PHYSICAL EDUCATION MEETS THE COMMON CORE
Body Shapes
Equipment List: NoneActivity/Game Description: The students will be split up into groups of 4-8 where they will be given a number, letter, or shape to create. They must use their body parts and their group members’body parts to create whatever figure is asked of them. The teacher can ask the students to create the answer to math equations such as 4+8 where they have to come up with the number 12 with their bodies. They can be asked to create various shapes such as squares or circles and letters as well. There are various ways to figure out how to do this and each group sometimes come up with different methods such as using fingers, full bodies by laying down on the ground, or various body parts while still standing up.
Interdisciplinary Connection: Mathematics
Jump Tag
Equipment List: -10 jump ropes, 1 red cone,1 blue cone,iPod and iPod speakers or any music deviceActivity/Game Description: Place 2 cones one red and one blue at opposite ends of the playing area.
Place 10 jump ropes by the red cone in the gymnasium. All students begin in scattered space and when the music starts, the game starts. There are two taggers, a red, and a blue (wearing red and blue). If a red tagger tags you have to go to the red cone and jump rope as many times as you can within 10 seconds before you can go back into the game. If a blue tagger tags you, then you have to go to the blue cone and do as many push-ups as you can before you go back into the game. Add more taggers depending on the size of the group. After each round, change the jumping activities to activities such as line jumps, ski jumps, or star jumps. The students are asked to count each repetition of each exercise and add them together for a total number. The object is for everyone to get as high of a number as they can.
Interdisciplinary Connection: Mathematics
Hail Storm
Equipment List: -34 small cones to create boundaries and in-bounds/out-of-bounds lines-As many soft balls as possible-various sizes and shapes (gator balls, yarn balls, beach balls,
volleyball trainers, mini soft footballs and tennis balls)
Activity/Game Description: There is two teams. The playing field will be set up in 3 sections. One
team will be in one end section and the other team in the opposite section. The center section will be the smallest section which is considered out of bounds. Students should not get caught going out of bounds or 1 point will be subtracted from the team at the end of the round. The object of the game is to grab the balls that will be scattered around the playing area, and with good form, throw them into open space on the opponent’s side. By the end of the round, the students on each team are going to count how many balls are on their side and the team with the least balls is the winner of that round. If a ball gets stuck in the out of bounds section, the only way to get the ball is by throwing another ball at it. Students who watch the opposing team throw balls can also play defense and catch balls that are thrown to their side. This will give
their team 1 extra point every time a ball is caught.
After a couple of rounds when the students are comfortable, play a round where at the end the students are asked to figure out how many balls are in the out of bounds. For instance: if team 1 has 43 balls on their side at the end of round 1 and team 2 has 41 balls on their side, that is a total of 84 balls in the end zones. Since there is a total of 100 balls on the field, the students must minus 100-84 and determine that there are 16 balls in the center out of bounds area. These numbers can change after each round.
Interdisciplinary Connection: Mathematics
Roll Over
Equipment List: -1 large Bosu ball, 40 yarn balls, Numbered carpet squares from 0-10Activity/Game Description: Mark a square playing area. Scatter numbered squares throughout play
area and divide the players into four even groups. Each group is responsible for one side of the square. Students must throw the yarn balls at the plastic ball to move it to the specified numbered targets. Students need to cooperate with one another to move it in the designated direction. The group should attempt to move the ball onto the ten targets in sequential order. The teacher will give the students larger numbers or equations to solve with larger numbers on the number squares where the students must create the numbers, one digit at a time.
Interdisciplinary Connection:Mathematics
Musical Dribbling
Equipment List: -25 basketballs, 25 poly spots, 50 cards with 10 different ways to dribble on themActivity/Game Description: The game of Musical Dribbling is like the game of musical chairs. As the
music is going the students must practice their dribbling skills and move throughout the gym. On the floor there are poly spots, when the music stops the students must run to a spot and stand on it, only one spot per student. It is an elimination game, so as the number students decline, so does the poly spots. If a student goes out of the game, they will pick up a card, read the dribbling skill on the card and perform it on the side. After 10 seconds, the students can switch cards with another student until the next round begins.
