G5 Athletics: Health & Fitness/Track & Field

This unit is all about introducing the students to Athletics (Track & Field). With a focus on achieving personal bests (PBs). The events we will be covering are the two jumps, high and long. Two of the throws, shot put and modified javelin. Three track, 100m, 400m, and 1500m. In the build up to the 1500m event we will examine our own personal fitness levels,in order to set achievable goals in the run up to the event.

The approach to each event will usually consist of the students watching a clip from an athletics meet, a brief discussion on rules, techniques and our own biomechanics, and then one or two practice drills in the gym followed by a complete lesson up at the HS track where the students get to put all they have learnt and practiced into action/context.

 

 Student questions will help shape the Athletics Unit this semester

100, 200 & 400m Sprints.

Key Physical Objectives:

• High Knees.
• Powerful, Active Arms.
• The Sprint Start
• "ON YOUR MARKS" measuring your starting position and placing your hands.
• "SET" bums in the air, leaning forward, looking up.
• "GO!" Drive & Acceleration.
• Don't SLOW DOWN until you cross the finish line.
• Run in your lane & NO physical contact with other participants.
• Introduction to staggered starts.

Each individual students personal best (PB) was recorded.

400m

400m

Shot Put

Key Physical Objectives:

• Holding the Shot "seeing daylight"
• High elbows.
• Clean Palm, Dirty Neck.
• Weight transfer - Back to front.
• Travel - From low to high.
• Add a twist (the coiled spring)
• Throw high!
• Flick your wrist on the release.
• Grunting is optional :)
• Enter and exit from the back of the circle (Throw and Collect only when Mr. Weston tells you to). 

Again, each individual student will be recording their best throw.

Shot Put

Javelin

Key Physical Objectives:

• Holding the Javelin "different grips & laying it down the hand, rather than across, palm facing up".
• Delivery "non-throwing arm at approx 45 degrees, throwing hand remains facing up, pull through the Javelin".
• Transfer of weight.
• Throw high and flick your wrist.
• Don't over step the line!

Record PB

Javelin

Javelin

Long Jump

Drills:

• Warm Up: Hopping for Height & Distance
• Standing Long Jump with 2 leg take off
• Standing Long Jump with single leg take off
• Distance jumping competition - 3 continuous and successive 2 footed jumps
• Circle (Hoop) Jumping
• Box Jumping
• Elementary Long Jump techniques with 3 bounding strides

Key Physical Objectives:

• Use your ARMS!
• Jump for height as well as distance
• Jump 1 foot to 2 feet
• Take of behind the line
• Fall sideways or forwards when you land
• Keep your head high

Long Jump Practice in the Gym

Long Jump Practice in the Gym

Long Jump

Long Jump

High Jump

Drills & Key Objectives:

• Warm Up: Hopping for Heigh
• Jump back onto the mat - flicking hips high, bringing knees to chest, keeping chin on chest and landing on your upper back
• Introduction to the Scissors and which foot do you prefer to take off from?
• Using the Scissors to clear a low line.
• Remember: Always take off from the foot furthest away from the mat & and run in at an angle.
• The Fosbury Flop - will be introduced when we get to the HS on the professional High Jump equipment (American athlete Dick Fosbury first brought it to the world's attention in 1965 and won a gold medal in the 1968 Summer Olympics).

High Jump Practice

High Jump Practice

High Jump

High Jump

More Photos:

400m

Modified Javelin

Shot Put

High Jump Practice - Gym

High Jump Practice - Gym

Long Jump Practice - Gym

The Unit concludes with the Middle Distance: 1500m

In preparations for the run students have used the Cooper 12 minute run (flat and as an obstacle course) to help them judge their pace and to get an idea of distance (I have the Cooper course measured - so the students can track and compare how far they travel in 12 minutes). Most of the students are surprised how far they travel during the test! In addition getting them to run and possibly pass the 1500m mark helped dispel the rumors that the 1500m is a near impossible distance to achieve!

In the build up to the run we discussed pacing, and the different body position we run in compared to short distance sprints. The need for staying re-hydrated when running in the sun, and some simple strategies they could possibly use to help make their running efficient with the goal of achieving a PB. 

G2 Net Games: Coaching & Feedback/Tennis

An Inquiry into how peer coaching and constructive, timely feedback can help a friend develop their understanding and skills in the net game, Tennis...

