Mission Statement: Our mission is to empower the students for the choices and challenges concerning wellness behaviors that will last them forever, and to promote self responsibility toward living a healthy lifestyle while incorporating an integrated curriculum with the primary focus on the students social, physical,and mental well being.

Team Sports and Wellness (Grades 6, 7, & 8)

Program Goal This program offers a varied selection of activities which serve to promote teamwork, cooperation, motor skill development, physical fitness, knowledge of game rules and strategies, and appreciation of the importance of exercise to improve healthy living. Methods of Evaluation Participation, written activities which correlate with the benchmarks and fitness assessments using FITNESSGRAM and heart rate monitors.

Sports Prep (Grades 7 & 8)

Program Goal At the proficiency level, the skill performances are automatic and the learner can focus his/her attention on the changing demands of a dynamic game situation. This program was designed to develop students as future athletes including the promotion of teamwork, cooperation, advanced skill development, physical fitness, knowledge of game rules and strategies, officiating techniques, and appreciation of the importance of exercise for a healthy lifestyle. Methods of Evaluation Participation, written tests on applications of sport rules, fitness assessments using FITNESSGRAM and heart rate monitors, performance skill evaluations using rubrics and participation.

Fitness Tests

FITNESSGRAM Murdock Middle School has selected the FITNESSGRAM physical fitness test to administer to all students. Students enroll in Physical Education for 18 weeks. They are tested at the beginning and the end of the semester. The Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research sponsors FITNESSGRAM. Health-related physical fitness involves several components: aerobic capacity, body composition, muscular strength and endurance, and flexibility. The FITNESSGRAM assessment measures all these components using the following tests: Aerobic capacity = Pacer test Muscular strength and endurance = push-ups and curl-ups Flexibility = Trunk lift Body composition = Body mass index based on height and weight After being tested, students will have a fitness report card that they should take home to parents at the beginning and end of each semester that looks like the following: Click to enlarge. From the information on the report card, students set goals for improvement and plan activities at home, which can enhance or maintain their levels of fitness.

ACTIVITYGRAM

NEW PROJECT:
"HEART RATE TECHNOLOGY--THE CONNECTION TO UNDERSTANDING CARDIOVASCULAR FITNESS."

Our project was funded through a grant sponsored by the American Heart Association Youth Fitness and Tobacco Prevention Education Program. The grant is administered by Florida State University, Center for the Study of Teaching and Learning. This program involves the use of heart rate monitors to improve cardiovascular fitness. That is the ultimate objective for the program. The monitors are used by all of our Physical Education students. Heart rate monitors are similar to having a personal trainer guide you through an aerobic workout. The rate at which each student works is different because of his or her level of fitness. The students wear a wireless transmitter around their chests. The heart rate is transmitted to a wristwatch-style monitor that continuously displays heart rate data throughpout the workout. Students learn how to calculate their target heart rate zone, which is a safe training zone to effectively condition the heart muscle. The watches are programmed to alert the students if their heart rate drops below 124 or rises above 187 during an aerobic workout. These numbers vary for different people according to age. Once the exercise is competed, the heart rate monitor can interface with a computer and students can download information about their workouts. The students then analyze their workouts using guided questions to help determine whether the workout they performed that day helped to improve their own cardiovascular fitness. The objective for the students is to keep their activity level within their heart rate zone during the class period. Heart rate monitors provide the concrete, objective data for measuring effort as well as improving levels of unfit students. Click to enlarge. Heart rate monitors are wonderful learning tools that can also be used to learn about the affects of caffeine, stress, smoking and environment on the heart rate. Heart rate monitors make aerobic exercise safer and more productive by helping students individualize participation in physical activity instead of comparing oneself to others. In this way, it is possible to make everyone's Physical Education experience successful.

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