Interdisciplinary Connection: English Language Arts and Literacy
Dribble Obstacle Relay
Equipment List: -5 basketballs, 50 cones, 5 Pens, 5 Plain pieces of PaperActivity/Game Description: the class is split into 4-5 teams depending on class size.The students will have to dribble the ball down the other side of the basketball court and back, but there will be obstacles. They will have to dribble the ball throughout cones. Once they get to the other side, there will be a piece of paper and that they’ll have to write a word that is related to basketball on. This word must be spelled correctly to count as 1 point. Once the student finishes, he/she must dribble back to the start and hand the ball to the next person in line then take a seat. Once every team finishes the teacher will check the words to see who has won. Only 1 word for each turn is allowed.
Interdisciplinary Connection: English Language Arts and Literacy
Passing and Setting for Numbers
Equipment List: -1 Volleyball per studentActivity/Game Description: This begins as an individual activity. Each student will have one volleyball and they will be asked to find a personal space. The object is to forearm pass and set the ball to themselves and count how many hits they get. Rather than counting by 1s, the students are instructed to count by using the multiplication tables. For instance, if the instructor shouts out “7s!” the students must count by 7s (7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 4 56, 63, 70, etc.) Once the students get the hang of the individual activity, you can put them into groups of 2-4 and have them forearm pass and set to one another. This makes it a little more difficult.
Interdisciplinary Connection: Mathematics
Rush Hour Traffic
Activity/Game Description: In the game Rush Hour Traffic students are going to be given partners and will stand on the opposite side of the gym as their partner. The goal of the game is for each student to make their way from one side of the gym (work) to the other side of the gym (home). Once the first the student gets “home” his or her partner will then head from “home” back to “work”. Each group of partners will be given a hula-hoop, which will be their car. This hula-hoop represents their self-space. In between home and work there are four cones that represent stop signs. Students must stop at these cones and read the index card that is on top of them. Each index card has a different pathway and level written on it, for example (straight,curved or zigzagged) and (high, medium or low). The student will then move through general space preforming whatever locomotor movement that the teacher says, and given pathway and level to the next stop sign and so on etc. An example of this would be moving at a low level in a zigzag path to the next cone. There will be multiple courses that all have a different combination of levels and pathways.
Equipment List: 20 hula-hoops, Index cards,20 cones
Interdisciplinary Connection: English Language Arts and Literacy-because students must stop at each
stop sign and read the index card that goes with it. Students must then comprehend the combination
of pathways and levels on the card and act them out on their way to the next stop sign. They will repeat this step four times per turn.
Seuss Station
Activity/Game Description: As an introduction to class the teacher will read the students 2 short Dr. Seuss stories, “Yertle the Turtle” and “Ten Apples on Top”. After reading these two Dr.Seuss stories students will be separated into two groups and each group will be put at a station. At station 1- Yertle the Turtle the students will walk around on their hands and knees (like a turtle), while avoiding the seaweed and plants (cones and balls) in the pond. At station 2- Ten Apples on Top, students will walk around general space while balancing a beanbag on top of their head. If they can successfully walk through general space without coming contact with any other students they can add more beanbags to the top of their head. In either station if a student comes in contact with another student or an object they must walk out of the play area and do five push-ups of sit-ups in order to rejoin the game. This game helps students work on safely and efficiently moving through general space.Equipment List: -20 bean bags, 15 cones,10 gator balls, 10 beach balls
Interdisciplinary Connection: English Language Arts and Literacy- beause children books are being
incorporated into the physical education setting. Students are reading along with the teacher when
they read both “Yertle the Turtle” and “Ten Apples on Top”. Students then incorporate different
aspects of these books into the physical education games they are playing.
100 Jumps
Activity/Game Description: 100 Jumps is a Jump Rope game where students are broken up into groups of three. There is only one jump rope per group and each group of three is required to do a total of 100 jumps. Each person on the group must complete a minimum of ten jumps. Each group is allowed to create their own strategy on how they would like to break up the amount of jumps completed within the group. Students must continuously add each jump to their total number of jumps until they reach a hundred.Equipment List: -15 jump ropes
Interdisciplinary Connection: Mathematics
Student will use mathematic skills by adding each jump together until they reach one hundred.
