Let's Get Skipping

Summary

Skipping is a big part of a young student's readiness to move on to other activities, such as reading. This activity will give students opportunities to develop their skipping skills.

Materials

• Balls (five to six)
• Whistle
• Leo the Late Bloomer

Additional Resources

Books

• Leo the Late Bloomer, by Robert Kraus; ISBN 006443348X

Background for Teachers

One common gross motor activity that first grade students struggle with is skipping. As teachers, it is easy for us to look past this, but we have come to find that skipping is a big part of a student's readiness to move on to other activities, such as reading. Beforehand, to see if students can skip, bring them to an open area, play music, and invite the students to move around however they want. Suggest to them that they may skip, run, and hop, among many other things. As they move, observe to see what students are comfortable with, and who can skip.

Intended Learning Outcomes

4. Develop physical skills and personal hygiene.

Instructional Procedures

Invitation to Learn

Gather students together and read the story, Leo the Late Bloomer.

Instructional Procedures

1. Say to your students, "In our story, we learned that Leo started doing some things later than others. Has this ever happened to you before?"

   Have the children share some things that they couldn't do and their friends could.

2. Say to your students, "In the story Leo kept trying and practicing until he was able to do things others could. Today we are going to practice working on something we can get better at: skipping."

   Although some students may already know how to skip and may be good at it, discuss that we can always get better at things.

3. Say to your students, "To practice skipping, we are going to remember three words: step, bump, and hop. Here is how they work."
   • Hold a ball between both hands.
   • Take a step forward with one foot.
   • Take the other knee and bump it on the ball.
   • Hop on the first foot.
   • Repeat, using the other foot.
4. Demonstrate to your students how to do this two to three times and then have two to three students come up and also demonstrate it.
5. Give students a chance to practice this by putting them in 5 different groups. Put them in lines and give the ball to the first student. Have them take turns going across and practice skipping the way you demonstrated. Encourage them to say, "step, bump, and hop" as they move across the floor. Make sure to stop students who are doing it wrong and demonstrate for them the proper way to do it.

Extensions

Curriculum Extensions/Adaptations/ Integration

Shipwreck

• Once students are comfortable with skipping and can do it well, introduce "Shipwreck". This is a game that can be used all year long because it has parts to it that are slowly added on.
• To introduce the game, say to the students, "We are going to play a new game called, 'Shipwreck.' In this game, we will be able to practice our skipping. To start the game, you will do what is called 'at ease.' This means that every time you hear the whistle blow, you will skip in a circle and smile at me." First, show the students what it should look like and the direction you want your circle to move. You may want to designate a student to lead the circle, so that everyone will be going the same direction. Have students practice doing this.
• Once you feel they understand and are doing it correctly, say to them, "Now we are ready to learn two other commands in shipwreck. One is called, 'attention.' When you hear me say this, you will line up in a line right in front of me, with your hands at your side, not saying a word. I will be looking for those that can walk quickly to the line and do it silently." As you demonstrate it for them, make sure to emphasize walking to their spot, which will help prevent some accidents that could occur. Have the students practice doing so. Add it on and practice going back and forth from "at ease" to "attention."
• Say to the students, "Now we are ready for our second command, 'the galley.' When you hear me say galley, you will make a line in front of me again, but this time you will be lying on the ground. The tricky part is that you have to be different than the person in front of you. If I am laying down this way, then the person behind me has to lay with their head by my feet instead of by my head. But here is the tricky part: you can't lie down until the person in front of you has. While you are waiting for your turn, just stand quietly in line and be ready to move quickly. Don't forget to walk over to the line and not run!"

  Demonstrate using other students, and then practice it until they understand. It is really important that they wait their turn to get down, otherwise the line gets messed up and confusing. Once they have practiced and you feel they really understand, add it on to the game.

• Continue to play using these three commands for this day. The next time you play the game, review the previous commands, and then add on more. Remember that this game will not be mastered quickly and will take the students quite a while to get all the commands. This is wonderful because it gives them any opportunities to practice their skipping as you play the game throughout the year.
• All the "Shipwreck" commands are listed below
  1. Attention: stand at the side of the gym at attention facing the teacher
  2. The Galley: lay in the middle of the gym, alternating every other kids head/feet
  3. Chow Time: one line facing the teacher, holding an imaginary tray
  4. Crew Party: one big circle, holding hands
  5. Jaws: three people, one stands, and the other two are on the ground, each holding a leg
  6. Torpedo: lay flat on ground, arms extended, legs together, face down
  7. At Ease: skipping in a circle, smiling
  8. Rise and Shine: two partners, each does five sit-ups and then runs to attention
  9. Man the Lifeboat: four people standing in a circle holding hands
  10. Drill: do 3 push-ups and run to the attention line

  Feel free to make up and add in any additional commands.

Family Connections

• Have students create a rhyme they could skip to, at home, and practice skipping to it.
• Discuss with students different places at home that would be appropriate to skip and then ask them to practice skipping there.

Assessment Plan

• Using a rubric, have students self-assess according to how well they felt they skipped each time they finished practicing.
• Pick a nursery rhyme and have students skip to it across the floor.

Bibliography

Research Basis

Greenspan, S. I. (2005). Helping a child with motor difficulties. Scholastic parent & child, Volume 12 (Issue 4), Page 50-51.

This article discusses the need for students to develop their motor skills and points out that those who have difficulty with gross motor skills can also have problems with their fine motor skills. It also shares ways we can help to improve children's motor skills.