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Grades 3-5

Locomotor & Manipulative Games

Lesson 1

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Show Standards

EQUIPMENT: Fluffilos and hula hoops.

Sportsmanship and Class Expectations:

  • Get involved and try new things.
  • Play fair.
  • Encourage your classmates.
  • Respect all rules of the game.
  • Watch and listen for Teacher's signals and directions.
  • Be ready to listen.
  • Put away equipment neater than found.

Focus Standard for the Entire Unit: Throughout every lesson, look for students who interact with others by helping with their physical activity challenges. Inform the students of your method for reward during this unit, and be sure to reward the class at unit's end!

Interact with others by helping with their physical activity challenges (NASPE Standard 6). Recommended Activity: Lend a Helping Hand (see below)

  1. Unpack:
    • What is the verb: Interact
    • What is the skill or content: Helping others
  2. Evidence of learning:
    • The student can interact with others by helping with their physical activity challenges.
  3. Assessment tool/task:
    • Structured observation: The student will interact with others by helping with their physical activity challenges.
  4. Criteria for competence:
    • Each person has his or her own gifts and talents. We need to help one another if one of our classmates is struggling with something. Wouldn't you want someone to help you if you were having a hard time? (Yes!)

  5. Levels of quality for interacting with others by helping with their physical activity challenges (5-point rubric):
    0 points: Student refused attempt. Student absence = BLANK score.
    1 point: Student is unable to interact with others.
    2 points: Student rarely helps others. He/she is not patient enough to help improve a skill.
    3 points: Student helps others some of the time. He/she is more apt to help friends instead of students he/she does not regularly communicate with.
    4 points: Student interacts with others by helping with his/her physical activity challenges.
    5 points: Student goes out of his/her way to help others in need. He/she is patient and helps until the individual shows some improvement.

Chase, flee, and move away from others in a constantly changing environment (CA 3-1.1). Recommended Activity: Wolves and Rabbits (see below)
  1. Unpack:
    • What is the verb: Chase, flee, and move
    • What is the skill or content: Moving from others in a changing environment
  2. Evidence of learning:
    • The student can chase, flee, and move away from others in a constantly changing environment.
  3. Assessment tool/task:
    • Structured observation: The student will chase, flee, and move away from others in a constantly changing environment.
  4. Criteria for competence:
    • Chasing: running after someone or something.
    • Fleeing: running away from someone or something

    • When chasing or fleeing be careful not to hurt the person or lead them into a dangerous situation (such as a street or driveway).

  5. Levels of quality for chasing, fleeing, and moving from others in a constantly changing environment (5-point rubric):

0 points: Student refused attempt. Student absence = BLANK score.
1 point: Student demonstrates random attempts to chase, flee, and move away from others in a constantly changing environment.
2 points: Student demonstrates the initial stage for chasing, fleeing, and moving away from others in a constantly changing environment.
3 points: Student demonstrates the elementary stage for chasing, fleeing, and moving away from others in a constantly changing environment.
4 points: Student demonstrates the mature stage for chasing, fleeing, and moving away from others in a constantly changing environment.
5 points: Student demonstrates the mature stage for chasing, fleeing, and moving away from others in a constantly changing environment in an open/game setting.

WARM UP: Attention Getters

  • Class gathers around.

  • Demonstrate each activity and have students follow along.
  • Long sit (legs out in front).
  • Tailor sit (Criss-Cross style).
  • Kneel sitting.
  • On all-fours.
  • On one knee.
  • At ease.
  • Tall standing.
  • Practice these positions by having students move about in "scrambled eggs" style. On whistle blow call the move and time in seconds, how long it takes the students to gather around in the designated position.

  • IDEA: practice having the students in the front "take a knee", while the students in the back gather in closely "at ease" whenever you call them in for instructions. See how quickly and efficiently they can come in. Throughout the year, if students do not respond as quickly as you'd like, have them go back out and try it again. Count down from 5 to put some extra hustle in their bustle!

  • *** If students have a hard time keeping their hands to themselves and paying attention, use the "in formation" formation!

Lend a Helping Hand:

  • Discuss the benefits of helping others with their physical activity challenges (Examples: If everyone knows the proper movements, the game will flow smoothly and everyone will have more fun... You will feel better knowing that you have helped someone... etc.).

  • Be a good friend and lend a helping hand when someone is having trouble with an activity.

  • Explain that you will be looking for those that help out their teammates or even their opponents!

