What an Interesting Game!

During the Create a Games unit, a group of G5s accidentally explained their game incorrectly to the class, which I think took the game to another level.

They started with a capture the flag type game (Invasion) where the objective was to raid the other teams territory to steal their dodge-balls/beanbags etc. The set up had 3 safe zones (hoops) spread around that the opposition could sneak into.

For the Create a Games unit, the game was highly unoriginal, and had just been reinvented under a different name.

But as luck would have it, due to a poor presentation, the class understood that the safe zone rules worked similar to the rules in bump tag. Their understanding was that the safe zone could only house one player at a time, and that the player coming in could bump out the player that was already in the zone.

Possibly not a model game for encouraging teamwork! But the game produced some very interesting and funny moments, and it added enough of a spin on the traditional game of capture the flag that made it different enough to excite the class.

I need to play around with the game to tweak it a little, but I'm sure I could get a game that highlights the importance of communication between raiding teams.

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.

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.

G4 Touch Rugby: Visible Thinking Routine

A visible thinking routine inquiring into the concept of 'support' in touch rugby

As you can read in previous blogs, introducing touch rugby in the Elementary school, when they have never played anything like it before, has at times been a little challenging.

This year, armed with visible thinking routines I really wanted the students to think about the concept of "support" in touch rugby. The idea that you have to be behind the ball carrier if want to receive the ball and get in on the play.

The concept of getting behind and/or looking for/to pass the ball backwards is always a little mind blowing when all you've played before are games where a forward pass towards a goal is the preferred option!

During the 1st-3rd lessons I wanted to get a glimpse of my students prior knowledge and if they were having any takeaways from the 'tuning in' part of the unit...

I divided the page into three sections:

Support:

• What is it?
• Further questions
• What did it look like in today's lesson? 

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?

G5 Relationships in Team Sports through the learning lens of Football (Soccer)

I started the unit with a BIG question.... "What is Football?"

With my first class I used a big piece of butcher paper to get the students to record their understanding and knowledge of what they believe/think football is. From their answers as a class we created 5 essential questions that will be the driving force behind the direction of the unit. 

Whilst working with the class in developing the 5 essential questions, I felt some students were not getting the chance to contribute to the conversation as much as I would of liked, so...

With the second class I decided that rather than the class coming up with the 5 essential questions, I would get them working in small groups that would develop their own essential questions first and then we would agree or disagree as a whole class as to which ones would be included. Letting the students work in smaller groups helped give the more quiet or shy students a chance to contribute to the possible direction of the unit.

Some of the second classes small group essential questions:

Examining the essential questions I created with the help of the first class and using the second classes own small group essential questions we have come up with the following 5 essential questions for this unit.

What is important to note in the following 5 essential questions is that the first three questions are very much about the game itself, the skill and control required to play and understand a very basic game of football. The last two questions are the ones I personally love! The big picture questions that could be considered lifeworthy learning, the ones that are transferable across subjects and that could be used throughout their lives, whether they continue to play football or not.

1. What skills do you need to play football? The students identified: dribbling, passing, heading & shooting
2. What skills do you need to be a goalkeeper?
3. What are the rules and regulations of football?
4. What traits and dispositions do we need to develop to enable us to work and learn together, with a focus as peer learners and peer coaches?
5. What are the relationships in playing team sports? The concepts of roles, responsibilities, of space, to a team and to the opposition?

G5 Ethics in Sports through the Physical Education Learning Lens of Basketball

The G5 Basketball Unit will have a conceptual focus on Ethics in Sports, particularly Sportsmanship vs. Gamesmanship.

Taken from my conceptual map for Primary Physical Education

Burning Questions on Basketball

What do the students want to know about this sport?

Click to Enlarge

Using the questions above will help give direction/content when constructing the sequence of lessons within the unit.

But what do they understand by Ethics? Particularly the concepts of Sportsmanship vs. Gamesmanship...

I asked the following question:

What do you know and understand about Sportsmanship vs. Gamesmanship?

