Teaching Guide - Gymnastics - BrickHouse Education - TG9781598351637

Objectives  Identify verbs; animal habitats, traits and behavior; rhyming words; use picture and context clues Materials  pencils; paper; 4 cones; 1 ball; stopwatch; chart

Teaching Guide Gymnastics

30 minutes, Days 1–3

Build Background Activate Prior Knowledge  Tell children: Animals are very active and can do a lot

of things. This keeps them healthy. What kinds of things can you do when you play outside or play sports? (I can swing, kick a ball, do cartwheels, etc.) Encourage children to talk about their favorite sport or physical activity.

Introduce the Focus Skill: Verbs  Explain to the class that verbs are action

words. Say: Verbs tell what someone or something is doing. Open the book to p. 4. Show the picture to the class, and ask children to point to the sentence that describes what the cat is doing. (It holds on skillfully.) Then have each child pantomine a verb that he or she is familiar with. The rest of the class will guess what the child is doing (running, hopping, skipping, jumping, etc.).

Acquire New Vocabulary  Introduce the vocabulary words to the class:

gymnastics, skillfully, balances, gibbon, easily. Write them on the board and review definitions. Ask children to write a simple sentence for each word. For example: The elephant balances. If children have difficulty, tell them to use the pictures in the book for ideas. Challenge children to use two vocabulary words in at least one of their sentences. Ex: The flamingo does gymnastics skillfully. Review sentences as a class.

Read and Respond  Display the book. Read the title and author name aloud as you track the print. Tell children: Poems are

like music. They follow a certain beat. We need to stay on beat for it to sound right. Read p. 4 aloud to model correct pronunciation and rhythm. Tap your desk lightly as you read so children can hear the beat. Point out the verbs as you read. Then assign subsequent pages to each member of the class. Have each child read his/her page aloud. Pause after reading each page and ask volunteers to guess where the animal lives. For instance, after reading p. 14, a child might say: I see water and rocks. The sea lion lives near the ocean. Discuss animal habitats as a class.

60 minutes, Days 4–5

% PHYS. ED

Curricular Enrichment: Physical Education  Tell children that they will complete an obstacle course. This

can be done outside or in the gymnasium. Set 4 cones in a row. Each cone should be approximately 3 feet apart. Place a ball about 5 feet away from the last cone. Tell children to form a line. One by one, each child will run diagonally around the first 2 cones and then jump over the last 2 cones. Then the child will pick up the ball and toss it to you. Use a stopwatch to keep track of how long it takes each child to complete the obstacle course. The next child in line will wait his/her turn while you record the previous child’s time on a chart. Repeat until every child has completed the obstacle course. Then tell children to look at the chart and tell you how they did. Ask: What part of the course was the hardest? How do you think you could improve your time? Repeat the obstacle course to see if children’s times improve. Then have them put their hands to their chests to feel their hearts beating. Say: The more you run, the faster your heart beats. This is good for your health. Are your hearts beating faster or slower than before? Why do you think this happens? Ask children to come up with ideas for other ways of exercising to stay healthy.

Home Connection  (Teacher, you may want to photocopy

this activity for children to complete with a family member.) Discuss the importance of physical fitness with your child. Ask: What can you do that animals do? Encourage your child to use verbs when answering. (I can run, jump, play, etc.) Brainstorm activities that you can do together to stay healthy (go to the park; go for a walk or jog; play basketball, etc.) Set a goal with your child to spend at least one hour per day doing a physical activity.

NATIONAL STANDARDS

Language Arts: K-12.1, K-12.3, K-12.4, K-12.5, K-12.6, K-12.7, K-12.8, K-12.11, K-12.12 Mathematics: Numbers PK-2.1; Algebra PK-2.1, PK-2.4; Geometry PK-2.2, PK-2.4; Connections PK-12.3 Science: K-4.1, K-4.2, K-4.3 Social Studies/Geography: K-12.1, K-12.2, K-12.3 Health: K-4.1, K-4.3, K-4.4, K-4.6, K-4.7 Music: K-4.8 Physical Education: K-12.1—12.7

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