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).   

Week of 5/16: Sinkerball! Beanbag relays!

Grades 2-5:  

For this week in PE, grades 2-5 played a game called Sinkerball.  I found the game on a site called www.physedgames.com.  Here is the video description of the rules:  

Classes really enjoyed this game!  Classes played during both of their PE classes this week, with new teams each time.  This game works on throwing/rolling, and also strategy and teamwork.  We discuss how strategy is a plan to be successful - and how in this game, some strategies may include:

• starting the game and staying away from the throwers as much as possible
• protecting your pin with your body as much as possible while pulling it
• if your pin is down, helping someone with fewer or no helpers protect their pin
• tossing balls to the back or side of the playing area, rather than right back to the throwing team, if you are protecting a pin
• coordinating with other throwers to throw many balls at once at one pin

Some adaptations from the video rules we used include: 

• only throw/roll - no kicking, no hockey sticks
• throw zone on one side of the gym worked best for our gym size
• played for time (rather than points) - team with longest time with at least one pin standing won that round

Classes watched the video directions before dividing into teams and starting the game.  

Grades Y5-1: 
Younger classes worked on bean bag relays this week.  This activity helps younger students understand the concept of a relay activity - one person from your team leaves at a time, and the next person has to wait for them to return before leaving.  Beanbags were hidden under about 25 cones in the playing area.  Relay teams worked to retrieve one beanbag at a time, by looking under one cone per turn.

PE: Week of 4/27

This week in PE, we continued to add time to our cardiovascular warm-up.   Most classes completed a 10 minute continuous jog in the gym.  We've been gradually increasing our movement time to prepare for the mile and half mile run tests.  As the weather continues to improve, I'll be taking classes outside to complete their half mile/mile run test.  Please send students with layers for warmth, particularly if they have PE early in the morning.

Kindergarten, Young Fives, 1st, and 2nd graders completed a continuous jog cardiovascular warm-up and then stretch.  Next, students used paddles with beanbags.  This lesson (from Landy & Landy, Ready to Use PE Lessons for K-3, 1992, p 245) targets hand-eye coordination, visual tracking, and right-left dexterity.  Using a bean bag instead of a ball allows for more on-task time with these skills, since it eliminates the need to chase a bouncing ball around.

Examples of verbal prompts I gave during the lesson, along with demonstrations:

• Walk with your beanbag on the paddle.  Try different locomotor skills (skip, gallop, sideways slide-step, tiptoe walk, etc). 
• Holding your beanbag on your paddle, try to sit down-stand up again without dropping.  How can you move the paddle all around your body, transfer it from hand to hand, high/low, right/left, front/behind? 
• Can you toss your beanbag up in the air and catch it with your free hand?  Can you trap it between the paddle and your free hand?  Switch hands and try it again.  
• Toss the beanbag up with your free hand and catch it on the paddle.  Try to toss it higher.  Switch hands. 
• Toss the beanbag off of your paddle and catch it on your paddle.  Count how many times you can do it without dropping the beanbag.  Switch hands. 
• Toss the beanbag holding the paddle palm up (forehand position), catch it with your palm down (backhand position).  Try switching hands.  Can you do other tricks?  
• Stand facing your partner.  Put your beanbag on your paddle.  Toss and catch it with your partner using your paddle.  Try:  toss with paddle, catch with hand.  

Kindergarteners exploring tossing and catching beanbags with paddles.  

Partner toss/catch.  

Grades 3-5 students, following their 10 minute continuous jog warm-up, will participate in the human knot activity.   Students are divided into groups of 4-10 students.  They stand in a circle.  They hold up their right hand and each take another group member's hand (not the person next to them, though).  Then, repeat with left hands - and it can't be the same person whose right hand you're holding.  Then, students move and try to untie the "human knot" they've created, returning to a circle formation.  This activity works on communication, strategy, teamwork, spatial awareness, and listening skills.  

Warm-ups, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Scooters, and Teamwork

Cardio Warm-Up

This week, each class will begin with a five minute cardiovascular warm-up.  A timer will be projected on the wall, with a buzzer sound at the conclusion of the five minutes.  For the next couple of weeks, we'll gradually increase the warm-up time to prepare for the mile run (grades 3-5 FitnessGram test, grade 2 practice), half mile run/walk (Young Fives, K, and 1st grade), AND the Haisley Walk-a-Thon!!

This is what our "scoreboard" looks like.  Using a projector, it displays on the wall for all to see during our warm-up.  This helps students know exactly how much time is left in the warm-up activity.  

Hungry Hungry Hippos

Hungry Hippos is the name of the game for this week for 1st through 5th grade.  This was entirely inspired by social network posts (Pinterest/Facebook) from other PE teachers.  Hungry Hungry Hippos was one of my favorite childhood games to play.  Imagine this game in the gymnasium, and the students are the "hippos".  Teams work together to send out a teammate on a scooter with a small plastic container.  On the scooter, the student must use the plastic container to trap balls from the floor to slide them back to their team's area.  The team with the most balls in their corner wins that round.

Update  4/16:  K and Young Fives participate in a modified version of this game, reinforcing teamwork, cooperation, scooter safety, and space awareness.  Check out the blog post about their version here.

****UPDATE 4/16:  We'll have to save our Sewer teamwork activity (below) for another time...Hippos definitely needed all of our class time this week!!  

Teamwork

This week, if time allows, students will also participate in a teamwork activity called The Sewer.  This activity also includes spatial awareness, communication, problem solving, and strategy.

Students are divided into groups of four.  Each group has three cones and one hula hoop.  Cones are set in a triangular pattern, with the hoop balanced on top.  This makes the group's sewer top.  Groups have different challenges to accomplish together.  These include:

1.  Students begin outside the sewer.  One at a time, they must enter the sewer and stay inside until all student are inside.
2.  All students are inside.  They must now have all students leave the sewer one at a time.
3.  Students must go under the sewer top and stand inside the hoop one at a time.
4.  Students are in the hoop and now crawl under the hoop, one at a time, until they're all out.