Infinity War (an invasion game for G1s - G5s)

I put this game together to demonstrate to the G5s and G4s that when you approach the concept of creating a game, having a theme is key, as in this case it helps to spark the imagination and create excitement.

The students are very excited about this game, and the news of it has spread like wildfire, with classes who have never played the game before coming in asking in they are playing the Thanos Game!

It's taken 2 days of PE to get to the version I'm playing at the moment. There has been a fair bit of trial and error, particularly around the number of Infinity Stones compared to the number of teams playing.

The Story

For those students who are old enough and have seen the Avengers, I tell them that they are agents working for Thanos, and it is there quest to collect all 6 Infinity Stones.

Interestingly, this leads onto students asking if they can create a mini dance/action when they have collected all 6 in order to replicate Thanos snapping his fingers.

With that in mind, I will put a more positive spin on the game, saying they are the Avengers and that they need to collect the Infinity Stones to keep them safe from Thanos.

Then they could choose which Avenger they would like to play... something like that.

The Set-up

It's a basic invasion/capture the flag type game.

I split the gym into 4 equal areas, each area has an Infinity Gauntlet or The Avengers Gauntlet (a hoops with coloured cones placed in it) placed at the end of each area (corner of the gym or basketball court).

The objective is to fill all 6 stone holders (cones) with the 6 Infinity Stones (dodgeballs).

I then place the 6 Infinity Stones in the center of the gym (where each team area touches). As luck would have it, Gopher manufacture the identical colours of dodgeballs to Infinity Stones! (according to the movies and not the comics).

I then divide the class into 4 teams.

The Rules

Teams can only handle 1 Infinity Stone at a time.
Infinity Stones can not be thrown, kicked or passed.
Teams can only tag others when they are in their own quarter of the gym (eg. Blues can tag anyone who isn't a blue in their own area).
When tagged the student takes a knee (if they have an Infinity Stone they hand the Stone back).
To be released a team member must get to the tagged member without being tagged themselves and hold their hand (wrist, shoulder etc.) for a free walk back to their quarter of the gym.
No one is allowed to stand in the hoop (gauntlet) to guard the stone(s).
One guard per hoop (gauntlet).

If a blue team member steals a stone from the green team but is tagged by a yellow when traveling through the yellow teams territory, the yellows keep the stone.

The Start

Each team selects 2 members from their team. The 2 selected team members for each team stand equal distance from the pile of Infinity Stones (baseline of the basketball court) which are placed in the center of the gym.

These runners can only collect 1 Infinity Stone at a time.

I call this the Infinity Scramble.

On a given signal the 2 players from each team rush out to grab an Infinity Stone (8 runners and 6 Infinity Stones).

As soon as the Infinity Scramble is over the game has started and all rules apply.

Conclusion

This is a fun game which the students can play at their own pace.
It's always good to remind the students if they have zero Infinity Stones, not to get upset and to carry on raiding others areas.

I'm still tweaking the game, so if anyone has any other info they would like to add or new variations I would love to hear from them.

Putting the Fun back into Fitness - The Nuts & Bolts of the Fitness Unit

If you've read previous posts you will already know that I don't particularly agree with fitness testing in Elementary School. (Link Here to Fitness Testing in Primary Schools - YES or NO?)

For Grade 5 we overlapped the Athletics Unit (an intro to Track & Field) with the Fitness Unit in order to introduce the students to a wide range of the components of fitness (health and skill).

For the lower Grades we focus six lessons (three cycles) on cherry picking the components of fitness that we feel appropriate for the specific age groups.

In this post I am not going to go into depth into the Athletics unit (Grade 5), but the events covered within that unit will help highlight where certain components of fitness fit across the two units.

Grade 5 Athletics (Intro. to Track & Field)

Athletics Unit 2018
Lesson 1: Into. to Sprinting
Lesson 2: Sprinting
Lesson 3: Intro. to Middle Distance 1500m
Lesson 4: Middle Distance 1500m
Lesson 5: Intro. to Long Jump
Lesson 6: Long Jump
Lesson 7: Intro. to High Jump
Lesson 8: High Jump
Lesson 9: Javelin

A constant theme throughout this unit are the components of fitness, particularly:
Health: cardiovascular fitness, flexibility, muscular endurance, strength and
Skills: agility, balance, coordination, reactions, rhythm, power and speed.

Added onto the Athletics Unit for the Grade 5s are the following lessons, which make up the Fitness Units for the younger Grade groups.

Fitness Unit 2018
Lesson 1: Intro. to three new bodyweight exercises through a tag game. Followed up by Fitness Prisoner Dodgeball.
Lesson 2: Intro. to three new bodyweight exercises through a tag game. Followed up by Fitness Prisoner Dodgeball.
Lesson 3: 'Old School' (warm up), one partner circuit. Followed by a Dodgeball game or Yoshi.
Lesson 4: 'Old School' (warm up), one partner circuit. Followed by a Dodgeball game or Yoshi.
Lesson 5: Interval training via a timed tag game. Followed by a Dodgeball game or Yoshi.
Lesson 6: Interval training via a timed tag game. Followed by a Dodgeball game or Yoshi.

