Each week you can see the activities that our students were engaged in as well as many of the resources I used in my teaching. I put out these weekly posts for parents to see what their child is learning in PE as well as for other PE teachers to get ideas they can implement in their own program.
This week our students began a floor hockey unit. Students were engaged in activities that focused on stick-handling, puck control, and got to play a few small-sided, lead-up games. I decided to use fleece balls for all the activities for two reasons:
1. It helped keep students safe in a smaller space
2. The balls didn't go under the gap in the divider curtain often
However, I typically like to use the air-filled hockey pucks as they give students a more realistic feel on the stick.
1. It helped keep students safe in a smaller space
2. The balls didn't go under the gap in the divider curtain often
However, I typically like to use the air-filled hockey pucks as they give students a more realistic feel on the stick.
Day 1 Lesson
Our K-2 students worked on a some stick-handling activities as a warmup to get students moving and familiar with the equipment. A big focus was being able to keep their ball close and under control as they moved to open spaces in the gym. Glancing up with their eyes to see what was in front of them and avoiding running into other people or touching their stick/ball. We also did a little practice on starting and stopping with the music.
Students in grades 3-5 began with some instant activities that got them working on their skills in small-sided game situations. Students partnered up and then were pitted against each other in a game called Wall to Wall 1v1 where players did a 3-tap faceoff in the center and then tried to trap the ball against their opponent's wall. After we played 1v1, students progressed to 2v2.
As a lead up activity for all grade levels, I divided the students into two color groups. The "HOT" colors (yellow, orange, red) vs the "COOL" colors (green, blue, purple). The object of this game is for each team to try to be the first color group to get all of their fleece balls into the other team's nets. Students explored a variety of playing positions incorporating many of the skills required in a regulation hockey game.
Day 2 Lesson
Most of our second day was spent in small-sided game play with 4-Goal Hockey. Typically, I play 6-Goal Hockey in a full gym, but this setup worked out better on half the gym space. Each game was played in 2 rounds. Round 1 was the record setting round. Groups tried to get as many balls as they could into their own net. When all the balls were gone, we stopped and counted up our total score. This was each team's record. Then we dumped the balls back into the middle and played a second round which we called the "record breaking" round. In order to win, a group had to score more than they did in their previous round. After a game concluded, we mixed up the teams using the Classroom Teammates app and played again.