| In this month's
Interdisciplinary section we will be focusing on how to integrate
physical education classes with other educational subjects. We are
featuring articles from the Strategies journals on literature circles
and thematic units.
In the Jean Blaydes section she incorporates using a thematic
lesson, linking it with literature, to promote movement skills.
Putting a spin on physical education lessons will keep students
interested and excited in their coursework. It will also help them
to see how physical education can be intertwined with other subjects
in school.
Dawn Sakaguchi
Interdisciplinary Section Editor
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by
Jean Blaydes
This section within the Interdisciplinary page is updated
each month with a new idea from Jean Blayde's book Thinking
on Your Feet. |
This month's
idea is called "Snowy
Day." These games will be centered around the theme
of a book. The students will have fun reading and bringing
the story to life.
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| Find out more information about
Jean Blaydes and Action
Based Learning. |
|
| Winter Activity Resources |
| Ideas
for Winter Games: Very holiday oriented. Includes activities
for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, St. Patrick's Day
...
Integrating
academics with PE: Activities for integrating academic
areas with physical education. Excellent ideas, and fun!
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| If you have ideas, comments,
letters to share, or questions about particular topics, please
email one of the following Health & Fitness Section Editors:
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| Literature
Circles in Physical Education Classroom
by Suzanne
Stringer and Erin Reilly
As the weather is rapidly beginning to reflect winter, there
will be days when physical activities be will hampered. While
the easiest solution would be to roll out the television cart
and have students watch a movie it defies the purpose of physical
education. As indicated in the Stringer and Reilly article, a
physically educated person is someone who:
" Demonstrate responsible personal and social behavior
in physical activity settings.
" Demonstrate understanding and respect for differences
among people in physical activity settings."
" Understand that physical activity provides opportunities
for enjoyment, challenge, self-expression, and social interaction
(NASPE., 1995)."
How do you promote being a physically educated person on these
kinds of days? One alternative, that is suggested, is by forming
literature circles. A literature circle is defined by Daniels
(1994) as students forming a small group to read text(s) on the
same topic. Students can read books or articles from journals,
magazines or the newspaper. These articles can be in reference
to a sport, or to significant people in sports.
Literature circles can promote physical education and reading
at the same time. To get started, the students should be put into
groups and given an allotted time to read the article. Daniels
(1994) suggested giving students a role while reading. He developed
four different roles that can be used:
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Connectors: in
this role the student will need to link the article that they
just read and apply it to the world around them. These connections
can be related to school, the community, or his/her family,
etc. |
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Discussion director: in this
role the student will think of open-ended questions in regard
to the article for his/her group. These questions will be
used to stimulate discussion. |
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Literary Luminaries: in this
role the students look for parts of the article that interests
them, and shares these interests with the rest of the group. |
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Summarizer: in this role the
student will pull out key concepts from the article, and summarize
the entire article to his/her group. |
In Daniels (1994) book he has examples of role sheets that can
be used as worksheets for your students. Students can also exchange
roles in order to gain different perspectives.
Stringer and Reilly add that physical educators can work with
other classroom educators on integrating the literature circles
for both classes. For example, teaming up with an English teacher
to continue discussion about the article, or perhaps incorporate
another related article for further discussion.
On days where physical activities can not be done, it is still
possible for one to exercise the mind. Reading material related
to sports figures may provide inspiration to some students and
bring the sport to life. Literature circles create opportunities
for students to use their cooperation skills, and to expand their
knowledge about the world of physical education.
| References: |
| Stringer,S., Reilly, E.
(2004). "Literature Circles in the Physical Education
Classroom." Strategies. 17(4), 35-37. |
| Daniels, H. (1994). Literature
Circles: Voice and choice in the student centered classrooms.
Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers. |
| Daniels, H. (2002). Literature
circles: Voice and choice in book clubs & reading groups.
Portland, Miane: Stenhouse Publishers. |
| National Association for
Sport and Physical Education (1995). Moving into the Future:
National Physcial Education Standards: A Guide to Content
and Assessment. |
| Pangrazi,R.P. (2004).
Dynamic Physical Education for Elementary School Children.
San Fransico, CA: Benjamin Cummings. |
| Towell, J.H. (2001). "Using
Celebrities to motivate students to read." The Reading
Teacher, 55(1), 22-28. |
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| Moving
With a Theme
By Carol Ryan
In this article, Carol Ryan talks about a plan to combine school
subjects through a unifying theme. Thematic units can jazz up a
curriculum by focusing on topics that are of current interests,
for example baseball and the world series. With a theme being carried
through out all subjects during the school day, the student will
be able to learn how it is applied in different aspects of their
education. Moving from the traditional physical education classes
can be a refreshing short term change and can motivate students
to be more involved with learning.
Ryan says that the first step is to collaborate with other teachers
to come up with a theme, or to see if anyone is working on a theme
in their classrooms. Once a theme is established, you will need
to come up eith lesson plans involving movement. Ryan (2000) says
that "since it is estimated that 84 percent of children are
kinesthetic learners, it is important to incorporate movement into
integrated curriculum themes."
To get some inspiration you may want to look at past lesson plans
or look at thematic books. After your lessons are planned out it
is important to iron out details of supplies and coordinating with
other educators about how to implement the theme.
Remember to reflect on the thematic unit after it is taught and
to keep all the materials for next time use. Ryan (2000) also gives
examples of activities with a winter theme and suggests them to
be used for grades K-3, but they can also be modified for older
students. View some of these examples.
| References: |
| Ryan,C.(2000). "Moving
with a theme." Strategies 14(1),20-22. |
| Baum,K (1997). Teaching
thematic units in elementary physical education. Richmond, Ky:
Eastern Kentucky University. |
| COPEC (1995). The young
child: moving to learn. National Early Childhood Conference. |
| Pica, R. (1991). Special
themes for moving and learning. Champaign, Il: Human Kinectics. |
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| Here are some
suggestions for integrating language arts, math, and content areas
with physical education.
- Connie
Korenstein
Academic Baseball
The teacher pitches facts (or a student, if written on flash cards).
The batter must answer the fact to go to first base and so on. This
can be used with basic facts as in relays, but also for review of
information in content areas (ie. What are the parts of a plant?)
Giant Fact Balls
Inflatable balls with addition, subtraction, multiplication, division,
world maps (globe) can be tossed in small or large groups. Group
can stand in a circle or in two teams, tossing back and forth for
points. When the ball is caught, the person who catches it must
answer the problem his/her thumb falls on, or identify which country,
continent or ocean landed on.
Over and Under relays can also be played in small groups. The person
at the end of the line must answer the problem his/her thumbs fall
on.
?Walk About/Talk About? Give students a topic
or questions to discuss as they walk in pairs around the blacktop.
You can use any content area. They must keep walking and talking
about the topic until teacher calls time. Go inside, share ideas
as a class, write in journal.
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