After winter break, what’s my number one anxiety going back to school?
What am I going to teach?!?
in a normal year, if my classroom teachers are organized, then my life is fairly simple. Since I follow the classroom curriculum, whatever lessons they do in the classroom, I mirror those topics in PE. However, not every classroom comes back 100% ready to go, which makes my life a little more interesting. So what do I do when the classroom plan is not so clear? I either play games that reinforce topics from before break (to act as a refresher), or I choose games that can introduce new topics coming soon.
But this is no normal year, is it? Tons of schools are postponing their return from break, while other schools are going virtual again for some time. With all the uncertainty, no wonder teachers are feeling extra anxious coming back. My school is postponing our return for at least a day and it is the first week of basketball. Yikes! With all this extra tension, I want to remind you that I have at-home lessons (for free) which I hope can help you if you are stuck in a situation where you are virtual again, or your play area has been co-opted and not useable for PE.
If this were a normal year, the first couple days (or even weeks) would be for shaking off the cobwebs and getting back into the rhythm of things. This year, It may take even longer. The students are out of routine, and they will need to re-anchor themselves to the daily schedule of school again. And if they are not coming back to school immediately, they will need the virtual schedule to ground them. Integrated PE classes can dramatically help facilitate this reacclimation back to school, so let’s not waste this great opportunity. Fun integrated PE lessons can:
Review lessons from before break, helping jog their memory and reinforcing learned concepts
Previewing lessons that coming up
Provide an energy dump for better concentration in the classroom
Revisiting appropriate classroom rules and behavior while also allowing more movement
Having fun makes learning easier
And if you are virtual, PE is probably one of the few consistent physical outlets they are going to have while they are at home
If you are going back to school in-person, and you are looking for something new, Volume IV has just been released to the website store!
These new lessons can help you review old concepts, preview new ones, and are a ton of fun!
Introducing new games to the students will capture their attention and energize them for learning. With close to thirty new lessons, you have lots of options to choose from!
Now you can get what you really wanted for the holidays: a stress-free return back to school. Make the remainder of this school year easier for yourself and get Volume IV from the website store.
Here is what is included in Volume IV:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FIRST GREAT LESSON
Black Hole
A competitive team-based game where students race to get to the event horizon
Cosmic Dance of the Elements
A simple tag based game which demonstrates the actions of heat and cold
Create a Star
A set of cooperative mini games which dictate the attributes of a star
Phases of the Moon
A fun scooter race around the different phases of the moon
Telescope
Not your standard relay race that demonstrates how the stars we see today are from a long time ago
Earth Studies
Rock Cycle Hockey
A fun non-competitive hockey game that will have your students transforming into different types of rocks
Water and Rocks
A fun Pac-Man style scooter game which demonstrates the power of water in rock erosion
Cardinal Directions Twister
It’s the game Twister, but with a (cardinal directions) twist
Latitude and Longitude Soccer
Fast paced mini soccer games which teach the cardinal directions, which are applied to longitude and latitude
Global Warming and CO2
A fun basketball mini-game that demonstrates the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere
SECOND GREAT LESSON
Worms
A fun scooter game that teaches predator / prey relationships, layers of the soil, parts of a root, and more
Seed Dispersal
A fun tag based game that where students collect “seeds” and learn about all the different ways that seeds are released by plants
BIOLOGY
Adaptation to Injury
Exercise that requires lots of problem solving skills
Cancer
If your students like the game Among Us, they will love this game that teaches the body’s immune response to cancer cells
Cardiovascular Kickball
The ultimate kickball game that also teaches the pathway of blood through the heart
Synapse
A fun cooperative game that teaches about the function of neurotransmitters in a synapse
THIRD GREAT LESSON
The Atlatl
This lesson looks at one of the most important inventions in human history: the atlatl. This lesson can also be perfect as an experiment for Science Fair studies
INDIGENOUS SPORT
AFRICA
Akseltag and Genna
These field hockey style games are a lot fun and very interesting as well
Dibeke
One of students new favorite sports! It is a mashup of kickball and sharks and minnows (simple tag based game)
ANCIENT GREECE
Boxing
Teaches the fundamentals of boxing with insights from Ancient Greek Olympians
Long Jump
This lesson demonstrates how long jumps were taken in the Ancient Olympics: with hand weights that can make you jump much farther!
ANCIENT ROME
Gladiator Training
This lesson series looks at the sword fighting techniques that every aspiring gladiator would need to know to survive their first games. With an emphasis on fencing and escrima kali techniques (Filipino knife martial art), these lessons work well not only in person, but virtually as well
ANCESTORS TO AMERICAN BASEBALL
Rounders
The direct ancestor to the lineage of bat and ball games which would eventually become American baseball
Cricket and Wicket
A deep dive into the rules of cricket, and a look at how it was a favorite game of the early American revolutionists
Townball (Early United States)
A series of lessons that look at several variations of American baseball before it became the standardized version it is today
CHEMISTRY / PHYSICS
Chemical Bonds
This competitive and cooperative game shows how atoms share or give electrons to each other
Newton’s Laws of Motion
All the fun of dodgeball without students targeting students, but yoga balls instead! Investigate Newton’s Laws of Motion as the students play this fun competitive game
·GOVERNMENT
Governments Hockey
This is the ultimate game to build confidence in your students hockey skills, and it does a wonderful job of showing the advantages and disadvantages of different government styles as well
CHARACTER EDUCATION
Sportsmanship (middle school)
This fun competitive and cooperative game has a rule set that rewards good sportsmanship, if they can do it