The running and tag games that filled October and helped us train in November for the Seattle Kid's Marathon was ultimately dominated by a game we developed in PE called Magic Hand. In Freeze Tag the tagger has freeze power, and in other tag games the tagger has other powers, but in Magic Hand the tagger has a variety of powers. Magic Hand is an amalgam; "All-Tag". One student might be tagged frozen, the next student might be Disco Tagged and the next yet might have to complete X number of Jumping Jacks or Push-Ups to get back in the game. The game and the powers grew from one week to the next, and eventually even became a team game based on the structure of Capture the Flag, but each team had multiple flags, each of which represented a Tag Power their team could capture from the other team. While all K-4 classes seemed to thoroughly enjoy the playing and development of the game, only the 4th graders will get a chance to similarly create their own amalgam game or sport, TBD. The running/tag games and lessons went later than originally planned, but student involvement and enthusiasm trumped paper-laid plans, and the game was a great, fun way to train for the Marathon.
Between the November and December holiday breaks, the K's and 1st graders will be studying Ballet while the 2-4th grades begin ball manipulation skills with Basketball drills and games. The 2-4th graders will start Ballet upon returning in January, or if class dynamics are inappropriate or unsafe in during Basketball, they will start Ballet sooner.
For the K-1st Grades, Ballet focuses on movement memory, strong feet/ankles, stability (standing on one leg, for instance), balance (standing equally stable on the other leg), jumps/hops/leaps, and rotation/turns/spins. Exact or precise reproduction of movement is less important than understanding the underlying movement dynamics. For instance, if a student hops where he should leap, the momentum is more important than the details about which feet go where when, as long as the student can distinctly differentiate the two when asked. Intermediate students will learn things like the sagittal, coronal, and transverse planes of space/movement (albeit by names like "wheel", "wall", and "table" planes). They will learn that mobility is dependent upon (relative) stability. Intermediate students will also be expected to demonstrated more Ballet vocabulary and more precise move memory and recall. Students of all ages will learn a variety of stretching during ballet, but not in every class.
Basketball, like all team sports in K-4 PE, starts with drills and games for the skills and may or may not get as far as competitive team basketball. It is my expectation that classes will get there, but they must work safely and with discipline; the more important lessons are the ability to control your body well enough to control equipment while dribbling, passing, aiming, shooting, rebounding, and more. Basketball is another excellent opportunity to practice and refine teamwork and sportsmanship, and it also gives us more opportunities to tune our cardio-aerobic engines with shuttle runs, all sorts of jumps (jacks, ropes, burpees, star jumps, etc), albeit with more emphasis on explosive power and sprinting than marathon, pace, or distance running.
The final week before the December break is intended to be obstacle courses, a student favorite that is generally appropriate on short weeks before holiday breaks.
Keep Moving,
Matthew Smith
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