Korfball

The physical Education gym is a perfect place to infusing multicultural education into the curriculum. One way of doing this is by introducing games from around the world.
I would like to introduce Korfball.
Korfball is a team sport in which two co-ed teams of 4 males and 4 females attempt to score on poles with baskets on top ('korf' is Dutch for basket). Korfball's roots are in the Netherlands and it is a very popular sport there, but is played in over 50 different countries.
Players are only allowed to play on their half court and have a specific assignment (offense or defense). Players are not allowed to walk, run or dribble with the ball. Cooperation, team working and good passing are the key. Also, a player can not attempt to shoot the ball (size 5 ball) is another player is 'defending' the ball. This means that the defender is between ball and pole, facing the offense, and with their hand up.
Pole can be home-made by cutting the bottom out of a laundry basket and attaching it to a standard (volleyball standard) as you can see on the picture below.

This game can be used to teach basketball concepts in a different way and modification to the game can be made to accommodate for various age and skill levels with the focus on different aspects: passing, shooting, team work, moving without a ball, etc...

During a recent workshop we taught PE teachers about korfball and other games from around the world. More interesting info can be found on http://gamesfromaroundtheworld.blogspot.com

Treasure Island

Teacher divides the class into equal groups of 5-6 students. For each group a hula hoop treasure island is set up. Explain that the balls are treasures for today. Between the islands at a central focus point place the treasure (all the soccer balls, at least one per student). The teams will begin in their “home island.” Each group will raid the treasure all at once. Each student must return to his/her island with one ball using only his/her feet. When all the treasure is gone and the students are back on their island have them sit and listen for further instructions. On the go signal, students raid each other’s islands. They can only use their feet and can only possess one ball at a time. Students can not make contact with one another and can not guard their own treasure. The raiding is stopped after an appropriate period of time (about 5-7 minutes, longer for older students) and the treasure is counted on each island. Winners may celebrate quietly for 5 seconds. Repeat game.

Math Tag

(Adapted from a game created by Paul Scott)
(Chasing, fleeing, dodging grades K-2, or adapted for higher grade levels)
Give flash cards to several students who are designated as taggers. Taggers will tag other students and will ask the math problem on the flash card. If the tagged student knows the correct answer then they will become the new tagger. By becoming a new tagger, you must take your flash card to a box full of other flash cards and trade it for a different problem.
If the tagged student does not know the correct answer the tagger will tell the correct answer and show the correct answer on the opposite side of teh fkash card. The student is frozen until another student (non-tagger) unfreezes him/her. The tagger will continue with the same flash card.
Variations
-When a student is tagged if he/she misses the problem then he/she would also do some type of fitness activity (jumping jacks, sit-ups, push-ups, etc.). The number of reps for the fitness activity would be determined by the answer to the missed problem.

Tonight

I am going to be adding some of my favorite games to this site tonight! So...take a look!

Let's Share Ideas!

I am a P.E. teacher working on a Master's Degree in Early Childhood Education. I am currently taking a course that involves integrating technology. For a project in this course I want to talk about games and activities for children in elementary physical education classes through this blog.