Mr. Cherry Bio

Ryan Cherry is from Brooklyn, Michigan and attended Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. He is a highly qualified educator who spent the last 16 years working in various educational settings around the Midwest. After seeing his high school soccer coach be an influential role model in the lives of his elementary students, he studied elementary education in college as he sought to also positively impact the lives of students. This is his 9th year at Decatur. He did his student teaching in 5th grade at Cleveland School in Chicago. He taught Language Arts and Math in a 5th grade classroom in Brookfield, IL, all subjects in a 4th through 6th grade room at a public Montessori school in Indiana and at Hibbard Elementary in CPS before coming to Decatur in 2017.

Mr. Cherry is inquisitive and curious about the people and world around him. He enjoys reading as it a great avenue to better understand people and our world. He agrees with Dr. Seuss that "the more you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go." Mr. Cherry is filled with immense excitement about the chance to teach physical education, as it combines his passion for physical activity and sports with the joy of engaging with students and supporting them enthusiastically. He is fascinated by neuroscience and its intersection with physical activity and is grateful for the chance to have students four days each week to encourage their physical activity.

He is passionate about seeing students gain confidence in their abilities to be successful in both the classroom and the world and become well rounded individuals who care for others as they care for themselves. In his free time, Mr. Cherry enjoys playing sports, spending time with friends and family and enjoying a delicious slice of pie with some strong coffee.

Posts

Primary grades Sideline soccer Sept 22-25, 2025 PE

In the Jr. High soccer units, students practiced trapping, passing and evading defense through various Rondo drills.

Primary Fitness Day

Each week students work on different fitness activities to help expose them to different ways they can be moving their body for the rest of their lives. Students jogged laps and then learned some new exercises through FitDeck cards.

We spent time introducing our kindergarteners to the our traverse wall. They did such a good job following directions and were so excited to use that space!

Intermediate grades dribbling shark attack Sept 8-12, 2025

Students dribbled their ball around and tried to avoid getting their ball stolen by the "sharks." If the ball was stolen, the player becomes a shark and keeps going.

2nd grade soccer dribble relay

Students worked in groups to dribble down to the cone and back

Primary Soccer Dribbling Sept 2-5, 2025

Students following the leader video while I can go around to give feedback and encouragement

Hula Hut Relays Jr. High Aug 25-29 SY25-26

Students continued with their team building unit working through different challenges. They engaged in the leveled game called Hula Hut Relays where students have to work as a team to build a hula hut out of hula hoops and get it to stay up after which they need to complete a series of challenges connected to their hula hut. Next week students will start their soccer and handball units.

Fire and Ice Tag Intermediate grades Aug 18-22 SY25-26

Students got back into the PE routine working through a series of team building activities including Fire and Ice Tag where 4 students have blue pool noodles to "freeze" their peers. There are also 3 players with "fireballs" (red yarn balls) who can unfreeze peers by throwing and catching. Next week, students will continue with different team building activities.

Moana Show week- Hoop Hop Showdown May 19-23, 2025

During Show week, Ms Schmittle graciously lets me use her space and one of fan favorites is to play Hoop Hop Showdown. This is a game where students are split into 2 teams and the first person in each line jumps 2 footed through the hula hoops until they meet a player from the opposing team. Then those 2 players play Rock Paper Scissors and the winner keeps going while the other player returns to the end of the line.

Wellness Week Team building activity- Cross the River Intermediate grades May 16 2025

As a part of the school's wellness week, students took part in a team building activity called cross the river where students needed to work together to use the equipment provided for them to cross an imaginary river. Students learned the power of communication and practiced making changes to an approach when it doesn't work.

Wellness Week Team Building Activity Pass the frog- Primary May 16 2025

Primary students had to work in teams of 8-10 kids where they needed to pass around a baton using a designated body part. The emphasis was on communication and working with others to be well.

Intermediate grades flag football games May 12-16, 2025

Intermediate grades building up their skills in football through flag football games

Primary grades ball striking and 2 square game May 12-16, 2025

Students worked on their striking skills through the 4 square build up game called 2 square where 2 partners hit the ball back and forth trying to get it bounce only 1 time in their square.

Intermediate grades Football throwing and catching May 5-9, 2025

Students worked on using their throwing and catching cues to improve their skills.

Name: Ryan Cherry
Position: Physical Education
Email: rrcherry@cps.edu