Meet an Athlete Virtually

A couple of weeks ago, a class of G5 learners was very lucky to interview Pablo Sotoca, a Track and Field Athlete, specialized in the high jump.

As we were doing an Individual Pursuits Unit, Athletics, I thought it would be a good idea to learn more from an athlete.

Pablo Sotoca, @pablosotoca, is a Spanish athlete based in Madrid. He has taken part in a number of competitions in Spain and moved to the Canary Islands for a few years to join a team and compete there. Now he is back with his team in Madrid.

During our unit, students had the opportunity to work with a partner, give a go to different track and field events and eventually choose one they wanted to get better at, master it and teach their partner.

I teach PYP PE, inquiry-based learning and at the beginning of the unit, students wrote down their wonders about the unit on a sticky note.

After that, students started to practice different events and shared their wonders and their thoughts on SeeSaw, an online platform that builds a portfolio and where learning can be shared immediately with parents.

During the unit, students had opportunities to investigate and find out more, create new knowledge and discuss with each other. They had access to a series of athletics videos that they could watch to improve their understanding and knowledge about the different events.

As these young athletes practiced high jump some questions and wonders raised so we put them together to build an interview for Pablo.

Below you can see the questions we jotted down for Pablo:

• What did you do to become an athlete?
• Why did you want to be an athlete?
• What inspired you to do the high jump?
• Did you have a hard time when training?
• What is your record?
• How long have you been doing this?
• How are you able to jump so high?
• How old were you when you started?
• How much time did you need to train to become professional?
• Which athlete do you look up to?

The interview was in Spanish as Pablo preferred to share his knowledge in his mother tongue so I was translating back and forth for students to understand but it worked well. I have to say that we were very thankful for Pablo to meet us at our PE time, 7:30am in Cambodia, 1:30am in Spain on a Tuesday morning.

He told us that he got his inspiration from his PE teacher, who was also a high jump athlete. 

One of the things I really liked from the interview is that he told students that Track and Field is a sport where everyone can find something they like. If you are fast, you might like to compete on sprints, if you are strong, you might choose shot put, if you are agile and have power, you might opt for high jump and so on, there is always space for anyone to join and give it a try, and I think that’s beautiful.

Pablo brought some trophies, and some other items such as his favorite shoes that were signed by popular athletes, his first bib, and a small sculpture showing the Fosbury.

He also told learners that while competing, high jump athletes are a real example of sportsmanship, they always respect and support each other. Here you can watch him jumping 1.90m. 

Click on the link to watch a video of Dick Fosbury surprising the world and revolutionizing the jump with his "Fosbury Flop" at the Olympic Games Mexico City 1968.

After the interview, our students got excited and kept practicing to improve their high jump skills.

Thanks, Pablo for taking the time to talk to our students, share a bit of what you do from the other side of the world and inspire them!

G3 Invasion Games UOI

Next week we will be wrapping up our invasion games in grade 3. There has been so much learning happening during this whole unit.

The central idea for this unit was:
In a game, we must learn how to move into space with or without a ball.

As we played different small-sided games, students asked questions, wondered about the best ways to create space and let their teammates know when they were ready to receive the ball.

We played a variety of invasion games such as "benchball", basketball, or "prairie dog pick off." During those games, students were able to use similar strategies to attack or defend the opposite team. They became more aware of what to do when they had a plan rather than just running towards the ball.

In order to provoke students' thinking, I had different materials for them to use and play with. They could choose between using a foam ball, a rubber bouncy ball, a basketball, a frisbee, and a foam rugby ball. We also had bowling pins and hoops.

The scoring area had also some options for them. This kind of set up led to wonders and fostered curiosity and inquiry.

We had hula hoops hanging from the basketball hoops and small goals underneath. Before playing, learners would decide on how to score. For instance, they played a modified ultimate frisbee where they could score by throwing the frisbee into the goal, 1point, or up into the hula hoop, 5 points.

We talked about the importance of being good winners and good losers and to celebrate others successes as well.

We also co-created an Invasion Games Success Criteria:

• I can explain what invasion games are and give some examples
• I can demonstrate the skills to play the game
• I can create space in attack
• I can create space in the defense
• I can send a ball to my teammate
• I can receive a ball
• I can help my team to create a plan to play the game
• I can follow my team’s plan
• I can positively and respectfully interact with others
• I can describe what’s going well and not so well

  

Below you can see some pictures of students in action.

G5 Invasion Games Inquiry

G5 students are in the middle of their "Invasion Games Unit." Using the "Teaching Games for Understanding" approach, we started exploring basketball throughout small sided games.

The learner profile items we chose for this unit are:

• Inquirers: "We nurture our curiosity, developing skills for inquiry and research. We know how to learn independently and with others. We learn with enthusiasm and sustain our love of learning throughout life."

• Communicators: "We express ourselves confidently and creatively in more than one language and in many ways. We collaborate effectively, listening carefully to the perspectives of other individuals and groups."

This year, we are focusing on inquiry and one of our goals in physical education is to nurture the student's curiosity by providing more opportunities for student-directed inquiry in PE.

Yesterday, after the warm-up, I wrote down a few provocations for learners and asked them to add their thoughts.

This is what I wrote:

"A Closer Look at Invasion Games"

Good Decision Making Is:      Good Running Is:       Good Defending Is:       Good Attacking Is:

I had several markers and learners stood up and started adding their thoughts. We also looked at the modified small-sided games and talked about the importance of respecting the rules.

The PYP Attitudes for this unit are "Respect, Commitment, and Cooperation."

We made a big deal about them before starting the small sided games.

Learners got together in groups of 7 and divided into 2 teams and one person filming the games.

They changed roles during the games so everyone would get a turn to play and a few to film the games.

Before they started playing, G5 students took a look at what was written on the board, their ideas and other thoughts I had added and created a strategy with their teams. As they played, questions raised and students wondered.

I walked around, observed the games, stopped them and asked them questions about their strategies

We ended up our unit using a great tool called "Plickers" that gets me instant feedback about every single student.

G1 Healthy Lifestyle

Last Friday we wrapped up our "Healthy Lifestyle" UOI

During this unit, G1 learners became aware of the importance of physical activity in their daily life.

Throughout a variety of physical activities such as running, playing tag games, wall climbing and practicing yoga, G1 students started to recognize basic changes that occurred in their bodies.

Hopefully, you have been able to watch and listen to your child in Seesaw as they shared what they learned during this unit.

The unit is now over and we would like to ask you to keep inspiring your child to be active and practice different physical activities as well as maintain a balanced and healthy lifestyle.

Thank you!

Grade 2 Invasion Games

Grade 2 students have just started an invasion games unit in PE. We are introducing invasion games by playing some beanbag slide, however, the lessons will focus on more than just playing the game. We will be looking at the concepts of  teamwork, fair play (being a good winner and a good loser) and dealing with conflict that can arise in these types of games. Over the next few weeks, we will be applying these concepts to a variety of different invasion games, as well at practicing the motor skills needed to be successful in these games.

Teamwork and Leadership in PE

Grade 4 students have been focusing on leadership in the first PE unit of the year. Students have been undertaking a variety of challenges in groups, with them taking it in turns to be the leader. So far in this inquiry we have found out that the leader does not need to know all the answers to the problems and that they should get their team to share ideas. We have also discovered it is much easier to be a good leader if everyone in your team is being a good team member.

As part of this unit, all the students also got to go on an overnight trip. The trip focused on teamwork and leadership, but also looked at developing the students independence, which was for many their first experience away from home without parents.

More photos from the trip can be found by clicking this link.