21 Catch
Activity/Game Description: The teacher will separate the class into partners and spread them out throughout the gym. There will be six poly spots on the floor for each group. The red poly spots will be five yards apart, the blue poly spots will be ten yards apart and the green poly spots will be fifteen yards apart. If a pair of students can complete three passes and catches each while remaining on the poly spot and not dropping the ball they will receive the about of points that each color is worth. Red = 1, blue = 2 and green = 3. Each group must get 21 points without going over; if a group goes over they must start back from zero. Students can choose what kind of object they would like to use from the following list; beanbags, gator balls, tennis ball, foam footballs and footballs.Equipment List: -15 beanbags,15 tennis balls,15 gator balls, 15 foam football,15 footballs.
Interdisciplinary Connection: Mathematics
Student will be forced to use mathematics is this game by adding their points as they go. They must also keep in mind that they cannot surpass 21 and must figure out whether they need a 1, 2 or three pointers as they near 21.
Knock Down the Castle
Equipment List: -30 bowling pins,30 small cones,30 large cones,30 gator balls.Activity/Game Description: The teacher will separate the students into two different teams. Each team will be on opposite side of the basketball court and will not be allowed to cross the half court line. The objective of this game is to knock down the other team’s castle by throwing gator balls and knocking down your opponents bowling pins, small cones and large cones which will be randomly spread out in each team’s territory. Teams are not allowed to play defense. Bowling pins will be work 3 points, small cones will be worth five points and large cones will be worth seven points. When the teacher stops the game each team must get together and calculate how many points they received. If a team has more points but calculated the wrong number, the other team can win by responding with the right number.
Interdisciplinary Connection: Mathematics
Students will incorporate math by adding up the total numbers of points their team received, while keeping in mind how bowling pins, small and large cones are all worth different amounts.
Letter Dribble
Equipment List: -100 index cards with numbers/letters, 5 basketballs.Activity/Game Description: Students will be broken up into five teams. Each team will line up on the baseline. On the other side of the court there will index cards, on top of each index card will be a number and a letter. Students must dribble to the other end of the court, find an index card and dribble that number of times with each hand in order to bring the letter back to their team. Each team must create as many sports related words as they can with the letters that they bring back. Only one student per team goes at the same time.
Interdisciplinary Connection: English Language Arts and Literacy
This game incorporates English Language Arts and Literacy because it requires students to
gather different letters and spell out words that are sports related
Soccer Spelling Relay
Equipment List: -50 cones, 5 soccer balls,5 pieces of paper,5 markersActivity/Game Description: The teacher will split students up into five lines and put each group on the baseline. Each line will have one soccer ball. The first player inline must dribble the soccer ball with their feet in and out of the cones until they reach the other baseline. Once the first player from each line has reached the other side the teacher will announce a word, the first player will then write that word down on a piece of paper that is taped to the wall, they will then dribble back through the cones and give the ball to the second player in line. Once each student has gone twice the teacher will give them their sheet and go through the right way to spell each of the words. The team with the most words spelt correctly wins the game.
Interdisciplinary Connection: English Language Arts and Literacy
Students will work on their ELA and literacy skills by sounding out different words that they hear and writing them down on a piece of paper.
Dribbling Numbers
Equipment List: -25 Balls that students can successfully bounce-Poly spots or laminated cards with numbers on them
Activity/Game Description: Randomly spread these spots throughout the playing area.Have each student get a ball to dribble. Have the students stand on a poly spot. On the teachers signal have the students dribble that many times on the poly spot. After they do that their job is to find the next consecutive number (ex. if they started at 4 they are to find a 5) and dribble that many times on that number. Depending on the skill level of your students they can dribble with two hands or with one. What you are looking for is control of the dribble. Make sure they can hit the spot each time. If they miss they can start again at the number they missed on.Make several sets of 1-10 (or however high you want to go)
Interdisciplinary Connection: Mathematics
Students work on their number recognition skills and their dribbling skills.
Counting Catch
Equipment List: -20 balls that students can successfully throw (yarn balls, tennis balls, gatorballs etc.)