  • Praise those who go out of their way to help a classmate in need.

Get-to-Know with Toss-A-Fl'o

  • Review the importance of good manners. What does it mean to have good manners? Can anyone name some things that might be considered good manners? (Let students come up with a few ideas.)

  • What about saying please and thank you? In this game we are going to practice throwing and catching while we work on nice manners! (Demonstrate the game as explained below.)

  • Form groups of 5-7 players.

  • One student steps forward one step and says his/her name.

  • Entire group in unison says the name of the person…Go around the circle getting to know each student's name.

  • Now add a Fluffilo that is tossed to another person.

  • To toss, call the name of the person, make eye contact, then easy toss.

  • The receiver says "Thank you" and the person's name.

  • Play until everyone is comfortable with each other's names.

Fluffilo Juggling

  • Form groups of 5-6.

  • Have one Fluffilo per student on the team.

  • With the group in a circle, the captain of the round will begin with a basket/bucket of Fluffilos (Fl'os) at his/her feet.

  • Captain will toss the Fl'o to another player, who will in turn toss it to someone else and so on, until each player has caught and tossed the ball ONE time each.

  • Encourage students to remember who they are catching it from, and who they are tossing it to. It will be the same for each Fluffilo in that round.

  • The last player to catch the Fl'o will toss it back to the captain.

  • Repeat, following the exact same sequence of tossing and catching with each consecutive Fl'o.

  • The captain adds Fluffilos more and more quickly.

  • On whistle blow, change captains and the order of tosses, and repeat the game.

  • Continue play as time and interest permits, or until each player has had a chance to be captain.

PLANKton Tag

  • Plankton is the guy in Sponge-Bob Square-Pants who is always trying to steal the recipe for the "Crabby Pattie".
  • Before beginning play, Teacher says "Are you ready kids?" Kids respond "Aye-Aye, Captain!" Teacher says "I can't HEAR you!" Kids reply louder: "AYE-AYE CAPTAIN!"
  • In this game, Fluffilos represent the Crabby Patties (CP), and 20% of students have one.
  • The students with the CP's are the Sponge-Bobs, who are trying to keep them away from the Planktons (the players without a CP).
  • Sponge Bobs attempt to tag Planktons with their CPs by tossing them at their feet. If tagged, Planktons must get into any PLANK position and hold it for a count of 30.
  • A plank position is one in which the feet and the hands are on the ground, but the body is held in a straight, plank (flat as a board - hips down, but no sagging!) position. This position can be face up or face down, or even side planks are OK. Great exercise for improving core strength! (your core is your muscles in your trunk: abs, lower back, hips).
  • If Sponge-Bob MISSES, Sponge-Bob gets into the PLANK position for a count of 30, and Plankton gets the Crabby Pattie!!
  • Continuous play.

Hot Hoops! (similar to Hot Potato)

  • Divide the class into groups of 8-10 players.
  • Each player holds hands in a circle with the other players.
  • Hoops are placed between the arms of two players. On the signal, players begin to step through, passing the hoop over their body and on to the next person - without releasing hands.
  • Variation 1: music; when music starts, the players begin to step through the hoop. The object is to NOT get caught with the hoop over your body when music stops. No penalty for player who gets caught - it's just for fun! Or have players who get "caught" quickly switch teams and play again!
  • Variation 2: relays- how many times can each team get the hoop(s) around the whole group in a given amount of time.
  • Variation 3: how long does it take each group to get 10 hoops around the whole group? Have each group compete against themselves for their own best time. Repeat at least three times to see the improvement.

COOL DOWN: "Fed Up With Put-Downs!"

  • What is a put-down?
  • How many of you feel like someone has put you down over the last couple of days?
  • How did that make you feel?
  • When you are feeling upset, hurt, or cheated, how many of you feel like putting someone else down?
  • Do you have any ideas for a better way of dealing with hurt feelings?
  • Put-downs don't do any good. They don't solve anything... it just makes the problem worse.
  • What do you think I mean when I say "Put-Ups?"
  • If a put-up is the opposite of a put-down, what would it be?
  • In this class, we are not going to put each other down. If there is a problem, we will deal with it. But not with insults or harsh words. We will work hard every day to give "put-ups" to each other and support each other. Deal?
  • Suggestion: type up an agreement, or print the Anti-Bullying Pledge from the Dr. Phil's website regarding his anti-bullying campaign. Have every participant in the program agree and sign the document.
  • Seated Stretches