Athletics Lesson 7

Objectives: to enable the child to

Warm-up  
  Children spread around the play area.

Play the ‘Changing beans’ game. The teacher calls

  • ‘runner bean’ - the children run around the play area
  • ‘baking bean’ - the children bounce on the spot
  • ‘chilli bean’ - the children shiver on the spot
  • ‘string bean’ - the children form groups of three and link hands
  • ‘frozen bean’ – the children freeze on the spot.
  Children all face the teacher and the teacher calls
  • walk forwards
  • step backwards
  • take side steps (the teacher indicates the direction)
  • side step back to the point where you started.
  Can you hop twice, bounce twice and do two astride jumps (feet split: one back, one forward and jump to alternate) without stopping? Practise slowly, then more able children try to perform the sequence very quickly.
  Stand up, arms in the air, crouch low and sweep the floor/ground with your fingers and rise up again to standing. Repeat

Stand and stretch your arms high as if climbing a rope ladder.
Stand in a space and do some swinging actions

  • stretch arms high and swing low
  • swing your arms from side to side
  Children perform stretching exercises for the neck, arms, back and legs. See stretching exercises from Action for Life Programme Teacher’s Notes.

Teacher Questions

Q. How do you feel now?
Q. Did you enjoy those activities?
Q. Will you teach somebody at home how to step sideways or how to do an astride jump?
Development
Children line up in groups of eight, each child standing behind a marker. A second marker is placed 5metres away and a third marker 10 metres away. Lines of children who are waiting to run should stand behind a line or rope on the ground at a distance of about 10 metres to ensure that they do not impede the previous line who are finishing at the starting point in this activity.
x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x
y y y y y y y y

y y y y y y y y

y y y y y y y y

(x denotes child, y denotes marker)
 
Activity Teaching points
1.  Running: shuttle sprinting

Each line of children in turn runs to the first marker and back to the starting marker, continues on to the second marker and runs back to the starting marker to finish.

 Ask a child in each row to demonstrate to the class what is to be done when the teacher calls ‘go’. Tell another child how to run this practice.

Use the standing start command i.e. ‘on your marks, set, go’

Make sure that the waiting children remain at a distance behind a rope or line to avoid impeding children who are running past the finish.

Distribute a beanbag to every child in the second and fourth lines. Children in line 1 walk to the first marker. Children in line 2 stand at the starting marker with the beanbag in their hands.
 
Activity Teaching points/questioning
2. Running: pair relay

Each child in line 2 walks on the signal and passes the beanbag to the child in line 1 who is standing at the first marker. The child in line 1 walks to the finishing marker.

 This activity is an introduction to relay racing where a child in line 2 has a partner in front of them in line 1: they ‘race’ the relay as a team.

Remind the child in line 2 that once they have passed over the beanbag to their partner in line 1 that they stop (some children may be tempted to accompany their partner to the end!).

In a relay race what do the runners carry in their hands? (batons)

What are we using instead of batons? (beanbags)

On finishing both line 1 and line 2 walk down the side and allow line 3 and 4 to come forward. Line 3 move up to the first marker, line 4 with the beanbags start the race.

Walking encourages children to think about what they are doing, children tend to ‘panic’ if they begin this activity as a running activity.

Repeat the practice a few times alternating so that the child who finishes with the beanbag in his/her hand lines up to start the next time, his/her partner walks forward to the first marker to receive the beanbag.

Distribute a beanbag to the remaining children.
 
Activity Teaching points/questioning
3. Throwing

Each line of children in turn practise throwing the beanbag underarm at the target (first) marker. 

Repeat where the child is asked to throw farther than the target towards the marker 10 metres away.

 N.B. No beanbag is retrieved until all children have thrown and the teacher gives the signal. 

Can you hit the target marker?

Take away all beanbags. Retain the starting and finishing marker, remove the first marker.
 
Activity Teaching points/questioning
4. Running: sprinting

Each line of children stand back from the starting marker and walk to it on hearing ‘on your marks’, crouch low by bending the knees on hearing ‘set’, and run/sprint on ‘go’. They sprint to the last marker.

 This activity is a straight sprint. 

How do we use our arms when sprinting?(drive arms forward, elbows bent)

Where do we look when we are sprinting? (straight ahead)

Concluding activity/cool-down
Walk around the play area tracing a shape as you walk e.g. an orange, a star.
Perform three stretching exercises completed in warm-up and walk to assembly point.

Resources: indoor or outdoor play area, whistle, markers/cones, beanbags.