The past couple months have been pretty difficult. Schools and businesses around the world have closed their doors so we can keep the spread of the coronavirus as low as we can to give hospitals a fighting chance to care for those who are infected. Illinois has announced that schools will remain closed until April 20th. We are doing our best to provide online instruction to our older students wherever it is possible, and encouraging our younger students to continue working on their practical life skills at home.

Since I am out of school (and I bet many of you are as well), what I will do is continue posting lessons for free that I typically sell online, slightly rewritten to accommodate the fact that the game will be played by only a few people at a time (parents and kids). What I want is everyone to have access to these games in this time of uncertainty; money and resources should not be a factor to have quality Montessori physical education instruction. If you are in a position to support me by purchasing programs and lessons, I would be very grateful, but the ultimate goal is doing the most good.

 This is also a thank you to everyone who has already purchased my lessons and albums, those that have downloaded my free lessons, those who have attended my presentations, and for everyone who appreciates my work in person or through social media engagement. I appreciate the Montessori and physical education communities for showing interest in my philosophy of integrating physical education with the Montessori classroom.

Without further ado, three more lessons for home use:

Second and Third Great Lessons (that can be done at home)

Excerpts from Montessori Physical Education Volume One

Second Great Lesson

Timeline of Life Animal Movements

 Introduction:

 Animals move in variety of different ways.  Some leap, others waddle, many are on four legs, other animals slither; there are a variety of movement patterns.  Most children are familiar with many different types of animals, and are familiar with how they move.  Asking children what their favorite animals are will produce a rich variety that can be used for the relays. This can be a fun and interactive research project for the student and the instructor as they look at all the different eras and the animals that lived during that time frame and create fun movement patterns to mimic how that animal might have moved.

Many adults hear the word “race,” and they automatically feel anxiety because they think of their past experiences of being the slowest.  Often the competition of racing ruins the experience when it could be fun for everyone.  However, this relay race format can encourage participation and encouragement for those who are working hard and perfecting their animal’s specific movement pattern.  Because many of these movements are not “typical,” some of the typical slower children for typical running may not be the slowest for another movement pattern like crawling, etc.  Since this version of the game is being played at home, there probably won’t be much competition for the student(s), so this fear is reduced. The instructor and student can focus more on comparing which movements the student was the fastest.

 

 Materials: 

·      An open space (field, backyard, living room)

·      Pictures of animals that will be used in the race

 

Prior Knowledge: The First and Second Great Lesson

 

Presentation 

1.     Determine the distance that the student will travel back and forth from for their relay race.

2.     Explain the directions to the children. “We are going to have a relay race that goes throughout the Earth’s history. When I say go, travel all the way to the other side, stop, touch the ground with your hand, and then come back.”  Make sure to demonstrate every movement before the student races.

3.     The first warm-up race should just normal running. Afterwards, introduce the first animal and demonstrate its movement pattern. To connect this lesson to the timeline of life or the clock of eras, have animal examples from each time period researched and ready. Here are some examples included in this lesson (but feel free to add others):

a.     Cambrian Era – Trilobites (army crawl)

b.    Ordovician Period – Sea Stars (crawl with arms and legs spread out as far as possible)

c.     Silurian Period – Trigonotarbid Arachnoids (lobster walk)

d.    Devonian period – Mites (bear crawl, but the student needs to balance their upper body on their fingertips instead of the palm of their hand to replicate delicate arachnid legs)

e.     Carboniferous Period – Scorpion (army crawl with one leg held as high as possible to represent the stinger)

f.      Permian Period – Dimetrodon (bear crawl, but have the student balance something on their back to simulate walking with a giant sail)

g.     Triassic – Staurikosaurus (students will stand crouched on two feet and arms bent in front. They should run similar to the gate of an ostrich; make sure the head and neck go back and forth)

h.    Jurassic – Allosaurus (stomping chicken walk)

i.      Cretaceous – Velociraptor (hopping chicken walk)

j.      Cenozoic – Saber Tooth Cats (lunging on hands and feet) and wooly mammoth (bear crawl)

k.    Neozoic – Take suggestions from the students (cats, dogs, horses, humans, etc)

 

Aims:

Direct:    For the children to practice different movements

Indirect:  

Listening to directions

Mimicking

Empathy

 

Physical skills practiced:  Depending on the animals’ chosen, there will many gross motor movements engaged which challenge flexibility and balance as well as power.

