Speed It Up!

Speed It Up! is a fitness incentive that I've done several times to promote cardiovascular strength and endurance. It's also a great way to get kids practicing their jump roping skills outside of school, especially the kids that struggle.

This fitness incentive I did each year at Gilman and the kids absolutely loved it. Similar to Corevember and Flex-It February, when it is time to begin I let the students know that we were starting our jump rope challenge. For this challenge the students are tested at the end of each week to see how many jumps they can complete on a jump rope in 10 seconds. To do this I have each student in the class grab a jump rope and partner up. I then usually give them the first 5 minutes of class to warm up, but warn them not to tire themselves out. Once it's time to begin I set 10 seconds on the basketball scoreboard as they get with their partner and decide who is jumping first. Once everyone is ready I give them a 3-2-1 count and then start the timer. Once the buzzer goes off they confirm scores with each other and then the counter comes and lets me know their partners score before switching roles.

As with my other fitness incentives, while at Gilman I had each of my individual classes set class goals for the four weeks, and then I set a group goal for the entire elementary school. Once these goals were set I created posters to help the students track their progress each week, and assured them that if they make their goals I would have a surprise for them. I also make sure to remind the students that I would be giving them very little if any time to practice jump roping in class and that they would need to practice at home or recess if they hope to meet their goal. We also discussed how not everyone may have a jump rope at home, but that there are several other options of ways to practice, such as with barn rope, a large sweatshirt, a beach towel, or simply by pretending to have a rope. I also wheeled out my jump rope cart each day during recess so kids can practice if they want.

As can be seen below this challenge has been very successful. When teaching at Gilman each class set their goals significantly higher every year and were still able to always meet their initial goal class goal.

Spring 2016 - My first Speed It Up! Challenge was met with considerable success

 

Spring 2017 - Week 3 was tough, but they all pulled through in the end

For their reward I had to dress up as a Princess and let them call me "Princess Mauer" all day

 

Winter 2017 - The 4th graders this year got to choose the group incentive,
so I was forced to dress as a granny and push a stroller around all day