Track & Field Lessons

The lesson focuses on partner/team cooperation and partner/team/individual challenges. It incorporates previously learned skills through use in games, team relay races, and skill challenges. Review of locomotor skills and balance are incorporated into the lesson.

Time to Use Your Skills Tag (Balance Skill Review)

This activity directs students to recall and use many types of locomotor skills. It allows them a chance to use fitness skills and interact with each other as they use safe moving skills. Students are asked to use personal responsibility to follow the rules of the game.

Introduction:

• Say to students, Let’s get moving together to warm-up and use some of the balancing skills we learned/practiced earlier this year! Our warm-up is called, Time to Use Your Skills Tag.
• Share with them the following:
  • They will move all throughout the designated activity area when the music starts.
  • They should use their awareness to try to stay away from the two players designated as the taggers.
  • If they get tagged, they should exit the playing area and go to the skill practice area.
  • In the skill practice area, they will choose one of their balance skills to try and practice it for 30 counts.
  • After completing the locomotor, they may return to gameplay.

Procedure:

1. Ask students to recall the various balancing skills they can remember learning throughout the year. (Call on students to share/demonstrate).
2. Choose two students to be the taggers in the first round of the game and give them safe tagging tools.
3. Direct the other students to spread out in activity area in personal space.
4. Begin music to begin movement.
5. Circulate and encourage best-effort play and best-effort practice.
6. Stop the music after 3 minutes of play.
7. Choose new taggers for a new round of the game and repeat gameplay.

Skill Development: Team- 2 Challenge- Relay

This activity focuses on readiness, focus, cooperation, and best effort. It encourages students to work together as a team to cooperatively complete multiple tasks. It allows them to use previously learned locomotors and fundamental skills of balance while they cooperate to complete the tasks. It gives them the opportunity to challenge themselves to use their best effort to complete the tasks well.

Prepare:

• Share with students that again today, like their last PE class, they are going to use some of the skills they have learned this year, together as a team, to cooperate while moving.
• Ask them to think about the last PE class and recall how they showed their cooperation. (Team Baton Relay and Partner Challenges).
• Call on students to share.

Explain/Demonstrate- Ready Position Review and Team Challenge Tasks

• 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.
• Remind students that their team will be working together to complete a team race/challenge that is called a relay race.
• Remind them that for their team to complete the challenge with their best effort, they will need to use some of their previously learned skills.
• Review ready position
  • Body facing forward
  • Eyes focused on the teammate in front of you
  • Favorite foot slightly in front
• Review 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 show the ready position.
• Explain that today, they will show their team cooperation by trying two different challenges within their relay run.
• Share/show that best effort should be shown by:
  • Using previously learned best body form running skills to run to the center line and complete the first challenge, then continue running towards the endline for the second challenge.
  • At the end line, complete the challenge, then turn safely using body control, run back to the starting position, while staying in their team’s running lane, and do a cooperative high five to the next teammate.

*This team relay should include two age-appropriate challenges (one at the midline and one at the end line) that are focused on balance. For example, students run to the midline, get down on the ground, and complete a balanced tabletop hold for ten counts, then run to the end line and pick up a spoon/egg and complete 3 turns while holding the spoon/egg, then set it down and run back to their team.

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.
• 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 before attempting relay at full speed.

Practice: Team Full Speed 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 high five
  • 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.

Can You Cooperate? (Team Cooperation Challenges)

This activity uses previously learned fundamental skills in a variety of cooperative challenges. Students work together in teams 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 skills to try to complete a challenge by cooperating with their team.
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. Share/show team challenges and allow two minutes for practice/completion of each challenge.
6. Possible Challenge Ideas to Explore:
   • Snake Jog (Can your team stand in a straight line, then follow your leader to jog together, staying behind one another at the same speed, changing directions 3 times, without bumping into one another?)
   • Over/Under Ball Pass (Can your team stand in a straight line, an arm’s length behind the person in front of you, and pass a ball backwards in an over the head-through the legs-over the head-through the legs- pattern, without dropping the ball?)
   • Through the Hoop (Can you and your teammates stand in a line facing sideways and grip hands, then pass a hula hoop from one end of the line to the other without un-gripping hands?)
   • Circle Sit to Stand (Can your team site down in a circle, grip hands, and stand up without letting any hands touch the ground?)

Nature Walk and Stretch Series

Procedure:

1. Ask students to begin walking and thinking of one of the favorite places they like to go in nature.
2. Ask them to stop and say the name of the place out loud.
3. Then ask them to stop and complete a nature stretch series with you.
   • Mountain pose for 10 counts
   • To tree pose for 10 counts
   • To waterfall pose for 10 counts
   • To river pose for 10 counts

When students are lined up, quiet, and showing body control…

Check for Understanding:

• Call on 3-5 students to answer/demonstrate:
  • What was a skill they needed to use in the relay race today?
  • What was one thing their team did well in the race?
  • Which team challenge was their favorite and why?

Celebratory Closure:

• Share that you are excited to move more with them next time and excited to see them use a variety of skills to cooperate and challenge themselves!
• Call out in a celebratory voice and students repeat after each line.
• Say (repeating terms slowly): Repeat after me.
  • B-E-S-T
  • I want to be the best I can be!

Homework:

• Ask students to try some of the partner challenges with a family member or friend at home. Encourage students to continue practicing the relay race with friends at recess time.