The breakdown of lessons 1 and 2 introduces 6 bodyweight exercises over the course of two lessons.  This is achieved by playing 'everyone is it' tag or the fast tag in the world. Each time someone is tagged they perform 5-6 repetitions of the exercise we are learning about. The game is repeated three times introducing the three exercises. A lot of emphasis is place on form and doing the exercise right.

The first three exercise were the Star jump, Mountain Climbers and the Burpee.

Each exercise was taped to a board so they could be stood up around the gym.

The second half of those lessons is devoted to a game the students really have a lot of fun playing. With prisoner dodgeball when the students are hit or if they get caught, they go to the side and perform one of the exercises introduced that lesson. Once they have completed the exercise they make their way to prison and the game continues.  Each time they head to the side to do an exercise they are advised to rotate through the three and if they get hit a fourth time they start back with their first exercise.

By the time the students get to lessons 3 and 4 they know their six new exercises really well. After an 'old school' warm up, as a class we run some shuttles, the students break in to pairs and make their way clockwise round the gym doing their new circuit. Rep. ranges for the easier exercises are 20 and for the harder exercises 10.

For the second half of the lesson we play a fun game of the students choice, usually dodgeball or Yoshi.

In lessons 5 and 6 we play a tag game as part of the fitness element of the unit. The tag game introduces interval training. I don't know what the tag game is called, but I will attempt to describe it below.

Interval Tag Game.
The game is divided into 10 rounds.
Each round is 30 seconds long or each round gets progressively longer by 3-5 seconds.
Mr. Weston starts off as the sole tagger, carrying 4 mini noodles.
In the first 30 seconds I have to tag 4 students.

Once round 1 is over, if the students have not been a tagger or have not been tagged they receive a lollypop stick e.g. if they have successfully evaded the taggers that round they get a lollypop stick.

After the first round, if the students do get tagged they have to surrender their all their lollypop sticks to the tagger. You can not get tagged back within that round.

After 10 rounds we have a quick show of hands regarding who has how many lolly sticks.

Another possible timing opportunity would be to pyramid the times e.g. start at 30 seconds, increase by 5secs until you get halfway through the rounds and then start decreasing the time back to 30 again.

Again the second half of the lesson is devoted to a popular student game, Dodgeball or Yoshi.

That's it for a rough nuts and bolts for elementary fitness.

Orienteering Revisited '18

This is a post that is based on the reflections on last years Orienteering unit and how I organised the unit this year.

Lesson Order:
1. Introduction to basic maps and map drawing (find your partners lolly pop stick)
2. Micro Orienteering
3. Marco Orienteering (Flags of the world pt. 1)
4. Marco Orienteering (Flags of the world pt. 2)
Future Lessons:
5 & 6. Clue based Orienteering

Last year I started with Micro Orienteering follow up with Map Drawing (Hunt the lolly stick) Orienteering. As you can see this year I reversed the two lessons.

Reasons for this were I felt the students need to get to understand the basics of map reading, and the Micro Orienteering lesson didn't really answer all their questions.

Having them look at maps first and then produce a simple map on a personal white board of the gym with bits of equipment scattered round it seemed the more logical path to take. The practical part of the lesson had the students draw a plan of the gym (plus equipment) and then in pairs one would hide their partners lolly stick, mark it on the map with a circle and then have them try and find it.
A link to how to play this game can be found here.

Once the students have kinda got their heads around the idea of drawing and looking at a plan of the gym the next lesson: Micro Orienteering is much more plain sailing. In this lesson the idea of orientating yourself to the map is really important. It should be noted here, to save time and to lay the course, I had to produce the map for the class and photocopy it accordingly. Alternatively, if I have the time I would let the students copy the map onto their own white boards and to mark on the circles... I'm guessing that would produce some interesting results (and maps!).
A link to how to play this game can be found here.

Lessons 3 and 4: Macro Orienteering is conducted in an area of the schools ground, including outside basketball courts, a covered play area, the cafeteria, the gym and the football field.

I made up 40 cards with 20 flags (each flag had a double). With one set of flags I gave a number and with their double I gave a letter e.g. The Flag of France, one card is S and the other is 72.
To add a bit of technology into the mix I had the cards made up as QR codes (our G3's have individual iPads).

Before the lesson I place 20 cards (10 flags) around the area mapped, each location marked with a circle.

The objective is for the students to work in pairs to locate, find and record each card found and to match up the flag codes.

This is repeated for the 4th lesson, but with a varied map and the other 10 flags.

