Culley Elementary School's physical education program is loaded. Because of P.E. teacher Jürgen Kraehmer, students at Culley have the equipment they need to stay active during their P.E. classes.
When not instructing, Kraehmer spends time looking for alternative ways to obtain much-needed sports and fitness gear so his students won't be sitting on the sidelines waiting for their turn to workout.
By applying for grants and participating in rewards programs, he can earn items or money for his classes that otherwise wouldn't be available to him if he were only using Clark County School District funds.
"That's so important in the P.E. program, to have equipment," Kraehmer said.
Kraehmer is in the process of writing a grant to receive compasses, which he plans to use in his P.E. classes at Culley, 1200 N. Mallard St. Grant programs he has written for include U.S. Games, a P.E. equipment outfit and Parents as Learning Support Program.
"I get equipment so everyone's engaged," Kraehmer said. "Other programs don't have the equipment. They just play games to keep the kids occupied."
Kraehmer also hosts after- school clubs, and this season, he formed an elementary soccer team that will play other elementary schools in the area.
"Before Christmas, I had a running club," Kraehmer said.
In December, he and his running club participated in the Nike 5K, which earned his classes money from Nike, which went to support the P.E. classes at Culley. Kraehmer said the key to a good P.E. class is having enough tools to keep everyone busy, not having kids waiting around to use equipment.
Earlier this year, Culley Elementary was designated a President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Demonstration Center, along with seven other schools in the valley.
The programs were selected based on criteria, and the designations were made by Partners for a Healthy Nevada, an obesity prevention coalition founded by the Southern Nevada Health District.
"It's very important that P.E. programs include physical activity," said Anne Lindsay, state coordinator for the President's Council. "You don't have to be an athlete to be physically active."
To be selected as a demonstration center the schools had to meet eight criteria based on Nevada state and national standards.
"The teachers are doing a phenomenal job," Lindsay said.
The criteria included promoting lifelong fitness and physical activity, maximizing participation and time in class, teaching a variety of fitness options, having pre- and post-fitness testing and teaching students the physical benefits of what they're learning in class and why it works.
"I think it's an honor, personally. It's impressive that they would choose our school," Kraehmer said. "I think it challenges me to stay at that level or go higher since I'm a demonstration center."
Kraehmer describes his teaching style as "skill-oriented, compared to game-oriented," and said he wants his students to take away a love for physical fitness from his class.
"I really enjoy the fitness and nutrition area," Kraehmer said.
The P.E. teacher integrates other academic subjects into his class times, like having students measure distance during track and field or practice vocabulary words while jumping rope.
Micky Garcia, Kraehmer's assistant, explained that the P.E. teacher also implemented a fitness assessment program for the kids, where their fitness statistics are measured at the beginning of the school year and again at the end.
"The kids get really excited about that," Garcia said.
The idea is to show kids their progress throughout the year and hopefully motivate them to stay on track with their fitness goals.
During his week, Kraehmer teaches all 900 kids at Culley, except those whom are on track break.
P.E. classes run for 50 minutes twice a week, with 60 kids in each session.
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