| April is always
that month in which winter finally seems to give over to the warmth
of Spring. The first flowers burst out from under the snow and give
us a first peek at the warm summer months ahead. It is also a time
when teachers and students alike get a fever for movement!
We have all felt that inner longing to get back outside and run
around! Can you work that idea into your curriculum this year? How
about streamer dances on the playground? Blowing bubbles and then
trying to chase them? Pretending to be kites and letting the wind
blow you? Let go a bit and MOVE with the season!
Cindy Kuhrasch
Interdisciplinary Section Editor |
PRODUCT:
Celebration
Games
DESCRIPTION: This book provides a calendar year’s
worth of fun games and activities - all designed to get 5 to 12
year olds excited about physical activity. Included are 68 physical
fitness activities, skills, games, and rhythm and dance activities,
each based on a specific holiday or seasonal theme. Whether it’s
Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, or
Kwanzaa, every occasion offers a new opportunity to build a child’s
knowledge of health and wellness.
The activities use common equipment and supplies
and may be adapted easily to various grade or skill levels. Ideas
for family events are also included to get everyone involved. For
more than 25 years, author Barb Wnek has strived to foster healthy
attitudes in children. Now, she brings you the same creative ideas
that won her acclaim as one of Dole’s Creative 5 A Day Teachers
of the Year. Based on decades of testing in summer camps and public
schools, this book makes teaching fun for both you and your kids.
2006. 176 pgs. - source: pecentral
Product: Holiday
Lesson Ideas
Description: This 74 page spiral bound book features
44 Holiday Physical Education Lesson Ideas printed directly from
the pages of PE Central. Holiday ideas are included for the following
holidays: Winter (Christmas), Easter, Thanksgiving, and Fourth of
July, Halloween, St. Patrick's Day, and Valentine's Day. Enjoy these
fun and exciting holiday ideas with your students. - source:
pecentral
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CARD
RUN 21 (gr 2-5)
Purpose:
To reinforce the math skill of adding while increasing the heart
rate.
Set-up:
Place four cones in the activity area so that they form a large
rectangle. Put a box of cards (no face cards) on opposite sides
of the rectangle. In addition, there will need to be safe areas
for hula hoops, beach ball volleying, jump ropes, and basketball
dribbling.
Activity description:
Students will walk or jog around the rectangle, picking a card out
of each box every time they pass. When a student has collected cards
totaling 21 or more in number, he or she shows the cards to the
teacher and places them in the collection box, which is located
in the middle of the rectangle. After placing their cards in the
collection box, the student will choose one of the activities, hula
hoops, jump ropes, beach ball volleying, or basketball dribbling,
and perform 21 repetitions. After completing the exercise, the student
begins the process again.
ALPHABET
SOUP (gr K-2)
Purpose:
To cooperatively work to form shapes using the body.
Activity Description:
Students skip around the playing area while music is playing. When
the music stops, the teachers rolls a die. Students must quickly
form a group with the same number of students as shown on the die.
During this time, the teacher will call out a letter of the alphabet.
Once students have the appropriate number of students in their group,
they will form the letter of the alphabet using their bodies while
standing or lying on the ground. Once the groups have finished,
repeat the process again. The teacher can also call out two to three
letters, and the groups must form all the letters.
These and more in PE
CONNECTIONS. |
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Why is PE not the most important
subject in a schools curriculum? It has a direct effect
on your health and life. Please share. |
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BUNNY
POKEY
Sung to: "Hokey
Pokey"
You put your bunny
ears in
(Place hands on head to make ears)
You put your bunny ears out.
You put your bunny ears in.
And you shake them all about.
You do the Bunny Pokey
And hop yourself around,
That's what it's all about!
Additional verses: "You put your
bunny nose in, You put your bunny tail in, You put your bunny
paws in."
EASTER
BUNNY "SKIPPING GAME" - Author Unknown
Need:
1 Easter Basket (A lightweight, DEEP basket works best).
1 Dozen Plastic Eggs (The fillable kind, but leave them empty).
1 Bunny Ears Headband (I make a white headband, and attach 2 pink
"ears" made from construction paper).
1 Record or Tape of any Easter Bunny song (such as "Here
Comes Peter Cottontail").
How to play the game:
All children stand in a large circle. Choose one child to be the
"Easter Bunny". This child puts on the "ears"
,and gets the Easter basket which
is filled with the plastic eggs. While the record or tape is played,
the "Easter Bunny" skips around inside the circle of
children, and hands out the eggs. As a child receives an egg from
the Bunny, he/she joins the Bunny in skipping in the circle .
The Bunny continues to pass out eggs, and is joined by the recipients,
until the record is over. If the Bunny passes out all of the eggs
before the song is done , the Bunny and egg holders just keep
skipping to the
music until it is over.
MORE GAMES FOUND AT PRESCHOOL
EDUCATION
THE
WOLF AND THE EASTER EGGS
This game is usually
played at Easter time, but could be played anytime. You play a
game of "Who's It" and whoever is "it" has
to be the Wolf. Everyone else is "Easter Eggs." The
"Easter Eggs" get in a huddle and pick what color Easter
egg they want to be. When everyone has picked his or her color
they all turn around and line up facing the wolf from an agreed
upon distance. Then the wolf starts to guess colors. If he guesses
your color you have to step forward one step and spell out your
color (if the color is yellow you have to spell out Y-E-L-L-O-W)
before the wolf gets to you and tags you. Then you have to run
around an (already mapped out) "Obstacle Course" before
the wolf tags you and make it back to the "Basket" (or
home base) with the rest of the eggs (but you can not leave the
"Basket" to run until you spell out your color).