 

Control Of Error: 

The teacher

 

Points of Interest: The unique movement patterns of the chosen animals and the difficulty in replicating that movement for the races will keep the children engaged.  This lesson should be tailored to whatever animal lessons are being given in the class.  If the teacher wants to reinforce the names of dinosaurs and their movements, then the teacher could bring the same pictures of the dinosaurs the children have seen in class and use the specific names and terminology.  If the class is studying animals from a certain continent of biome, again the teacher should have pictures available and should use the same terminology in the PE lesson.

 

Age: 6-9

The original lesson can be found here. 

 

 Second Great Lesson

Adaption Obstacle Course

 

Introduction:  During the Second Great lesson (Coming of Life), students focus the majority of their study on different timelines, especially in lower elementary. When considering the origins of life, as well as the large variety of life on Earth, one must consider the role of mutation and adaptation. Darwin’s Theory of Evolution does an excellent job of describing how organisms have mutations as they reproduce, and sometimes these mutations give an advantage over similar organisms. Having that advantage means that there is a better chance that the genes containing the mutation will be passed on, and slowly that advantageous mutation becomes the common characteristic of that type of organism. Over time, a new species of the organism develops when differences between the original species became too vast.

The students will be playing an obstacle course game where the obstacles become more difficult the farther the student goes.  Each student will only be equipped with certain movement patterns per obstacle, and through random selection (literally a coin flip), some students must one type of locomotion, while other students receive an adaption, which may enable them to move on to the next category. This game will show how organism’s adaptations help them over time in surviving their environment.

 

Materials: 

·      An open space (like a backyard, field, or living room)

·      Deck of playing cards

·      Cones or even balled up socks to make boundary lanes

·      Coin

Prior Knowledge: The 9-12 students should be familiar with the Second Great Lesson.

 

Presentation

·      Depending on the space that is being used to play the game, all the obstacles could already be in place for the student to preview, or the first obstacle is the only one set up. Each station represents a new environment. The first station should have a lane for the student to crawl through. If the student is successful, they move on to the next station. If they are not successful, they get to try it again. Make a time limit that is appropriate for the space and setting that you have available (small spaces 10-20 seconds, larger spaces 1 minute). The obstacles at each station should be arranged so that they are very difficult to complete with the initial movement allowed. However, if a student flips the coin and it is tails, then they will have the mutation, which allows them to use another movement pattern that will make it much easier to complete the task.

·      The first station will be a long trail (made with cones or socks) just wider than shoulder width of the student. The student is trying to get from the start of the trail to the end. However, they must wriggle like a worm by keeping their arms and legs together. Make the path should be winding for increased difficulty, and the students are not allowed to touch a cone or they must start over. If a student successfully flips the coin, they will get the mutation from a wormlike animal that grew fin-like appendages that can be used for a crawl.

·      The second station will resemble a cone minefield that the students will have to traverse without touching any of the cones. The cones should be placed close to each other to create a distinct path that the student can crawl through. However, the path should be winding, and the students are not allowed to touch a cone or they must start over. The original mode of locomotion is the army crawl, unless they flip the coin and get the mutation of being able to do a bear crawl. Once the student can bear crawl, they won’t have to stay along the course because they can bear crawl over the cones, making it significantly easier. This will resemble animals on land having true appendages that help elevate their body off the ground.

·      The third station will have students jump from one area to another to be successful. There will be cones that show where the student must leap from in the beginning. Initially, the student will have to jump from all fours like a frog. If the student flips the coin correctly, they will mutate so that they can stand on two feet and run and jump like they would normally do. The distance that the students have to jump should be difficult, but can be adjusted if the teacher realizes that the students cannot make the distance even while standing on two legs. This station represents the idea of primates evolving to early humans who are able to stand upright.

·      The last station of the game there will be playing cards lying flat on the ground. The job of the student is to build a card tower that is at least 3 cards tall. The students must keep all their fingers together (as well as their thumbs). If the student successfully flips the coin for the mutation, they will be able to separate their fingers and use them as normal. This is representing the importance of the mutation of opposable thumbs for grasping.

·      It is totally possible that you will have students who can complete a task without needing the mutation, and that is fine. This is an example of an animal that can thrive in more than one environment. This may or may not happen during the game, but is still worth mentioning.

