Gym Activity

Ocean Theme Following Reading Pirate Pearl by Phoebe Gilman.

Game #1

One person is “it” and when someone is tagged they must lie down.  Anyone tagged becomes a mermaid waiting to be freed by two friends who are dolphins who come and lie beside the mermaid.  This instantly frees the tagged person.  You run away until you are caught again or that a friend needs you to free them up. 

Variations

 1.  Pirate captures you and two friends rescue you.  If you have a large class, use two pirates to chase others and tag them.

 2.  Pearl catches you.  You are freed by her parents. 

 Objectives

 This game really emphasizes cooperation.  It has a team feeling to free up a person.  It takes the literature into an activity to show comprehension of the story, setting and of characters.  It builds a thematic vocabulary as you change and use the variations.

Game #2

Octopus Tag

It is a game of tag.  If you are caught, you must sit down. Then, you wave your tentacles until you tag someone else.  Eventually, your gym (ocean) is full of octopi.

 Music, Dance and Movement and Language

Sit in a circle, and do the following actions.

 Slap knees twice.

Clap Hands twice.

 Repeat this until familiar.

 Now, add words to the above actions.

 “Charlie over the ocean

Charlie over the sea

Charlie caught a big fish

Can’t catch me.”

 Thumbs to chest and your best Australian or English accent say,

 “I like fish!

I like fish!

BBBBIIIIIG fish! (Big voice and hand motions of a big fish)

Little fish (small and quiet voice)

I like fish!”

 Once they are familiar with the words, pair them off with a partner to slap knees and clap hands together by facing your partner.

 My students  love this and drive their parents wild repeating it at home!

Objectives

         Ø      To understand syllables through movement

Ø      To understand the beat of words and the sequence of a story 

Ø      Taking a story into the gym classroom through the rhythm of a song

Ø      Theme comes to life in a fun gym dance class of cooperating.

Ø      To experiment with pitch, accent and loudness of voice

End your unit with a “Beach Party”.  Use beach balls for gym time and have a ball!  Send letter home to dress in favorite beach outfit.  Don’t forget hat and sunglasses.  Play the “Beachboys” and even plan a lemonade picnic!  A great break to our long, Alberta winter.  It is fun to combine music, gym and dance in January by doing this activity.