Skill Development/Review: Team Baton Relay

This activity focuses on readiness, focus, cooperation, and best effort. It activity encourages students to work together as a team to cooperatively complete a task. It allows them to use previously learned locomotors and object control while they cooperate to complete the task. It gives them the opportunity to challenge themselves to use their best effort to complete the task well. The activity reinforces the idea of constructive competition and how competition can motivate us to do our best.

Prepare:

• Ask students to think about the PE activities they have enjoyed the most throughout the school year.
• Call on students to share aloud and as they do, point out some of the fundamental skills that were used in each activity.
• Remind students that learning these fundamental skills well can help them to join into many fun games/activities to increase their skill level, confidence and have fun on their own and with others!
• Share that they are going to use some of the skills they have learned this year, together as a team, to cooperate while moving in our activities today.

Explain/Demonstrate- Ready Position

• Ask the students to move safely to their team color cone and line up in team order behind it.
• Ask students to face forward, stay in personal space within their team line, and show a standing listen/learn position.
• Share with students that their team will be working together to complete a team race/challenge that is called a relay race.
• Ask them if they remember what a race is called that each teammate takes a turn. (Relay Run)
• Remind them that they have used their skills to complete relay runs in the past.
• Remind them that for their team to complete the relay challenge with their best effort, they will need to use some of their previously learned skills.
• Share/Show ready position
  • Body facing forward
  • Eyes focused on the teammate in front of you
  • Favorite foot slightly in front
• Share that this readiness position shows focus with the body and brain and makes it easier for the team to do their best because the teammates are not distracting each other.
• Ask students to try the ready position.

Explain/Demonstrate- Baton Hand Off

• Remind students that in a relay, the teammates take turns completing a task.
• Explain that in this relay, the racers will show that it is the next teammate’s turn by handing them a short baton/dowel/paper towel roll.
• Share/show the team how they will use cooperation by handing off/exchanging the relay baton.
  • Waiting teammate extends right arm with the palm facing upward
  • Returning runner does a right-side return and places the baton flat into the teammate’s extended hand
• Demonstrate how best effort can be shown when completing the task by:
  • Using previously learned best body form running skills to run while holding the baton to the designated spot
  • Turn safely using body control
  • Run back to starting position while staying in the team’s running lane
  • Do a cooperative baton hand-off to the next teammate.

Practice: Slow Motion Relay

• Share with students that to help each teammate understand how to complete the relay, their first practice will be done at a slower speed.
• Explain that in this practice, they will speed walk when it is their turn and demonstrate that they understand what they need to do when it is their turn in the relay.
• Remind them that it is okay to make mistakes and encourage them to use teamwork with each other by helping each teammate to remember what they need to do when it is their turn.
• Ask all teammates to show readiness with the ready position.
• Give a track baton to the number one person in each team.
• Cue practice aloud with the starting signal, Team’s ready, set, go!
• Use cue word coaching to help students to remember various elements of the relay run.
• Once each student has completed their turn, ask teams to show readiness, and review aloud elements that need improvement.

Practice: Full Speed Track Baton Relay

• Share with students that now they will try the relay using their fastest speed and best effort.
• Ask them to recall what they need to do to show best effort
  • Readiness
  • Best body form running
  • Agility
  • Stay in team lane
  • Right side return
  • Cooperative baton handoff
  • Back of team line when turn is completed, etc.
• Review with students that in this type of team challenge, they will be competing with the other teams to determine the winning team.
• Review the concept of constructive competition. (Competition with others that helps to motivate us to perform using our best effort and provides motivation for improvement of skills)
• Remind students that to help the competition to be constructive/positive each person will need to use their self-control skills and respect for others.
• Ask all teammates to show their starting ready position.
• Once all look ready, cue practice aloud with the starting signal, Team’s ready, set go!
• Repeat practice relay 3 times to encourage confidence/competence in each team’s ability and allow students the opportunity to improve their performance.

Review:

• Ask teams to share what they thought their team did well at in the relay.
• Ask teams to share something that their team should try to improve upon.
• Ask students to recall skills that were used to complete the team task.
• Ask students to think about how competition can be motivating.

Can You Cooperate? (Partner Body/Balance/Cooperation Challenges)

This activity uses previously learned fundamental skills in a variety of cooperative challenges. Students work together in pairs to communicate and complete a small task that uses skills they have learned and practiced earlier in the year.

Procedure:

1. Share with students that they will continue to use skills to try to challenge themselves.
2. Explain that they will use their locomotors and other previously learned skills to try to complete a challenge by cooperating with a partner.
3. Review with students that cooperation takes best effort by each partner and the use of talking/listening skills (communication).
4. Explain that you will give them a cooperation challenge to try together, and they will have 2 minutes to cooperate and practice the challenge.
5. Use a best practice method to pair students.
6. Share/show partner challenges and allow two minutes for practice/completion of each challenge.
7. Possible Challenge Ideas to Explore:
   • Hand Hold and Skip (Can you and your partner grip hands and skip all around the activity area without bumping/banging into anyone/anything and without letting go of hands?)
   • Elbow Hook and Jog (Can you and your partner intertwine your arms by the elbows and jog all around the activity area without bumping/banging into anyone/anything and without unhooking arms?)
   • Tunnel Tower (Can you and your partner make a muscle tunnel tower by having a base tunnel and another tunnel supported on that with feet or hands resting on the bottom/base tunnel?)
   • Back-to-Back Sit to Stand (Can you and your partner sit down on the ground with your backs flat against each other, and use your muscular strength to stand up, without using your hands/arms, while keeping your backs together?)
   • Back-to-Back Slide (Can you and your partner stand with your backs flat to each other, hook your arms on each side and slide all around the activity area without letting your arms come apart?)
   • Double Airplane Balance (Can you and your partner face each other, grip both hands to each other’s hands and both lift one leg off the ground and balance strong and steady for 10 counts?)
   • 3-Legged Run (Can you and your partner stand side by side and connect the legs that are touching each other in the center by stepping each one into a bag/sack or putting an exercise band/Velcro strap band around them and move as fast as you can back and forth across our activity area without failing?)
   • Big Ball Transport (Can you and your partner hold a big ball together, high over your head and move all around the activity area, keeping all 4 hands on the ball and keeping it higher than your head without dropping it?)
   • Back-to-Back Big Ball Transport (Can you and your partner stand backward to each other with both of you placing your back flat on a big ball? Can you move through the activity area, keeping the ball between your backs and not letting it fall?)
   • Wheelbarrow Walk (Can you and your partner create a wheelbarrow hold where one partner supports themselves on their palms with their feet held in their partner’s hands, then cooperatively try to walk forward with one person walking on their hands without failing!)