G3 & G4 Striking & Fielding

Learning Journey: Relationships

Key Concepts: Cooperation, Collaboration, Safety, Communication, and Roles

Enduring Understanding:

Situational awareness impacts our decision making and movement responses.

Compelling Questions:

G3 What skills do we need to develop in order to improve our play? (Individually & as a Team)

G4 How does situational awareness help our decision making?

In both year groups we explorer Kwik Cricket, a Baseball type game (3 bases and a home plate) and Danish Long-ball with all games stepping up in sophistication as age and skill level develops.

I Just Love It When A Plan Comes Together!

A fantastic realization is that they need to be just as good at fielding as they are at batting if they want to be competitive in their games. In Kwik Cricket we play until everyone's had a go at batting and then we change (batting team becomes the fielders etc.) BUT as soon as we get onto my baseball type game and we play '3 out all out' and the fielders are struggling to work as a team, the reality of them not getting into bat (& scoring points) eventually dawns on them! Over the course of this unit and particularly my G4's their fielding has grown and developed in bunches (particularly the teamwork and the reality that even-though you're fielding, you still need to pay attention! (LOL)). The need to get back into bat has become a driving force for great teamwork, communication, and paying attention to the play! (they particularly mentioned this part in their reflections)

This didn't happen overnight, and at times I had to bite my tongue... but as soon as the penny dropped we've had some real fun, fast, high spirited games!

As a note, I start with Kwik Cricket as I feel the Cricket bat is easier to handle for the beginner (even if the delivery is bad eg. a grasscutter etc. for the most part the ball can still be played). When we switch to a Baseball type bat I usually lead the pitching to start, but at the beginning I always try to give them an option of Cricket or Baseball bat. I try not to use T's, because I really want the students to develop their underarm pitch.

We end with Danish Long-ball. This game is just FUN and the students love it! It also gives them the chance to transfer their tactical play, skills and knowledge to another striking and fielding game. I set the bases over the whole length of the gym... it's amazing how far and how often you can get the students running that distance under the disguise of scoring runs! LOL 

That is a brief summery of what's turned out to be a fantastic educationally fun unit!

A little bit of batting & bowling

Making Thinking Visible: Reflection (I used to do/think - I now do/think)

This is an important reflection because the students get to choose and tell a particular learning journey they have been on across the different sports.

Grade 1 and Grade 2 Striking & Fielding Ideas

G2 Relationships in Team Sports through the Physical Education Learning Lens of Striking & Fielding II

The G2 Striking & Fielding Unit II will focus on the concept of Relationships.

Taken from my conceptual map for Primary Physical Education

Striking and Fielding Unit II is about transferring the skills, knowledge and understanding the learning in Unit I and applying it to a different Striking & Fielding Game. This Unit we are inquiring into Baseball, via Cricket.

Grade 2 In Action

In the photographs you will notice we are still using the cricket wickets as bases and a cricket bat. The thinking behind this is by using the wickets it still gives the students a bigger target to aim at when fielding (and when running) and the cricket bat makes it easier for the students to hit a bowled/pitched ball (with a cricket bat you can hit the ball even when it is bowled along the ground). 

In the photos you will see I am the pitcher, these are early photos within the unit (I pitch because I want every student to have success with the bat). In later lessons I will turn the pitching duties over to the students. Being the pitch also puts me right at the center of the game and in a position to teach within the game, both the rules and game sense.

MTV: Reflection - I Used To Do/ Now I Do

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?

 

G2 Relationships in Team Sports through the Physical Education Learning Lens of Striking & Fielding I

The G2 Striking & Fielding Unit I will focus on the concept of Relationships.

Taken from my conceptual map for Primary Physical Education

An Introduction to Fielding - What do my G2s know about fielding?

(The account of the lesson below is a combination the first lesson on striking and fielding with my three G2 classes)

The lesson started with the question "What do you think the role of the fielder is?"

I had also printed out a photo to help students with the question.

We talked about the differences between the two sports pictured... how one wears a mitt etc. After noting down concepts such as throwing and catching the answers dried up a bit... I broke out the Kwik Cricket bats. Mr. Weston was going to go into bat and the class were going to be the fielders. All they had to do was work as a team to get Mr. Weston OUT.

This resulted in 16-20 students racing after 1 ball and Mr. Weston scoring lots of runs...

Time to Reflect

Everyone was brought back in, and 2 Questions were posed:

1. Are they achieving their objective?" (Stop Mr. Weston from scoring or GET HIM OUT!)

2. Are they acting as a team?"

On reflection they decided they were not acting as a team and observations were added to the sheet: split up, spread out, field in space. The students now spread themselves round the gym. We played a little bit more... I noticed something that needed to be explored...

Question: What is faster, throwing the ball or running with the ball?

After a moment of experimentation the class decided that throwing the ball was quicker than running with the ball and that they should pass the ball to get it back to the wicket quicker. Play continued... Mr. Weston's scoring rate was definitely slowing up as the fielders organized themselves.

More Reflection

Passing the ball is faster than running with the ball, but how can we get the ball back to the wicket even faster?

To speed up getting the ball back to the wicket, passing the ball changed to throwing the ball directly towards the wicket. We continued to play... I noticed some of the students started to organize themselves into simple roles i.e. placing themselves next to the wicket should the initial throw miss the target.

Conclusion: The 2 Questions

The 2 questions were reflected upon again: "Are they achieving their objective?" and "are they acting as a team?"

The answer to both questions were now YES. Could it get better? YES, but this is just the first lesson... :)

The rest of the lesson was spent playing an orderly game of Kwik Cricket! 

An Introduction to Batting - What do my G2s know about batting?

(The account of the lesson below is a combination the second lesson on striking and fielding with my three G2 classes)

Question: What is the role of the batsman and the batting team?
hitting the ball, focus on the ball, running fast where generally the first couple of answers.

Highlighting the word ROLE and adding "What is the objective of the Batting side? (compared to the fielding side?)" 
All three classes generally answered: to score points or to hit into gaps on the field (I loved the tactical, spacial awareness answer).

After some thinking and reflecting on the photos and their past experiences (including last lesson) they got to:  it is the batsman's job to protect/defend the wicket, and to score points/runs.

We then compared the fielder's role to the batsman's role, and identified that the fielding team could not score, but they have to "get out" the batting team as quickly as possible, in order to get themselves "into bat" to score.

We then inquired into how and where you stand as a batsman and how you hold a cricket bat in order to defend the wicket.

After some practice in 3's we got into a competitive game of Kwik Cricket.

The Language used in this unit of Striking and Fielding so far: Bat, Batting, Batsman, Fielding, Wicket, Stumps, Wicket Keeper, Bowler, Runs, Out, Catch, Throw, Aim, Target, Defend, Protect, Hit.

Batting, Bowling and Fielding Practice in 3s.