Christmas Celebrations

We celebrated the Christmas season in physical education class with dances and games! The kindergartners used streamers to dance to Jingle Bells and We Wish You A Merry Christmas. They used the streamers to make letters, move them at low, medium, and high levels, manipulate them through their legs, and "stir the pot." It was lots of fun to move to the beat with streamers! The second and third graders danced to The Twelve Days of Christmas from the Disney Holiday Magic CD. This version of the song was changed to include words about Disney's Winnie The Pooh. It was quite thrilling and challenging to perform all of the motions to each day of the song! The fourth and fifth graders danced to the Jingle Bell Rock. This dance was the same as the Macarena, with an additional step at the beginning. We learned that it takes a lot of effort to stay together as a group while performing a line dance. Christmas was also celebrated with scooter rides. The kindergarten and first graders played Santa's Sleigh Ride. They helped Santa to pick up extra toys (bean bags) from toy stores around the world and deliver them to the North Pole, to be wrapped for boys and girls. We each took a turn as a reindeer to push the sleigh (scooter) and as an elf on the sleigh. The second and third graders played Racing To Rudolph. They worked in groups of three to help bring Rudolph food (bean bags) to eat, so that he can pull Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. One person pushed him/herself on the sleigh, while carrying food to Rudolph. Rudolph then had to throw the food into his bowl (a hoop) in order for it to count as food to eat. The team of elves and reindeer to acquire the most food won the game. Finally, the fourth and fifth graders played Rudolph's Treasure. They had to make it across the gym on a sleigh to pick up a treasure for Rudolph. In the middle of the gym waited the Grinches. They tried to tag the elves to send them home and prevent them from getting a treasure. The scooters were a great way to include the holiday spirit. We all anticipate riding them again in the near future!

Basketball Fun

We studied basketball during the second quarter. Everyone worked to develop their dribbling, passing, and shooting skills. It was fun to see how much everyone progressed by the conclusion of the unit! The kindergarten and first graders completed a series of basketball challenges. They worked with partners to improve from bouncing the ball and catching it two-handed, to walking/running while dribbling the ball one-handed. By the end, they played basketball tag games and Dribbling Red Light, Green Light. Meanwhile, the second and third graders incorporated playing defense into their dribbling skills. They enjoyed Rooster Dribbling Basketball, a favorite game from Olympic Day. They tried to pull an opponent's flag while on defense, and dribbled efficiently and correctly while on offense. Also, they investigated six different types of balls to determine which are the easiest and most difficult to dribble. They worked together in small groups to decide that the basketballs were the easiest and the foam balls were the most challenging. The game Basket Battle was a great way to show respect to others on their teams and practice shooting the ball. It was similar to a race and required the children to pass the basketball to everyone on their team before attempting a free throw. Students jumped to get their rebound and continue shooting until a basket was made. It was thrilling to cheer our teammates on! Finally, the fourth and fifth graders played lots of classic basketball games like Basketball 21, Knock Out, and a Three On Three game. We all anticipated the fun of these learning games. All in all, basketball was a challenging, yet entertaining learning experience for all!