Elementary project uses football to teach

Using football to teach.

Seems genius doesn't it?

Pioneer Peak Elementary physical education teacher Sally Dubois is doing just that.

For the past two weeks the students of Dubois' three physical education classes have been learning all about flag football.

"We've been learning the basics," said Taylor McCamm, a student of Dubois. "We learned to how to hold the ball, run and pass."

The students' two weeks of gridiron instruction ended with a set of scrimmages on Friday at the elementary school. In the games, the students were able to run their own games and even call their own plays.

A group of students also acted as referees.

A third grade language arts class was also incorporated in the project. Students in Michael Carson's class had the opportunity to be sports writers for the day. Before the scrimmages the students were taught the key football terms and during the games the students used tally sheets to keep track of the events. The students not only kept track of scoring, but sportsmanship, giving extra points to those teams that were extra-sportsmanlike on the field.

After the games, the third graders wrote articles about the scrimmages that will be published in the school's newsletter.

This is the second year Dubois has used the football project as a part of her curriculum and she hopes to do it again in the future.

Dubois said there are many positive lessons to be learned in this project such sportsmanship, leadership and following rules. Dubois also said that this project is a way to help the students socially.