Welcome back to the 20 days of summer school physical education series! If you are just joining this series, stop right now and check out Summer School Physical Education: Day 1. What Works and What Doesn’t.

The post above details what I will be talking about day to day, and how it can help you improve your social distancing physical education classes in the fall. It also lays out my class size, class time frames and space I am able to use.

If you are currently teaching summer school physical education, please leave comments on what works for you! I love collaborating, so let me know what you’re up to.

Take a look below to see what we did today!

Activity #1: Tennis

We were finally able to get out to the tennis courts! I had students bring their own racket if they wanted, but I have more than enough so no one has to share.

We took out a large basket of tennis balls. This allowed for limited contact with the tennis balls and students.

Because the courts are open to the public, and the tennis team takes over at 9 am we had a small window to claim our courts. Luckily there were four open courts when we got there first thing at 7:45 am. We started the day with about 15 minutes of practice.

What Worked:

Giving them time to play around on the courts with their friends, helped them get in the spirit of playing tennis. I reminded them yesterday that you wont always enjoy every sport or activity we do in PE class, but make sure you’re always trying your best. Because you may not realize it, but there are kids in this class who accel at tennis and this is their time to be the leaders of the class.

The second class actually enjoyed their practice time a little more. I had kids getting really into their practice time, running around cheering and just having fun.

Improvements or Modifications:

Same with yesterday, I could see the same few kids getting bored. BUT I was not going to stop everyone elses fun. I just made sure I cracked a few jokes with them to make them smile.

We were getting ready for the next activity anyways, and that’s where everyone started to really get into the game.

Activity #2: Winners Court Tennis

Since both classes were playing on 4 courts all right next to each other, I numbered them 1-4. Court 1 was the “winners court” and court 4 was the “not winners court”. It is the same concept in our Nitroball winners court game.

The team that wins on Court 1 stays there and the other team moves to Court 2. On Court 2 if you won, you move to Court 1 and the team that lost moves back to Court 3. On Court 3, the winners move to Court 2, and the team that lost moves to Court 4. On Court 4 the team that won moves to court 3, and the team that lost stays where they are. This way you are going to get the more skilled tennis players trying to get to Court 1 or if they are already there they will try their hardest to stay there.

We played 5 rounds of this.

What Worked:

This was great for the competitive kids, but also added a level of excitement for the non competitive kids.

Everyone was trying their hardest, which made it work really well. Everyone at one point moved up or back continuously playing other teams. At the end of all the rounds, the tennis players were all near the winners court or on Court 2, and the kids who kind of liked to take it easy and don’t ever play tennis were on courts 3 and 4.

The best part was that the kids on the courts 3 and 4 didn’t care. They were having fun with their non tennis player friends.

Improvements or Modifications:

Picking their partners, or designating them to specific courts may have made the students who weren’t interested in tennis try a little harder. They wouldn’t have the comfort of their friends to fall back on, increasing productivity.

Activity #3: Monarchy

This is a game I learned while obtaining my masters degree in Physical Education Teaching with an Adventure Education concentration. It starts off with an every man for himself game, but quickly turns into a team effort to get everyone “out”.

How to play:

Get large bouncy balls (we used 3 stability balls). Pick two students to start as IT with only 1 ball in play. If you are holding the stability ball, you cannot move. The objective is to throw the stability ball at the students trying to get away from you, and if they are hit with it, the become IT with the original taggers.

A good strategy that my students start to pick up on is that if certain taggers station themselves near people who are not it yet, their teammates will pass them the ball for a better chance of hitting their targets.

Eventually the majority of the class becomes IT, which makes it harder for the remaining runners. After about 5 people become IT with the original taggers, I throw another ball in. Then another, and if you have a larger class, then another.

What Works:

Playing this outside is almost a must, because you are literally sprinting away from the ball. The only down time you have is when the ball isn’t in your general area. But as soon as it comes for you, you need to be moving. That means if you’re indoors your mask must be on. I played with both classes (morning outside, afternoon inside), and I definitely enjoyed the outdoors version better.

I asked the kids after a few rounds if they want to move on or keep playing, and everyone said keep playing. Even the indoor crew!

It works, because you aren’t touching anyone with your hands and everyone is trying to get away so social distancing is still able to happen.

I went around and put hand sanitizer in every students hand before the game whether they washed their hands already or not, and I wiped down all of the balls before and after each class to limit any germs.

Improvements and Modifications:

You can keep making the boundaries smaller and smaller to make it harder for the runners, or make the boundaries bigger making it harder for the taggers.

Different types of balls can be used, or you can try the game out with pool noodles. Maybe have extra off to the side, so if a student is hit with a noodle, they go grab an extra one. This would actually make it easier for everyone to see who is IT.

Through out all of the games, sometimes I would randomly yell RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU’RE IT, or RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU ARE NOT IT. This allowed everyone to see who they needed to stay away from or go after.

Sometimes I’d wait for the last two people who haven’t been tagged yet (which would be the winners) to start as the taggers for the next round. Or I would randomly stop them and say anyone who is holding a ball is now it and a new round has started GO. Watching the dynamic change so quickly is fun for them.

Activity #4: Pool Noodle Tag

This is a repeat activity, so I won’t go into detail if you have already read about how it is played. But if you have not read about pool noodle tag, or want a refresher, click here on Day 2.

Activity #5: World Cup

This was only played with my morning class since we were outdoors already.

We had one student who wanted to be goalie, and then the rest of them paired up. The last person to make contact with the big bouncy ball (we didn’t use a soccer ball) on a goal would leave the game, and watch from the sidelines. The last team to not make a goal will then be eliminated from the game.

The goal is to not be eliminated, and make it to the last round with one other team. The team that scores first will be the winners of the entire game.

Since this was just an end of class lets have fun type activity, not everyone played. We had just played a lot of intense rounds of Monarchy and Pool Noodle Tag outside in the sun, so I let kids who needed a break take one.

Overall:

Playing all of these random little mini games after tennis was a great way to finish our Thursday. These were the type of games where everyone has a good time. I highly recommend trying these games out!