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