Week of 5/23: Battleship and Helicopter tag!

Grades Y5, K, and 1:  Helicopter tag and more!  

1.  Pathways warm-up:  Students move in different pathways around the gym, staying inside the box (basketball court boundaries).  Pathways include a figure eight, circle, wavy line, snaked line, back and forth straight lines, random (everyone's favorite!), and more!

2.  Stretches

3.  Alphabet letters activity:  Students are assigned a partner.  They move around the gym to the music.  When the music stops, they reunite with their partner and look at me.  I hold up a letter for each pair to create with their bodies on the floor.  

4.  Months dance:  Students practice our months of the year dance.  Each month is said to the tune of a musical audio track, and each month corresponds with one move of the Macarena.  Ask your Y5, K, or 1st grade student(s) to show you this dance!  We have been practicing each class.  

• January:  one hand out in front (palm down)
• February:  other hand out in front (palm down)
• March:  turn first hand over (palm up)
• April:  turn second hand over (palm up)
• May: First hand touches opposite shoulder
• June: Second hand touches opposite shoulder
• July: One hand behind ear
• August: Other hand behind other ear
• September: Hand cross to touch opposite hip
• October: Other hand crosses to touch opposite hip
• November: First hand to hip
• December: Second hand to hip

5.  Helicopter tag:  Students start in a "helipad" marked with colored cones.  I call out which color moves to which new helipad.  One or two taggers are in the middle and have a pool noodle to tag (gently - no hitting) with.  If tagged, a runner goes back to the color they were just at.  For example, "Blue, go to red".  Players in the blue cones run to the red cones.  If tagged, they return to blue - they're still in the game, just wait for the next direction to move.  

Grades 2-5:  Battleship
Students have really enjoyed learning new games these past couple of weeks!  This week's game is Battleship.  As the week progressed, we made a few changes:

• each team has ONE ship (rather than two separate ships)
• each team also has two hula hoops - to use to rake cannonballs back to the ship within reach, and/or to contain cannonballs on/near their team's ship

Battleship Rules #1

Battleship Rules #2

Monday's classes all had two separate ships per team.  Tuesday - Friday classes then experienced one large ship per team (it made the game less confusing).   

Y5 and K: Ball Familiarization Lesson Photo

Here are photos from our first day of lessons on ball familiarization.  Students are rolling and moving the ball around their bodies in different ways, and then rolling the ball and catching it after it bounces off of the wall and rolls back to them.  

Y5 and K: Week of 12/8/2014

Ball Familiarization

Young Fives and Kindergarteners will be working with playground balls (aka kickball ball, bouncy ball) this week.  They'll be doing different exploration tasks with them, such as:

• holding the ball in different locations relative to their body (high, low, to the right, left, in front, behind, etc.) -- trying this with both hands and then with one hand, and the other hand
• making a bridge over the ball
• sitting down, "criss cross applesauced", with ball in both hands -- try to stand up without using hands to help or letting go of the ball
• rolling the ball around body parts while sitting/standing
• rolling the ball against the wall and catching it
• partner rolling tasks

Check the PE blog later in the week for pictures of students experiencing these lessons!!  

1st Grade and Kindergarten Humanities: Week of 12/8/2014

Months of the Year

We have started our first grade and kindergarten nutrition unit for health, and will continue learning about food groups next week.  I thought we should take one class period and learn the Months of the Year dance.  This is something we will practice and do throughout the remainder of the school year.  Learning something to music and with motions helps us learn it better, faster, and retain it longer.

Students can practice this at home, with or without the actual song we use at school.  The motions are just like the Macarena.  Here are the directions:

1.  January:  Put your right arm straight in front with palm down.
2.  February:  Put your left arm straight in front with palm down.
3.  March:  Flip your right hand over.
4.  April:  Flip your left hand over.
5.  May:  Touch one hand to the opposite shoulder.
6.  June:  Touch other hand to the opposite shoulder.
7.  July:  Touch right hand to the right side of your head.
8.  August:  Touch left hand to left side of your head.
9.  September:  Put your right hand on your left front hip.
10.  October:  Put your left hand on your right front hip.
11. November:  Right hand on right hip.
12.  December:   Left hand on left hip.

Being prepared: Incentive program grades 1-5

Grades 1-5 have an incentive program to be prepared for PE class.  If the entire class is prepared for PE class, the class earns a star.  To earn a star, everyone in the class must have on appropriate gym shoes (rubber sole, covered toe, covered heel), and all jewelry (dangling earrings/necklaces/bracelets/watches most commonly) removed when class begins.

Once the class earns four weeks of stars, they earn a game day!  The game day is scheduled as it works for our PE schedule.  Classes sometimes have to wait to have their game day happen - but we record when the game day actually happens, and they continue earning stars toward their next game day each class.

For grades 1-2, the reward game is Guard the Pin.  Grades 3-5, the reward game is Pins and Baskets.  Gym setup and many of the basic rules are the same for both:  the gym is divided in half with cones.  The class is divided evenly into two teams.  Players may not cross the center line of the gym.  The goal of the game is to knock over the other team's pins.  First team to knock over the other team's pins wins that round.  Each pin can have one pin guard, who must stay standing and may not touch the pin to stop it from falling or hold it up.  Players may only roll or throw the ball -- no kicking or hitting the ball.

For Pins and Baskets, if a team makes a green $$money ball$$ basket on the center hoop only (without crossing the center line), they can reset all of their team's pins.

Many ask:  isn't this just dodgeball?!?!?  No, it isn't.  We don't ever play dodgeball or games where humans are targets.  Students are aiming at the pins, and pin guards are only volunteers.  I explain to students that the best success I've had (and I've played this game A LOT) is with rolling the ball and knocking it against the back wall to hit the pins.  :)

Most students seem to love this game, and I enjoy participating with students when I can.  This game also works on overhand throwing, rolling, and space awareness.  For first graders, this is one of the first games we do following "Clean Out Your Backyard" (which they LOVE!!!).

A third grade class enjoys a game of Pins and Baskets

Hula Hoops

When most people think about hula hoops, they often think of hula hooping around the waist.  There are so many more activities to do with this amazing piece of equipment!  We work with space and body awareness (example:  stand behind the hula hoop, hop inside the hula hoop on your left foot), basic locomotor skills, and much more during these lessons.

One of the most exciting activities for students is spinning the hula hoop.  Students spin the hoop, leave it spinning, and challenge themselves to touch one wall.  They hustle back to their hoop to try to catch it before it is flat on the floor.  Students are moving in all different directions, so safety is important.  Reminders about personal space and watching out for others are always given immediately before this activity.  They love it and I love to see them succeed!!

Students at squad seats, in personal space, experimenting with the hoops.  

Spinning the hoops in place.  

More activities we enjoyed include using the hoop as a jump rope, bridges/balances over the hoops, and holding the hoops in different ways.  Hula hooping around arms or ankles are also fun to try!!