{"id":5269,"date":"2016-05-20T16:44:11","date_gmt":"2016-05-20T20:44:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=5269"},"modified":"2016-05-25T14:02:22","modified_gmt":"2016-05-25T18:02:22","slug":"second-graders-get-ready-summer-water-safety-lessons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/second-graders-get-ready-summer-water-safety-lessons\/","title":{"rendered":"Second-graders get ready for summer with water safety lessons"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cGo Justin! Go Justin! Go Justin!\u201d chant White Oaks Elementary School (WOES) second-graders clutching kickboards.<\/p>\n

The cheers from the deep end of the pool demonstrate the positive mental attitude instructor Alexis Hutsko believes makes a difference for children learning to swim.<\/p>\n

\"kickboard\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my class we\u2019re not allowed to say, \u2018I can\u2019t do it,\u2019\u201d\u00a0said Hutsko.\u00a0\u201cYou are unable to do it yet<\/em>. This is something we are working toward. So just changing the language on how they approach the lesson can really kind of change their outlook on water and even things in school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spoken like a true teacher. Only for Hutsko, the pool is her classroom.<\/p>\n

\"Hutsko\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She is one of four swimming instructors providing lessons in the American Red Cross-certified water safety program offered to second-grade students from select Virginia Beach elementary schools.<\/p>\n

The two-week program is supported by a partnership between the school division and the city\u2019s Parks and Recreation department. Students take lessons at area recreation centers as part of their physical education (PE) class.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an opportunity WOES PE teacher Brenda Williams is happy for her students to have.<\/p>\n

\"lessons\"<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of our children have never been exposed to this at all. They\u2019re fearful to even put their heads underwater,\u201d said Williams.<\/p>\n

She added that students are grouped by their abilities on the first day to better differentiate the lessons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they notice somebody doesn\u2019t really need to be in a beginner group, they move them to where they are more suited,\u201d Williams explained.<\/p>\n

Over the course of 10 days,\u00a0each\u00a0group builds on lessons learned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe instructor has moved them from the shallow end to the four-foot end to the deep end. He is going to take them to the super <\/em>deep end today,\u201d said Williams of one group using pool noodles for support.<\/p>\n

\"instructor\"<\/p>\n

Each swimming milestone brings a new level of pride for students. Even those who have remained in the shallow end for the nine lessons to date are eager to show they have no fear of the water.<\/p>\n

They aren\u2019t camera shy either.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at me! Look at me!\u201d exclaim the second-graders by the pool\u2019s edge.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you take a picture of me holding my breath underwater?\u201d asked one student before pinching her nose and dunking herself.<\/p>\n

\"face<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you take picture of me swimming underwater?\u201d asked another.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you take a picture of me sitting <\/em>underwater?\u201d\u00a0asked a third.<\/p>\n

They dunk, dive and plunge under the water one by one. Each student surfaces with a broad smile.<\/p>\n

\"sitting\"<\/p>\n

Students in the deep end of the pool share the water safety techniques they\u2019ve learned.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack floats, scissor kicks, frog kicks, airplane and solider,\u201d said one girl.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s chicken airplane solider,\u201d corrected a classmate.<\/p>\n

Chicken airplane soldier?<\/em><\/p>\n

He demonstrates.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou lay on your back and you do this,\u201d he said putting his hands under his armpits like chicken wings.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen you do this,\u201d he continued, straightening out his arms like spread airplane wings.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you do that,\u201d he finished, dropping his arms back at his side like a soldier at attention.<\/p>\n

Chicken. Airplane. Soldier.<\/p>\n

The same student said he is eager to show off his swimming strokes in the deep end of the pool this summer at the youth center he attends.<\/p>\n

\"deep<\/p>\n

Seeing the increase in confidence at every ability level is what Hutsko enjoys most about working with second-graders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started in this area,\u201d said Hutsko pointing to the shallow end of the pool, \u201cand they were OK putting their face in the water but still a little fearful. They can still touch [the bottom] if they go under.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, we are swimming the full-length of the pool and diving into the deep end,\u201d Hutsko added. \u201cThe transformation from that fear to now being confident \u2014 it\u2019s miraculous. It\u2019s really cool to see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cGo Justin! Go Justin! Go Justin!\u201d chant White Oaks Elementary School (WOES) second-graders clutching kickboards. The cheers from the deep end of the pool demonstrate the positive mental attitude instructor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":5275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[141],"class_list":["post-5269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-white-oaks-elementary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5269"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5286,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5269\/revisions\/5286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}