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Vacation Integration
David Kahan
San Diego State University
Active reading: Select books or magazines that contain activity- or movement-related themes and language.Comic books and sport magazines make particularly good choices.With a sibling, friend, or parent take turns reading while the listener acts out the scene or actions.Record the titles of all the books you read; put checks next to favorite choices and make a note as to why.
Math worksheets: Regardless of whether you work on mixed or identical function problems go beyond just calculating and recording your answer.Use creative and active movements and manipulations to demonstrate the correct answers—you’ll have a lot more fun filling in the worksheets, too!For example, 12 x 13 = 156; if you had a basketball, you could make one chest pass to a partner or against a wall (1), dribble with your right hand five times (5), and then dribble with your left hand six times (6).Another example: 3 + 5 = 8; hop on your left foot eight times.
Scavenger Hunt: Lots of holidays this month involve presents.Instead of finding them all in one place and opening them all in 2 minutes—BORING—have your parents hide your presents and provide you with either an orienteering map and compass (if they know how to orienteer; teach them if you know how but they don’t) or clues to lead you from present to present.See how fast you can find all of your presents.Try racing against a sibling who is trying to fill his or her list.
Experimenting: Does it snow where you live?Try this experiment.Go outside and take enough snow to pack it into the size and shape of a soapdish.Go back inside the house and lie down with the snow pack resting on your bare right/left leg.Time how long it takes for the snow to melt.Put on some warm clothes and go back outside to play, run, or bike for at least 20 minutes—until you get nice and warm.Grab another chunk of snow and shape it back into a soapdish; come back into the house and apply it directly on to your bare leg.Time how long it takes to melt.Is there a difference in time between the two meltings?Can you explain why?
Going back to my roots: Sometimes, lots of guests and family visit us for the holidays.Here’s a neat project for you to break the ice at your family gatherings.Ask every one there, what their favorite sport to watch is and what their favorite sport to play is.On a large piece of construction paper, create a family sports tree that connects you, siblings, parents, cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles.Write under each relative’s name what his or her favorite activities are.Do you see any patterns?Can you explain any patterns you see?
A dollar by any other name: For all the presents you get over the holidays, do your best to calculate the total cost in dollars (be sure to include sales tax).Once you have that total, go on an imaginary shopping spree as if you were the physical education teacher at your school; what would you buy (and how much of each item) for your students and why?
Driving games: Going to grandma’s house for holiday dinner?Or on a trip?Getting there by car?Try these games.(a) Who am I? Passengers take turns secretly picking a famous athlete (e.g., Derek Jeter) or sport (e.g., water polo) and all other passengers take turns asking Yes/No questions (e.g., Are you a baseball player? Do you play for an AL team?), to narrow their guesses of your identity.First person to guess your identity correctly gets to assume his or her identity for guessing.(b) If I were on a Desert Island: Passengers take turns adding different sports/recreation equipment to a list of what one would bring if stranded on a desert island—can you add items to get list to over 10 (e.g., If I were on a desert island, I’d bring a water bottle, ball cap, fishing pole, etc.).(c) License plate game: For every out-of-state license plate you spot, identify names of all the sports teams that play in that state, what activities or recreational offerings the state offers, college sports nicknames, etc. (e.g., for Arizona, Diamondbacks, Coyotes, Suns, Grand Canyon, Arizona State Sun Devils, Arizona Wildcats).
Basketball Fan: Over your entire vacation, follow your favorite pro or college basketball player.After every game, check the next day’s newspaper or go on-line to find the player’s game statistics.Keep a running record of each game’s stats for your player.Compile them into a summary of his or her performance for the entire vacation season.Download a picture of this player and with the information you’ve collected, create basketball cards that you can trade with your friends.
Indoor quickies: (a) Write and act out a short skit of an imaginary family vacation to a summer sports/recreation vacation destination; (b) On an old shower curtain, create a computer keyboard with a felt-tip marker—do your own spelling bee with friends and family, where you spell out words by jumping, leaping, and hopping from letter to letter on the keyboard; (c) On an old shower curtain, create a calculator keypad—do your own math quiz/contest with friends and family, where you hop, jump, leap out the entire problem (e.g., 17 + 28 – 12) and solution (e.g., 33).