set up the game without receiving assistance from Mr. Neufeld. I noticed that compromising was needed to be made when working with other people because you can't get things to work out exactly in your favour. People had different representations of how they wanted to set up  the cones and so therefore others got frustrated when it didn't go their way. A few people in the class were able to get most people's attention, which told everyone else to quiet down and to just listen. When another one of my classmates was projecting their voice to get the rest of the class's attention I didn't interupt and listened to what they had to say. My leadership role from today's class was near the end when I helped to put the cones/frisbee away. While we were playing capture the flag I ran to the other side many times compared to the last time I played in January. Even if I knew I had a chance of being caught, I still went because I wanted to get the most out of the gym class and I wanted to take risks  instead of being afraid. At the end of the block I was happy because I made an improvement from last time. I noticed that I may have even participated more this time by running to the other territory more often. I thought capture the flag was even more fun this time because I made more contributions. Sometimes it can be a little difficult to get everyone in the class to listen to your instructions however there were definitely other ways in the gym block I was able to improve upon and be proud of as I described.

April 5, 2014-Leadership and Initiative Taking

I am taking a leadership role in our community by volunteering with the City of Surrey engineering department. The program I am involved in is called Adopt-A-Street, which is about keeping the streets clean. I volunteer my time once a week for a couple of hours, and as you can see in the picture below, I am cleaning up litter at a park. Sometimes my younger cousins assist me when I need help, and by doing this I act as a leader to them. This time I got the bag almost three quarters full. By taking part in this program it allows me to get some exercise too as I am always on my feet and ready to move from place to place. When I am not cleaning the litter at the park, I usually clean the streets in my neighbourhood. At the end of the day, I feel good about myself for taking the initiative to make our community a beautiful place.

April 1, 2014-Pond Run

On April 1, 2014 everyone participated in the pond run. Before we started, Mr. Neufeld told us that during the sixty seconds that we are running it will get harder and harder to maintain it as you keep on going. He also said that near the end of the 60 seconds is the point where your improvement comes in. I noticed that near the end of the 40 minutes of the run, people started to feel tired and took more walking breaks when we were supposed to be running.  Part of the reason why I was still able to run during the 60 seconds had to do with the motivation I was receiving from the teachers. For example, I saw Mrs. Phillips and Mr. Neufeld participating in the run which set me a good example about being fit and staying in shape. Some of the older senior students showed the younger students what hard work looks like by pushing themselves to keep on running for the full 60 seconds. My goal was to run the whole entire 60 seconds and to not stop once. At times when my legs were burning and I was feeling very tired while I was running, I started jogging at a slower pace but I did not stop to walk. Also,  I noticed an improvement from the time we did the pond run in September. I noticed that this time I didn't need to stop to walk and I also didn't get tired as fast as I did before. Here is a picture after the run: