Physical Education for the 21st Century
Grade 5 Athletics
2016-2017 – Central Idea:
Success in Athletics requires careful planning and practice, effective reflection skills and the ability to overcome adversity
Learner Outcomes:
Active Living:
Plan, perform and reflect on movement sequences in order to improve
Exhibit effective decision-making processes in the application of skills during physical activity
Identity:
Recognize, analyze and apply different strategies to cope with adversity
2017-2018 Central Idea:
Overcoming adversity and having self-knowledge of ourselves can improve movement sequence executions
Learner Outcomes:
Active Living:
Introduce greater complexity and refine movements to improve the quality of a movement sequence
Exhibit effective decision-making processes in the application of skills during physical activity
Identity:
Recognise, analyse and apply different strategies to cope with adversity
Identify how their self-knowledge can continue to support the growth and development of identity
Synopsis:
This unit is slightly complicated so I will list the steps briefly here and then you can read below to see how I broke it down:
There are 3 categories:
Track
Jump
Throw
In each category are 2 events
Track:
50m & 400m
Jump:
Long Jump & High Jump
Throw:
Discus & Shot Put
Students choose 1 event from each of the categories
They research it, train, reflect, collect data and then ultimately compete
Athletics carnival consists of all of grade 5 and grade 6 classes competing against each other.
Champion class gets matching headbands
Champion students in each event gets a medal presented at assembly
Lesson 1: Provocation:
This has to be the most powerful and exciting unit in the entire PE calendar. I feel the students gain the most from this experience since it involves a great deal of independence but yet strengthens camaraderie, it encourages a lot of research but also pushes the students’ fitness levels – and best of all, the entire school gets behind this unit. It is that big of a deal.
I opened the unit with a provocation – When you Believe
This got them inspired, although a few kids did laugh at the falls. I told them that an Olympian only has 1 shot out of every 4 years to compete. Every fall/mistake counts. This did put things into a bit more perspective afterwards.
I wrote a date on the board and told them that in 6 weeks they will be competing against all of grade 5 and grade 6 in an Athletics Carnival. I told them briefly about the layout of the unit, which events are available, how it is broken down, etc.
We then went out to test for the two track events: the 50m and the 400m using Sprint Timer. As they were given their times, the students wrote down their results on their iPads using the Tables feature on Pages.
We finished the lesson with a brief discussion of what they accomplished today and what they think this unit is all about.
Lesson 2:
I opened the lesson with a team run and a couple of mobility exercises – inch worms and crab walks. Afterwards, I introduced them to the Central Idea: Success in Athletics requires careful planning and practice, effective reflection skills and the ability to overcome adversity.
We broke it down initially by indicating words they were not familiar with and explained each one. I then ask if they could indicate the key parts to this sentence.
Careful planning and practice
Effective reflection skills
Overcoming adversity
We then went out to test their throws. I did not give them any specific instructions on how to throw the discus and shot put since the aim of this unit is for the kids to teach themselves by researching, giving and receiving feedback and using technology. For today, I did one demo throw and a few safety guidelines.
I uploaded a fitness program that they could follow upon completing their throws to avoid the kids having idle time between throws. This served as an effective anchor activity.
Once everybody got their throws done and recorded it. I airdropped a document, which I call “Athletes Notes”. You can find it here. This will help them learn about their events and the training they’ll need to do in order to improve.
Lesson 3:
We started with a team run and mobility work then gathered to discover more about the Central Idea. Since I airdropped them their Athletes Notes, I wanted to see who had a look at it and how it relates to the Central Idea. One student pointed out that it could help them practice and to learn the skills. Another pointed out that it will help plan their exercises.
We then went off to Long Jump testing. This took the whole lesson so I uploaded a fitness program they could do when they finished their two jumps.
Lesson 4:
We did our usual warm-up and went off to do High Jump testing. This again, took all lesson therefore, once they completed their jump testing, they could choose one of the fitness programs from the Athletes Notes and complete it individually or with a partner.
With 5 minutes left of the lesson, I asked the kids to choose their 3 events and upload onto Seesaw using the Notes feature.
Lesson 5:
We started the lesson with Indian Sprints. I broke up the class into 4 groups and emphasized that this is not a race. The groups jogs in a line and then when the front person yells ‘go’, the person up the back sprints to the front and subsequently yells, ‘go’ for the next person.
We then gathered to look at the Central Idea again. We looked at the first key part of the sentence, “careful planning and practice.” Before letting them go to train on their own, they needed to have a plan on what they were going to do for the lesson. They got out their iPads and uploaded onto Seesaw a 30-minute breakdown of what they were going to do. Once I received a student’s plan, they went off and executed it.
For the rest of the lesson, they trained themselves and I helped out along the way.
With 5 minutes left of the lesson, I gathered the students and discussed ways they could improve their athletics skills outside of school. They discovered that they do not have shot puts and high jumps at home, so one student pointed out that they could do the workouts that was in the Athletes Notes.
Whenever they train at home, they can film themselves and upload onto Seesaw for the rest of the unit.
Lesson 6:
I opened this lesson with a look at the third aspect of the Central Idea – overcoming adversity. This was a new word for most of the kids but it is important as everyone faces some sort of hardship or difficulty in their lives. After defining it in a bit more detail, I showed them this video: Heather Dorniden 600m track event
We looked at how overcoming adversity relates to this video.
With that in mind, the kids went off to train.
Halfway through, I called in the kids and told them about Hot Lessons. This is where I give a short but detailed run-down of one of the events. I blow the whistle and call out, “Hot Lesson, Discus!” as an example. Any student wishing to know more about the discus can come and join in. We go through the Athletes Notes and discover areas each student needs to improve upon, may it be the stance, grip, release, or all of the above. It’s an opportunity for the kids to have some extra guidance for their specific event.
With 5 minutes left, we reviewed the lesson – adversity, hot lessons, careful planning and practice. I reminded them of their homework: if you train at home, film it and upload onto Seesaw. I find this is a great way for kids to share each other’s work and to provide feedback and encouragement.
Lesson 7:
We reviewed the Central Idea and then focused on the second key aspect of it: effective reflection skills. We looked at how being reflective can help improve in their events.
Once discussed, the kids went out in pairs and re-tested their chosen events and compared their new results to the start of the unit. Afterwards, with their partner, they can film each other performing their skills and compare the skill execution to the Athletes Notes. For the entire lesson, they will be helping each other improve. They can upload the videos onto Seesaw and the class can comment and give any additional feedback.
With 5 minutes left of the unit, we discussed the feedback given and if there has been any improvement in their skills. I then gave them their formative assessment:
Tell me everything you have learned so far in this unit.
Describe 5 key points on the events you have chosen
Use any medium to show you work.
To continue reading about this unit, please click here.