“OK boys and girls, it’s time to head out to the yard for P.E.”, the first-year teacher at Cooke Grammar School says to her middle school class.
“Um, excuse me”, replies a boy in the class, “We don’t have P.E. at this school. We have Kids in the Game.”
After 11 years of Kids in the Game classes, the first group of Kindergarteners that we worked with is now starting their junior year of high school. They don’t recognize the terms “P.E.” or “Gym Class,” because all that they have ever known is Kids in the Game.
Cooke Center Grammar School is a K-8 special-needs school in the Lower East Side of New York City. The school serves children with various levels of cognitive, social, and physical disabilities. Our staff has worked extremely hard to put together an adaptive physical education curriculum that allows the children to feel successful without feeling pressure to perform in the skills that they are lacking. Our program develops locomotor skills, non-manipulative and manipulative skills, as well as spatial awareness in an environment that supports and promotes teamwork and sportsmanship.
Dr. Janet Hon, OT/PT department chair at the school says,
Kids in the Game has been a key program for our children. It is extremely rewarding to watch our children grow throughout the year as a part of the KinG curriculum. By the end of each school year, the children show major advancements in their fitness and skill levels, as well as increased self-confidence and capacity to play collectively with one another towards a common goal. Minimalizing the value of winning has been great for our students and allows each child to feel equal in their contribution to the team.
As we continue in our 11th year of working with Cooke Center Grammar School, our sights are set on another year of growth and learning. For the incoming kindergarten class, it will be a year of learning the very basics of spatial awareness and movement. For the eighth-graders, who have been working with Kids in the Game instructors since the very beginning, it will be a year of fundamentals and skill development in games and sports that will transfer to their high school sports teams next year at the high school, Cooke Center Academy. Regardless of the age, we are excited to be a part of these children’s athletic and social development and look forward to working with them in “Kids in the Game class” all throughout the year.