Grade 5 Ice Skating at Pingree

One of the highlights of the year for Grade 5 students at Shore is ice skating at Pingree School, a special program held over the winter trimester in which Grade 5 Physical Education classes engage in beginner ice skating exercises and games. Initially, students are grouped by experience level, then gradually come together as everyone grows more comfortable on the ice. Over time, you see meaningful moments: beginners taking careful first steps, and more experienced skaters offering a steady hand or a bit of encouragement. In a heartwarming moment, students thanked their teachers with a handmade sign and shore-branded athletic ice skating sweatshirts, showing their appreciation for the hard work that goes into organizing something like this.

"If you're still learning how to stop and be safe, we start you in the instructional group, but gradually, by the end of the program, we make sure we bring everyone together in the game group. If there's a student who feels most comfortable with a crate, that's okay too!" explains Athletics Director Nancy McNall, whose experience at another school, in Michigan, was the inspiration for the program. "Sometimes there's a little vulnerability involved, like when a student who's very comfortable in field sports is on the ice for the first time. But, we provide instruction, and when they get it, you can see they really start to love it!" McNall spoke enthusiastically about the program, which has taken brief hiatuses at points during past years but has always returned, and credited Pingree School for their hospitality and longtime partnership.

As George Bernard Shaw said, "You cannot learn to skate without making yourself ridiculous - the ice of life is slippery". In this simple truth, applicable to many facets of life, we see the bonds of this group grow stronger as they learn together and gain additional trust in one another from this formative experience.