Physical Education

Greg Merrill, Physical Education teacher
Email: [email protected]

About Me

Hello all! I’m Mr. Merrill, and I will be teaching physical education to the students here at Riley this 2020-2021 school year. Normally, I take each class out for 50 minutes of p.e. every week. As we begin this year virtually, things will obviously be very different. However, your first through fifth grade students will still have an opportunity to work with me live every week online as well as do PE activities daily through my Google Classroom. Throughout the course of the year we will be covering the California State Standards for Physical Education . I have been with SBCUSD for 22 years now, 19 of which has been teaching PE, while the other 3 years was working in elementary special education.

Areas We Cover

The areas we cover vary depending on the grade level of the students, but in general we cover areas such as eye-foot skills, eye-hand, rhythm and dance, locomotor and balance, striking, Frisbee, etc. More specifically, it would be activities like dribbling a ball with your feet (as in soccer), or with your hand (like basketball), hitting a ball with a bat off of a tee, or throwing and catching a Frisbee to a stationary and moving target.

PE Then And Now

Elementary Physical Education is different than what you may remember back in middle school and high school. Instead of team sports and activities, we focus on individual skills that each child can use for their future participation in both team and individual sports. Our ultimate goal is to encourage a lifetime of physical activity to improve each individual’s quality of life!

Expectations And Helpful Hints

My expectations for the students of Riley are that they attempt to do everything that is presented to them. I don’t require that they be the fastest, strongest, or best, but that they would just try the skills that are being used that day. As far as what clothing to wear, it is best that your child wear clothes that are comfortable to exercise and be safe in. For instance, open-toe sandals or shoes with high heels on them are dangerous for kids to wear while being active.

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