Physical Education for the 21st Century
Invasion Games
Grade 1
Central Idea
Actively learning and applying new skills enhances personal growth
Lesson 1
As with any grade having a routine is important, however, I find this especially important for the younger years. My grade 1 classes have a set routine to ensure that they start moving once they get into our teaching space.
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Step 1: Water bottles down on the table
Step 2: Coats in the coat box (during winter)
Step 3: Look at the screen for the warm-up
Step 4: Whistle is blown, return balls, and move to the Green Zone (our discussion area marked off by green tape)
Each unit has a different warm-up. For this Invasion Games unit, I had this warm-up displayed.
These warm-ups are not only designed to get the kids moving but they are also targeting specific Fundamental Movement Skills.
While the kids are doing their warm-up, my teaching assistant and I have time to walk around and provide direct support for those needing it.
After the warm-up, the kids returned their balls and got stuck into our lesson. I introduced the new unit by showing them short clips of different invasion games: football, hockey, handball, etc. I asked the kids what the similarities between these games were.
Afterward, I introduced the game of Crossover to them—one of the simplest games to introduce the basic concepts of Invasion Games. You can see how we play this game here – Crossover.
There are constantly teams being made in this unit, therefore I use Team Shake app on my phone to create teams quickly.
We did two rounds of Level 1 Crossover. We then went back to the Green Zone and I showed them our unit poster and Central Idea.
I asked the kids to read the Central Idea together and then discussed what skills they needed in the game of Crossover.
We did two more rounds of Crossover Level 1.
Lesson 2
We started the lesson with the kids following our usual routine of water bottles down, coats off and put into the coat box, checking the warm-up on the screen, and getting into the warm-up.
After 5-7 minutes of warming up, we gathered in the Green Zone and did our Jump-Up routine.
We did our Jump Up routine where I asked, “What’s our unit?” Students jump up if they want to answer. They then get to put the Central Idea poster onto the board. This is a simple way for kids to get involved in the discussion. Eventually, we will also do this for the Learner Profile and 2 AtL skills.
Considering our grade 1 students have PE once a week, we tend to repeat lessons to ensure they understand the purpose of each lesson before moving on. Therefore, we got into Crossover Level 1 again.
After a couple of rounds of this, we gathered in our Green Zone and I introduced the Driving Question for this unit. We then attempted to answer this question.
We unpacked what skills are needed in crossover and then discussed what roles are in the game – attackers and defenders.
We then moved to Crossover Level 2 where both teams have attackers and defenders.
Lesson 3
We did our warm-up and then moved to the Green Zone for our Jump-Up routine. “What’s our unit?” “What is our Driving Question?”
We unpacked in more detail the roles of the attackers and defenders and connected it with the latter half of the Central Idea – Personal Growth.
We got stuck into a game of Crossover Level 2. I did 2x 3-minute halves. At half-time, I gathered the kids together and asked them to reflect with their team to find out if their team did the best they could.
After the end of the second half, I introduced Level 3.
Lesson 4
After our warm-up, we moved to the Green Zone and did our Jump-Up routine. I then introduced the Learner Profile for the unit.
We discussed what a communicator is and how it connects with our unit.
We then moved away from Crossover and into a new game called, Rob the Nest.
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4 teams
5 beanbags for each team
Steal the other team’s beanbags
Protect your beanbags
Level 1 = 2 nests
Level 2 = 1 nest
After demonstrating the game, we spent the rest of the lesson playing this game, stopping every so often to discuss strategy, and connecting it with the unit.
Lesson 5
We started with our warm-up, moved to the Green Zone, and did our Jump-Up routine but now including, “What is our Learner Profile?”
We answered the Driving Question now with the Learner Profile.
We then divided the class into 4 teams and got into a game of Rob the Nest.
After a round of Rob the Nest, I gathered the kids back to the Green Zone and introduced the first AtL for this unit – Formulating and Planning.
We discussed the purpose of a plan and how it can help your team. I emphasized the purpose of being a communicator during the planning process.
I printed out 4 copies of these plans and laminated them so the kids could write out their plans with whiteboard markers. This also makes it easy to reuse these plans for the other grade 1 classes since the makers rub off quickly. After the teams made their plans the teams showed me their plans and I wanted to see that every person in the team had a role and was indicated in the plan.
We then got into a final game of Rob the Nest with the teams using their plans.
Lesson 6
We started the lesson with the usual routine but included the new AtL into the Jump-Up routine and Driving Question.
We went through the steps of making an effective plan and how to communicate your plan respectfully.
