Jump Rope, Catching, and Testing Your Skills Activity

I try to post at least once a month,
but November got away from me!  How is time flying by SO

Student showing READY HANDS for catching.

fast!?  I am having lots of fun, that is how!  My students have been busy learning a variety of skills this month.  Check out some pictures and video demonstration links below!

3rd-5th Grades

1.  Jump Rope Skills - After students have mastered basic jumping (at least 20-30 in a row), they begin working on tricks.  The students who master the most tricks will perform in our Jump Rope for Heart Assembly in January.  Tricks include the side swing pattern, continuous criss cross or regular criss cross, hopping, scissor or jack feet, forward to backward, pretzel, doubles (continuous doubles or doubles with basic), cartwheel, 360, walk the dog, partner tricks such as switching handles, 2 in 1 rope, 1 twirls.  To master a trick means the student performed it for me 10 times without missing.  Click here to see how I teach basic jumping.

2.  Catching and Throwing games  - such as Battleship and Sink the Ship.

3.  Thankful Tag (K-5th)

4.  BBall Shooting - Lightning Game, with a focus on teaching them how to use the backboard!

PreK - 2nd Grades  -

1.  Locomotor Skills - PreK-2nd grade students have been focusing on locomotor skills such as running, galloping, skipping, hopping, leaping and animal walks.  They did an activity I call "Test Your Skills".  Click to see the teacher demonstration of this game, and also the student demonstrations.

2.  Basketball - dribbling and shooting

3.  Catching and throwing - I taught the students READY HANDS and played the game "Catch Everything".  Check out this student demonstration by my 5th grade recess helpers, and also a 2nd grade class playing this game.  We also did a catching activity I call CATCH, THROW and RUN.

During the holiday season, I enjoy playing lots of fun holiday games.  Here is a link to my blog posts with Christmas games. I especially like the Feed the Reindeer Relay!

Playing catch with a partner.

READY HANDS for the game Catch Everything!

READY HANDS for the game Catch Everything!

READY HANDS for the game Catch Everything!

Please check out my other links: My Teachers Pay Teachers Store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Carly3 My Webpage: http://carlyspegames.weebly.com/ My Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/carly3ify My Pinterest Page: https://www.pinterest.com/carlyglanzman/carlys-pe-games/

Soccer Lessons, Germ Ball, Hula Hoops and more!

Our first several weeks of school have been GREAT!   The students have learned a huge variety of skills already including the following:

1.  Daily Dozen Warm-Up (check out the video of our September Daily Dozen!)
2.  Moving Safely, Personal Space and Spacial  Awareness
3.  Germ Prevention and Hand Washing (Germ Ball Game)
4.  Hula Hoop Skills (check out the video of choice time and Bubble Cars)
5.  Soccer Skills - (video of "Go Score", video of drill, Pre-K-2nd game "Go Visit Places")
6.  Defense Skills - (video of Guard the Cookie Jar)
7.  Team Building Activities "Getting to Know you Tag"
8.  Rolling a ball / Bowling Activities (video of Pinball game)
9.  Walking Track Recess Program and Get Sweaty Calendars
10.  Variety of fun fitness games like "fruit tag, bridge tag, stop and go tag"
11. Fitnessgram fitness testing (3rd-5th)

A 5th grade recess helper with a Pre-K student.  Love how they matched today!

Defensive position while playing Guard the Cookie Jar

My teacher assistant, Mr. Yntema guarding a cookie jar.

Ready position to begin a game.

Listening during instruction time.

Soccer Tag

Back to School - 2017

The gym is ready to welcome your child next week!

Welcome back to school everyone!
It was wonderful to meet so many new and returning families at the
Kindergarten Open House last week!  Seeing how excited the kids are made me even more anxious to get the school year started!

I have been teaching Physical Education at KHPS since 2005.  I am a graduate in the Movement Science department from GVSU.  I LOVE teaching elementary P.E.  My goal is to provide a safe, positive, and nurturing learning environment where all children feel motivated to give their personal best!

I would like to introduce my teacher assistant from GVSU.  His name is Kyle Yntema and he has a lot of experience teaching young children in Sunday school and coaching sports teams.   His favorite sports are soccer and baseball.  He will be at our school every morning (3rd-5th graders will have him). I am happy to have him with me this semester!