 

Aims:

Direct:    Demonstrate how beneficial mutations become adaptations, which aid in survival

Indirect:   Perseverance

 

Physical Skills practiced:

·      Various forms of crawling

·      Jumping

·      Fine motor hand skills

 

Control Of Error:  The teacher, coin, and possibly a stopwatch

 

Points of Interest: Each station will be an almost impossible challenge until some get the mutation that makes the task easier. Some students may be determined to succeed even without the mutation, and others will beg the dice to help them mutate.

 

Age: 6-9 and 9-12

The original lesson can be found here. 

Third Great Lesson

Hunting and Gathering

 

Introduction:

When studying humans, we learn that all humans have the same fundamental needs, but they can be fulfilled in different ways.  Everyone requires shelter, but those shelters can look very different depending on the era or environment.  Everyone wears clothing, but that clothing can look very different depending on climate, religion, and decoration.  Everyone requires food, but there are a variety of styles of cooking, as well as different plants and animals available for consumption.

In the past, before grocery stores and modern farming, all humans had to work very hard to collect their food.  In the time of early humans, they started primarily as hunters and gatherers.  Foraging and gathering food was the easiest and least risky way of obtaining food, but a lot was needed to feed a group of people.  Hunting small game was typically not very risky, but required skill or ingenuity, and was more difficult than foraging. However, small game provided complete protein and could feed more people.  Finally, there was big game hunting, which was the riskiest way of obtaining food but also had the greatest reward.  High levels of skill, bravery, and patience were needed for big game hunting, and the threat of danger was very high because the hunter could be killed.  If the hunt was not successful, the whole tribe could starve, but if the hunters were successful, it yielded large amounts of meat and supplies (hide, bones, etc.).  This game will simulate the risk versus reward aspect of hunting and gathering. 

The decisions the student makes will ultimately affect the score of the round, which represents the food collected.  Strategies can be discussed afterwards to see what was successful or not.  The game revolves around the idea of risk and reward, and either the child will decide to try a hard skill worth many points, or go for the easier skill but less valuable skill.  A student can be successful if they complete low risk scores only, but the temptation to go for big scores is hard to ignore.  There might be times when going for big points is necessary so the student can make up a deficit.  Either way, it will be interesting to record what the child decides to do.

 

 Materials: 

A large container (55 gallon trash containers work well)

A ball that can be thrown, bounced, and punted easily (a soccer ball or kick ball work well)

 

 Prior Knowledge: The students should know about the Fundamental Needs of humans.  

 

Presentation 

1.     Place the large container in a certain spot and have the student line up with it starting a certain distance from the container.  The distance the children are from the container depends on their strength and athleticism.  The children should be able to hit the container with the ball from where they are standing.

2.     Explain to the student that they are hunter-gathers that need to collect food for their tribe.  Their goal is to achieve a certain score before the end of the round (for example, 20 points in 1 minutes).  The score represents the food that they have collected for the group.  Throwing the ball into the container gets them a score of 1 point.  It is the easiest way of scoring points, and represents gathering and foraging.  Bouncing the ball into the container is worth 3 points, and this represents catching or hunting a small animal.  Punting the ball represents the hunting a big animal, and if successful is worth 5 points.  The score for throwing, bouncing, or punting can be adjusted for the game, but throwing should be the least amount of points, bouncing should be the middle range, and punting is the hardest and worth the most.

3.     Whether the student is successful or not, they should retrieve the ball and go back to the starting point and try again.  The student should keep track of their score.

4.     Once the time is up and the round is over, discuss what strategy the student used and whether it was successful in reaching the final score.  The instructor should talk about hunting seasons, and relate the time limit within the game to the time limit that early humans had when gathering adequate amounts of food. 

 

Aims:

Direct:    For the children understand the risk versus reward in food gathering practices with early humans

Indirect:  

Listening to directions

Perseverance

Testing strategy

              

 Physical skills practiced:  Throwing, bouncing, and punting a ball

             

Control Of Error: 

The teacher and whether the ball is in the bucket

 

Points of Interest: Besides the activity of throwing, bouncing, and punting a ball, the children will be engaged in deciding what strategy would be best.  The quick discussions afterwards may help the team decide what changes they can make for their next attempt.

 

Age: 6-9

 The original lesson can be found here.