Observation #2: STMC & GLSP
For our second observation assignment we were to observe thirty minutes of significant and instructional physical education and/or sport activity for youth. I again visited my daughters’ elementary school Pomerado Elementary to observe one of their physical education classes. I had the opportunity of watching two classes, one fourth and one fifth grade, play kickball for their thirty minute physical education activity for the day. The fourth grade class consisted of 34 students while the fifth grade class had thirty one in attendance. Each class had their homeroom teachers present along with a physical education only teacher leading the activity. Each class was split into two teams which utilized a large grass field …show more content…
The object, similar to baseball, is to kick a ball into an outfield where the opposing team attempts to catch the ball and throw it to teammates located on bases to get the kicker out. The manipulative skill consisted of kicking, catching and throwing. The majority of the children appeared to be pretty adept with throwing the soccer ball. Through use of various movement concepts they were able to alter the results of their throwing, catching, and kicking in order to fine tune their manipulation of the ball within the space around them. There were a lot of nonmanipulative skills used during the game. The ones utilized were twisting, jumping and landing, stretching, balancing and transferring weight. When kicking, children would be twisting their bodies to get more power from their kicks, transferring weight as they run and kick, and balancing on one leg while swinging the other. A lot of these are complicated movements, which is another reason why only a few were at the utilization level and none were at the proficiency level. Throwing consists of twisting, stretching and transferring weight. Again, the children seemed very comfortable with this skill since they use it more than some of the others. The locomotor skills were walking, running, chasing, fleeing, and dodging. In the outfield the children used the walking, running, and chasing skills the most while the infield used them all, except chasing. I did see some bored kids chasing each other on the infield while waiting for their turn to kick, but it wasn’t part of the actual game of kickball. All of the children seemed comfortable with these skills as well, though some kids could run faster and dodge better than others. These kids seemed to excel more at the game than some of the other children, even if they couldn’t kick that well. The higher proficiency level of locomotor skills seemed to compensate