The student showed that the majority have an understanding of what is Sportsmanship/ Gamesmanship. Interestingly what the exercise did highlight was some common misconceptions between Sportsmanship, Gamesmanship and something else?

What are the G5s misconceptions about what is Sportsmanship/Gamesmanship?

1. Don't care if you win or lose

2. Not sharing the ball

3. Fun (Gamesmanship was deemed to be fun, and Sportsmanship wasn't)

4. Caring for the other team

5. Being competitive (if you show sportsmanship you are not being competitive?!)

6. Giving the other team a chance... (I guess I can see the logic in this one (e.g. not beating the other team 100,000 - 0))

7. It is when you are less competitive?!

8. Play as a team/Teamwork

9. Working together not playing to win (I guess there is a kinda logic there... The idea of playing for fun and not competitively)

Reexamining the others...

It is really important if the students are going to develop into a good sportsman/woman that they understand that if you follow the code of sportsmanship you do play competitively, have fun, strive for the best you can be (even if it's not winning), and you do care if you win or you lose, and if you lose, you do it graciously, but you learn from the experience and come back stronger next time and if you win you don't rub it in your opponents faces.

What the G5s did agree upon as examples of Sportsmanship and Gamesmanship

Addressing the Misconceptions

 

Two Key Questions

Why don't the remaining statements (the misconceptions) fit into either categories?

Can you think of other categories that some of these misconceptions would have a better fit?

Using Video Delay Feedback on the Set Shot and Jump Shot 

Some Truly Honest and Great Reflections from G5 

G4 Relationships in Team Sports through the Physical Education Learning Lens of Touch Rugby

The G4 Touch Rugby Unit will have a conceptual focus on Relationships within the Sport.

Taken from my conceptual map for Primary Physical Education

Burning Questions on Touch Rugby

What do the students want to know about this new sport/unit...

Click to Enlarge

Touch Rugby in Action

All of the photos are taken from the G4s warm up. What I loved about this warm up/photo is that the G4s took the concepts of monkey-in-the-middle and expanded them to incorporate the lateral pass. As you can see from the photos, it proved very popular with the whole class.

Modifying the rules to Touch Rugby really nailed it for this Grade group. I dropped the automatic turnover if the ball was dropped (I turned a blind eye to the odd accidental knock-on). The result was the students on the fringes who were not particularly big risk takers (worried about letting the team down if they missed a pass) got involved a lot more.

Reflections on Teamwork & Touch Rugby 

G3 Touch Rugby Unit

A new unit at PIE: Touch Rugby.
Rugby in Indonesia is going from strength to strength and having a history of rugby both as a player and as a coach I thought it would make a wonderful opportunity to introduce it at PIE.

With the G3s I wanted to reinforce the idea that to be able to reflect on their learning is just as important as participating in the lesson. I gave each G3 class an opportunity to write one line on their learning after each of the lessons. As you can see from the results below, other classes embraced the opportunity to reflect more than others.

Reflections

Final Competition

To compete the unit of touch rugby the G3 classes met in the morning before lessons to play each other.

They played on Monday and Wednesday, with their respective classroom teachers coaching their teams.

This proved to be a really positive way to end the unit as the students showed their teachers, parents and each other that they could play competitive touch rugby at pace and with an element of flair - congratulations G3.

G4 Questions and Wonderings on Basketball - Basketball in Action - Reflections

G4 Questions and Wonderings on Basketball
The exercise is about discovering G4s prior knowledge in basketball. The year group has a wide range of knowledge and skill, stretching from the novice through to the student who plays for a club.

What next?
It is important for me to answer the novices questions, whilst developing their skills, but it is equally important to make sure the more experienced players develop within the game at the same time.

The question, wonderings and statements below will help develop the units essential question(s) and give the unit direction for all stakeholders involved.

Basketball in Action

I love these genuine moments of peer coaching; my G4s helping one another master the set-shot.

Reflections