Skating used to be part of the School Curriculum

[retired]

I don't think that skating would be in such a downslide if it was an activity that everyone did as it seems it was more than 50 years ago.

I picked up a book at a yard sale last week. It's called Basic Physical Skills and is from 1953.  It's the teachers handbook for Phys Ed in Canada, and it covers everything from actual teaching, through to running, jumping, soccer, softball, skating, figure skating, ice hockey, basketball volleyball, stunts and gymnastics, dancing and swimming.  So many of these things aren't even touched in school today due to insurance concerns.  

It's back from the days when there were still one room school houses so there's a special section for rural teachers.  To teach skating, it says to have the bigger kids look after the little ones, and those without skates can at least practice sliding and gliding on the ice in their boots so that "when they do get skates they have a background including the experience of the glide and the struggle for balance."  How many of us have gone for a slide on a fresh patch of ice on the way to school? Not too many anymore.  

This was so fun to read.  The figure skating portion is especially detailed, and considers that girls are very much attracted to the sport and once they master ice skating, "can skate proficiently and rhythmically on two feet" and "too may beginners try skating on one foot before they can skate well on two".  The material on figure skating is intended for pupils 10 to 13 years of age and covers spins including sit spins, figures of course, and jumps of waltz, three jump and "toe jump" which is a half flip.    

[Clarice]

When I was in grammar school, we had roller skating as part of our P.E. curriculum because our gymnasium doubled as a public roller rink.  I wonder whether they still do that?

[phoenix]

We did square dancing! Yeee Haaaa!!! (actually it was lots of fun)

[icedancer]

We did square dancing! Yeee Haaaa!!! (actually it was lots of fun)

Square dancing and folk dancing were where I excelled in gym class!  Wish we had had skating at school - although we did slide on the ice quite a lot at recess!!

[sarahspins]

When I was in grammar school, we had roller skating as part of our P.E. curriculum because our gymnasium doubled as a public roller rink.  I wonder whether they still do that?

They did the first 3 years my oldest was in elementary school.. they haven't done it the past 3 and I'm not sure why.  I remember roller skating in elementary school every year, and doing gymnastics (with real equipment, not just mats) in middle school.  I also remember doing track and field in 5th grade with actual hurdles... I was one of two students actually able to do them, which my PE teacher thought was amazing because I was the shortest person in my grade

[Skittl1321]

I did a brief stint at an elementary school that still does Square dancing.  And Roller Blading- they have a class set of roller blades, hope your feet are about average size!

[Sk8tmum]

Still have square dancing, "folk dancing" and some places ballroom dancing in phys ed; wish they would remove the "booty shake" dancing from the classes though, especially with the Grade 1 and 2; I don't like seeing tinies "shaking it" ...

Anyways, some schools do do skating days; but, it's expensive and not everyone has skates, or knows how - so, it can be quite the logistical experience. 

BTW: you can't teach somersaults in P.E. anymore.  Too much of a risk of neck injuries  . Same goes for tumbling, cartwheels etc.  Problem is that schools don't have physed teachers anymore, they're just teachers who happen to have that period empty in their timetable so they have them teach physed

[Skittl1321]

Problem is that schools don't have physed teachers anymore, they're just teachers who happen to have that period empty in their timetable so they have them teach physed

Wow- that's awful.  Definitely still separately certified phys ed teachers around here.  I wouldn't want an ill trained teacher working with me on somersaults (then again, due to the formerly broken neck, I really ought not be doing somersaults.) 

I actually took a great class on teaching phys ed as an elective in college- one of the principles was that all kids should be moving 95% of the class (the other great thing I learned from it was measurable outcomes.  So not "can shoot freethrows" but "can shoot 3 out of 10 freethrows").  So we would go do fieldwork, and the supervising teacher would write things like "would have been better if there were only 5 basketballs and kids sat down and waited until it was their turn, rather than having 5 basketballs, 5 hula hoops, 5 jump ropes, and 5 hurdles set up, and give us poor grades because the classroom was too hectic.   Yes- it was hectic, but all the kids were safe, and MOVING. 

Thankfully we had a reasonable professor who changed the grades when she realized the supervising teacher totally lied about agreeing with the college of education's philosophy of phys ed to get the stipend.


To me the biggest loss in PE rooms are the awesome cargo climbing nets- falls are too big of a risk.

[sarahspins]

Problem is that schools don't have physed teachers anymore, they're just teachers who happen to have that period empty in their timetable so they have them teach physed

Not at all schools... our elementary school (~600 students) has two full-time physed teachers... and we're lucky, our kids still get PE (and recess!!) every day.. it's one reason I am glad to live where we live.

Skittl - we had one of those awesome cargo nets on our school playground when I was in 2nd-4th.  Then someone "fell" (jumped) from the top of it and broke their arm and it was taken down   I remember climbing rope in gym too (elementary and middle school).. and I can't imagine that they could get away with that now.  Even at the gym my kids used to go to, the ropes were over the pit so if someone fell, it wasn't a problem.

