So, as a PYP classroom turned PYP PE teacher, I really value the ability to make a non-contrived link to a classroom Unit of Inquiry. It's great! And my first unit of the year with my Grade 3 students offers a great opportunity to do just that - link to the classroom!
"Successful relationships are built upon communicating, understanding perspectives and compromising." has been the first unit of the year for the third graders this year and last. The main focus of the unit lies in 'conflict resolution' which I feel is great for establishing some ground rules in PE...let's face it, PE sets the stage for some conflict and resolution. The current PE unit to kick off the year has been "Games" so it's been great for getting the kids to bond as a class, getting them doing lots of teamwork but also getting their heads around learning lots of new games involving strategy...and that create situations where conflict could arise. I've been trying to teach (and learn myself) 2-3 new games each class that has the students burning lots of energy...and hopefully exuding lots of sweat! In between games, and as a transition, I've been bringing the students back to the middle to talk about any conflicts that arose, how we can solve the conflict (rock-paper-scissors and obvious choice) and how we can possibly avoid conflict in that same game in the future. As the students got more comfortable with each other, and as they understood more about conflict, they began to participate more and share more of their thoughts and experiences.
During our second lesson of the unit, and to get students thinking deeper, we played a game called "Dragon Tag". We played once where students had to hold on to each others' bodies in a line and run around and then again when they held on to a pool noodle. To introduce the pool noodle, I had the students sit on the spot (after the whistle) with their groups and just handed them out and said "try hanging on to this." This offered two ways to play the game so students could compare and contrast during our chat. Now, students are able to offer suggestions to change the game without playing it two different ways; however, students are given the chance to offer ways to change a game and then try it out i.e. using scarves or tails to play a number of different tag games to eliminate pushing and limit body contact
For their "Games" summative assessment task, they'll have to choose a game, demonstrate conflict in it and then suggest and apply improvements that they think would limit conflict in the game. They will do this in groups and use iPads to record their outcomes.
Here's a video I took early on during the unit, after playing Dragon Tag and having a chat about the two different versions of the game:
https://vimeo.com/73910064
This is one of my favourite units to teach! I love exploring new games with the students and building up my repertoire! It gets them excited to try new things and they've been pretty good at following instructions when I'm introducing a new game. The other great part is that I can use a number of the games as short warm-up games before teaching other units throughout the year as they incorporate a range of skills...win all around! :)
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