Mr. Francisco

Welcome students and parents! A little about me:

I taught PE for 5 years at St. Andrew's Country Day School in Kenmore until its closing and am thrilled to be here at OLV! When I am not teaching I play recreational touch football almost year-round and in a kickball league part of the year. I also enjoy disc golf, park golf (ask me about it sometime!), and biking. One of my favorite things to do is cook, especially making some delicious game day recipes for Bills games.

Grading policy: 

Physical Education: 80% daily effort, participation, conduct, 20% assessments

8th grade Health: 60% class work, 20% projects, 20% tests/quizzes

January 2025 newsletter:

Physical Education- Students have started off the New Year with a brand new unit of tchoukball! Students have been using the new tchoukball nets to learn this game of European origin. The beauty of tchoukball is that all players can excel in the game, regardless of inherent skill level. The game involves plenty of strategy and anticipation. Players with stronger throws can be countered by excellent strategy and anticipation by their opponents. Angles and some physics concepts come in to play as students play this game as well. Students have taken some time to acclimate to the rules and defensive concepts involved with the game, but they are doing a great job and hopefully enjoying playing a new sport for the first time in PE. 

Students in grades 3 and 4 are also learning some of the rules of tchoukball while practicing throwing and catching using the nets. The tchoukball nets have also provided a new and fun opportunity for students in PreK-2nd grade to gain additional throwing and catching practice to reinforce skills practiced earlier this year. PreK-grade 4 has also been working on some jumping skills in class with some simple plyometric exercises mixed into a tag game.

Health- 8^th grade students have been working on a Life Story Poster project in class. First they used some prompts to focus in on key moments in their history, then imagined their life as a book and divided it into chapters as they saw fit. Next they used those 2 assignments to help design a poster to communicate their life story in a fun and creative way. Finally, they got some public speaking practice as each student spent a few minutes presenting their poster to the class and answering questions from their classmates.

Philosophy: I believe all students should be provided with a variety of activities that allows them to explore several different ways to be physically active. The goal is to provide students with enjoyment, competition and motivation to want to be physically active through the remainder of their lives. Students will also learn about what it means to live a happy and healthy lifestyle.