Below is one of the maps and keys for the flags that I used this year.

In the future I would like to try as the final lesson a clue based orienteering course. I'm not 100% sure what it will look like, but I like the idea of getting the students critically thinking their way to the next clue etc.

Introduction to Orienteering

Introducing simple maps and map readings to the Grade 3's.
The first to lessons of the unit have been based in or around the gym.

Lesson 1 - Micro Orienteering in the Gym

The objective of this lesson is to use a simple map in regards to orientating themselves to the room. I start the lesson with a map drawn on the wall. I ask the obvious question of what are they looking at? Once I get an answer I ask them how they knew they were looking at a map of the gym? This leads us into talking about what clues gave it away? what a 'plan' is and what the symbols on the map indicate.

We have a number of basketball hoops in the gym and so I point to one on the map and ask them to point to the one I am indicating in the gym. We discuss North, South, East and West (they have covered this in class) and why it's important to have a North arrow on the map. We also talk about how to hold the map and to always keep it orientated to themselves and the room.

My simple map!

Before the lesson I hid 33 sticker in the gym and marked their location on two maps, one master map with location and codes and one map with just the locations. I photocopied the map with just the locations, which were handed out pairs of students.

One of the 33 stickers hidden in the gym, coded D1

We discuss what the students are looking for and that once a sticker is spotted they should not draw attention to it.

Then once they have the code in the case above 'D1' they should check back with me as a control to make sure the right circle on the map ties up with the correct code. It's at this point I discover if they are reading their map correctly. If they get the first couple correct I tell them to check in with me every 4-5 stickers that they find. They write the code on their map.

This lesson is very active and keeps the students engrossed and on task. I also did this lesson with the Grade 2's and they loved it! I called it 'Treasure Hunting'

Lesson 2 - Lollypop Stick Orienteering

With this lesson the students have a slate a whiteboard marker and a lollypop stick each. Again they partner up. The idea is they draw their own personal design on the lollypop stick, hand it to their partner (swap sticks) and they take it in turns to go hide their partners stick. I put a max time of 1 minute for them to hide their partners stick and state the boundaries for the hiding locations (I don't want them disappearing across the school). Once they have returned they start to draw a map on their slate that will lead their partner to their missing stick.

I have the partners share a yoga mat to ensure they meet up in the same location each time.

Once the sticks have been located they clean their slates and go again.

You'll be amazed at some of the maps your students will draw!!! Lol - just that alone will lead you/them into a wealth of inquiry.

Personalizing their stick!

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.

Essential Agreements 2016 - 2017

Slightly different approach this year... 

To help the students start thinking, collaborating, and developing our Essential Agreements, I used the visible learning routine of 'think, pair, share' and based the initial leading questions around our five senses. 

If you were going to have an environment that would help you be the best that you can be in PE, what would that (environment) PE lesson look like? What would that PE lesson sound like? What would that lesson (make you) feel like? What does your PE lesson smell like? AND finally if you could make your PE lesson into a pie, or if it was a flavour of ice cream, what would your PE lesson taste like? (The students love this one - lol).

After some discussion, the students write down their thoughts and ideas on what will make the PE lessons 'work' for them this year.

The next step was to highlight the Essential Agreements the students felt were important. Again I used the visible thinking routine of 'think, pair, share' to start (students read peers contributions).

Then I had them place 3 pins in the Essential Agreements that they thought applied most to them and their idea of a good learning environment. There were a couple of rules to follow when choosing the 3 Essential Agreements they liked the most. Rule 1, was they shouldn't pick there own. Rule 2, was they shouldn't pick 3 EAs with the same theme and finally, Rule 3, was don't follow the crowd, be honest with yourself and pick 3 EAs that mean the most to you!

(Why pins? Because it takes the minimum amount of time away from the physically active part of the PE lesson).

Finally, I merged EA's with similar themes together in order to construct a list of agreed upon attitudes and values that the students felt they needed to create a safe learning environment in physical education.

Grade 3 & 4 Touch Rugby

A summery of two years of hard work, introducing touch rugby into Elementary School.

Last year I made a decision to put touch rugby on the elementary curriculum for grades 3 and 4. The school plays rugby in middle school (MS) and in high school (HS). I coach the boys JV rugby team (contact) in HS and the boys MS touch team.

Last year in G3 I possibly set my sights too high, and introduced the full game from scratch. This proved to be really hard work. The concept that you need to give constant support from behind the ball carrier, blew a lot of students minds... The G4s grasped it a bit better, but it still wasn't plain sailing.

Reflecting on the units, I made some changes this year.

Rather than dropping the G3's straight into the full game, we focused on ball handling skills. There are loads of games to be played which really develop their ball handling/carrying skills.

