Learning and Teaching
Being Active in Term 2
Over the past term, it has been really important for the children to take regular movement breaks while learning at home. This movement is good for our emotional and physical health. Ms Brittney planned strategic physical education lessons for the children while they were at home. This involved them participating in different movement activities that were easily adapted to the home learning environment. Some of the examples are below.
Prep
While learning at home, one activity involved the Preps designing an obstacle course to get their body moving. Ms Brittney modelled making her own and she included jumping over a mop, jumping on the trampoline, kicking and throwing a ball and skipping. The children were very creative in their courses.
Lucrezia’s obstacle course involved running and crawling under the hose, running around a chair 3 times, then jumping over a ball before jumping on their scooters to scoot around the car and then start all over again.
Luong created an obstacle course using mats, the slide on his cubby house and a bouncy ball. He jumped on the mats to the slide, climbed up the slide and then slid down. He then ran through the mats and grabbed the ball and bounced it 10 times.
William’s obstacle course used the clothes line. He had to run around it 3 times, then jumped over the broomstick 8 times, kicked the soccer ball to one end of the back fence then back again, bouncing the basketball 3 times and then jumping 20 times on the trampoline.
Wow!
Year 1 and 2
The Year 1 and 2 children did some learning about, and practicing of, overarm throws. Ms Brittney knew that most of the children knew how to do an overarm throw but she wanted them to perfect their technique. These are the instructions Ms Brittney gave the Year 1s:
1. Eyes focused on target
2. Stand side-on to target
3. Put your weight on your back foot
4. Step forward on opposite foot to throwing arm
5. Hips, then shoulders rotate forward
6. Follow through with throwing arm towards target
7. The ball should be gripped with fingers like rabbit ears
After they had practiced, they then needed to try an overarm throw to a target 50 times and identify where they could use overarm throws.
Raphael identified that you would use an overarm throw for cricket, as the goalkeeper in soccer and all ball sports. Ava also said cricket but identified baseball as well.
Year 3 and 4
The Beat Ms Brittney Challenge! The children were challenged by Ms Brittney to beat her scores while completing different sports skills. They had to time how many times they could complete the skill in a minute. Ms Brittney’s scores are below. Look at the images to see how the children went!
Ms Brittney’s scores:
1. Ball bounce = 79
2. Skips= 49
3. Hops- 81
4. Lunges - 20
5. Burpees - 15
6. Sit ups- 56
7. Squats - 29
8. Two foot jump- 35
9. Star jumps- 57
10. Push ups- 25
Year 3/4 have also started the RHSports Fitness Challenge. They need to participate in the challenge activities and record their results on the Fitness Challenge website.
Year 5 and 6
Year 5/6 have been mastering their skipping skills. Ms Brittney writes that skipping uses big and small muscles, and improves good hand-eye coordination. It’s all about movement, so as you skip you should feel like you’re increasing your heart rate and challenging yourself. Using their skipping rope Yr 5/6 had to complete the following steps.
Step 1
Jump over the rope with both feet at a medium pace, bouncing on the balls of your feet. Keep your ankle and knee joints loose to absorb the impact. Keep it as one fluid movement instead of two small hops. Increase the speed of the rope using your hands, which increases the speed at which you jump.
Build up to 1 minute in the first 10 days. When you feel comfortable, increase the time to 2 minutes, then 3, then 4 then 5. When you are skipping for 5 minutes move onto Step 2.
Step 2
Once you feel confident with the rope, it’s time to move onto a slightly more difficult technique that will raise your heartbeat even more. Instead of jumping with both feet, move on to bouncing from one foot to the other. Time the rope to pass underneath you as you switch feet, almost as if you’re jogging on the spot.
Build up to 1 minute in the first few days. When you feel comfortable, increase the time to 2 minutes, then 3, then 4 then 5. When you are skipping for 5 minutes move onto Step 3.
Step 3
Once you’re able to skip moving from one foot to the other, see if you can lift your feet higher.
Do this by kicking your heels slightly higher towards your back on each jump. This should feel like you are working your body harder and will feel more intense.
Build up to 5 minutes then move onto Step 4.
Step 4
Now combine your higher feet with a faster pace to really get your heart pumping and your fitness level up. If 5 minutes starts to feel easy, keep increasing the time.
Year 5/6 are also participating in the RHSports Fitness Challenge. They need to participate in the challenge activities and record their results on the Fitness Challenge website.
Some of the sites Ms Brittney used that you may want to continue to use at home:
Cosmic Kids - Yoga, mindfulness and relaxation activities designed for kids 3+
Body Coach TV - Kids' workouts to do at home.
Ms Brittney’s Sport Activities Wheels Decider.
Deborah Courtney
Director of Teaching and Learning