Eleven University of Wisconsin-Platteville physical education students recently planned, implemented and continued a 10-year tradition, Wellness Day, for 190 first- and second-grade students from Platteville School District at the university’s Bo-Ryan Court. UW-Platteville physical education students engage with a variety of communities in Wisconsin (Belmont, Lancaster, Platteville, Mineral Point, Boscobel and Janesville) throughout the academic semester for such Wellness Day experiences.
For the 11th annual Wellness Day, physical education students enrolled in the university’s Elementary Physical Education course planned and instructed age-appropriate lessons for the younger students, including Math in Motion, Recognizing the Beat, DrumFit and Creative Parachute Fitness.
“Wellness Day is an outstanding opportunity for UW-Platteville physical education students to gain experience with instruction, management, assessment, etc. and for Platteville Elementary School students to be exposed to the importance of wellness and movement,” said Susanna Swenson, lecturer of health and human performance at UW-Platteville. “It’s clearly a win-win.”
“Wellness Day has given me an opportunity to practice my instructional skills, determine areas of growth and, ultimately, build on being a more effective physical educator,” said Bailey Elliott, a senior physical and health education major from Pecatonica, Illinois. When Elliott graduates, he hopes to be hired as an educator at the K-12 level in the area of physical education, health education or adaptive physical education or in any combination of these areas.
UW-Platteville students who planned Wellness Day include Elliot, Donald Allender, Bryce Arneson, Trevor Harsh, Taylor Jarzynski, Sheridan Kalander, Nickolas Keen, Tarek Oellerich, Alex Ranney, Trevor Siegenthaler and Ethan Wilkinson.
UW-Platteville’s Department of Health and Human Performance recently hosted another Wellness Day at UW-Platteville for third-grade students from Platteville.