Third Grade Winter Wonders!
2/24/2021
When I first mentioned to my students that we would be cross country skiing during P.E., there was very little enthusiasm as many of the children had never been on skis. A few had alpine skied and those students asked if we could do Alpine, (downhill skiing) instead. Children’s resistance to cross-country skiing may be based on the general misconception that it is tiring and difficult. They see it as a boring alternative to the more fast-paced nature of downhill skiing. Making cross-country skiing fun is a way of capturing a child’s attention and engendering in them a lifelong passion for the sport! The best way to teach students to ski is to get them “to play” on their skis. Our first lesson started with how to put on skis and how to get up from a fall. We started skiing on the flat but quickly added ‘playing’ on a downhill slope. Because children get excited about going down the hill, they don’t notice the drudgery of the hill climb. Without thought, they are herringboning back up the hill and skiing the longer, more gradual loop to get to the top to race back down. They’re practicing important cross-country skills without even realizing they are acquiring the skills! We play many chase games on skis, and Watch Your Back Tag with pool noodles is one of their favorites. We go through obstacle courses, jump off of small jumps, go around pool noodle gates and pool noodle tunnels and we hula hoop and play catch with balls all on skis. We spend time playing balancing games, skiing down a hill on one ski is a favorite. I always intersperse technical help throughout these fun games. All of these activities slyly teach fundamental skills and give both structure and intensity to the lessons. All of the third graders are skiing very well and all enjoy their time on skis. Peals of laughter can be heard from our wonderful huge field and it is always difficult to get them to stop skiing when class is over. Please look at the photos and videos of your children. I am very proud of them! You should be too! What to expect...Third grade is a pivotal time in the development of students’ movement skills. Third-graders who demonstrate and understand the proper form for locomotor and nonlocomotor skills now shift their focus to combining those skills into new movement sequences. Practice opportunities provide students with sufficient time to develop the proper form for manipulative skills, such as rolling, throwing, catching, dribbling, kicking, and striking. Fitness activities become increasingly important at this age. Like the second graders, their attention spans are improving, and they are very interested in why things occur. Many students have developed a self-confidence strong enough to tolerate how others react to them. They have developed a stronger sense of right and wrong, having reached the stage of development for internalization of rules and regulations. They are becoming more self-reliant and work well both independently and as a group. Because these students experience an increased desire for interaction with others, we provide them with more opportunities to practice and work toward common goals in pairs and trios. In the third grade, students begin to transfer fundamental skills to competitive sports games. We learn about good sportsmanship and how to both win and lose gracefully while we instill the importance of working on a team. Competition is limited to team sports and activities. Being on a team that has lost a competition is much easier to handle so we learn as a group about being “a good sport”. Third grade is a fun, exciting pivotal time for your children!
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Specialist & Enrichment Teachers Archives
February 2021
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