We have just finished our 7th week of in-person instruction without any positive cases of Covid, so all the work we did preparing in the summer, to all the work that we do every day with masks, pods, and social distancing is working. Whatever situation your school is in (in-person, at-home, or hybrid), I hope that people are staying safe and the students are enjoying school and learning.

This game adaption comes from another game I made a while ago called Rock Cycle Dodgeball. It has been a favorite of the students, but I knew I had to make some changes this year because I wanted to limit potential surface contamination exposure, and I didn’t want anything going close to the students faces (or any students to break a face mask). So I made several versions of the old game that still utilizes the overall idea, but now the game is based more on scoring goals with either hockey sticks or hand scoops).

Here is the lesson plan:

Social Distanced Rock Cycle

 

 Introduction:

            A limiting factor for student’s ability to enjoy a sport is exposure. I might see this the most with a sport like indoor hockey. There always seems to be one or two students play hockey outside of school in some type of private league, and they love playing it and are the most skilled during that PE lesson. Then there are students who use their athleticism to make up for the lack of expertise with the equipment, and they still have a lot of fun. Then there is a large contingency of students who barely get to hit or touch the puck. Obviously they are not having as much fun. The only real solution I have used thus far was to make more games with fewer players per game, making the chance of getting the ball and being an important member of the game significantly increase. In this version of hockey, there will be lots of opportunities to hit the ball and shoot at a goal, which increase the likelihood of the students enjoying not only this game, but also other hockey games in the future.

With Rock Cycle Dodge hockey, the names of the types of rocks, as well as the processes that rock go through to become other types of rocks is reinforced during the game.  With Rock Cycle hockey, instead of scoring goals on another team and “winning,” he scoring player just transitions from one type of rock to another.  With these modifications to hockey, more students get to touch the ball and it becomes an excellent way for students to learn about the rock cycle.

Another fun way to play this game is to utilize scooters and hand scoops. Few students have exposure to these materials consistently, so it levels the playing field between the students skill abilities and allows them to have more fun instead of worry about how many goals they scored or any other competitive element that might distract from the objective of the game (which is learning the rock cycle).

 

 Materials: 

·      A large area outside or inside

o   At least one hockey stick per student

o   Lots of rubber disc dots to show the area per rock type

o   A large playing area (gym or field)

o   Lots of soft hockey pucks or soft balls (dodgeballs)

·      To use the scooters, you must have a large indoor area or a flat surface outside

o   One scooter per person

o   A hand scoop per person

o   One soft ball or tennis ball that fits in the hand scooper

·      Both sets of games require mini-goals, but cones can be used as well

 

Prior Knowledge: The students should have had some lessons on the rock cycle

 

Presentation 

1.     Collect all of the students and review the different types of rocks (sedimentary, igneous, metamorphic).  Have the students give examples for these types of rocks if they can.  Once the general review is over, the instructor should ask, “How does one type of rock become another type of rock?”

2.     At this point the instructor should introduce three vocabulary terms: erosion, melting, and pressure.  The instructor will make sure that all the students know what these terms mean.  Then the instructor will have three volunteers come up to demonstrate what it would look like to go through erosion, melting, and pressure.  After the students demonstrate their rock cycle process, the instructor explain the following: when a rock turns into an igneous rock, it melts; when a rock turns into a sedimentary rock, it goes through erosion; when a rock becomes metamorphic, it gets crushed by pressure.  Have the students repeat the explanation as well.

a.     Sedimentary – the student should spin around and look like they are getting blown apart

b.    Metamorphic – the student should ball themselves up into the smallest shape they can make

c.     Igneous – the student should melt and ooze to the floor, looking like a puddle slowly spreading themselves out on the ground

3.     Next the instructor will split the students into three teams: one team will be metamorphic rock, one will be igneous rock, and the other will be sedimentary rock.  The instructor should use disc dots that separate the playing area into thirds (like a peace symbol) for each of the teams.

4.     When the game begins, if someone scores a goal on the igneous goal, they will join that team.  Before they can join the team (by going around the playing area to the back of the igneous goal), they must do their best impression of melting.  If someone scores on the sedimentary goal, they must do their best impression of eroding.  If someone scores a goal on the metamorphic goal, they must do their best impression of getting crushed.

5.     Students must stay in their sector when shooting and retrieving missed shots form others. They are not allowed to cross the boundary line to get a ball and must wait until someone shoots a ball into their sector.

6.     There should not be any goalies in the game; we want lots of goals to happen so the students are forced to act out the different actions of transforming from one rock to another.

7.     Once the game begins, it is continuous until the end of the class. Once the lesson is over, ask the students why the different movements represent the different rock types. How are they related? Hopefully the students will be able to use the vocabulary from the beginning of the lesson: erosion for sedimentary, pressure for metamorphic, and melting for igneous.

 

Aims:

Direct:    To reinforce the Rock Cycle and its terminology

Indirect:   Listening and following directions

                Teamwork

                Communication

 

 

Physical skills practiced: 

·      Hitting a puck or ball with a hockey stick

·      Interpretive movements

·      Using a scooter to propel oneself

·      Using hand scoops to shoot and scoop

 

Control Of Error: 

The students will remind each other what movements they have to do when they get transformed to a different type of rock.  The teacher may need to help remind the students which movement the students are supposed to do.

 

Points of Interest: The students will enjoy changing from one type of rock to another.  In this version of hockey, there is no score, only students transforming and going to another team.  This keeps the game active and fun without any downtime or waiting.

 

Age: 6-9 and 9-12