Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Some PE Hall of Shame Games...But why tag???

In 1992, there were 6 games in the official Physical Education Hall of Fame. Some of these games were dodgeball, duck duck goose, kickball, and musical chairs. Some of the new inductees to the 1994 Hall of Shame included “Red Rover”,  “Simon Says”, and tag. I agree that “Red Rover” and “Simon Says” are not appropriate for physical education settings. They do not incorporate enough physical activity and the kids are left standing around too much. I also believe that they do not involve enough cognitive aspects and thus they do not require much thinking. Tag is on the Hall of Shame list for a couple of different reasons. Although it does involve a good amount of physical activity, some tag games are elimination games which everyone knows is very bad in the physical education classroom. Another reason that tag games are on the Hall of Shame is because more often than not, the slower and less fit kids are always “it” or eliminated. Yet I have learned many different tag games that would be appropriate for kids to play in physical education classes. After all, tag is always a lot of fun!! For example, the tag game blob tag involves the entire class moving around the whole time. Students are not discouraged when they get tagged because they become part of the “blob” and thus have the new goal of tagging all their other classmates. Everyone had to be moving at all times which is beneficial. I think a very important job of each physical education teacher is to switch up who is “it” often. Another good tag game I have come across is “temple tag”. In this games there are about 3-5 “its”. When the “its” tag someone, the person who got tagged must stand with their legs apart and the palms of their hands touching about their head in the “temple position”. To be unfrozen from the “temple position” a classmate must crawl through the legs of someone who is in the temple position. This game involves the class always moving, except for the few brief moments a kid may be in the “temple position” before being untagged.
Tag games are a lot of fun and also provide great physical activity is the proper modifications are made!!!
Young Kids Playing a Game of Blob Tag

Saturday, September 25, 2010

First Lab at St.Mary's = ALOT of fun!!!


I have to say that I was a little nervous before the first lab at St.Mary’s but it turned out to be a great experience! The first thing I noticed when I got to St.Mary’s was how much energy all the kids had! They were so excited to finally have free time to play and move around.  The lab assistants did a really good job getting the younger kids motivated to play the different tag games that they had prepared and it was really helpful to watch them to get a better idea of what was expected of us.  After we observed for a little bit, a few of my classmates and I went outside to play with the pre-k students on the small playground. I immediately noticed how much energy they had and how they could make the simplest things a lot of fun. I played with about five students who would jump off a surface that was about 1 and half feet tall. They would jump and land right in front of me and then high-fived both my hands.  Even if they did not land on their feet every time, they seemed to enjoy the activity very much and probably could have played for hours without getting tired! They used their imagination and pretended to be jumping off a cliff into a lake. After playing outside with the pre-schoolers for a while we went inside to the gym to play with all the kids that were left. Another lab student and I decided to organize a game of knockout with some of the older fifth graders. At first it seemed like they did not want to play with us but as the game got moving, I think they too began having a lot of fun. After this I played with the house and little action figure toys with one young girl named Mary. It was so neat to see her using her imagination to come up with different scenarios that the figures would be put through like a “tornado that might destroy the house!”.  I had a lot of fun and am really looking forward to going back next week!

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Long-Handled Implements in a Physical Education Setting


An important issue in the physical education profession has become whether or not it is safe to introduce long handled implements like lacrosse sticks and baseball bats to students in an elementary school setting. I personally can remember playing wiffle ball with all my neighbors in the road every summer night at a very young age. According to the "Sequence of Emergence of Selected Locomotor, Manipulative and Stability Abilities", children can grasp an object in a controlled manner at the age of 12-14 months. I think this is evidence that kids can hold long-handled objects.  Catching and throwing skills are acquired at 6 years old and striking skills are acquired at the age of 5-7 years. This is all evidence to show that children in elementary school can indeed play sports like baseball and lacrosse. It is very important to carefully explain to your students the safety precautions that come with playing sports with these long handled implements. It is important to explain that the objects should not be swung around when the teahcer has not instructed them to do so and that all students should be aware of their spatial surrondings and those around them.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Chapter 1

Chapter 1 of our textbook described in detail the most basic motor development concepts in the motor, cognitive and affective domains. Elementary school physical education teachers are held the most accountable for teaching their students the basic movement skills as well as how to become fit movers. It is the responsibility of physical education teachers to ensure that children learn at a very young age that being fit and active is essential for living a healthy life. Those who did not receive a good physical education at a young age are at quite a disadvantage. There are many problems associated with children that do not get enough physical activity. In my opinion the biggest problem is probably the large increase in obesity and thus many more health problems like diabetes which is caused by obesity. In their physical education classes students are taught the fundamental movement skills. Some of the most basic movement skills include walking, running, jumping, bending, throwing, kicking, balencing, starting and stopping. These skills that are developed at a very early age are the basis for all physical activity that people do throughout their lives. In order to stay fit, teens as well as adults do many different exercises. All different sports are basically combinations of of several fundamental movement skills. For example the sport of soccer involves running, jumping, kicking, punting, twisting, turning, starting and stopping. Baseball involves running, striking the ball, catching, and swinging. It is essential that physical education teachers ensure that their students learn all the fundamental skills early on so that they will be able to put them to use for the rest of their lives!