A couple of favorites included:

Snakes: Split into groups of 4. The snake moves around the court/field, the front player scores a try by placing the ball on the ground, the second player picks up and leads the snake for about 5-10 paces before scoring another try (I encourage placing the ball firmly on the floor, so it doesn't roll away. and bending the knees to pick up the ball with both hands). After scoring a try the players must join another snake, with the idea of keeping all the snakes equal sizes.

Pass & Run: In pairs, pass to each other while moving around the court/field. The player that places the ball on the ground first, runs! the partner rushes to pick up the ball to give chase, their objective is to tag the runner with the ball.

Rugby Tag: The taggers carry a rugby ball each (both hands). Their objective is to tag as many runners with the ball that they can. Once tagged the runners collect a ball themselves and join the taggers. The winners are the last runners left.

Finally, the game the students all love is...
British bulldog/Shrimps and Minnows: This game is great for getting the students in the middle (taggers/tacklers) thinking defensively, making that line across the court in order to stop the runners breaking through. In preparation for touch rugby, I always insist the defense (students in the middle) to be back 5 paces, to walk backwards (face the runners), and to create an almost impenetrable defensive wall. Once they have those concepts, having them work as a team, slowly pushing forwards to squeeze the runners space is great development for the future games. The runners on the other hand work on their skills of avoiding being tagged: changing speed, changing direction etc.

With the G3's this year we never got to play a full game, but we did play lots and lots of fun and fast games that developed their hand-eye coordination, their concept of team and their communication skills.

For the Grade 4's I start with a couple of the ball handling games, and of course British bulldog, but by the 2nd or 3rd lesson we are looking at the concept of support and we are out on the field playing touch rugby.

We start the lesson with a brief handling drill, but the majority of the time is spent playing.

This year, touch rugby has really taken off! The students are playing hard and learning fast!

Below are collages from my three G4 classes this year.

 

Grade 3 Inquiry into the importance of Teamwork through the Learning Lens of Rugby Skills

In this unit we are particularly focusing on their ball handling skills and movement concepts, with the underlying theme of the role of support for the ball carrier and how to evade a tackler.

• What is the most efficient way to carry and pass a rugby ball?
• How do we know when are partner/team mate is ready to receive the ball?
• What does support look like in rugby and how is it different compared to other invasion games you know?
• How do you evade a tackler/tagger?

Essential Agreements 2015 - 2016

My classes came up with some fantastic Essential Agreements for this school year in PE. #essentialagreements #physed

 

G3 Relationships in Team Sports through the Physical Education Learning Lens of Striking & Fielding

This unit will be touching on a number on concepts linked with relationships

What does Fielding mean to you?
Prior Knowledge & Burning Questions: Identifying understandings, burning questions and possible misconceptions...

What does Batting mean to you?
Prior Knowledge & Burning Questions: Identifying understandings, burning questions and possible misconceptions...

 

Batting, Bowling and Fielding Practice

As the lessons and the unit has progressed we've focused on batting, particularly the need to step to the ball and the mechanics of the drive. We've also examined the role of the wicket keeper and how vital their role is to the fielding team.

In addition we have also progressed our game, moving away from kwik cricket to a more elementary version of the true game. This includes adding a batsman, using two wickets that the batsman have to run between and the choice to run or not to run.

As a class we've been inquiring into, what is considered intelligent play in cricket?
This inquiry has lead us to a handful of key questions:

1. When do you run, when don't you run? 
2. How do you communicate with your batting partner?
3. Where do you want to hit (place) the ball?
4. How do you position your fielding team?
5. When you field the ball, who do you throw it to: Wicket Keeper or Bowler?

 

G3 Peer Coaching and Feedback through the Physical Education Learning Lens of Volleyball (Newcomb Ball)

The G3 Volleyball (Newcomb Ball) Unit will have a conceptual focus of Coaching and Feedback within it.

Taken from my conceptual map for Primary Physical Education

First Things First... An Introduction to the Key Skills.

Lets start with the basics. Over the next couple of lessons the G3s will be introduced to the overhead pass and the forearm pass. It is during these lessons the students are introduced to the rules and simple scoring.

Lesson 4 & 5: Peer Coaching and Feedback

The G3s were introduced to the checklists that the G5s had created for the overhead pass and the forearm pass (The G5 Volleyball Unit). Working in 3s (assessor, feeder & the assessed) each student got feedback in the form of a brief diagnostic on each skill. Main areas for improvement/development were highlighted with the assessor and the feeder both suggesting possible ideas/solutions to help the assessed student develop and improve their skill levels.

Coaching the Overhead Pass

Coaching the Overhead Pass

Coaching the Overhead Pass

Coaching the Forearm Pass

Coaching the Forearm Pass

Coaching the Forearm Pass

Reflections on Coaching, Feedback & Volleyball

When asked to best describe what FEEDBACK meant to them the class used words like REAL, HONEST & HELPFUL.