Games Galore

The game of the day at Southwest Charter School came straight out of the book, What Are We Doing in Gym Today? by Patricia R. Toner and Kenneth G. Tillman. Students worked in relay team fashion to hold hands while running the length of the floor to bend down and touch-tag an object…adding to the number of players in their “snake” with each return trip. The main challenges had to do with figuring out which hand to use to ensure that you are running forwards, and cooperating with the group to keep from getting twisted up or falling over!

The two older groups got to play a “meta” game today. The teams were Class versus Wally. I was the referee. Wally got a point if any student moaned or groaned during class. The class got a point for every 5 minutes they went without moaning or groaning. Points could also be scored when Wally called out “Horse Stance”. If every student was in a good horse stance by a count of two, the class got a point. Otherwise, Wally got a point.

Near the end of the session, for every point Wally had scored, the class did one burpee. For every point the class had scored, Wally did one burpee. The scores were 3 (Wally) to 11 (1st-3rd graders) and 6 (Wally) to 13 (4th-6th graders).

Finally, we sat and discussed what the purpose of the game was. The students got it. They could see they got more work done and had better focus when playing the “meta” game. Next week we’ll try and cook up a version that’s suitable for the kindergardeners.