Activity/Game Description: Students are placed in groups of three in the general space; two of the
partners will stand approximately 5-7 feet apart and have a catch. The third student will sit behind them and record the score. If the partners can throw and catch the ball successfully, they will receive points. For example, if a throw is made and the partner catches it inside the trunk area, they get two points and if the catch is made in any other place, they get one point. If a student drops the ball, four points are deducted from the team score. If, and when the team gets to 21, students will step back two steps. Students continue the process of trying to get 21 additional points for a total of 42 points. During the throwing and catching session, if the catcher has to move out of his standing position (more than a pivot), students must deduct 10 points from their score. Once a team reaches 42 points the team will rotate so the recorder gets into the game. The team will then start again.
Interdisciplinary Connection: Mathematics
Students will integrate the skills of throwing and catching with the academic concepts of addition
and subtraction.
End-zone Accumulation
Equipment List: -8 cones,30 gator balls (mixture of red, blue, yellow, green and orange)Activity/Game Description: There will be two boxes made on each side of the gym. Each team will assign 5 catchers from their team to go to the box (end-zone) on the other side of the gym, behind the opposing team. There will be a bunch of gator balls in the middle of the gym. The goal of the game is for students to throw the balls to their teammates on the other side to their teammates in the End-zone. In order to have the ball stay in the box when thrown they must catch the ball without leaving the box. Once all the balls are in the two boxes, the two teams will count the number of balls that are the same color (number of red, blue, green, yellow, and orange) they then have to add the color balls to get their team’s total number. Each ball holds a
different numerical value (red & blue = 1 point, green & yellow = 2 points and orange = 3 points).At the conclusion of the game the teacher will change the catchers and put all the balls back into the middle of the gym.
Interdisciplinary Connection: Mathematics
The students will be adding up the number of gator balls in accordance to their point value in
order to determine their team’s final score.
Value Ball
Equipment List: -50 balls of 3 different types, 1 bucket,6 FrisbeesActivity/Game Description: Students are in lines of 3 with a Frisbee in front of them. There is a
bucket of different types of balls where each ball holds a different value based on size. The larger the ball is, the greater the value. The balls are dumped into a given distance and one student per line runs to grab ONE ball. Once the balls are gone, students are to add up the values of the balls in their groups Frisbee. Repeat the same activity except this time change the values. The values can become (-2) or (+5), even include multiplication depending on grade level by says a certain ball count for 2 or 3.
Interdisciplinary Connection: Mathematics
This helps integrate mathematic into Physical Education and the difficulty of math can be
adjusted based on skill level.
Hula Hoop Word Path
Equipment List: -40 hula hoops,-1 piece of piece of paper with a letter on it for each hula hoop.Activity/Game Description: There will be 4 different hula hoop pathways from one end of the gym to
the other. Various hula hoops will contain a letter. There will only be about 4 or 5 letters to keep the sentences short and easily remembered. As the student goes through the pathway, he or she must come up with one word for each letter and make it into a sentence. I will make sure each letters can lead to making many simple sentences. After each person goes they will tell me his or her short quick sentence. As part of the closure, I will read two sentences from each group. The team which follows the pathway correctly and each students reports a valid sentence to me will win. If a student cannot provide a good sentence they must go back and start over. Interdisciplinary
Connection: English Language Arts and Literacy
As the students go though each hula hoop they must make a word from each letter that is in the
hula hoop. With each word that they make from the different letters, the students must remember it
has to create a sentence. They will then report the sentence to me.
Word Drive
Equipment List: -Poly spots with different letters taped to themActivity/Game Description: Each student will choose a different poly spot. This poly spot will
represent a steering wheel and have a letter on each side of it. The students will move around
through space looking for different letters in order to make a word. Once they find a letter (a
person) that he or she feels would be a good letter to contribute to a word. They latch together
and look for other letters to complete a word.
Interdisciplinary Connection: English Language Arts and Literacy
Each poly spot has a different letter on it. The objective is to find fellow classmates with a
different letter on his or her spot and latch together a group of students to create a word. Allow
the students to progressively make longer words.
