Name of Activity: Geography Golf

Academic content: Social Studies

Purpose of Activity: To have students practice their knowledge of states and capitals while at the same time working on motor skills. This activity also promotes working together in small groups.

Suggested Grade Level: 4th and Up

Materials Needed: Stand up target for the capitals (cones work well), carpet squares for teeing areas, ropes to outline states, frisbees (preferably foam), pencils and paper, cards to identify what hole they are on, scorecards

Physical activity: Throwing skills

Description of Idea

This activity is similar to frisbee golf. This time however the students will work together to build the golf holes and they will incorporate their knowledge of states and capitals.

Have three/four students get together privately and decide which state they would like to make for their golf hole. They also need to decide what the capital of that state is. After deciding (don't allow them to choose square states), they are to get 8-12 jump ropes, a cone, and a card in which they will write the number of the hole on. They are to build that state using the jump ropes as the border of the state and then they put the cone where the capital should be. Give them 5 minutes to do this. They are not to tell anyone what their state and capital are! (While they are doing this the teacher can take cones and put up the teeing areas based on where the students are putting together their state. Make some holes longer than others.)

Have the students return to you as a group. They are to get a partner, a scorecard, and a Frisbee Have the students start at any hole they want. They decide who will throw first and then they alternate throwing the Frisbee trying to hit the cone in the state. Tell them they must hit the cone "on the fly." Frisbee can't roll and hit state. Students throw from where the Frisbee lands and not where it rolls to. The object is to hit the state capital in the least amount of throws.

At each hole or tee have the students record number of throws they had on their scorecard. Also, have the students record their guess as to what state and capital for each hole. Tell them to keep their guesses to themselves.

Upon completion have the students write their collective score on the board and their guesses at the states and capitals. Have a discussion about all of this.

Teaching Suggestions:

1. Tell students who are not throwing to be on the lookout for stray Frisbees from errant throws from other groups. May want to introduce the term "Fore" as used in golf.

Variations:

1. To make more difficult, put obstacles around the capital
2. Use hockey, kicking, or over and underhand throwing skills instead of Frisbee throwing

Assessment Ideas:

To help teachers assess students Frisbee abilities use our Cue Checklist Sheet.

To assess what students have learned and like/dislike about their Frisbee throwing abilities use our Frisbee Throwing Assessment Sheet.

This lesson plan came from PE CENTRAL

This section within the Interdisciplinary page is updated each month with a new idea from Jean Blaydes' book Thinking on Your Feet. This month's idea is called "Dr. Seuss's Field Day Games". The whole idea behind this is to provide you with field day ideas using the books written by Dr. Seuss. These are great for the end of the year celebration.

Click here to learn more! For more information about Jean Blaydes and Action Based Learning click here.

What is Brain Gym? They are a worldwide network specializing in research and applied programs of physical movement to enhance learning in all areas. Check out this article on the effect brain gym had on elementary readers.

The Effect of Brain Gym® on Reading Abilities
Cecilia (Freeman) Koester, M.Ed.
© 2001 Brain Gym® Journal

In 1998 I undertook a study to determine whether the Educational Kinesiology Brain Gym® activities have an effect on the reading abilities of students in third, fourth, and fifth grade classrooms, as indicated by a comparison of standardized test scores taken in May 1998 and May 1999. In that year-long Pilot Project on reading, the use of Brain Gym activities in the classroom as an aid to learning proved an overwhelming success. Student abilities and standardized test scores rose remarkably when Brain Gym was taught to teachers and their students.

Throughout the school year, twelve teachers incorporated Brain Gym into their classroom curricula, so that the students and teachers did a minimum of 15 minutes of Brain Gym per day. A full 55 percent of third grade students and 89 percent of fifth grade students in the Brain Gym group improved their scores by twenty percentile points or more; in the control group (those who did not receive Brain Gym support in their classrooms) there were no such improvements.

Perhaps equally important were the responses to the program from teachers, administrators, parents and children, who truly felt that students were enabled to learn much more easily than ever before by using these simple movements. Parents and teachers also were impressed by the increase in self-esteem reflected in the attitudes and learning habits of those children who took part in the project. In addition, teachers noticed the students’ improved concentration and better classroom focus.

This report can be shared with administrators, read to glean classroom ideas, or used to replicate my study. For a more detailed article, see the December 2000 issue of Brain Gym Journal.

A copy of the entire research report is available for $20 plus postage, in U.S. funds. Orders of ten or more copies will receive a 30 percent discount. Cecilia can be reached at (805) 641-1851, by emailing cecilia@jetlink.net, or by visiting www.iamthechild.com.

Cecilia (Freeman) Koester M.Ed., is the author, with Gail E. Dennison, of "I am the Child: Using Brain Gym with Children Who Have Special Needs." Cecilia lives in Ventura, California, and consults nationwide, does teacher inservices, and teaches a course she developed for the Edu-K Foundation: Brain Gym® for Special Education Providers.

This article can be found at The Official Brain Gym website