Hello My Name Is...
Dr. Marina Bonello aka Dr. B
Teaching Physical Education to young children is my passion ! I am entering my 18th year teaching K-5 PE and energized to begin this scholastic year at Timber Trail Elementary School. Originally from Malta, my PE career spanned teaching in Malta and the USA. I moved to Colorado in 2017 and spent 4 wonderful years teaching PE part- time at Franktown Elementary School prior to coming to Timber Trail.
The PE curriculum I develop integrates a variety of curriculum models but its core framework is the Skill Themes and Movement Concepts model ( STMC by Dr. G. Graham). The strength of STMC is it's uniqueness in empowering students to learn, use and apply movement skills and concepts. The goal of the STMC appraoch is to guide children to become active, competent and skillful movers. PE lessons include fitness development components, health concepts, team building/collaborative games and interdisciplinary concepts too where relevant. My learning environment is developed with the goal of creating a fun, interesting, motivating and exciting place for children to crave moving ! I use a lot of visuals and puppets during my classes too; I myself keep up the tradition of wearing fun costumes/hats/wigs during special times of the school year. Your child may come home telling you about "BEE KIND" and BEE ACTIVE" coming to the gym: these are a series of bee-cartoons I have developed to address my classroom management, PE and Social/Emotional learning outcomes. Every month we will have a "Bee Award" Hall of Fame - stay tuned for more details.
I am also a World Sport Stacking coach and official. I have volunteered as official at several Junior Olympics held in summer in the USA 2014 to date. As a coach I have led teams of children and parents to participate in the 2016 World Championships and Colorado Open Championships of 2020 and 2022. I am a very active person and enjoy boating, swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving and hiking in Malta during the summer months. In Colorado I enjoy Yoga, hiking, and biking with my husband Larry. During my youth, I played volleyball, soccer, and athletics in Middle and High School. I represented Malta on the Track and Field team (4x100m relay) in the Games of the Small States of Europe 1989 and 1991 and the Archery Games of the Small States of Europe in 1993, and 1994. I was also fortunate to attend the Youth Camp during the Barcelona 1992 Olympics: the experience has since inspired the organization of my field day!
I am looking forward to working with your children during PE at Timber Trail Elementary School Gym ! Stay tuned for more information about physical activities in the gym and the launching of a new TTES stacking club after school.
Yours truly in PE,
Committed to making P.E. a PEAK EXPERIENCE for kids!
Dr. Marina Bonello
BEd.(Hons) University of Malta
MSc.Ed. Health & Physical Education, Virginia Tech
PhD in Kinesiology: Physical Education Pedagogy, University of Maryland
Member of Society of Health and Physical Education of America since 1996.
World Sport Stacking Association Coach and Official since 2014.