Adapted Gymnastics!

Our third attempt at going to a local gym for an adapted gymnastics lesson was again thwarted today by this nasty winter weather that has been bearing down on us for the last month or so. Two of the three districts that feed into my class were on a delay, so we decided to wait until next Friday to go. Because at this point we're all feeling a little down about all of the things we've been missing lately due to delays and cancellations, I thought it might be fun to try and do a makeshift gymnastics class here at our school. Our wellness department chair graciously lent us one of the gyms and some equipment and we had a BLAST!!!

As frustrating as it was to have to reschedule yet again, it was great to be able to include our general education peers in our gymnastics class. We spread out some panel mats and got busy somersaulting, rolling and posing for some fun pictures.

 I just love this group!

 Next we broke out the parachute and practiced working together as a team to make the parachute rise and fall.

 

I even squeezed in a back walkover or two!

 When our second group of students (on the delayed schedule) arrived around 9:15, we moved our party downstairs to the breezeway between the bus entrance and the hall. We practiced our rolls, tucks and somersaults with the rest of the class.

 We practiced jumping over the colored stripes and following directions by only landing on specific colors.

 Of course, we got some extra rolling in there!

Next we broke out the parachute again!

 It was fun to work as a team! We practiced counting down and running under the parachute. We laughed like crazy!

 Then we did some more mat work- check out this kiddo doing an incredible job somersaulting across the mat.

 We had an awesome time working and playing together during this activity. I love these team building opportunities! The kids felt good about what they were able to do, everyone laughed while practicing following directions and flexing their gross motor skills, and our staff enjoyed some fun, silly time with our students. Next Friday we're HOPEFULLY headed to our fourth first gymnastics class at a local gym. 

Can't wait!!!