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The health and PE program that my partner and I have constructed coincides with a number
of contemporary theories of teaching and learning. The physical education aspect of this 10
week program allows the children to have basic progressions which put enjoyment at the
centre of each lesson, allowing children ample time to ‘explore, practice and refine’ each
skill and become competent.
We have included age appropriate activities and learning progressions that are supported by
Landy & Burridge’s (1999) book ‘Fundamental Motor Skills and Movement activities for
young children’, which gives clear examples of age appropriate activities for a number of
different fundamental motor skills. We have taken into account the myriad of different skills
and concepts that need to be comprehended prior to learning a new skill, such as
positioning and speed. “When learning the striking action, it is important that you provide
activities that teach body position, force, control, and timing concepts.” (Landy & Burridge
1999, p. 198) Each activity has a purpose and a role in achieving proficiency in the
fundamental motor skill that is striking.
The beginning of this 10 week plan ensures that the children learn the basic fundamental
motor skill of striking, in its most simplistic form (balloons). For the age group chosen, Year 1
students, this refers back to skills that they would have hopefully learnt prior but allows the
time and opportunity to refine these skills prior to more advanced learning. This caters for
students who have not had the opportunity to explore and become proficient in these
motor skills, allowing them time to ‘catch up’ so to speak.
‘Movement and physical activity contribute to a child’s quality of life, enhance intellectual
development and academic achievement and are associated with a healthy body weight’
(Robinson, Webster, Logan, Lucas, & Barber 2011, p. 79). Physical activity is a vital key in a
healthy, high quality lifestyle, this coupled with good nutrition and an understanding of food
constructs the building blocks for a happy and healthy life. Not only does movement assist
in the ability to have a healthy lifestyle, it is also ‘…the catalyst that supports their
interaction with others and their surroundings.’ (Robinson, et al. 2011, p. 79). The ability to
move proficiently allows children to build relationships with others and their environment,
hence allowing them to build social connections and interests. These are all vital to a
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healthy, happy child. This is a central theme in our ten week program, where we explore
relationships with the body, with food and with others in our team games.
Throughout this lesson plan we have allocated a number of different opportunities for
assessment, both during the informal and formal stage of learning. ‘Assessment of
fundamental motor skills in the elementary school program is especially important. Children
must master these skills before being sent on to more advanced movement in a middle
school program’ (Olrich 2002, p. 27). Constant assessment throughout a program allows for
the educator to adequately gauge a student’s proficiency in a particular skill or game. With
the use of circuits and extended game opportunities the educator using this term plan will
successfully be able to observe and explore each child’s learning stage and proficiency.
The health aspect of this ten week program looks at the body and understanding the
messages the body sends us and what our response should be. After searching for a form of
literacy that would assist in the teaching of this, we have created our own story which can
be altered and extended to coincide with the children’s understanding and level of
comprehension. ‘Interdisciplinary learning experiences enhance and enrich what students
learn’ (Cone, Werner & Cone. 2009, p. 5). By using literacy and interdisciplinary techniques
to teach an understanding of the body and food allows the children to use their prior
knowledge from other topics to assist in this exploration.
By using recognisable colours as a basis for learning about fruits and vegetables this gives
the children a foundation to connect their new learning to. We have adapted the ‘I can eat a
rainbow’ program and simplified it to use the rainbow as a directional tool for learning
about different fruits and vegetables. This coupled with the recognisable food triangle will
build a solid basis of understanding of healthy and appropriate eating habits for the children
to use in later learning. The food triangle appears throughout both primary and upper level
learning and hence will be a fundamental tool in exploring healthy eating.
In addition to the food triangle and ‘I can eat a rainbow’, the program 2&5 (Go for 2 and 5,
2012) has also been used as it is current and highly relevant. This program has a number of
age appropriate activities available for children and teaching tools for educators. This is a
fun, creative and artistic program that supports children’s learning of healthy eating whilst
taking an interdisciplinary view at learning. The theoretical reasoning behind this program
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comes from the Australian Guide to healthy Eating. The guide states that; ‘Food is not just a
source of nutrients. It is important for good social and emotional health as well as physical
health. Food and eating are part of the way people live their lives’(Australian Government
Department of Health and Ageing. 1998, p. 1). Food is of vital importance to children as it is
the fuel for their learning and wellbeing, without adequate and healthy food children will
not achieve to their highest potential. This is the reasoning behind including food in our
health exploration for the 10 week program.
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Reference List
Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. (1998). The Australian Guide to Healthy
Eating. Retrieved from
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/E384CFA588B74377CA256F19000
4059B/$File/fd-cons.pdf
Cone, T. P., Werner, P., & Cone, S. L. (2009). Interdisciplinary Elementary Physical Education (2nd
ed.). IL, USA: Author.
Go For 2 and 5. (n.d.). Kids Only, Retrieved October 26, 2012, from
http://gofor2and5.com.au/KidsOnly.aspx.
Landy, J. & Burridge, K. (1999). Fundamental Motor skills and movement activities for young children.
The centre for Applied research in Education: USA.
Olrich, T. W. (2002). Assessing fundamental motor skills in the elementary school setting: Issues and
Solutions. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 73(7), 26-28,36.
Robinson, L. E., Webster, E. K., Logan, S. W., Lucas, W. A., & Barber, L. T. (2011). Teaching Practices
that Promote Motor Skills in Early Childhood Settings. Early Childhood Education Journal, 40, 79-86.
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