Kate Giovingo
Holy Family Catholic School
Rockford, Illinois

"My teaching partner (grades 3-8)and I attended the IAHPERD Convention in November 2005 where we were introduced to the sport of stacking. We purchased the Sport pack for our school and just completed our unit.

The response and enthusiasm from both the students and the parents has been incredible! Many have purchased their own sets and have inquired about an after-school club. I have taught physical education for 11 years and NEVER have had this kind of response regarding a P.E. activity!

I used many of the activities in the Activity Guide [editor's note: more about the Activity Guide] with K-2 students. One activity that REALLY worked was the Curl-Up Stacking. What a fantastic way to add a little 'twist' to a required event of the Presidential Physical Fitness Challenge. The students didn't even think about the often grueling 'curl-up'. They simply wanted to up stack and down stack. The same was true for the Push-Up Stacking, although that was a bit more challenging.

Stackers & Blasters was a hit for my students. It was unanimous that being a 'blaster' was more fun than being a 'stacker'. I observed great developmental skills with this activity.

My students recorded their personal bests early in the unit. We did it again at the very end of the unit. They couldn't believe their progress. Activities like Leader of the Stack, Table Races, End line Floor Relays, Continuous Relays, Down & Back Stacking and March Madness all aided to their increased speeds and were favorites with my students. My teaching partner created a unique skill. She had her class up stack from a base of 30 cups. These cups were lined up on the center court line with no spaces in between them. The pyramid was quite tall. Students stood on chairs to reach the very top. After the structure was complete, she had two students squat on either end of the pyramid near the end cups. On the count of 3 AND at the same time, both students pulled the end cups away from the pyramid. The structure came down one cup after the other in a waterfall formation...thus she called it THE WATERFALL. It was AWESOME!

We plan to use sport stacking as an event for our school's Field Day at the end of the year.

An interesting observation that I'd like to share is that the non-athletic students or students you would think would have a difficult time with speed stacking were amazingly quick with the hands!"

www.speedstacks.com

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