Educational Programs at Orchard House
Physical Health and Well-being
The Physical Education program at Orchard House School has two main goals. The first is to educate middle school girls to see the importance of physical activity as they enter adolescence and throughout their lifetime; to understand the impact this can have on their physical development and mental health; and to recognize their responsibility for their own lifestyles as they mature and begin making their own choices. The second program goal is to expose the girls to a variety of physical activities in order to find the types of activities that they can pursue for a lifetime of well being.
The girls are involved in goal setting in order to learn how to incorporate and reinforce new behavior patterns into their daily schedules. The fifth grade program focuses on play and learning to function on a team. Girls experience new games, team sports, and individual activities in an environment designed to promote success. In the sixth grade, students build on the fifth grade exploration and experience. Team activities are explored more in depth while new individual activities are pursued. Girls are encouraged to begin to identify the types of activities that they enjoy and could pursue throughout their lifetime. Seventh and eighth graders continue to expand their experience in individual lifetime activities and participate in recreational team sports. At this age the primary focus is on successful, positive participation in order to encourage lifetime fitness.
Journals are also used as a method to track daily behavior and to identify both positive and negative behavior patterns. A variety of evaluation methods including self-evaluation, and peer evaluation both in small groups and with partners, provides the student with the ability to assess her own abilities and preferences while being actively engaged in her own education. By being exposed students to a variety of physical activities, the girls learn where their own physical strengths and weakness lie and the types of activities they might be interested in following in order to maintain physical fitness. The Physical Education program is designed to reinforce information and experiences in the Health Education program.
Course descriptions for the grades may be seen by selecting one of the following:
