Capture the Basketball(s) (Based on Capture the Flag type Games)

The previous unit of develop/create your own game(s) has really rubbed-off on me.

Again it's a well known game that my students adore: Capture the Flag, all I've done is basketball it up a bit!

I divide a basketball court in two (green team and yellow team).
I still keep the concept of 'raiding' going into the opponents territory to capture an item, but rather than capture a flag, they try and capture 3 basketballs.

The 3 basketballs are placed on cones and are spread along the baseline of the basketball court.

The object of the game is to take the basketball under control to your teams side. If you get tagged whilst raiding you become 'stuck in the mud' until a team mate can reach you and escort you back to your own half (during the rescue the students have to remain in contact - they get a free walk back). Once back in their own half they can continue raiding once again. If a raiding student is tagged whilst dribbling or holding the basketball, they have to give it up immediately so it can be returned to it's cone.

Under control means the basketball can't just be thrown across the center line. It maybe passed (before the center line) or dribbled, but as it goes across the center line it has to be dribbled under control! If the basketball is not dribbled under control it is returned to the original team for them to replace it on it's cone.

Safe zones: I add safety zones (circles) around the cones holding the basketballs. They are safety zones for the raiding team.  The safe zones can only accommodate one raider at a time, with a time limit of 10 seconds.

The winning team is the first team to capture their opponents 3 basketballs.

Adapting Games to Focus on Specific Skills

I experimented with adapting two games yesterday with Grades 4 & 5 to really focus on their Basketball dribbling, passing and receiving skills.

The first game was a game created by the Grade 4's in their previous unit. I've already shared their original game in an earlier post (G5 & G4 Games (For their "Create and Develop A Simple Game" unit)). 

In the gym four 'rest areas' are coned off - two at the far ends opposite each other and two at the sides in the middle, again opposite each other. In each of the 'rest areas' I put a bucket of Basketballs. 

I start with one tagger with the idea that the first person he/she tags immediately becomes another tagger.

After that, everyone else who is tagged becomes frozen from the waist down.

To be released the frozen student needs to receive a bounce pass or chest pass from a fellow student in a 'rest area'.  Once they have caught the Basketball they dribble the ball back to the 'rest area' it was passed from. They then have to perform their 'run for freedom' across the gym to the opposite 'rest area' without stopping in order to continue the game. If they get tagged during their 'run for freedom' they immediately join the tagging team. 

The game continues until there are no runners left or the game slows because the taggers outnumber the runners.

I adapt the second round of the game... During their 'run for freedom' they have to dribble a Basketball - once they have completed their run successfully they put their Basketball in the bucket and join back in with the game.

The second game is an adaptation of Yoshi - a very popular game this year in PE. 

Same objective, the whole team needs to get 'home' without being tagged. This time though each player has to dribble a Basketball when moving (I don't worry, double dribbles etc.) 

Two players, one for each team are off the court on the side lines on the oppositions side. 

Their job is to help free the raiders if they get tagged whilst trying to get 'home'.

If a raider get tagged he/she is frozen from the waist down and has to pivot round to pass their ball to the team member off the court, on the side line. They then pass the ball back in to so the once frozen play can dribble the Basketball to halfway to have another go at entering enemy territory in order to get home.

When the teacher calls 'Yoshi' everyone rushes to get home. The two players who were on the sidelines grab a Basketball each and race across the gym to touch the opposite sideline then rush for home. First team 'home' wins.

G5 & G4 Games (For their "Create and Develop A Simple Game" unit)

I'm documenting a couple of my favorite games from the G5 & 4's "Create and Develop A Simple Game" unit.

Sharks, Rabys and Ravive (I ended up calling it Sharks, Rays & Rabies - LOL!)

Setup: 4 coned 'rest' areas - The original game had them across the playing area - one either end of the halfway line on a basketball court and one under each of the posts. In each of the 'rest' areas is a pile of beanbags. 

You need two taggers. 

The object of the game is for the taggers to eventually assimilate everyone.

The winner or winners are the last couple of non-taggers left standing. 

Rules:

'Rest' areas can only be occupied for no longer than 5 seconds.

Once you leave a 'rest' area you can not return to it straight away, you must at least visit a different one between.

There is no limit to the number of people in/using the 'rest' areas.

When the game starts the first two people tagged (the first person for tagger A and the first for tagger B) immediately become taggers. 

If you get tagged after this initial period your legs become 'stuck in the mud'.

In order to free yourself someone needs to throw you a beanbag from one of the 4 'rest' areas - you have to catch it to free yourself! Any missed beanbags are also collected at this point and all are returned to the 'rest' area where they were thrown from. 

BUT you're not free yet! Once in the 'rest' area where the beanbags were thrown from, you have to now sprint to the 'rest' area opposite. Once you have made it across the gym you are free to continue the game. BUT if you now get tagged on your run - you are assimilated into the tagging team. NOTE: during this run, you can not hide in any of the other 'rest' areas along the way!

Eventually almost everyone is a tagger, or 'stuck in the mud' and the few that are free are congratulated!

The Golden Dot Race

This game is a race. You have two teams, each team has a 'golden child'. The teams objective is to build a (poly-spot) dot bridge across the gym - the winning team is the team that steals enough dots to transport the 'golden child' past the finish line.

Setup: You divide the playing area length ways, with one team on one side and the other team on the other (opposite ends of the gym). Each team has a pile of dots. To make the game fair, the dots are spread over a largish area at their teams far end (if you're starting at opposite ends of the gym). NOTE: because the gym is divided longways, the dot pile that needs to be raided has to be on the opposite side to the 'golden child'. 

Each teams 'golden child' starts on one dot. 

The rest of the team is divided into defenders and raiders. Defenders defend the dots (they cannot stand on the dots). The raiders travel the length of the gym to steal dots from the opposition. If a raider is tagged by a defender the raider has to return to their end of the gym and touch the 'golden child' in order to get back into the game. 

Eventually enough dots are stolen and laid down to get the 'golden child' across the gym and over the designated finish line.

The 'Golden Child'

Defenders & Raiders

Defenders & Raiders

Beanbag Circle Tag

This is a nice and simple tag game. 

Setup: Hoop and beanbags.

Everyone apart from the taggers carries a beanbag. When a non-tagger is tagged they immediately drop their beanbag just in front of them and they are frozen or 'stuck in the mud' from the waist downwards. The taggers pick up the dropped beanbag and puts it in the hoop (in the center of the gym). 

The taggers objective is to collect as many beanbags as they can. The more people they tag, the more beanbags they collect!

In order to be freed a non-tagger needs to steal a beanbag from the hoop, find a frozen student and throw the beanbag to them. Once the frozen student makes the catch they can run off and continue the game again.

If a runner is tagged whilst carrying two beanbags (their own and another to free a friend) both have to be dropped.  

I very much emphasize that in order to free a friend the beanbag has to be thrown and caught - not handed over or dropped and picked up!

With the lower Grades they get confused and throw their own beanbag to a friend to free them. In this case I explain that having their own beanbag gives them the power to move, if they throw their own beanbag to a friend, they have now become frozen and are in need of rescue!

Mission Yoshi (The students gave this game a rating of 14/15)

This game is also a race. Poly-spots are laid on the floor in a path. The idea is the team has to travel together along the path, completing a set task and then racing to the finish.

The path stretches approximately two sides of a basketball court. The two teams have a starting base/zone at the opposite ends of the gym.

On 'GO' they have to race down the poly-spots to the first 'collection point'. Each team member must be in the 'collection point' before they can continue off again. This happens at least 3-4 more times along the length of the gym. When they get to the opposite end they each are required to shoot a beanbag into a bucket. If a person misses 2 beanbags they have to take another team member with them and return to the beginning to start again. Once a beanbag has been shot and makes the bucket the team must collect one last time before rushing to the end - which happens to be the oppositions starting base/zone. First team in - wins.

Collection Point

Traveling the Path between Collection Points

Having missed 2 beanbag shots, they rush back to the beginning

G5/G4 Create and Develop A Simple Game (My Learning Journey) Pt.2

After "Going Further: Testing and Feedback" it was to time to document their own unique games. 

Documenting Rules & Game Play.

Each group (4-5 students) got a big piece of blank paper so they could document the rules of their game and how it should be played. They did this through written rules and diagrams. 

The students also made a 30-60 second movie explaining how the game is played. This was generally achieved with one person narrating whilst on camera with the rest of the group playing. This part was particularly important for their online blogs and digital portfolios.

Group Assessment.

After each game as a class we assessed the game on FUN, ORIGINALITY and LONGEVITY. 

The students did this on their fingers on a scale of 1-5, 1 would be a low score and 5 would be the max, giving a total score of 15 over the three categories. All games scored between 9 - 14. 

Note: It was important to keep reminding the students that they were assessing the game, not how certain students played or interpreted the rules... For the most part, if a student gave a particularly hard score it was always interesting to hear why they gave that score, and most of the time is was due to what happened to them in the game and not actually the game itself. This would lead to brilliant class discussions on possible rules changes etc. 

Reflection.

As I often do I went with the visible thinking reflection of "I Used To Think/Now I Think". 

I particularly like this reflection as I want the students to focus in on a part of their learning journey and to tell me about it.