Fitness Fun
Since the children returned to school after the Christmas holidays, they have been developing their fitness in PE. Sometimes the focus has been on developing their stamina (cardiovascular endurance) and other times their strength (muscular endurance).
Children had the opportunity to work with a partner in the lesson with the benches and hoops. One of them worked in the hoop whilst the other worked on the bench, usually for one minute before swapping over. Some of the activities in the hoop were squats, hopping on one leg, jumping into the hoop then picking it up, placing it down again and jumping back in. Some of the activities on/around the benches included steps up/offs, balancing with two hands on the bench and one foot on the floor, running in a loop around the benches etc. The children completed a few of the more intense exercises and were then given a more gentle exercise to allow their heart rate to lower.
The children worked individually to continuously complete the Agility Assault Course. The children were shown what to do at each part of the course and where to go next. This meant their memory was being put to the test! Each child was given a certain place to start and when they got back to that place they started again immediately. The focus was on continuous exercise to develop their stamina. P3 & P4 had to keep going for roughly 10 minutes (duration of three songs) but P5 & P6 had to keep going for longer (four or five songs). By this point all of the children had rosy cheeks and faces sparkling with sweat! After a little breather, the children completed the course once more but this in teams. Everyone in the team started at the same place. As soon as they started so did the stopwatch. The stopwatch stopped when the last person in the team got back to the start. The team with the fastest time would win. If anything was missed out, the team got a 5 second penalty added to their time. Often the times were extremely close! The children were encouraged to cheer other teams on and support everyone – they were fantastic cheerleaders!
Some classes have also completed Lego Fitness. Each child or pair is given a Lego Hero Checklist which has 26 Lego Heros on it. They have to find each Hero. The Heros are scattered around the gym, face down. When they find a Hero, they have to complete the exercises that the Hero has instructed such as 10 Burpies, 18 Ski Jumps, Jog on 2 laps etc, before they can find another Hero. They tick the Heros off on the checklist as they go. The faster the find all the Heros the better.
In the game Bang, the classes is divided into 5 or 6 groups. Each group has a deck of fitness cards. Hidden in the deck of cards are 3 bang cards. The children take turns to pick a card from the top of the deck. They tell the rest of their group, what the exercise is on the card (there’s a picture to help them out) and how many times they have to do the exercise. This game requires children to work co-cooperatively with each other and encourages them to be independent learners . They keep the cards they pull out until the get a Bang card. If they are unlucky enough to get a Bang card, they must return all of their cards, including the bang card, to the bottom of the pile. Everyone else in the group gets to keep their cards. The game continues until there are only the three Bang cards left. Whoever has the most exercise cards wins.
The children have also experienced Pokemon Pathways (continuous movement, developing their stamina), Fitness Bingo (mainly strength exercises and some stamina) and there are still more to come! Who said fitness had to be boring! The more fun it is, the more likely they are to want to do it again and keep being active. The Agility Assault Course was particularly popular.