Math Path
Equipment List: -50 Poly spots with numbers on themActivity/Game Description: There will be poly spots spread throughout the gym. There will be groups
of students on all 4 sides of the gym. Each poly spot has a number on it. The students must jump
and long on the poly spots as they make their way to the other side of the gym. As they are jumping
the students must add the numbers on each of the poly spots which he or she lands on. If they do
not jump and land on the poly spot successfully, they may continue but it is minus 1 from their total number. The maximum number of poly spots he or she can jump on varies with the size of the gym.
Interdisciplinary Connection: Mathematics
As the students are jumping from poly spot to poly spot they are adding the numbers from each
of the poly spots which they land on. When they do not jump and land successfully they need to
minus one.
Jumping Course
Equipment List: -12 poly spots, 10 hula hoops,12 cones,8 jump ropes,Pens,Pencils,PaperActivity/Game Description: There will be two obstacle courses set up in the gymnasium. Each obstacle course will have 4 different jumping stations. They must 2 foot jump from poly spot to poly spot, one foot jump through the hula hoop, do 10 line jumps, and lastly jump over 3 hurdles.Each student will receive a time from me at the end of the obstacle course. I will then give the class average to the students and they must calculate if they are above or below class average and by how much.
Interdisciplinary Connection: Mathematics
This game incorporates math because the students will need to figure out their obstacle course
time and compare it to the class average.
Poly Spot Math Path
Equipment List: -50 poly spotsActivity/Game Description: There will be poly spots spread throughout the gym. There will be groups
of students on all 4 sides of the gym. Each poly spot has a number on it. The students must jump and long on the poly spots as they make their way to the other side of the gym. As they are jumping the students must add the numbers on each of the poly spots which he or she lands on. If they do not jump and land on the poly spot successfully, they may continue but it is minus 1 from their total number. The maximum number of poly spots he or she can jump on varies with the size of the gym. MATHEMATICS
-As the students are jumping from poly spot to poly spot they are adding the numbers from each of
the poly spots which they land on. When they do not jump and land successfully they need to minus
one.
Pinball
Equipment List: -20 bowling pins, 25 gator balls, 20 conesActivity/Game Description: The gym will be set up in 4 quadrants. Each quadrant has 5 pins. The students can set up the pins whichever way the team decides. There will be gator skin balls throughout the gym and any of the 4 teams can throw at any of the other of the 3 teams’ pins. You may not leave your quadrant and once all the pins of one team are knocked down. The game will stop and the teams will count how many pins they have left up and will get a point for each one. Each team should add their totals after each round. They should use strategy and attack the pins of the team with the most points after each round. Students use math in this game by have to keep track of how many pins their team still has standing. Each pin is worth a point so they have to add up their points per round. They then must combine their points from all the round combined.
Target Toss
Equipment List: -15 large hula hoops, 15 small hula hoops,15 poly spots, 35 bean bags.Activity/Game Description: There will be targets set up throughout the gym. There will be a poly spot surrounded by a small hula hoop surrounded by a big hula hoop. Students must throw a bean bag to his or her partner, their partner must catch it, and then he or she can throw underhand at the target. Each section of the target has different point value. Each pair of partners will have their own target and will throw from 15 ft. away. After each round the distance will be moved back depending on the students’ achievement. They should add their totals after each round.
Interdisciplinary Connection: Mathematics
This game involves mathematics because the students are required to add their points from
throwing at the target, as a pair. The distance will also change so they need to understand
distance as well.
Dribblers Crossing
Equipment List: 25 basketballsActivity/Game Description: 2 students will be chose to be the robbers and they will stand in the middle of the gym. Their job is to try and steal the basketball from the dribblers. All other students are given letters, many of the letters being repeated. When I call out a word beginning with their letter they must attempt to dribble across without the ball being stolen from then. If it is they then become a robber.
Interdisciplinary Connection: English Language Arts and Literacy is a part of this game because students are each give a letter. They have to recognize their letter because once the teacher calls it out, it is their turn to go and attempt to cross the gym while dribbling.
Ocean Cleanup
Equipment List: -30 shorts noodles,30 gator balls,10 conesActivity/Game Description: Students will be split in half, one group on one side of the gym and the
other group across from them. One team will be whales and the other team will be sharks. Each team
cannot cross the mid line of the gym and each player will be holding a short noodle. The teacher will roll out a bunch of different types of balls which will represent garbage, and each of the students will try to strike the garbage out of their side of the ocean to the other side.
