By exploring and observing movement, I can describe what I have learned about it. HWB 0-24a
We are learning to
✴ identify ways of traveling, jumping, rolling and balancing
✴ create and perform a sequence
✴ talk about others’ work without hurting their feelings
✴ talk about how a task could be improved
 watch demonstrations carefully and try to copy
✴ I can perform basic skills
✴ I can create and perform a sequence
✴ I can talk about others’ work without hurting their feelings
✴ I can talk about how a task could be improved
 I can watch demonstrations carefully and try to copy
✴ Warm- up : Tail Tag / Dishes and Domes
✴ Children help to put out mats
✴ Play island tag
✴ Introduce Rolling
✴ Children practice different types of rolls
 Children work in pairs to try to improve rolling
✴ Photos
✴
Teacher observation and evaluation
✴ Warm- up : Alphabet Soup
✴ Children put out mats in trios
✴ Children revise rolls from cards (egg, log. fwd and bwd rolls
✴ Introduce Roll Rhyme
✴ Children watch their partners and tell them what they saw that made the roll a good one
✴ Share children’s thoughts

✴ Mats out
✴ Introduce ‘I am ready’ starting position
✴ Introduce balancing
✴ Children work in pairs to show start, balance and roll
✴ Children peer assess and pick their favourite movement.

They suggest how their partner could improve. They observe again to see if there was an improvement.
Show and share
✴ Warm- up : Tunnel Tig
✴ Mats and benches out
✴ Introduce jumping
✴ Children work in pairs to produce 3 part sequence roll, balance and jump
✴ Children to show ‘I am ready’ and ‘Yes I am finished’
 Children record what they like, what they think could be better and if they then see any improvement.
✴ Children observing good example
✴ Fist to 5
✴
Photos
✴ Children draw their partners best move on post-it note
✴ Photos
✴ Easy-speak mics
✴ Check list
✴ Short video clips
✴ Worksheet
✴ Photographs

The children really enjoyed taking part in our block of gymnastic lessons and the focus on peer assessment gave them a new and interesting way of exploring their learning in the gym.
The children were involved in their usual warm-up sessions and activities but had many opportunities for looking at others’ performances and talking to one another about what was good and why it was good.
The children used a variety of assessment methods and benefited greatly from the experience. They were able to very quickly adopt a new role of looking at one another’s work and making a helpful remark about it. The children did find it tricky at first to be clear about the language they needed to use to make the assessment worthwhile.
At first the children would comment about their partner’s roll being ‘good’. We had to discuss what was meant by ‘good’ and what actually made the roll good. This was a fairly slow process with children that are so young.
We looked at many demonstrations of ‘how’ to achieve the different movements using a
‘model performer’. We just chose 3 different children who were prepared to demonstrate a roll, a balance and a jump. The children were then asked to use describing words to tell me about what they could see.
The children commented about ‘straight rolls’, ‘curled up bodies’, ‘hands going down in front of feet’, ‘legs out wide’ and a very important one - ‘heads tucked right under’. They commented on bent knees while jumping, landing carefully without falling over and balances that could be held for 5 seconds.
We then tried to apply the same rules to our own rolls, jumps and balances giving the children lots of encouragement and opportunity for practice. The children observed their partners and watched each other closely to see if they could pick out one movement that they liked.
Learner 1 She is able to keep her legs really straight when she rolls.
She starts off standing up straight. (I am ready)
Learner 2 He tucks his head right under for his roll.
His roll is very good.
Learner 3 He puts his hands down on mat.
He rolls straight.
The children do need constant encouragement in order to assess fully and will tell you over and over that what they have just observed is ‘good’. They had to be asked why - what made it good. The children used fist to 5 to ‘mark’ each others’ work. Most found this fairly easy although they do give each other very positive scores!

We then went on to discuss the next step. The children were then asked to observe a movement and say what they thought could be done to make it better. The children had to come up with a suggestion for improvement. This was very difficult for them and very challenging. However by referring to our ‘good examples’ of different movements we were able to encourage the children to focus on small changes that would maybe help someone to do a better job. The children used white boards to draw or write what they saw and what they wanted their partner to try to get better at. This was a really difficult task and most children found it hard to think of an area they wanted to improve on.
Learner 1 This child was able to comment on how his partner’s balance was a bit wobbly and he encouraged him to try again.
Learner 2 This child needed some encouragement and help to point out what his partner needed help with. He did manage in the end to suggest the landing of the jump should be better.
Learner 3 Again this child found it difficult to make suggestions and we opened it up to the whole class so that learner 3 could pick someone to give her a hand.
She was then able to give an idea of her own after being prompted by another child.
The children enjoyed exploring this different aspect of PE and were able to engage with one another in an area where this type of learning is not often the case. It was quite tricky organising all the resources required and taking everything to the gym but the children did get used to their new routine.

Our next step was to try to record what was happening. The children are obviously very young and their experience and ability varies enormously within the class. The children were paired up in mixed ability groups so that they would benefit from each other’s help when it came to the recording part.
We tried recording on post it notes. This was fairly successful and the children enjoyed being able to give their partner a note about how their performance had been. The children also used white boards. This was probably more successful because there was more room for the children’s illustrations or writing.
Learner 1 This child found this task quite easy and was able to quite confidently assess his partner’s work. He pointed out that his partner’s legs were apart, he held his balance for 5 seconds and his jump was fantastic. - When later questioned he was able to explain that the jump had finished with bent knees and no wobbles!
Learner 2 A little more tricky for this child. More questioning by teacher had to be done here. Child was able to tell me that roll was nice and straight. Their partner helped them with the writing.
Learner 3 Again more difficult here with a lot of talk needed. They were however able to tell me that they liked the roll because it was straight and the head had been tucked under. Again the partner helped with recording.
All the children found this task a little more challenging but they enjoyed being the judge and giving feedback to their friends. They were able to engage purposefully with one another and loved being photographed and recorded with video camera.

Our final task involved the children recording on a worksheet. We now wanted to look at what the children were ‘doing’ with their feedback. Was it making a difference to their sequence?
We wanted the children to draw and write about what they thought was good, then something that had to be improved and finally to say if their partner had improved or not. This was really hard to put into practice however and the children had difficulty following the instructions and getting it all down on paper especially with the limited time available in the gym. We did do some of the assessment back in class for this purpose. This is something that would be better done in small groups but this is not really an option in the PE lesson situation where a teacher is usually in the gym on her own with all the class.
Learner 1 Despite being very capable and orally very articulate this activity proved difficult for this child too. He found it hard to be specific about the move that had to be focused on and the children also found it tricky to take it a step further and comment on what had been improved. Input from the teacher was required to carefully question the child. This enabled the child with help to write a peer assessment and next steps for a partner.
Learner 2 As above with more direct questioning and help from others in class and teacher.
Learner 3 This child manage to describe orally what he felt had to be improved. He was able to describe what he saw with encouragement and with one to one help he managed to record on paper what he saw.
The children find it easier to say what they like about their partner’s work rather than pick out an area for improvement. This also comes across in self assessment as very often young children think that no matter how well they achieve something in their eyes it is wonderful.