Breaking Down Big Ideas in Grade 2 Invasion Games

Dealing with those tough emotions

If you've checked out my last blog post, you'll see that I had my grade 2 students complete a formative assessment task that had them zero in on 4 key areas of invasion games. 

A) To write down everything that they know about invasion games
B) To identify which invasion game skill they feel that they are best at
C) To describe feelings that they have experienced while playing invasion games
D) To write about which type of invasion game that they like the best

The information gathered from this assessment has been very valuable in helping me to further design the learning that will take place during the rest of the unit. The biggest finding was that many of the students felt frustration, anger, confusion and sadness while playing invasion games over the past couple of weeks. When I read this on their assessment sheets, I asked them to elaborate on the reasons why they had experienced these feelings. 

I took all of their ideas and created another slide to add to the invasion games keynote that I had created for last class. At the beginning of today's class, I am going to review what we did last class then have a discussion about the 4 big emotions/feelings that the students have experienced while playing invasion games. The common reasons for the feelings and emotions can be seen in the picture below. 

My approach in today's class will be to let the students know that feelings of frustration, anger, confusion, and sadness can be natural responses to certain situations when playing games. Even though the emphasis should be on fun and enjoyment, we must learn that the emotions listed above are very much a part of life. The big challenge is for us to figure out the best way to deal with them.

As we move further into the invasion games unit, I think that it is essential to help my students better deal with these emotions. I'm certainly not going to tell them that they have no right to feel these emotions but will strive to give them strategies to better cope when certain situations arise that could potentially upset them. 

After showing them the above visual in my invasion games keynote, we will move on to the next slide which can be seen below. Over the next couple of classes, we will formulate strategies and understandings that will hopefully help them move forward and learn that the way that they respond to their emotions is more important than the emotions themselves. If I can end this unit with the students understanding these big ideas we will have accomplished a lot. 

I'll record all of these strategies and understandings and add them to the slide seen below before each class. I'll be sure to blog more about this as the unit unfolds further.