GYM CLASS: PHYSICAL EDUCATION ISN'T JUST FUN AND GAMES

Student teacher Josh Crowell poured out a box of balls onto a parachute for fifth-grade students at Alma Schrader Elementary School. The exercise simulated popcorn popping.

Gym class is more than glorified recess.

"Some people think in PE you just throw out a ball and just play games all the time, kind of like recess," said Roger Williams, physical education teacher at Charles Clippard Elementary School.

Au contraire.

Physical education in Cape Girardeau's elementary schools is multifaceted. It involves more teaching than playing.

In public schools, a 39-page curriculum guide outlines goals. Private schools follow similar guidelines, said Linda Ruddy, St. Vincent de Paul Grade School PE teacher.

Besides developing physical fitness, the aims of PE classes in the Cape Girardeau public schools include learning to cope with emotional stress, enhancing intellectual development and imparting proper social habits, the guide says.

A few days ago, Dayna Powell got some evidence that the teaching policies are working at Franklin Elementary School.

"I had a student in a game the other day fall down and get hurt," she said, "and when she got up the entire class clapped for her, just like they might do at a football game. That was a real good feeling for me. I feel like what they get in the social aspect is almost as important as anything else we do."

In public schools, kindergarten through sixth-grade students attend 30-minute PE classes three times a week. At St. Vincent, students in kindergarten through fourth grade have two 30-minute PE classes a week; fifth- through eighth-graders attend three times a week.

The curriculum guide sets objectives for each grade. For kindergartners it includes goals such as being "tagged gracefully without argument," and jumping a rope five times. Williams said that in kindergarten through second grade he focuses on basic fundamentals of movement such as throwing, kicking and skipping and hand-eye coordination. The school year is divided into units that last about three or four weeks.

"You'd be surprised," he said. "A little kindergartner will come in here and can't bounce a ball. By the end of our unit ... they'll be out there dribbling one-handed and doing stuff that you wouldn't believe. They learn that they can do it."

In third grade, Williams said, students begin learning team sports. By sixth grade students know correct form in skills for flag football, soccer, volleyball, basketball, softball, track and field, gymnastics and rhythmic activities and develop or maintain physical fitness.

"We're not trying to make athletes out of them," Williams said. "But I think for the kids that are not inclined to be in sports, it gives them the feeling that maybe they can."

Powell, who coaches Cape Girardeau Central High School's swimming and diving teams, said, "The stronger and more fit they can get in elementary school, the more likely they are to participate in those levels."

Powell said reports that an increasing number of children are obese have perhaps put a little more emphasis on PE. Ruddy said she hasn't found that kids are more obese; she said a lack of sufficient upper body strength is more a concern. Powell and Ruddy each noted that of the five elements in the Presidential Physical Fitness Test that third- through sixth-graders take, the pull-ups portion is most difficult.

"Before we do any games," Ruddy said, "we always do exercises -- stretching and working on upper body strength."

PE serves one function that's not listed in the curriculum guide -- it's fun.

"I think the teachers look to me," Powell said, "so that the kindergartners can have a time to move around and make some noise because it will make it easier on the classroom teacher."

But ultimately, it's informative.

"What I want kids to do," Ruddy said, "is realize how important physical activity is to the development of their bodies and minds. And hopefully when they are out of school ... they find some activity that they really like to do and continue it throughout their life."