Skiing and Walking
During this snowy, blowy February skiing and walking are going to loom large on my agenda.
We take our two Gr. 5 classes skiing for the first time tomorrow. Gr. 5 skiing is a program that seems to have been traditional for the Gr. 5's at St. Joseph's as part of their physical education program for long before I came to the school. I've set up and organized the program for the last three years. Conveniently, there is a small ski resort/golf club called "Uplands" just south of us in Thornhill about a ten minute bus ride away from the school.
The first day is always very exciting because most of these ten-year-olds have never strapped on skis before and it is a very new experience for them. The staff at Uplands is excellent and they walk them through their early lessons from how to put on their skis to how to move in them, how to stay in control and how to stop. By the end of the first session, if they pass a handful of tests, they might get up on the ski-lift to the first hill. All together we do three mornings of lessons on three Tuesdays. By the second week most of them are skiing as if they have always done it.
Skiing with elementary classes has become increasingly controversial over the last few years, as it can't be denied that despite any number of safety checks that are put in place skiing is riskier than the average field trip. Up until last year the parents had to fill out two waivers (one for the school, one for the ski club) for their children to have permission to go. This year between the school, the board, the insurance company and the ski club the parents had to fill out -four- waivers and we teachers had to get them all organized, as well as the cost of lessons, ski rentals and transportation for 60 kids (whew!).
I find I'm torn (and so is my principal) and we will have to seriously consider if we're going to continue this program next year. The paperwork and cost of this trip ($75 for three lessons, reasonable, but scary if you have 2-3 children in the school involved in ski programs) is slowly spiraling out of control and the risk of the trip is always there. And yet it is such an excellent program, the students love it and there's part of me that feels Canadian kids ought to be exposed to the fun and exercise of skiing at a young age in the hopes some of them will make it a lifetime hobby. I'm not a skier myself, but I'm a great cheerleader of this ski program for students and if we do give it up next year it will be with great regret. We'll have to see.
But as for tomorrow, we're off to the wilds of Thornhill :). I always enjoy the first day most because the enthusiasm and exhilaration of the students as they get their "ski legs" is hugely gratifying.
Under the topic of more sedate winter sports, my Idita-Walk challenge began today! Whoo! For those who missed my original post the Idita-Walk challenge is sponsored by the people in Nome, Alaska who run the Iditarod dog sled races. The races are Feb. 10 to March 17 and run from Anchorage to Nome. The race is 1,049 miles in 35 days, so the walking challenge is to walk 1,049 minutes in those same 35 days. We track our progress on a chart printed from their website and when we reach the goal we mail the sheet off to Nome to earn a "Finalist" t-shirt. Here's a map of the dog sled trail we are "virtually" walking- http://walking.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.idita%2Dwalk.com . (edit- Oops, just realized this link only takes you to the main challenge page, you have to click on the map link on the left to see the map route) I walked for 45 minutes today and I have 1,004 minutes to go to achieve the challenge. Mush!
We take our two Gr. 5 classes skiing for the first time tomorrow. Gr. 5 skiing is a program that seems to have been traditional for the Gr. 5's at St. Joseph's as part of their physical education program for long before I came to the school. I've set up and organized the program for the last three years. Conveniently, there is a small ski resort/golf club called "Uplands" just south of us in Thornhill about a ten minute bus ride away from the school.
The first day is always very exciting because most of these ten-year-olds have never strapped on skis before and it is a very new experience for them. The staff at Uplands is excellent and they walk them through their early lessons from how to put on their skis to how to move in them, how to stay in control and how to stop. By the end of the first session, if they pass a handful of tests, they might get up on the ski-lift to the first hill. All together we do three mornings of lessons on three Tuesdays. By the second week most of them are skiing as if they have always done it.
Skiing with elementary classes has become increasingly controversial over the last few years, as it can't be denied that despite any number of safety checks that are put in place skiing is riskier than the average field trip. Up until last year the parents had to fill out two waivers (one for the school, one for the ski club) for their children to have permission to go. This year between the school, the board, the insurance company and the ski club the parents had to fill out -four- waivers and we teachers had to get them all organized, as well as the cost of lessons, ski rentals and transportation for 60 kids (whew!).
I find I'm torn (and so is my principal) and we will have to seriously consider if we're going to continue this program next year. The paperwork and cost of this trip ($75 for three lessons, reasonable, but scary if you have 2-3 children in the school involved in ski programs) is slowly spiraling out of control and the risk of the trip is always there. And yet it is such an excellent program, the students love it and there's part of me that feels Canadian kids ought to be exposed to the fun and exercise of skiing at a young age in the hopes some of them will make it a lifetime hobby. I'm not a skier myself, but I'm a great cheerleader of this ski program for students and if we do give it up next year it will be with great regret. We'll have to see.
But as for tomorrow, we're off to the wilds of Thornhill :). I always enjoy the first day most because the enthusiasm and exhilaration of the students as they get their "ski legs" is hugely gratifying.
Under the topic of more sedate winter sports, my Idita-Walk challenge began today! Whoo! For those who missed my original post the Idita-Walk challenge is sponsored by the people in Nome, Alaska who run the Iditarod dog sled races. The races are Feb. 10 to March 17 and run from Anchorage to Nome. The race is 1,049 miles in 35 days, so the walking challenge is to walk 1,049 minutes in those same 35 days. We track our progress on a chart printed from their website and when we reach the goal we mail the sheet off to Nome to earn a "Finalist" t-shirt. Here's a map of the dog sled trail we are "virtually" walking- http://walking.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.idita%2Dwalk.com . (edit- Oops, just realized this link only takes you to the main challenge page, you have to click on the map link on the left to see the map route) I walked for 45 minutes today and I have 1,004 minutes to go to achieve the challenge. Mush!