The kids made their plans, presented it to me, and then we spent a solid 10 minutes playing our first round.
We met as a class and then moved to Level 2 Rob the Nest where there was only 1 nest. The kids went back to their plans to reflect upon their performance and to adjust to the new challenge.
We played this level for the remainder of the lesson.
Lesson 7
After our warm-up, Jump-Up routine, and Driving Question, I introduced the second AtL of this unit – Social and Emotional Intelligence.
The students are quite familiar with the Zones of Regulation considering it is used extensively in grade 1. Therefore, we did not spend too much time discussing this AtL, however, I wanted the kids to know where they could go if they felt quite anxious. I aimed to create a quiet space in the gym as they do in homerooms but this proved quite difficult considering the gym is a shared space and it is by nature, a noisy place. The Green Zone, where we do discussions, is the best I could offer.
After this brief discussion, I introduced Zone Ball to the kids. It was time to bring a ball into our unit since the kids had a solid understanding of attacking and defending by this stage.
The basic rundown was the kids needed to pass the ball to their teammates in the next zone to ultimately attempt to shoot the ball into their opponent’s goal.
The kids sat with their team to make a plan and then we got into the game.
Lesson 8
After our warm-up, and the Jump-Up routine that now included the second AtL – Social Emotional Intelligence, we got into our Driving Question. All of the unit elements were displayed and I wanted to spend a bit more time on connecting all of these elements.
Afterward, using Team Shake the teams were divided, and new plans were given out for Zone Ball.
Since there were 3 teams, we did 3 rounds of this game with each team having a chance to play 2 games. This was handy since it gave each team time to work on their plan and for me to assist in ensuring the kids were formulating their plan effectively.
Lesson 9
After our usual lesson starting routine, I played a video of Handball for the kids. We analyzed the different movements and actions they were doing. I asked the kids, “How do the players know what their job is?” This was an obvious attempt at getting them to mention, “they have a plan.”
Handball at our school is very popular in the Elementary School. Students can join the school handball teams starting from grade 2. Therefore, I wanted to introduce this game to them in grade 1.
We followed the same routine we did with Rob the Nest and Zone Ball. I used Team Shake to divide the class into 4 teams, gave each team a plan, and once their plan was approved, we got into the game.
Lesson 10
We repeated the same process as the previous lesson, however, I also played this video below to show how to attack a goal in handball.
We did 5-7 minute rounds so each team could play each other.
Lesson 11
We did our usual routine of a warm-up, creating the unit, answering the Driving Question, and then for me to collect some tangible evidence for my reports I had the kids reflect on the unit with a written reflection.
I met with the Grade 1 EAL (English as an Additional Language) teacher, who is an absolute wealth of knowledge when it comes to language acquisition, and we worked together to create this reflection.
The reflection follows a simple process - circle what you became better at and then explain how you showed this. There was a word bank available as well to help them complete this reflection.
With this done, we got into a final game of Handball and then wrapped up the unit.
Unit Reflection
When designing my units, I continually refer to the holistic model of Physical Education.
I aim to ensure that there is a balance between all three elements. I want the kids to get enough opportunities to practice their skills, and to generally be moving (physical). There needs to be opportunities for the kids to grasp the purpose of the unit and to understand that their education in PE is not siloed only in PE but can be used in other areas (cognitive). Lastly, there have to be opportunities for the kids to access the affective domain of self where they get a chance to reflect on themselves, their feelings, as well as their ability to work in teams and understand other people.
Having PE once a week for grade 1 has made things difficult to ensure for this to occur. However, I am quite pleased with how this unit went. I felt like there was a good balance between all three. Our warm-up was crucial for the physical domain as well as the games themselves. Our regular discussions and planning/reflecting sessions targeted the cognitive domain. Finally, the unit itself was largely team-based where we not only engaged in physical games but also required cognitive work as a team through planning and reflecting.
I also felt like the games I chose were layered quite well. We started with Crossover – a simple game to introduce the concept of Invasion Games and to determine the difference between an attacker and a defender. We then moved into a 4 team game with Rob the Nest, a somewhat more complicated version of Crossover where you have an object that you need to manipulate, although it is just picking it up and running with it. We then progressed to Zone Ball where you needed to manipulate a handball by throwing, catching, and shooting it into a goal. The zones ensured every team member had contact with the ball, made the kids plan more thoroughly, and forced them to pass rather than run and throw the ball wildly. We then got to our final activity of handball, of which, all previous games led up to. By the time we got to this last activity, the kids were introduced to the terms attacker, defender, plan, communicator, skills, pass, catch, throw, etc.
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