by Mrs McMillan’s Year 3/4 Class
For many students across the school when asked about their favourite subject area they will state PE-Physical Education. Firstly, I would like to remind you that PE is not a standalone curriculum area. It forms part of the Learning area within the Australian Curriculum for assessment and reporting of Health and Physical Education. For many classes across the school this is broken up into the Physical Education being covered by Mr Woolford and Health being covered by the classroom teacher.
Whilst students do take their Health and PE lessons separately the overall understanding is that the Year 3 and 4 Health and PE curriculum builds on past experiences and further develops students’ knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to their health, wellbeing, safety and participation in physical activity. It gives students opportunities to develop their abilities through movement, personal and social skills such as leadership, communication, collaboration, problem-solving, persistence and decision-making.
Our class has focused on developing all these skills and attributes through the use of a team coaching and a participation approach. This requires that students work together on a shared goal to build everyone’s capacity to participate and contribute to a game. Last term our game of choice was Soccer and this term we are venturing into the world of Netball.
We play modified games where all students have an opportunity to participate to the best of their ability. Our Soccer was based on a game called Sideline Soccer which allows for more students to participate in each game either as a player or as a goalkeeper. We are using a Suncorp NetSetGo resource for developing our netball skills. It incorporates developing ball skills such as passing and shooting as well as playing practice matches.
Some key components of our game focus are:
Developing Student Responsibility
During our sessions I have turned over responsibility to allow students to be accountable and to enhance their learning through establishing good working environments by working together and collaborating on the roles and responsibilities included. Students are given the responsibility to take on a variety of roles and run training sessions, practice matches and games. These include the following:
- Coach
- Umpire
- Scorer
- Equipment manager
Encouraging Team Skills and Participation
A big focus has been on providing opportunities for all students to learn vital skills needed to work in a team environment. These include to following:
- Leadership skills
- Appreciation of different abilities
- Respect for teammates/ opponents/officials
- A sense of belonging/team membership
- Social interaction skills
- Self-esteem, self -concept and self-belonging
- Team goal-setting skills
- Self-discipline, patience and persistence
- Resilience through sharing positive and negative experiences
Appreciating Contributions
An important part of our program is to appreciate the contributions of others in our team. As a class we celebrate successes at the end of each session by the coaches giving positive feedback related to the following:
- Skill development
- Game participation
- Acceptance of other team members
- Overall team collaboration
Looking Forward
We are also looking forward to participating in the ANZ Tennis Hot Shots School Carnival in Week 5. This program is specifically designed for students in Grade 3 & 4, is not just about selecting the best students, but encouraging participation, providing a positive experience playing tennis, growing friendships and giving students the opportunity to represent their school in a team environment. Students have had an introduction to tennis during their PE times.
Reflections
Students all agree that as a class we are now working together in positive ways as a team. I have noted a huge improvement in the classes ability to work with people beyond their friendship group and accepting of others. Our fitness levels have improved as has our ability to solve conflicts in a positive manner.Mrs McMillan
‘It’s a great opportunity to be a coach and get to help the team to work together with people they don’t normally. It can be quite challenging though.’ —Jasmine
‘I felt really good when I shot my first goal and my coach told me that I was going to be a good shooter. I felt proud of myself’ —Lila
‘I enjoyed playing soccer and going outside for our learning. Our coach was really good and we all improved a lot’ —Locky
‘I enjoyed playing coaching my soccer team because I learnt to get along with people when we started playing’ —Mason
‘It was really fun working a team. I made more friends working together and got healthier and more fit’ —Molly
‘I liked being a coach and helping people in my team that I don’t normally get along with. I think it made us have better relationships’ —Tylah