Interdisciplinary Connection: Science
This activity incorporates science by discussing the ocean. Each student is given a role as a
certain shark or a certain whale. They each want the garbage out of their side of the ocean. The
students will often ask each other which type of shark or whale he or she is which helps in
learning
Candy Land (K-3)
Equipment : many colored cones, index cards, exercise cardsConcept: Reading, Cardiovascular Endurance
Lesson:Students are given an index card with 5 cones. Each card should be different.
A typical card may have cones in this order:
Blue Red Yellow Green Purple
Students run and touch the cones in that order.
If an exercise is posted at a cone, they perform the exercise.
After the card is completed, they return to the box and choose another.
They are given the opportunity to work alone, with partners or small groups.
They love this game and I have adapted it to my basketball unit and have the students dribble to
each cone
Life Cycle Tag-- science
Grade: Level: 2nd-4thEquipment: Ziploc bags labeled HAWK, PLANT, FERTILIZER, RAT, and GRASSHOPPER tied to string (one per student), popped popcorn.
Description: This activity is designed to review the life cycle with students. Every student places a Ziploc bag over his or her necks. All students start with empty Ziploc bags except for plants. The plants start with Ziploc bags filled with popcorn. Their job is to avoid being tagged by the grasshopper. If they get tagged, the grasshopper grabs a handful of their popcorn and the plant becomes frozen. The only way for the plant to become unfrozen is for the fertilizer (who has an unlimited supply of popcorn in their Ziploc) to refill their bag with popcorn. The grasshopper's job is to tag the plant and to avoid capture from the rat. If the grasshopper gets tagged by the rat, the rat gets to grab a handful of their popcorn and the grasshopper must do a fitness activity such as jumping jacks or mountain climbers before they may move again. The rats job is to tag the grasshopper and to avoid getting tagged by the hawk. If the rat gets tagged by the hawk, then the hawk gets to take a handful of their popcorn and the rat must do a fitness activity before they can move again to find more popcorn.
DISCLAIMER: No one may be tagged if they have no popcorn in their bags, are frozen, or are doing a fitness activity.
Spelling Kickball (Grades 2-5)
Play kickball as usual, except ask each student to spell a word before being pitched the ball. If the student misspells the word, he or she "strikes" out. If the student correctly spells the word, the pitcher rolls the ball, and the game progresses normally. As a variation to the game, you might allow students to ask a teammate to help spell a word.Titanic
Grade Level: 3-5Equipment: Cones for boundaries
Description: Use cones to set up boundaries for the playing area. This designated playing area will
be the "Titanic". The front of the "Titanic" is called the bow and the back is the stern; the right side of the "Titanic" is starboard and the left side is port. The center is called the crow's nest. Review all the areas of the "Titanic" by name (i.e. bow, stern, starboard, port, and crow's nest) before playing this activity with students. Students are also told anything past the cone is of course frigid arctic water. Have students start in the crow's nest. Select a locomotors movement for the activity (walk, slide, skip, crab walk, RUNNING is not recommended for this activity). The teacher then randomly calls out different areas of the "Titanic" and the students travel to these areas using the selected locomotor movement. After students become familiar with the areas, the teacher can call out other actions during the activity. It does not matter where the students are located on the "Titanic" for these actions to be performed.
Here are a few examples: 1) swab the deck- students pretend to mop the deck;
2) abandon ship- students get off the ship and quickly find a partner(s). Partners sit down feet to
feet and pretend to row a boat on the frigid arctic water;
3) iceberg ahead- students get off the ship and start swimming on their stomachs. If freezing water
is called out during this time, students freeze because of the frigid arctic water and of course
there is absolute silence. This is a good way to end the activity and;
4) all aboard- students enter the "Titanic" and go to the crow's nest. This is a good way to enter
the "Titanic" after rowing or swimming.
Four-Letter Words:
Students will each have 1 task card with a letter on it. When the teacher says go, the studentswill work with others to form a four-letter word in the allotted time. Students may keep track of
how many words they form during the class period.
Equipment: Task cards with letters A-Z. AEIOU should have at least 3 cards each, while X and Z only
one. Use best judgment.
