First of all, a big thank you to everyone who attended my presentation on How to Integrate Physical Education with the Montessori Classroom Curriculum. Those who attended left feeling excited about the potential opportunities and benefits of Montessori PE integration. This was the biggest turnout that the annual AIMS conference has have ever had, which is only proof of the commitment of Montessori educators to their students and perfecting their craft. There were two very good questions that were asked after the presentation. I will share my answers with you now in this blog post.

What is the optimal time that students should have for PE per week?

I am one who will always advocate for more physical activity (more is always better). I wish the students had an hour of recess a day. I wish that the students could have PE several times a week, and each lesson was around an hour and a half. I also think that this is rarely the case for anyone. Most of the time, if they are lucky, students will have PE once a week for an hour. If this is the case for you as well, then you are aiming for a ten minute introduction and warmup (if needed), forty minutes of play, and a ten minute debrief, cooldown, and quick assessment. If you do not have a full hour, then you will have to consider not having a warm up, and playing the activity as quickly as possible. If you have thirty minutes or less, games will have to be played in two week increments to allow the students to get enough time to truly play the game.

Do you run PE games during recess?

No, I believe that recess is meant for unstructured play. If the students play a sport during recess and want me to officiate, I will do that if they ask. If the students ask me to make teams, I will do that as well because it saves them time for play, and generally I make more fair teams than they would. Again, I believe recess is for the student to get unstructured play, and should not be used for PE.

Thanks again for all those who attended the 2019 AIMS conference. I will see you there next year!