This week my classes did an Easter Egg Hunt! The kids had SO much fun and got a lot of exercise! 2nd grade students also had time for some dribbling practice with Mr. Gietzen, and also did a "dribbling maze". Pictures and videos below.....
Kindergarten doing some warm-up exercises before the Easter Egg Hunt.
Kindergarteners taking turns to find Easter eggs.
Kindergarten Easter Egg Hunt
2nd Grade Hunt
Early Childhood Special Education Class - They hunted and then sorted eggs by color.
For more Easter Games please click here! This includes Easter Egg Hunts, Easter Tag, Jellybean Tag, and "Jellybean Wars" throwing game. Enjoy!
Activities the students have been working on since our last update:
1) Leaping Leprechauns Warm-Up Game
2) Tumbling (Somersaults, Log and Pencil Rolls, and tripods, headstands and cartwheels for 2nd grade)
3) All students are participating in basketball activities for the month of March.
See pictures and videos below!
Second grade students finished up their tumbling unit with tripods and headstands. We taught the tripod first and required students to balance for 10 seconds before trying to lift their legs up for a headstand. Key points to remember when practicing a tripod - 1) make a triangle with your head and hands, 2) Spread your feet apart on the mat (to line up your knees with your elbows), 3) Slowly walk your feet in towards your elbows and lift knees up to balance on elbows.
2nd grade student doing a tripod.
Student balancing in a tripod position before raising legs up for a headstand.
Headstand!
Headstand
Video of our student teacher, Mr. Gietzen, teaching a round-off. We typically do not teach this skill, but decided to this year because of student interest. Students had the option to try this, or participate in other tumbling activities.
Video of Kindergarten doing the "Leaping Leprechaun" Warm-Up:
Here is a fun, easy Valentine game I created to play with my elementary classes. This is a great game for special education students as well. For a printable of this game, please click "Hide and Seek Valentine Hearts".
A St. Patrick's Day version of this game is called "Hide and Seek Shamrocks". This game is also found on my blog here. You may also visit my web page for many more games!
Video of this game:
Another dollar store purchase!
Hide
and Seek Valentine Heart Relay
Equipment Needed: 5 buckets or boxes
(one for each team) 75 + Valentine Hearts (I
use plastic hearts from the dollar store, but you could use paper
hearts that are laminated) 20 +cones ordomes (I like thesedomes the best)
Intro: Take 30 seconds to talk about Valentine’s
Day.....why we celebrate, what we do on Valentine’s Day, etc. Then tell
the students they are going to pretend to be CUPID, and they have to
FIND the Valentines Hearts that are hiding in the gym!
Description of Activity: This is a
continuous relay race that keeps going until all of the hearts have been
collected. I use the width of the gym and make groups of 3-4 students.
Give each group a bucket to leave by the side wall to collect their
hearts. Students take turns running to find a heart. When they lift up
a dome to peek, they should put it back down to hide any remaining
hearts.
Set-Up: Using
the width of the gym, set a bucket near the wall for each group. On
the other side wall, scatter thecones/domes and hide
hearts under them. Hide about 5 under each dome.
Rules: Students must wait their turn to run (groups
of 3 are best so kids are not standing in line too long). When it’s
their turn, the student runs to the other side of the gym, peeks under a
dome and takes ONE heart, then run back to their team’s bucket to drop
it in. Then the student gets back in line for another turn to run. If
a dome is EMPTY, the student may flip it over so other students don’t
continue to look under that dome.
Peek under a dome to find heart!
Notes: When all of the hearts are collected, groups
may count their hearts, or sort them by color, size, etc if you are
using a variety of different hearts. (see my pictures on my blog).
They may also count how many total hearts their team collected. Have
students hide hearts for the next class (tell them how many to put under
each dome so you don’t have many empty and others with too many).
You
could also substitute skipping, galloping, crab walk, riding scooters,
etc. instead of running.
These are the domes with 4-5 hearts hidden under each one.
For a printable version, please click on "Leaping Leprechauns". Pics and Videos of this game are below.
Leaping
Leprechauns
By: Carly Glanzman
Equipment Needed: 4
cones, preferably numbered 1-4 4 Buckets or boxes 30
paper shamrocks or gold coins. May also use beanbags, small balls,
etc. Items to leap over such as hurdles, jump
ropes, poly spots, etc.