If you make it back
to the "basket" with the other eggs then you huddle
again, and the one that ran chooses another color. The game goes
on until the wolf tags someone, and that person is then it, or
you could play it where you eliminate players as you go until
one person is left, and that person is it.
This is a game where
kids have to think fast on there feet, and also teaches smaller
kids how to spell their colors. Usually if there are smaller and
bigger kids playing, the bigger kids take the longer colors and
leave colors like "red" and "blue" to the
littler kids. - source: gameskidsplay.com
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I
WOKE UP SATURDAY MORNING
Don't be caught napping
when the clapping starts!
This is a clapping
game.
Players sit in a circle
and put both hands out in front of them with palms facing up.
Overlap hands so your
right hand is above the left hand of the person sitting on your
right. (Get it?!)
One person starts by
reaching over with their right hand and clapping the right hand
of the person sitting on their left.
The clap is passed
around the circle while the group says this rhyme:
I woke up Saturday
morning
I looked up on the
wall
I saw a team of roaches
Playing basketball.
The score was ten to
nothing
The roaches in the
lead
I got a can of bug
spray, one, two three!
If a player's hand
is clapped on "three," that player is out.
If the player pulls
her hand away in time, and the person claps their own hand, then
that person is out. When there are only two people left in the
game, the hand positions change. Player 1 holds both hands out,
palms facing up. Player 2 slaps Player 1's hands with both of
his hands, palms facing down. Now, Player 2 holds his hands out,
and Player 1 slaps his hands.
Play continues until
there is only one person left!
source:
PBS Kids - More games found at PBS
Kids.
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THE
PERFECT EASTER EGG HUNT - What Easter celebration would be
complete without an egg hunt? Whether you’re planning an
indoor search for three or an outdoor event for 300, here are
a few ideas to help you organize the perfect hunt this year.
Food
Group Fitness Relay (gr 3-5) - Purpose: To reinforce nutrition
concepts while having students increase their heart rates.
Free
Radicals Attack! (gr 3-5) - Purpose: To review and practice
soccer dribbling skills while learning the basic concepts of how
free radicals and antioxidants affect the body.
Red
Ribbon Locomotor Stations (GR 2-5) - Purpose: To integrate
activities that enforce saying no to drugs during red ribbon week.
Jump
to Spell: Learning the Keyboard (gr 2-5) - Students spell
words by jumping on a teacher-made computer keyboard.
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| INTERDISCIPLINARY LESSONS
(webmaster) |
| COMMUNICATION (webmaster) |
POSITIVE
WAYS TO TALK AND LISTEN
As parents we spend so
much of our time talking to our kids — and then wonder why
they don't seem to hear us. In heated moments, we find ourselves
stuck in power struggles, but can't figure out what to say to stop
the fighting. Sometimes we just don't know how to answer a tough
question.
Why can talking with kids be so hard? "The
basic challenge is that parents very often speak without understanding
how their children receive the message," says Michael Thompson,
Ph.D., co-author of Raising Cain. "We often make an assumption
that our kids understand. But then we wonder, 'Why didn't they do
what I said?'"
This is an extremely good, multi-page article.
You really should read it if you interact with kids.
Age-by-Age
Insights - Learn how to talk to kids of any age. Listen through
your children's ears and find out how much of your conversation
kids really understand - and why they don't seem to pay attention
when you want them to. Plus, learn about the hidden messages that
underlie your kids' questions and arguments.
Talking
About Meltdowns - When kids get mad, they get really mad. And
parents, despite their best intentions, get mad too and often react
by yelling back. One thing leads to another and a simple disagreement
has turned into a battle of wills, with screaming, kicking and tears.
What to do? Find
out.
I
Can't Believe I Said That! - "A lot about being a parent
is managing feelings of helplessness," says Michael Thompson,
Ph.D. "The tantrums of little children make parents feel helpless.
When older kids stand up to you and criticize your character, that
brings up a different kind of helplessness. And when our kids make
us feel helpless, our buttons get pushed, and we say things we wish
we hadn't." Read more.
The
Art of Negotiating With Kids - You say, "It's time for
bed." "It's time to go." "It's time for homework."
"It's dinnertime!" But your child says, "Five more
minutes." You are tired of saying "No" and tired
of fighting. So, what do you do? Give in? Blow up? Or — negotiate?
Read more.
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| EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE (webmaster) |
| PBS
ZOOM! - A great site filled with fun outdoor games for Spring.
Funattic
- A consistent source for seasonal activities for kids of all ages.
Games
Kids Play - A site that includes all of those fun games that
you remember from your childhood!
Nick.com
- This commercial site has a unique activity challenge for the season.
Check it out!
MELTING
BUTTER
You're M e l l l l
t i n g!
This game is for 4
or more players and should be played in an open area.
To play, pick someone
to be "it." That player runs around and tries to tag the
other players.
When someone is tagged,
she starts to melt. (It works best if you count to ten s l o w l
y while you melt.)
Someone who's not "it"
has to tap her again before she melts all the way down to the ground.
When she's tapped, the player who was melting can run around again.
The first person to melt all the way to
the ground is "it" during the next round. - source:
PBS
KIDS
Get more games from PBS
Kids. |
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