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I did a blog yesterday about a maths integration activity for my grade 1 PE classes. A modified version of this game that I used for my kindergarten classes worked well, so I will describe the activity. Game # 1 (warm up) The same as warm up game for grade 1. Each team has their own set of ten colored dots. The dots are spread out all over the gym (face down). On 'Go' command, the students must run out, find their team dots, bring them back to their team area and place them on the floor in order(numbers 1-10). The game can be repeated with them creating new formations (square, triangle, zig zag) provided the numbers are in order. Game#2 The modified version of the grade 1 game is that they find numbers that add together to form a correct sum. However, it becomes a bit too complex for them to go out and trade numbers with other teams. If there is a super clever maths student, you can suggest to them to go to other teams to find a number they may need. Essentially, the game is very similar to the grade 1 maths activity as described in yesterday's blog. Try it out! A great game that I had my grade 1 students play yesterday was "Find the Dots and Add Them Together". Quite a wordy title, but I can't think of a better, more succinct name right now! Anyways, try this game out. Materials needed
Divide kids up into whatever number of teams you want (each team has its own set of numbers) Take dots with numbers, or different sets of numbers you have written on paper, and spread them out around the gym face down. On command "Go" each team must find their own set of numbers, run back to their team area and place them on the floor in order. You can repeat this a few times having them structure the order differently each time. For example, they can form a circle with the numbers in order, or a triangle, or a zig zag pattern. Anything is OK provided the numbers are in order. Game 2 (the real deal: Find the Dots and Add Them Together Game) In this game, spread the dots all over the gym this time (some face up, some face down). Rule change here is that the kids can take any colored number. It doesn't have to be their own color only. The object of the game is for your team to run out and collect numbers. Not just randomly, but to collect numbers that add together to form a correct sum. For example, 4 and 3 = 7. There are no addition signs or equal sign needed. They just have to run back to their team area and place the numbers down in a proper row (5 5 10 which really means 5 plus 5 equals 10). What you will find happen is that all teams will have uncompleted rows which is when all teams must work together sharing numbers in order to complete rows. For example, if team A has only 3 and 4 but not 7 they need to go ask another team for 7. Negotiations and trading take place, all positive of course. It really promotes mental maths and thinking skills. As well they need to be super active running around all over the place. I loved this game. TRY IT OUT. We concluded the Adventure Challenge unit in today's class in grade 4. As a summative assessment task I had the students take part in a 'Final Challenge'. The activity was broken into 5 steps. The students had to complete the challenge set out before them at each step before moving to the next step. The class was divided up into 4 teams for the entire challenge. Examples of student assessment and pictures of each activity can be found at the end of this blog entry. The 5 steps they had to complete were: Step 1: Connect the Ropes In this game each team member had a skipping rope. The challenge was that they had to tie all of their skipping ropes together, end to end. Sounds easy, however, they could only use one hand for this challenge. Communication and cooperation were keys to success. Using only one hand each, they had to manage to tie all 5 ropes together. Once completed this task, they had to stretch the ropes out to show me. Step 2: Form a Shape In this activity, still using on one hand each, while holding the now tied together team rope, the three teams had to come together and tie their team's rope(all 5 skipping ropes tied together is one team rope) together with the other 2 teams to form a large circle of skipping ropes tied together. Essentially, the three teams combined into one team for this activity. As a large group now the students had to use their large rope to form shapes at the teacher's command. For example, if I told them to form a square, together as a group they had to use the large rope to form a square. The shapes I had them create were:
In stage 3 of the 'Final Assessment', the students went back on to their original 3 teams. The large rope from stage 2 was left in the center of the gym on the floor. Each team was in a corner of the gym. As each team had 5 players, the goal of the 'Save the Injured Person Game' was to have the team select 2 players from their team to be the injured persons. The group had to decide the best way to transport/carry these injured persons into the large roped circle in the middle of the gym. Carrying safely was a must in this game. Once each team transported its injured into the center they could move to stage 4. Step 4: Build a bridge Each team now had 2 injured people in the center roped circle. In the center of the circle were ten team dots. Using the 10 dots, the injured had to build a bridge of dots back to the rest of their team in the corner. Now the center circle was connected to each team by a succession of dots placed on the floor. The bridge had to be built before moving on to the 5th step. Step 5: Capture the Gold! With a bridge now built between the center roped circle and each team, the goal in this final activity was to cross the bridge of dots and collect as many beanbags as possible bringing them back to your team area. If a dot was dropped while crossing the bridge, it was returned to the center roped circle. ASSESSMENT TASKS Assessment A: After playing each step of the game, on an assessment sheet provided the students had to assess each game's level of difficulty and comment. Included was a team photo on this sheet. Assessment B: On the back of this sheet was assessment task B. The students had to: Draw a picture of their favorite adventure challenge game Describe what they did well in this game Explain what they could have improved upon in the Adventure Challenge unit in general Talk about how they can apply what they learned in the Adventure Challenge unit (communication, trust, being open-minded) to their lives outside of PE, especially when they have issues or problems. Please see slide show below for pictures of the activity and examples of student assessment. It really was a great conclusion to this unit!! We started off the year with a unit on improving basic fundamental skills in PE. My goal by the end of the unit was to have the kids be able to know and identify 7 essential skills: throwing, catching, kicking, bouncing, running, jumping, and hopping. Much of what we did during the first 8 weeks has been playing various games and activities that help them to improve upon these skills. Many times during the unit, we did a group rubric to see how they felt they were doing (see previous blog for pictures of rubric). In the last class of the unit yesterday, I had the kids pick out one skill they felt that they did well and one skill that they wanted to improve upon. As well, I had them recall (without my help) any skills that they could remember from the 7 listed above. Of course I gave them little hints, but they all managed to do quite well in recalling these skills. Please see slideshow below of assessment. We are nearing the end of our adventure challenge in PE for the grade 2 classes at Nanjing International School in China. We are integrating with the classroom unit of inquiry on 'Rights and Responsibilities' highlighting that all students have a responsibility to:
As discussed in an earlier blog, the grade 1 classes are doing a unit on Health Related Activities in PE. I am essentially aiming to have them understand that regular exercise makes the heart, lungs, and muscles stronger. I hope to get them to focus on the fact that the more work they put in, the more physically fit they will become. A quick and easy assessment task that I used a couple of weeks ago was to set 4 different activities for them to have a go at. They had to record their results after completing each activity and then assess their level of effort at the end of the class. We talked about being 'Principled' to ensure that the kids recorded their results honestly. Please see sample assessment sheets below in slide show. Transdisciplinary skills play a very important role in the PYP (check out pages 21-23 in 'Making the PYP Happen" handbook). Although it may seem that these skills are mostly taught and learned in the classroom, PE presents wonderful opportunities to address these skills as well. In the past I have used many different forms of tag games as a warm up which is always fun. However, I am working on compiling a list of warm up games that I have used that is more challenging to the students. Games that require students to:
A) Be super active B) Work on teams (or on their own) solving simple to complex problems related to maths and language C)Communicate their thoughts and ideas to their peers If I can achieve all of the above in quick warm up games, I am very pleased as it makes me feel as though the activities I use are more challenging and stimulating to the students. I will be sharing some of these games soon. If you are reading this blog and have unique ideas and warm up games that you use in class, please let me know and I will add them. If you don't mind, I would like to use your name and your school as well. Let me know!! |
AuthorKAUST Faculty, Pedagogical Coach. Presenter & Workshop Leader.IB Educator. #RunYourLife podcast host. Archives
September 2022
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