Skills: Leaping Following
Directions
Description of
Activity: Tell students they are pretending to be
leprechauns who have to LEAP through the forest to find treasures
(shamrocks, gold, etc.)
Four
mini-obstacle courses are set up for students to go through. After
completing a course, the student collects a treasure (shamrock or other
item) from the bucket at the end of the course, then they will run to
the opposite end of the gym, drop treasure in the empty bucket, and
choose another obstacle course to go through. Continue playing until
all of the treasures are collected.
Set-Up: On one end of the gym, place 4 cones on the
endline. The cones mark the beginning of each obstacle course. Divide
students equally behind each cone to begin. After they complete the
course in their line, they may get in any other line and continue
playing.
For each line, set up
hurdles or other obstacles for students to leap over, going all the way
to the opposite end of the gym.
Place
2 buckets filled with shamrocks (or other treasures) in the two corners
at the end of the gym at the end of the obstacles. Place two empty
buckets at the corners of the gym where the start of the obstacles are.
After completing a course, students run to the corner, take a shamrock,
and run down the SIDELINE of the gym (so they do not interfere with
students who are doing the obstacle courses). They put their shamrock
in the empty bucket. Then the student chooses another line to join.
(make each obstacle course slightly different for a variety).
Notes: The empty buckets could be placed by the
wall in the corner with a rainbow taped on the wall (like it’s a pot of
gold at the end of a rainbow).
Remind
students to collect their shamrock after completing a course, and run
down the SIDELINE begin a new obstacle.
For
motivation to complete courses, tell students they can keep track in
their heads how many shamrocks they get.
Equipment Needed: 2-3 Tagging Sticks (We
use small pieces of pool noodles or yarn balls) 1
Bucket (preferably green) 15-20 “lucky charms”
such as paper shamrocks, gold coins, beanbags, small balls, etc. 1
picture of a rainbow to tape to the wall
Description of Activity: This
is a continuous tag game with no safe. Students start scattered
anywhere in the gym. Taggers start on the endline. When the music
begins, everyone begins moving around the area.
Taggers
are called Leprechauns. They hold the tagging noodles to tag players.
The Lucky Charmer is the person who carries the bucket with lucky
charms in it.
If a player is tagged,
they sit down and wait for the Lucky Charmer to bring them a Lucky
Charm. Tagged players put their lucky charm in the pot at the end of
the rainbow, then return to playing tag.
Notes: Play 2-3
minute games, then stop to choose new taggers and a new person to be the
“lucky charmer”.
I found these cute shamrocks from the Dollar Store!
Equipment Needed: 5 buckets or boxes
(one for each team) 75 + shamrock cut-outs (or other small
green object like puff balls, bean bags, etc) 20
+ cones or domes ( I like these domes the best)
Intro: Take a minute
to talk about St. Patrick’s Day.....tell the students some leprechauns
came in the gym and hid a bunch of shamrocks/lucky four leaf clovers for
them!
Description of
Activity: This is a continuous relay race that keeps
going until all of the shamrocks have been collected. I use the width
of the gym and make groups of 3-4 students. Give each group a bucket to
leave by the side wall to collect their shamrocks. Students take turns
running to find a shamrock. When they lift up a dome to peek, they
should put it back down to hide any remaining shamrocks.
Set-Up: Using the
width of the gym, set a bucket near the wall for each group. On the
other side wall, scatter the cones/domes and hide shamrocks
under them. Hide about 5 under each dome.
Rules: Students must
wait their turn to run (groups of 3 are best so kids are not standing in
line too long). When it’s their turn, the student runs to the other
side of the gym, peeks under a dome and takes ONE shamrock, then run
back to their team’s bucket to drop it in. Then the student gets back
in line for another turn to run. If a dome is EMPTY, the student may
flip it over so other students don’t continue to look under that dome.
Notes: When all of the shamrocks are collected,
groups may count their shamrocks or sort them by color, size, etc if you
are using a variety of different shamrocks. (see my pictures of the
glittery and striped shamrocks). They may also count how many total
shamrocks their team collected. Have students hide shamrocks for the
next class (tell them how many to put under each dome so you don’t have
many empty and others with too many).
You
could also substitute skipping, galloping, crab walk, riding scooters,
etc. instead of running.