Grades Y5, K, and 1: Helicopter tag and more! 1. Pathways warm-up: Students move in different pathways around the gym, staying inside the box (basketball court boundaries). Pathways include a figure eight, circle, wavy line, snaked line, back and forth straight lines, random (everyone's favorite!), and more! 2. Stretches 3. Alphabet letters activity: Students are assigned a partner. They move around the gym to the music. When the music stops, they reunite with their partner and look at me. I hold up a letter for each pair to create with their bodies on the floor. 4. Months dance: Students practice our months of the year dance. Each month is said to the tune of a musical audio track, and each month corresponds with one move of the Macarena. Ask your Y5, K, or 1st grade student(s) to show you this dance! We have been practicing each class. January: one hand out in front (palm down) February: other hand out in front (palm down) March: turn first hand over (palm up) April: turn second hand over (palm up) May: First hand touches opposite shoulder June: Second hand touches opposite shoulder July: One hand behind ear August: Other hand behind other ear September: Hand cross to touch opposite hip October: Other hand crosses to touch opposite hip November: First hand to hip December: Second hand to hip 5. Helicopter tag: Students start in a "helipad" marked with colored cones. I call out which color moves to which new helipad. One or two taggers are in the middle and have a pool noodle to tag (gently - no hitting) with. If tagged, a runner goes back to the color they were just at. For example, "Blue, go to red". Players in the blue cones run to the red cones. If tagged, they return to blue - they're still in the game, just wait for the next direction to move. Grades 2-5: Battleship Students have really enjoyed learning new games these past couple of weeks! This week's game is Battleship. As the week progressed, we made a few changes: each team has ONE ship (rather than two separate ships) each team also has two hula hoops - to use to rake cannonballs back to the ship within reach, and/or to contain cannonballs on/near their team's ship Battleship Rules #1 Battleship Rules #2 Monday's classes all had two separate ships per team. Tuesday - Friday classes then experienced one large ship per team (it made the game less confusing).