The first week of school all students will be learning (or a quick review for returning students) the following:

1. Our school wide Code of Conduct  "SHINES" - Shows Respect, Has self-control, Is trustworthy, Never gives up, Engages in learning, Stays safe.  They will learn what this looks like in the gym.
2.  Procedures - We have 27 minute class periods so procedures are VERY important.  We do not waste a second of time in P.E. and the students will quickly learn how we do things in order to maximize our time.
3.  Rainbow Spots and Daily Dozen Warm-Up - Check out some videos of our Daily Dozen from last year!   2nd graders, 3rd Graders, 5th Graders  Each child has a "rainbow spots" which is a small piece of tape so they know where to go.  Ask your child which color team they are on!
4.  Fun & Collaborative Games - We will get to know each other through a variety of fun activities!

The students will learn some of the benefits of physical activity!

An administrator once told me I have "procedures on steroids".  Which was a big compliment!  The kids know what is expected at all times, so our classes run smoothly and everyone has fun!

Parachute Games, Sink the Ship & Pinball

Mushroom- they learned how to do this together without my help!

The month of May is always one of my favorites because I am done with testing and we play a lot of fun games.   The 4th &5th graders completed their fitness testing, and they did a great job beating their scores!  I'm really proud of their hard work this year!

My classes have been participating in a variety of activities this month, including:
Parachute Games
Sink the Ship
Scooter Relays
Pinball
Capture the Flag
Prepping for Field Day

Squatting like a frog before lifting it up.  Great exercise and fun!

See below for a few videos, and even more on my youtube channel.

Parachute Games:
This year I gave my 1st & 2nd graders a "parachute test" where they had to use teamwork and cooperation to make an umbrella and a mushroom without my help.  The student leader was in charge inside the mushroom.  We have a "secret" way to make the mushroom go higher up (everyone sits on their handle and takes 3 scooches in at the same time).  They think it's the coolest thing!  We also played "Under the Sea", "Jellyfish", "Firecracker", Switcharoo and Popcorn.  Lots of fun and laughs!

Scooter Relays:
We have several different kind of races - riding the scooter on your knees, belly, bottom, "turbo speed", and then pushing a partner.  Check out some samples below and more on my youtube channel.

Pinball:
This game is great exercise!  It gives us a chance to practice many skills such as rolling a ball, defense, and teamwork.  Here is a short video sample.

Sink the Ship:
This game is always a favorite in my class.  Player practice a variety of skills including catching, throwing, rolling, scooters, defense, and teamwork.  Check out this video demo and more on my youtube channel.
https://youtu.be/GAFc2kPf_WU

Hide Out Game:
Thanks to Kyle Bragg for this great game!  The students always love this game and get a lot of exercise!  They leave the gym dripping with sweat.  We use soft yarn balls so they do not hurt at all.  This is a great opportunity to practice throwing and increase aerobic endurance. 

Field Day Prep:
I did this very simple "baton relay" with my students to let them practice doing a relay.  They learned how to encourage their teammates, take turns, finish the race by sitting down, and cooperation.  It's so simple but they really enjoyed it!

May Daily Dozen
Here is our  May Daily Dozen, which every class does for a warm-up.  I thought it was SO CUTE when a Kindergarten student asked me to write down all of the Daily Dozen exercises on a piece of paper so she could do it at home!  Several of my students tell me they do this at home, which makes me so happy!  Way to go kids, you are awesome!

Fitness Testing and Center / Station Activities

2nd graders riding scooters

April is the month when my 4th-5th grade students complete their fitness tests.  In our district, we use the Fitnessgram tests to measure aerobic capacity, flexibility, abdominal strength and upper body strength.  Even though we do not officially test our K-3rd grade students, I teach them how to perform the tests and give them opportunities to practice.

Instead of doing our Daily Dozen Warm-Up this month, all of my students are practicing the Fitnessgram PACER test (I call it the "beep" test for my K-2nd students).   We have also been working on center activities, which allow me to take time to test students individually on things like the sit and reach, and push-ups.  Check out the pictures and videos below of our center activities which included:  Jump Rope/Jumping Sticks, Scooters, Basketball, Tennis and Cartwheels/Round-offs.

