Fantastic, Fast, and Fun Fitness

Term 3 and cross country running go together like fish 'n chips. Cross country training can inspire a love or hate response. While most students can identify that when we are fit we feel better and can achieve more. Running everyday to achieve this fitness is not everyones cup of tea.

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Room 3 students have been creating and evaluating fitness courses to improve their fitness levels and to encourage greater enjoyment of getting fitter. 

Students developed a success criteria for an effective fitness course:

  • Activities must get our hearts pumping

  • Activities must be fun - not boring

  • Activities must be safe - unlikely to injure each other

  • Activities must not damage our environment

  • Activities must not need too much equipment or they will take forever to set up

To start this process students experienced some fitness courses that Mrs Sprague dreamed up. They found she is very fond of step ups and terrible at sit ups. Exploring fitness circuit resources that are found on the internet was another initial step. This process helped students  get ideas and identify what type of activities were fun and effective.

As the weather is not alway supportive of outside activities, students also investigated fitness activities that can be done safely inside.
Parkour Running is a fitness activity that has become popular in recent years. Students investigated
As the weather is not alway supportive of outside activities, students also investigated fitness activities that can be done safely inside.
Parkour Running is a fitness activity that has become popular in recent years. Students investigated

Parkour Pairs from the Movewell challenge games resource. The village park was a great place for students to explore Parkour. Our criteria of activities must be safe - unlikely to injure each other and activities must not damage our environment were our key focus areas for Parkour running courses.

Students learnt how to respectfully reflect on and evaluate their own and each other's fitness activities and courses. This involved presenting their opinions in a respectful way and giving examples of why they thought that. Students could also suggest improvements.

Me and my friends use the fitness challenge cards in the morning before school.  I like being the coach and the movements are fun and make you strong.

I was very sensible when doing the yoga fitness challenge on a wet day.  Some students found it challenging to be sensible when we tried a yoga circuit.

I can’t believe mine and Olive’s fitness circuit was chosen by the class as the most fun.  I think it was because it was a race. This made it extra fun.

Skipping is a really fun fitness activity and you don’t need much equipment.

Our activity for the circuit was not very successful because the equipment we used did not work properly. We will try something different next time.

Me and Max P went together for Parkour Pairs. We did lots of leaping over obstacles.  We were a good team because we were both really fast. And we could do challenging moves.

During Parkour, we thought of working together to climb a tree. We were careful not to hurt the tree. 

Me and Laura bounced and jumped between the tyres that were part of the pump track. That made us pretty tired.

Moving in different ways for Parkour Pairs was heaps of fun. I managed to leap over a swing.

I think Parkour Pairs was a good activity because you had to be creative and move in different ways. 

Gnapika and I were buddies and we came up with leaping over the bouncy ladybird and each other.

We all managed to stay safe during the Parkour Pair activity and Mrs Sprague was really pleased with us. 


2024 Sprague

Sara Sprague

I have been teaching since 2004. I started teaching at Wairakei Primary School in 2011. I am married to Steve and we have two children – Myles and Amelia. Myles and Amelia both enjoyed their primary school years here at Wairakei Primary School. I am really proud to be part of this school and appreciate all the amazing opportunities that are given to our children.

I like working with children and teaching. I love the fun that can be had and the feeling of being a part of a child’s growth and development. My favourite subject is maths. I appreciate the patterns and connections that can be found in numbers and I enjoy problem-solving. I have trained as a Math Specialist Teacher (MST).

My family and I love living in the Taupō area. When I’m not teaching I enjoy spending time with my family, walking my dog and mountain biking - which is a particular family passion.

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