Submitted by: Sonia Sheehan, HPEC Vice President Communications
A successful
physical education school year start up begins with a great deal of planning
before any students enter the gymnasium for the first class of the year. As a veteran physical education teacher entering
my 24th year of teaching elementary PE, I would like to share some
of my tried-and-true tips for a great school year start-up.
At the start of each school year, I like to begin with a reflection on my teaching philosophy. I focus on the following questions:
What do I believe are the best practices for teaching a quality physical education program and how can I implement them in my daily teaching?
How can I spark
a sense of “Joy in Movement” with my students each day I teach them?
How can I build
the foundation for a physical literacy journey that my students can enjoy for
the rest of their lives?
What can I do
to meet the objective of developing the whole student in a pursuit of a healthy
active life as outlined in the Alberta Physical Education and Wellness
Curriculum? https://curriculum.learnalberta.ca/curriculum/en/s/pde
With time taken
for self-reflection and a thorough contemplation of the physical education curriculum,
I can begin to plan for my gymnasium expectations, my indoor and outdoor
teaching guidelines, my gymnasium management plan and my curricular connections
in my year planning. I am an advocate of clear, concise, and consistent
expectations for all students. The following is an example of some of my
gymnasium expectations and signals (a simple hand signal has been added to each
expectation to help students remember what is expected):
Gymnasium Expectations:
- Safety
First – (signal – roof over head).
- Listen
and follow all instructions – (signal – hand to ear).
- Respect
others and the equipment – (signal – hands folded together).
- Play
fair and be a good sport – (signal – two thumbs up).
- Do your best! – (signal – arm action for running).
Gymnasium
Signals:
3, 2, 1, Freeze - students will stop where they are,
ensure safe space away from other students, put equipment on the ground, stay
standing and look to the teacher – give a 3, 2, 1 count down to freeze (this
allows students a warning about an upcoming freeze and then by the time
students hear freeze, they will be ready to be still and listen)
1 whistle – stop, ensure safe space and stand
where you are, put equipment on the ground by your feet, turn your body towards
the teacher with your eyes on the teacher and hands on your knees (done in 3
secs)
2 whistles – stop, bring equipment with you, and
return to your home base and stand looking at the teacher quietly (done in 5
secs)
Find a Home (signal – roof over head) – find your own
space in the gym/field away from others/walls/equipment (do helicopter arms to
check if space is okay) and complete a designated activity (marching on the
spot, jumping jacks, balancing on one foot)
Music turned
on = start activity
Music turned
off = freeze, ensure
safe space, turn your body towards the teacher with your eyes on the teacher
and with any equipment placed on the ground
In addition to
planning for gymnasium expectations and signals, I create a plan and class
routines for both indoor and outdoor physical education classes.
The next planning
element to consider is the physical space and equipment I have available for my
teaching. I am fortunate to have both an indoor gymnasium and outdoor tarmac as
dedicated space for physical education classes. I also have access to a variety
of physical education equipment for student use, to develop their movement and
object control skills. I do my best to schedule a one week indoor rotation
followed by a one week outdoor rotation when teaching physical education in
order to allow students opportunities to learn and move in a variety of environments.
This indoor/outdoor rotation continues through the school year and allows
students to experience engagement in physical education through a wide range of
weather conditions. To maximize learning and movement in both indoor and
outdoor areas, I have utilized a home base system to help organize students
throughout both learning environments. The home base system was introduced to
me by a blog post from The PE Specialist, Ben Landers, https://www.thepespecialist.com/homebasespots/,
and I highly recommend trying it out.
Once I have
thoughtfully considered physical education expectations, management, routines, and
curricular outcomes connected to instructional units, I can plan for student
engagement activities to kick start the year.
My first instructional units lay the foundation for the year. Focusing
on communication skills, cooperation skills, safety, and relationship building
through fun and active learning activities lays the groundwork for a successful
year. Some of my first few physical education lessons include the following
activities:
Rock, Paper,
Scissor (RPS) Games (easy to introduce for all grades and a great skill for
solving small conflicts between students)
RPS
Celebration/Victory Dance (Winner celebrates with a victory dance and non
winner completes 5 quality jumping jacks) – teach and say “Rock, Paper,
Scissor, Show” – jump on Rock, Paper and Scissor– play the game in open space with
another student – at the teacher’s signal, move to play the game with a new
student - variation – go to the side line of the activity space – challenge
anyone on the line to RPS – if you win, do your victory dance, if you do not
win, run to the middle line of the activity area and back and challenge someone
new
Rock, Paper, Scissors Success or Try Again – goal is to get to the Success side of the activity area by challenging someone to R,P,S – use the words: Rock, Paper, Scissor, Show – if you win run over to the success side of the activity space – challenge someone new on the success side – if you win – move to challenge someone new on the success side – if you do not win, run to the Try Again side and challenge someone new – Can you make it to the success side? How long can you stay at the success side? How many different people can you challenge before the game ends?
RPS Team Challenge full body– divide class into 2 teams – pick one leader for each team – leader shows discreetly what the team will choose, rock, paper or scissors – teams go back to back, 3 jumps and a jump turn to show rock, paper or scissors with full body – winning team does one fitness challenge, losing team does a different fitness challenge – switch leaders every few rounds
Houdini Hoops
(from SPARK PE lesson, www.sparkpe.org)–
group of 6 join hands to create an unbroken circle, using cooperation and
communication, try to move a hula hoop around the circle by stepping and
ducking through it, do not let go of hands:
§ Can you get
the hoop to go around the circle 1 time, 2 times, the other direction?
§ Fun
competition: which group can get the hoop to go around the quickest?
§ 2 groups join
together and try to get the hoop around
§ Whole class
joins together to try to get the hoop around
§ Stop and talk about what strategies help the group be successful
The next step
in my planning includes securing dates for special events. These are the extra programs
that add additional physical education experiences for students. At my school special events include the
following: Terry Fox Run, Jump Rope for Heart, Bring Your Parents to PE Class
Event, Alien Inline Skating, Gymnastic Equipment set up, Ski and Snowboard
Program and Fitset Ninja.
A final step in
the planning for a successful start to the school year includes sharing the
planning with homeroom teachers and other specialist teachers in the building. When everyone is starting from the same page,
it makes providing a consistent learning experience for all students a lot
easier. At my school, the home base set up I use in physical education class
was adopted by the music teacher and students have the same number/colour of
home base when they come to PE class and attend music class.
Additional resources
I have found to be helpful when planning the start of my school year come from
the PE Specialist, Ben Landers:
https://www.thepespecialist.com/yearlyplan/
https://www.thepespecialist.com/firstweek/
Wishing you a
great start to your school year!
