“Don Wills’ physical education class at South Whidbey Intermediate School should have a motto: If you don’t like what we’re doing right now, wait five minutes.Gym class isn’t what it used to be. On what rated as a typical Thursday last week, Wills’ fifth-grade students learned how to shoot basketballs, worked on their push-up form, played a basketball passing game, and scored high-fives from the teacher before running off to lunch.This is how Wills has run his classes for the 17 years he has worked for South Whidbey schools. His students have a good time and learn fitness activities they will keep for a lifetime. And that high-five bit always brings them back for more.“They want me to put my hand high into the air to see if they can hit it,” Wills said.By the end of the year-long class, most of them can.Physical education has come a long way during his tenure, Wills said, with different approaches taken through the years. The most recent addition to Wills’ present day gym class are units concerning human wellness and healthful living. Mixed in among the dozens of posters of professional athletes Wills has tacked on the walls of the school gym are nutrition charts and slogans about sportsmanship and teamwork.Part of Wills’ curriculum is a lesson in getting along with classmates. Dubbed “the caring game,” it goes beyond simple sportsmanship. The lessons teach the third, fourth and fifth graders to treat others as they wish to be treated themselves.Wills’ program at the intermediate school builds on the basic movement skills students learn at the primary school. His students learn the rules and the individual skills that make up complete sports. Before they ever play a real game of, say, basketball, the students must learn to dribble, shoot, rebound, steal the ball, and how to use all these skills within the regulations of the sport. By the time graduating fifth graders graduate to middle school, they are ready to move into full-scale sports and game playing.“One of the goals of physical education teachers in this district is to build on each others’ curriculums,” Wills said.Another one of the goals in Wills’ class is to have fun. He has no trouble keeping it that way, because his curriculum never gets into a rut. Students learn sports skills in football, soccer, hockey, volleyball, cross country, basketball, gymnastics, softball, track and field, and racquet sports. Interspersed are dance units, jump rope lessons, Frisbee, yo-yo, juggling, hacky sack, earth ball, and pogo-stick jumping.All this leaves most students wanting more. Looking to learn a little more about certain games and sports than they could in class, anywhere from six to 25 students spend their noon recess time in daily “circus skills” clubs.During the out-of-session clubs, students learn to jump rope, juggle, ride a unicycle, tumble, and play “double Dutch.” In Thursday’s club session, about a dozen students did tumbling exercises. Some, like Josette Serill, did full-blown front handsprings. Other students turned cartwheels, and still others settled for somersaults. Wills provides the structure, getting the students to warm up to music, then to work on specific skills. He also serves as a spotter when the students start doing more advanced flips and movements.Serrill, who is one of the natural gymnastic talents at the school, said the clubs give her a place to practice sports and games she barely has time to learn about in gym class.“Because they’re amusing and they give you talent,” Serrill said.Monica Huziak, another club gymnast, agrees that the extra time and practice is what she needs.“We get to learn how to do things that we might not have time at home to do,” Hudziak said.For at least one student, Sahara Coleman, learning a club activity is a way to learn a healthy lifestyle. It is the one time of day when she can concentrate completely on just one thing.“It just kind of helps me focus on exercise,” Coleman said.As for their teacher, Wills goes the extra mile in and out of class for one simple reason — he gets to see learning happen. “It’s just exciting to get to see it every day,” Wills said. “Working with kids has to be the most rewarding job in the world.””