Hand-Eye Coordination and the introduction to 'Feeding the Ball' and the Forehand 
The unit begins with an introduction to the tennis ball, and we run through simple hand-eye coordination drills to warm ourselves up e.g. patting the ball up in the air with our hands, or playing hand tennis with a partner. After the introduction to the tennis ball we simply replace our hands with a simple bat - still focusing on our movement and hand-eye coordination.

During these first couple of lessons the importance of a well fed ball is highlighted and discussed. Without the well fed ball, learning to develop the ground strokes in tennis would be incredibly difficult to achieve.

We finish the lesson with the introduction to foot movement and the forehand using the concept of preparation in the form of drawing a giant letter C and where we need to move our bodies to make the shot easier to play (step towards/away from the ball).

Over the course of the next three lessons we moved from hand-eye coordination drills with no rackets, to adding rackets, to feeding a ball, to developing forehand and backhand strokes - see the photo pin boards below.

Photo Pin Boards from the first three lessons:

Peer Coaching & Peer Learning

As a class we have studied the ground strokes in some detail. We've looked at how they are played, when they are played and simple drills to help us improve both our forehand and backhand strokes. 

The next step is having the class rank themselves on a continuum - World Class Players all the way down to Beginners. The students are usually very good at knowing what their ability is compared to their peers. Once the students are stood on the continuum I try to pair up the more experienced with the least experienced. 

We look at what is good feedback for the coaches, and we examine how we should behave as a learner when a peer is giving us feedback. In addition we also highlight that the learning shouldn't be one way, and that the coach has lots to learn from the peer student he/she is helping.

This works really well, as it gives the peer learner lots of one-on-one time with a friend who can feed the ball accurately to them and give them little pointers that may need correcting. For the peer coaches it really forces them to break down the ground strokes, identify problems and to problem solve them in order to help their class mate improve.

Comments

My assistant Victor and I through the eyes of a KG student

G2 Gymnastics: Pathways

Children have previously identified simple pathways and travelled along them using feet or hands and feet in a variety of ways, so the intention of this unit is to widen their experience and make them more critical and selective in the types of movement they select for particular pathways. For example, children will need to recognise that to turn a sharp corner they must slow down before they reach it and then over-balance into the new direction and understand that the sharper the angle, the greater the need to slow down. Equally, they will find that a turning jump to land on two feet could help them turn a sharp corner and lead them into the next direction. Following a curving or curricular pathway requires children to lean their body weight into the curve and choose movements which allow them to maintain control e.g. small running steps or turning leaps are more suitable than a series of large leaps. A short, straight, direct pathway lends itself to a wide variety of travelling movements, but equally it is an ideal pathway for demonstrating an accelerating run into a jump.

The meaning of flexible (or indirect) and direct pathways should be thoroughly understood. Direct pathways are those which involve travelling in a straight line and are more functional in nature (e.g. run and jump, forward roll etc.) Flexible (or indirect) pathways are generally longer and more interesting (e.g. circles, squares, triangles arcs etc.) and can be artistic and very individual (e.g. spirals, heart shapes, clover leaf, daisy head, letters of the alphabet etc.) and some may have a common starting place and destination and others may have different starting places and destinations.

Generally children will be able to select compatible pathways and activities and create sequences which demonstrate an understanding of speeds and levels.

KG Obstacle Course, Teamwork & Problem Solving

This proved to be a lot of fun...

At this moment in time my two KG classes are both having issues with pushing, shoving, who goes first etc. without them really knowing why they want to go first...

After a little time working on an obstacle course, with the concept that the floor is quicksand (their decision) they had to travel as a class safely from point A to point B. I was interested in noting that the majority of the class would think nothing of pushing their fellow peers into the quicksand just to be the first to get up a ladder or be the first to jump a ravine etc...

In order to address this issue I placed an expanse of quicksand between the starting point and the rest of the obstacle course. I designed it in such a way that it would force the class to come up with a plan and work as a team. It also gave a couple of them the opportunity to demonstrate their leadership skills.

Their first attempt witnessed the class abandoning 5 class members to the quicksand as they rushed to safety! The second attempt proved a bit more successful with all students making it to the end of the obstacle course.