I am so excited that almost ALL of my student have improved their push-up score since the beginning of the school year!  I think part of the reason they have gotten stronger is because we do our Daily Dozen Warm-Up every day.  Plus, many of them are on sports teams and exercise at home.  I'm so proud of them!  Here are some videos of students using the push-up mat, which I use for testing.  One boy told me yesterday he practices his push-ups every night! 

The first week of the scooter center, I taught students how to ride safely on their bottom, belly or knees.  The second week I taught them how to ride safely doing "turbo speed" which is when you may hold onto the handles and get a running start.  The students did a great job riding safely.  It was a great workout for them!  See the videos below!

Army Crawl on the scooter

Doing the "spiderman" and "superman" on the scooter course.

Riding on knees.

Riding the scooter over to the push-up mat for a turn!

Scooter course on day 1.

Day 1 of scooter course.  The arrows helped show the way!

Demonstrating the sit and reach.  For the test we do this with shoes off.

"Tennis" center for Kindergarteners.   Older students may use indoor tennis balls as well.

After testing, I allowed some classes to have "free choice time".  I took a demonstration video of a few girls doing round-offs and cartwheels.  This video will help me teach my other students how do do these!  

Dance for Elementary Students

Our students learned from each other by watching the videos we took!

Mrs. Hulford (the Music teacher) and I continued our tradition of teaching our DANCE UNIT the week before spring break.  This is our third year teaching this unit together.  We have so much fun!  The students enjoy coming into the gym with another class and participating together.  It's a great way to collaborate as a large group.  We teach a big VARIETY of dances including aerobic dance, line dance, circle dance, partner dance, and square dance.   I like how we teach both traditional dances/music AND current/popular music/dances.

The two main "I CAN" statements we use are, "I CAN MOVE TO MUSIC" and "I CAN KEEP THE BEAT".  I was able to capture a few of the dances on video.  Check them out below!  We used videos of our own students to teach the rest of the school.  The students LOVED seeing their friends (and sometimes brothers or sisters) in the videos. 

This first video is showing how the students practiced keeping the beat with a partner before we added the music.

Partner dance to the song "Buffalo Gals".  This was so fun with the music!

Next we did this dance in a CIRCLE formation.  Circle dances take a lot of teamwork and cooperation!

Our third graders did a fantastic job with SQUARE dancing!

We used this as a demonstration video.  The students enjoyed seeing their friends in the video.  It helped them learn the moves!

The students enjoyed this aerobic dance to the song Magic.   There are some great P.E. teachers who post awesome dances on youtube!  Thanks to Chad Triolet and his crew!

1st graders doing the Chicken Dance with a partner.

2nd graders getting ready for a circle dance.

Line Dance

Partner Dance to Buffalo Gals.

Volleyball / Newcomb and Germ Ball

READY POSITION for Newcomb!

This week my Pre-K thru 3rd grade students learned about germs and proper HAND WASHING!  We played a game called "Germ Ball" where students who were hit with a germ ball had to sit down and wait for the "soap person" to come give them soap.  (see video below).  Then they had to practice washing their hands for 20 SECONDS to be sure all the germs got off.  We had fun!  We also talked about the proper way to COVER YOUR COUGH as a way to not spread our germs to others.  We called it the "germ catcher" or "chicken wing" (covering with your elbow instead of coughing into your hand).

READY POSITION for Newcomb!

My 4th-5th grade students continued learning about the volleyball underhand serve and played Newcomb, which is a modified volleyball game.  See the video below!  I love Newcomb because it involves a HUGE variety of skills including:  serving, catching, throwing, teamwork, math smarts to keep track of rally scoring, and good sportsmanship! 

Jump Rope for Heart, Special Guest, and Volleyball

I love how Valentine's Day at my school is celebrated with a "Healthy Heart Day".  The students

Long Rope Jumping at JR4H

spend half of the day doing activities that teach them about having a healthy heart.  This is when I hold our Jump Rope for Heart event in the gym!  We also have a Yoga/Dance center, and a Nutrition center in the cafeteria.

