FITNESS FOR LIFE PART ONE

Curriculum Links:

Health & Physical EducationPersonal Health & Physical Development
Healthy Communities and Environments
English: Oral Language: Speaking & Listening
Written Language: Writing & Reading
Visual Language: Viewing & Presenting
Links to: The Arts: Drama, Music, Visual Arts

PREPARATION

Have on hand a selection of books, videos and films on sports, hobbies and recreational pursuits. Use for research and motivation during the unit.

ACTIVITY ONE: BRAINSTORMING TOPICS

Why do people play sports?
Why is being fit considered important?
What are the differences between sports, hobbies and recreations. Come up with individual definitions.
List as many as possible under each heading in five minutes.
Present the results to the whole class and record results as tables and lists.

ACTIVITY TWO: SPORTING AND RECREATIONAL FACILITIES

Investigate and list the sporting and recreational facilities available in your local district.

Where can this information be obtained, e.g. yellow pages, information centres, recreation officers, council website, etc.

Have pupils make a location map and indicate the facilities and activities with labels/pins. Use colour codes to classify them into sports, recreations and hobbies.

RESEARCH

Divide into groups and investigate the following:

How many clubs and organisations?
How many members?
Age group range
To whom it appeals and why
Cost of joining Individual or group activity
Time needed to be devoted?
Skills needed and acquired
Equipment/clothing and cost

Groups graph/list results and report back to the class.

Write statements of interpretation from information gained from the graphs or lists.

ACTIVITY THREE: THE LANGUAGE OF SPORT

What is meant by the following common phrases? Discuss and report back:

A good sport
A sporting chance
A sporting gesture
Sporting a new dress/haircut etc.
A sporting achievement

ACTIVITY FOUR: DRAMATIC REENACTMENTS

Have groups and individuals research and act out famous sporting moments. These could be from your own school, in New Zealand, from around the world.

Brainstorm and then act out some 'absurd' sporting contests, e.g.

table tennis on horseback,
underwater hang gliding
bungy tug of war
synchronised rugby

ACTlVITY FIVE: GREAT RADIO COMMENTARIES

In groups, pupils become radio commentators and 'expert' comments people.The challenge is to make the following recreations and hobbies really exciting for a radio audience:

The world Pick-up Sticks championship
Scrabble championships
Constructing a model aeroplane
Cloud watching
A bush walk
Dog walking
The great snail race . . .

Have pupils record these on tape and report back to the class. A script could be very helpful!

FURTHER DIRECTIONS

Have students pick several skill or fitness improvement goals and plan a programme of improvement activities for the duration of the unit or after the unit.

Survey the type and use made school sporting equipment. Make recommendations.

Write a factual or imaginative story entitled " My Proudest Sporting Moment."

Have pupils invent a game and teach it to children in a class younger than themselves.

Write: The team I'd most like to play for.

Debate 'Playing sport builds character'.

Compose radio jingles promoting sport and recreational topics

FITNESS FOR LIFE PART TWO

ACTIVITY ONE … FOCUS ON GAMES

Oral Descriptions. Encourage children to talk about their favourite games.

What are they called?
How do we play them?
What things (equipment) do we need to play them?
Where do we play them?
Who do we play them with?
How do we feel if we win?
How do we feel if we loose? Why?

Have individual children explain how to play their favourite game to the class. Play some of these gamesMake class lists of:
Games we play at school
Games we play at home
Games we play by ourselves
Games we play with others

Magazine Collage. Have pupils look through newspapers and magazines to find pictures of people playing games (or sports). Identify the games. Have groups make a collage mural. Add sentences and captions to the mural telling about the game.

ACTIVITY TWO: SPORTS

Discuss with the children the difference between games and sports. List.

Have pupils list the games and sports that they play, their older sisters/brothers play, parents play, friends play.

Why do they play them?
Where do they play them?
How often do they play?
When do they play them?

Discuss and list the types of sports seen on television.

Find the class favourite, girls' favourite, boys' favourite. Display as a table.

List and Graph. Ask pupils to name their favourite sportsperson. List the names and alongside, list the sports played by these people. Have children prepare simple pictographs to show the results.

Paint. Have pupils paint a self portrait of themselves as a famous sportsperson when they have grown up.

Display. Display pictures in a hall of fame class mural and add captions and sentences.

Drama. Have each pupil and/or group act out an exciting moment in their chosen sport. Class to try and guess the sport.

ACTIVITY THREE: SPORTS WORDS

On the blackboard, write a list of all the names of all the sports the children have identified to date.

As a class or group activity, challenge the pupils to think of words that relate to a particular sport, e.g. kick the ball (rugby), pass the ball (netball), shoot the goal, tackle, twist and jump . . . etc.

On cards, have children draw action pictures (or pictures cut out from magazines) to illustrate the words and phrases in action. Combine the words and action pictures.

Make these into hanging sports word action mobiles.

Use these words to write short sentences and paragraphs about an exciting part of a game they are playing in.

FURTHER DIRECTIONS

Music. Combine words and phrases from one particular sport to make 'sports chants'. Chant them loudly, softly, up high, down low, quickly, slowly etc.)

Social Sciences. Find out where all your local sporting facilities are. Make a sporting map and visit some of them. Practice giving directions.

Language/Social Sciences. Invite sports people to visit your classroom. Have pupils prepare questions. Have them demonstrate their skills and use of various types of equipment.

Hobbies. Introduce the idea/difference between sports, hobbies and recreations. List examples of your pupils hobbies. Have them explain and demonstrate their hobbies. Try new hobbies. Run a hobby day and invite parents and other classes to share their hobbies with your pupils.