PE Program: Climbing Elephant Mountain

Objectives 教學目標：

1. To demonstrate their climbing skills and endurance after months of muscle and stamina training climbing up and down the stairs to reach “Mt. Everest” (Kuei Shan stairs).

2. To develop enjoyment in going outdoors and climbing a mountain and realize that all the hard work they put in during PE class helped them to climb Elephant Mountain.

One of our main focuses during our Fitness Yearly Unit Plan was climbing. We decided to use our stairs at our school for the benefit for getting our students in better shape. We set out to reach our final goal, climbing the same amount of stairs to reach the top of Mt. Everest, which we calculated to be a total 11,666 steps to reach the summit.

Mt. Everest was our final goal, but there would be many goals along the way. Our first goal was Life Tower, a building in Taipei. We then moved on to climb, Elephant Mountain, and continued to the famous Taipei 101. Finally we keep climbing to reach other goals such as Alishan, Mt. Fuji, and Jade Mountain. After reaching our final goal Mt. Everest, our reward was to actually go to Elephant Mountain on a field trip.

This was not just an exercise activity but was meant to show the importance of setting and reaching goals.

Each stop was “step” closer to the final goal, some were easier, while others took much longer to accomplish. This was a lesson in life, but students also got to get in better shape. Once a week we climbed a minimum of 500 stairs. A lot of times the students complained, but they still reached their goal, which is also another lesson in life, and showed that reaching your goal can be very difficult.

The students reward was a trip to Elephant Mountain, in which we took the students Grade by Grade, from Grades 1 to 5, all on separate days. They got to enjoy climbing outside with their classmates, a beautiful view where they could see Taipei 101, a few fun English Stories on the top, snacks and drinks they brought, and a wonderful overall experience. We hope that this will encourage students to set goals, not only about climbing mountains, but about life in general. We also would like to see our students out enjoying the wonderful mountains in Taiwan.