[VAsk8r]

We did rollerblading, bowling and the Macarena in high school and the Boot Scootin' Boogie in elementary, which it wasn't cool to enjoy but I think most of us had fun. I really wish we had done more of these individual sports instead of so much of the traditional basketball, soccer and football, as I was pretty terrible at all those and got picked on, and it didn't give me much reason to pursue physical activities as an adult until I discovered skating.

In Virginia, outdoor ponds almost never freeze solid enough to skate on. Most adults can't ice skate at all, and a lot of kids can't either. When I see people at the rink with their own skates, I watch them closely, because most people would never be serious enough to buy their own skates. You rarely see adults at the rink unless they're there with kids, and often, the adults just sit and watch while their kids skate. It's a shame because it has so many physical benefits. I can easily and happily skate for two hours, but no way would I go to the gym for two hours.

For awhile, when I took group lessons, we had a group of people from a nearby college who were taking the class for P.E. credit. I think it'd be great if the local schools could incorporate occasional trips to the ice rink as part of P.E, but they probably feel it's a liability issue. Meanwhile, kids who aren't great at scoring soccer goals are learning to hate physical activity. It's sad.

[AgnesNitt]

I remember in jr high, on rain days we played jacks in the gym.

Then I got in band and never took gym again.

[Kim to the Max]

Never did skating in PE class as a kid. In grade school it was hit or miss because I went to a small catholic school. In high school we did a lot of sitting around, your traditional volleyball, basketball, etc., sometimes we would have open gym, which meant we just had to be doing something other than sitting, so we would walk laps around the gym or we would do Sweating to the Oldies we all laughed when we did that....

[Rachelsk8s]

I wish that skating was part of gym class!!!  I remember doing the square dancing and gymnastics as well as a kid...I was horrified of using the bars, not sure what the correct terminology is for them lol I'm an elementary teacher now, and I haven't seen close to anything like some of the things we did in P.E., and it wasn't that long ago

[hopskipjump]

We did bowling (our school was near an alley).  That was fun.  And archery - that was pretty cool.  Volleyball, tennis, soccer, badminton, field hockey, weight room, lots of track, softball, flag football, square dance, basketball, shot put.  

I remember my mom was upset we didn't have a swimming unit - even in high school.  For her time in school, you had to be able to swim in order to pass PE.

We had a step aerobics unit!  So late 80's....  

No ice (lived in the desert) and no roller skating, no gym (schools didn't have a gym until high school).  My elementary school had the ropes.  I sucked at it.

My daughter who normally loved PE was not happy this year.  They had to run a mile once a week.  That was it.  :/  next year should be better.

[isakswings]

That would be fun. The most skating my kids have done with school was for field trips. My daughter's class went in 5th grade, which was fun for her! It was at her home rink as well.

Around here, the kids in 4th, 5th and 6th grade go on skiing trips. That has been fun for my kids!

[karrot]

I grew up in St. Louis, MO. In 4th and 5th grade, my school (this was around 1989 - 90) would go ice skating once every couple weeks in the winter during the school day. The nearest large city park had a rink. Most of my friends used rentals, I had my own at the time though!

Once, Brett Hull and Adam Oates came to play floor hockey at school with our gym class.

Once I got to high school/ college, there were more consistently fun choices for gym classes. I took dance, archery, bowling, rock climbing and backpacking.

[PinkLaces]

We didn't have skating for gym, but we would have a Valentine skating party every year in elementary school.     Where I grew up just about everyone knew how to skate. 

For gym, I remember playing a lot of basketball (hated it), volleyball, and dodgeball.  In middle school, we had the square dancing unit.  We also had a rope climb and did the Presidential fitness test.

My 2 kids had sports units of all the different sports.  They also had a "field day" during the last week of school where they did track and field events.  They also had to run the mile.  I remember my non-sport kid hating that.

[platyhiker]

This brings back memories that I had forgotten ... in high school, I got to do skating for one quarter of the school year for gym credit (twice a week) - the town rink was adjacent to the school's playing fields.  Everyone in high school had do one quarter in swimming every year - the town pool was in the high school.  (When the old high school burned down (in the 1960s?) the town deliberately included a bunch of stuff for town use in the high school, like a large field house and the pool.)

I got do skating for gym credit in college, which was fun.  (Eight gym credits were required for graduation.  A course for twice a week for 1/4 of the school year was one credit.)  Passing a swim test was also required for graduation, which I thought was a very good idea.

[SynchKat]

I grew up in a small town and once a year we would all traipse to the rink for a skate.  I was always fun.

The school across the street from the cub at which I skate uses the rink for some skating, they also use the curling rink for the older kids.  The club allows this so that we can use their parking lot for overflow.  But those kids at least get to skate a couple of times a month for phys ed.