Young Fives through 5th grade PE: This week, all classes are starting with a new warm up: intervals! We use the projector to put an interval timer on the gym wall, and then follow along with different exercises. 20 seconds of exercise, 10 seconds of rest. Grades 2-5 did burpees/jumping jacks or lunges/high knees for their exercises, and young fives, kindergarten, and first graders did jumping jacks and running in place for their exercises. Before beginning, we review each exercise, and I demonstrate the correct form, along with adaptations students can use if they need to go at a lower intensity (for example, stepping legs out and in during burpees rather than jumping). Students practice, and then we do just under four minutes of intervals. After drinks, we moved on to continue work with our paddles.
Young fives, kindergarten, first and second graders worked with paddles and beanbags. Each student had their own paddle and bean bag. We call the bean bags Beanie, and the paddles Patty. Students learn how to hold the paddle with a handshake grip. Then, students are encouraged to try:
- balancing their bean bag on their paddle
- toss the bean bag up, catch it on Patty
- try to balance Beanie, holding Patty, and sit down all the way to the floor - without touching Beanie or the floor- and stand back up again without dropping Beanie!
- toss it from Patty, catch it in your free hand
- walk balancing Beanie on Patty, gallop, skip, sideways slidestep
- how many times can you toss Beanie up from Patty and catch it without dropping it?
Third, fourth, and fifth graders continued working with paddles and foam balls. Each student shared a court space with a partner and took turns hitting forehand/backhand shots at the wall. Handshake grip, keeping paddle perpendicular to the floor, swing parallel to the floor, and trying to maintain a rally is emphasized.
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| A student is hitting the ball at her court's wall. Her partner waits for his turn behind the court area. |
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| Fifth graders. Each taped "T" on the floor is one court. We previously used the taped lines for two square or four square. |
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| Fourth graders. |
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| Fourth graders. The center cones mark the waiting spot for partners. The center area of the gym is also referred to as "the sidewalk". Students use this area to move to another court if their ball rolls away from them (rather than walking through classmates' playing areas!). |
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| This kindergartener balances Beanie on Patty. |
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| Toss! |
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| First graders sitting down while balancing Beanie, then try to stand up while keeping Beanie balanced on Patty. |
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| Balancing! |
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| Sitting down - while balancing Beanie. |
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| Moving around the gym while balancing Beanie. We walked, galloped, skipped, and sideways slide-stepped. |
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| Third graders use wall space to practice forehand strokes. |
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| Moving around the gym while balancing. |
PE-Humanities/Health: In health classes this week, students watched a personal safety video and then discussed how to stay safer from bad touch.
ASD: ASD classrooms continue to follow our routine, using a visual schedule: locomotor skill warm-up, stretches, a game (TBall or Kickball), and then choice time.
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| Visual schedule for ASD classes. We check the schedule after we complete each item, and either move it to the right strip of velcro, or add a matching image next to the item to show we finished that section of class. |
SXI: The SXI class has continued to enjoy taking turns at TBall and then moving, moving, moving! We do individual activities with students based on their interests and levels. Some may work on visually tracking objects, others may work on throwing and catching a ball, while others may be taking as many steps as possible during our time in the gym.
