Submitted by Tracy Lockwood, Manager, Mini Legends Program, April 2021
The Athletics Alberta Mini Legends Program officially launched in January 2021. Based on the tenets of developing physical literacy (running, jumping and throwing-type skills), the Mini Legends Program has shown to provide much more than that. This program nurtures a love of physical activity and provides opportunities for children & youth to gain and practice important life skills; cooperation, self-confidence, participation, and empathy. Through carefully designed lesson plans, the fun and engaging running, jumping & throwing-type activities, such as Locomotor Legends, Creators & Crashers, Reaction Time, Throw, Strike & Score, help students develop fundamental movement skills, to improve their physical literacy, so they can become confident and competent movers.
The Mini Legends Program is aligned with the
Physical Education curriculum and meets Daily Physical Activity requirements.
Through Plug & Play Teacher Resources and enhanced Coach-Facilitated
Residencies, K-6 Teachers can acquire a trained Mini Legends Program Coach to
teach in-depth lessons to their students OR teach the program themselves by
investing in the ready-made lessons and teacher video guide. Either way, you're
getting a program that has content designed to add to your Physical Education
Program and will no doubt save you time and energy in planning. The Mini
Legends Program in its entirety includes lessons from Kindergarten to Grade 6,
along with all the collateral needed for success; certificates, stickers, and
assessment tools. In addition, students love the program’s Legendary
Characters; Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Hercules, Hermes and Zeus, and teachers
love what they represent; Communication, Healing, Mindfulness, Wisdom,
Strength, and Agility.
Curious? Here’s an activity to get your students moving!
Reaction Time!
Set-Up
● Place cones along the two side-lines. Then, place two more rows of spots, hoops or cones down the middle.
∆ xO Ox ∆
●
Invite students to stand on one of
the spots down the middle, then point across to their partner.
●
Provide each student with a ball
or object to kick.
Instructions
●
Partners first come up with a
reaction word; ie. ding, bop, zing, oink, etc.
●
Teacher calls out a non-locomotor
activity such as, run on the spot, twist side to side, balance on one
foot, jump high, then touch the ground,
etc.
●
Students perform the activity on
their spot.
●
When the teacher says, “Reaction”,
students turn and dribble their ball (with feet or hands) to the cone behind
them and back again. The teacher can add a challenge by saying other words that
start with “R”, such as, “Responsible, Reflection, Ready, Retreat, Reactive,
Reappear, Recreation, Respond, Resilient”, etc.
●
When students get back to their
spot, they say the reaction word out loud that they came up with; ie. ding,
bop, zing, oink, etc. The partner who says the word first, receives a point.
Pair this activity
with a Legendary Health Tip from Iris, the Greek Character of Communication:
“We communicate with much more than words. When we interact with someone, our
body has a language of its own. Next time you are talking with someone, notice
your body language. Are your arms crossed or open? Are you looking away from or
at the person? All of these are non-verbal ways of communicating positively or
negatively impact the messages our words are sending.”
The Grand Finale of this Program is the Mini Legends Games. The Mini Legends Games (not to be confused with the Olympic Games :) ) is a fun-filled day for your students (or the entire school) to demonstrate their learned physical literacy skills. These Games can be run by an Athletics Alberta Legendary Crew or by your own staff. The Mini Legends Games takes the look and feel of the more traditional ‘track and field’ day and transforms it into a station-centered, physical-literacy events day. As an added bonus, Zeus may make an appearance at your school’s Mini Legends Games!
Finally, have you heard of the Mini Legends Lightning Bolts? For a limited time, Athletics Alberta is offering virtual Lightning Bolts for K-6 classrooms. What’s a Lightning Bolt? Mini Legends Lightning Bolts are short 5-10 minute physical activities designed to help students stay active throughout the school day, energizing their brains for enhanced learning. All Lightning Bolts can be performed with minimal space and practice fundamental movement skills, memory, cognition, coordination, timing and rhythm. Using the virtual platform of your choice (Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc), our facilitator will show up virtually in your class to lead the Lightning Bolt and get your students re-energized to learn. Book the time and date and we’ll send you the link with login instructions. Then, we’ll show up and take over the teaching for 10 minutes with this refreshing Lightning Bolt. It’s that simple. Let us help your students become legendary!
For more information on the Mini Legends Program and/or to book your free LIVE online Lightning Bolt, please contact Tracy, our Mini Legends Program Manager, at grassroots@athleticsalberta.com.
