Title – Body Shapes

By – Jared Prince

Primary Subject – Health / Physical Education

Secondary Subject – LA

Grade Level – K-1

This lesson helps to satisfy NASPE standards 1,2,5,7

The general goal is to allow students to explore how their bodies can move, and show creativity through making some of their own body shapes.

The specific objective for this lesson is to get all of the children to be able to create new shapes with their bodies and describe them through general (wide, narrow…) and specific terms (my arm is twisted to my back, arms and legs are stretched out like a sumo wrestler).

Equipment needed: pictures and other visual aids to show students the difference between general shapes, pictures of letters to show students when beginning to spell words with their bodies.

Anticipatory Set: Bring students into HB (homebase = seated closely in front of wherever the teacher is standing) for instant activity. Have students pretend they are being chased by a lion so they have to run around the gym and avoid imaginary trees, vines, and each other. If the students bump into each other, they have to stop shake each other’s hands and apologize.

Step by step of lesson:

Bring Ss (students) into HB (homebase) and ask Ss what shapes they know – get several examples. Have 2-3 Ss demonstrate a wide shape. Try to get 3 different shapes. Give Ss a second to think about what shape they want to make that is wide. Send Ss into personal space and demo a wide shape T (teacher) provides feedback on the wide shapes. Ask Ss for another wide shape.

Melt (students sit down where they are) Ss. Now have Ss move around trying to stay in a wide shape with their arms and legs out as far as possible.

Melt Ss. Ask what opposite of wide is (narrow). Now use 3 Ss to demo a narrow shape. Give class a second to think of a narrow shape. Staying where they are in personal space, have Ss make bodies into a narrow shape. T provides FB (feedback) to Ss on narrow shape.

Freeze Ss. Now they should try to move around in a narrow shape. T provides FB. Freeze 2-3 Ss, demo round shapes, rest of class tries round shapes in personal space, then moving.

Freeze. 2-3 Ss demo twisted shape, rest of class tries twisted shape, T provides FB. Ss move around in general space practicing twisted shapes.

Melt. Ss now try to jump up in the air and make a wide shape before they land. T provides FB to Ss on how their shapes are. Repeat with narrow twisted and any other shape they can make.

Melt Ss. Have Ss make different letters while on the floor. T walks around trying to guess what letters Ss are trying to make. Use positive pinpointing to show class good examples of letter making shapes. Ask class what shapes are involved in the letters that are made.

Do activity again with numbers, and then with diagrams that are drawn before class. Ask class what kind of shape each is before they do it (narrow, wide, round, twisted, crooked…)

Melt Ss. Now try to spell some words out on the floor using the shapes and letters we’ve practiced. Let’s start with the letter I, CAT, TOY, CAR, XRAY…

Melt Ss. Have Ss move around gym starting in a narrow shape and change to a wide shape, and to other shapes in a specified time.

Bring Ss into HB, go over what different shapes we can make, and what are examples of the shapes. What shapes are harder to make, which ones are easier…

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Jared Prince

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