We had a JR4H assembly in January, and a group of my students performed a Jump Rope Routine.  I think it turned out awesome!  See the video below and here!  (practice video here- this one shows the cool cartwheels some of them began the routine with). All of my 3rd-5th grade students were able to do this routine together in P.E. class for the month of January.  It's a fun way for them to practice their skills together.

THANK YOUs - I would like to thank Mrs. Fisher for volunteering twice this month!  Mrs. Fisher is a parent and also a fitness instructor and personal trainer at the YMCA.  She led my classes for a whole day and taught them a variety of fun activities.  See pictures and videos below!  She also spent the Healthy Heart day with us leading a Yoga/Dance session.  She is amazing!

I would also like to thank all of the parents who came to volunteer for our Healthy Heart Day!  You are very much appreciated!  See pictures and videos below of our JR4H event.  Our school raised over $7,600 for the American Heart Association!  Thank you to all of our families who donated.  This is our highest amount ever raised, and that is all because of your generosity.

Other activities my students participated in this month include:  Volleyball activities, (Underhand Serving, Newcomb - Video), Obstacle Courses Video, Catching/Throwing.

Since we had 100+ in the gym for Jump Rope for Heart, I had these short obstacle courses in our upper level.  I taught all of my students this in P.E. class, so they would know what to do on our JR4H day.  

Hungary Hippos with Mrs. Fisher

Relay Activity with Mrs. Fisher!

Tug of War with Mrs. Fisher

JR4H

JR4H - A parent volunteer playing a jumping stick game.  The kids LOVED this!

JR4H Long Rope Jumping

Happy New Year! Jump Rope Activities: Long Rope and Partner Tricks

Happy New Year!  
This month all of my students are learning how to jump rope.
Before Christmas,

Switching Handles is one of the partner tricks the students learned. 

the 1st-5th grade students learned about single rope jumping and partner tricks.  This month they are practicing with long ropes and Chinese jump ropes.  All of my 3rd-5th grade classes have been practicing a Group Jump Rope Routine as our fitness activity.  This is the same routine I will use for our jump rope assembly at the end of the month.  We will have Jump Rope for Heart on Valentine's Day again this year!  I hope to post a video of the group jump rope routine soon!  I choreographed it to the song "JUMP" by Van Halen.

Fellow P.E. teachers - to view all of my posts regarding jump rope activities, click on the link JUMP ROPE.

Long Rope Jumping Game:
Pre-K - 2nd grade students learned a game called "Snake in the Grass".  This game idea came from one of my favorite authors, Robert Pangrazi, in his book "Dynamic Physical Education".  I have included many videos of this game below.  Students move the "snake" side to side while the jumper jumps or leaps over it.  If the jumper successfully jumps OVER the snake without touching it 5 times, they "win" and the turn goes to the next person.  If they jump and land on top of the snake, the snake wins and they lose their turn.  They must also land on their feet and not fall down on the floor!

Twirling and jumping a long rope:
1st-5th grade students practiced twirling and jumping a long rope.  We used the cue words "rainbow-click" to remember how to have good form (rainbow at the top, hear the click on the floor).  They have a lot of fun jumping with long  ropes, and it's a great way to practice cooperation and teamwork!

Partner Tricks and Partner Routines: 
Check out the videos below.  I taught the students how to build a partner routine.  This includes a beginning, 3-5 tricks, and an ending.  They were also encouraged to build their own "freestyle" routine which consists of the same skills - beginning, tricks, and an ending.


Chinese Jump Ropes:  Click the link Chinese Jump Ropes for more info.
These work well with all age levels.  Some students have begun to learn a basic pattern, "Americans" pattern, and the Name Game.  I will continue to teach this to my students later this month.  Chinese ropes are a good option to have at our Jump Rope for Heart event because they involve no twirling!

Daily Dozen:
All Pre-K-5th graders do the Daily Dozen every day!  The students are becoming stronger!  Their form is getting better, and I am so impressed with their push-ups!  They are working on touching their nose to the floor. The student in the picture below had light up shoes.....so we turned the lights down and did the daily dozen so we could all see his shoes light up.  It was pretty cool!

Light up shoes with lights dimmed - looks pretty awesome!

Check out some videos!

Long Rope Videos