Movement Routines in Gym Class!

Teaching PE this year has thrown me for a bit of a loop. Most of my experience is in teaching Art, Music and Humanities, so developing a Physical Education program has been an ongoing endeavor for the last few months.

My latest unit was an invention of mine, created using resources such as "Ready-to-Use PE Activities", "SPARK Physical Education" and "BOKS". Going through our equipment room, I realized much of it goes unused through the years, save a few days during our Mission Impossible challenge (this is a complicated obstacle course where students must strategically climb/crawl/walk/jump from section to section without touching the hardwood of the gym floor).

So I pulled out the following equipment:

• Bean Bags
• Scarves
• Large Parachute
• Hula Hoops
• Scooters
• Skipping Ropes

The activities were great. Each week, a new piece of equipment was introduced. Throughout the week there was a mix of specific skill building and fun games to utilized the newly-built skills (please email me if you would like these). Bean bags and scarves aided in hand-eye coordination and juggling; the large parachute encouraged upper body strength and team work; hula hoops work the abdominals for hooping as well as hand-eye for throwing and rolling; and as well, the scooters provided an alternate way of moving compared to always being on our feet, and used a combination of different skills to manipulate our bodies around the room.

After the chaos of the winter concert, we had the gym back to normal in January. Our final piece of equipment was introduced: the skipping rope. With moans and grumbling, they listened as I gave context to this very versatile tool, and "jumped" into a flurry of different types of skips. By the end of our first class, I had them hooked on challenging themselves with anything from the Pigeon Toe to the Double-Under. Music was also a major motivator.

For Division I, this was a great opportunity to also introduce long-rope skipping, an excellent activity to do during recess outside. There are specific techniques for "getting into" the rope, as well as a variety of rhymes and games to play. To complete the unit with this age, stations were set up to rotate through specific skill-building and creativity-building activities. 

For Division II, I was able to sneak in the "Dance" portion of the PE curriculum, without them even realizing it. To culminate and finish this unit, I offered a great deal of choice. In groups of 3 to 5, they could choose any equipment from what we had worked with, including a small parachute. Their job was to create a routine with this equipment. 

Criteria for this movement routine included:

• Planning ahead
• Working well with your group
• Having a beginning move, middle moves and end pose
• Using the beat of the music to help you "count" out the steps to the beat
• Focusing more on creativity than perfection

It became a wealth of assessment. What amazed me the most was that every single group was engaged. Some were more organized than others, but they genuinely took responsibility for the fact that they had chosen their equipment, and man, they were gonna use it. I also really enjoyed their song requests. They turned out to be well-thought out and perfectly matching their routines. The routines were so good, they shared them with other grade groups.

I highly encourage breaking into your gym equipment room and discovering what treasures lay deep within. They may become the best tool you ever used to teach dance, drama and movement.