Chapter 14: Early Childhood Physical Education Plato’s Physical Education: A guide to teaching physical education at all levels and in all environments.

Early Childhood Encompasses Birth through 8 years old For this book, it includes Birth through 5 years old (Kindergarten) Forms base for 13 years of schooling Kindergarten through12th grade

Physical Education Pyramid Includes skills to be learned at various points in development Starts in Early Childhood Ends with a “lifelong healthy and physically active person” Includes 5 levels of skills Early Childhood Early elementary Late elementary Secondary High School and Beyond

Skills of the pyramid Building blocks of later movement Starts with rolling over, crawling and walking Continues with the fundamental physical skills

Safety #1 job of any teacher, especially Physical Education Managing space and equipment Managing movement patterns May be too excited moving that they forget to look where they are going Over-exertion Again, may be so excited to move, that they may wear themselves out quickly

Safety cont. Positioning of the teacher is crucial Social skills Must see all students at all times They may try to leave They may become off-task Social skills Often, early childhood students lack the social skills to play with others. This must be taught

Equipment Size of equipment is critical Can the child hold it Too large Too heavy In general, larger is better (but has its limit) Bouncy ball Playground ball

Balloon bags One balloon is a lot of fun, but aren't 5 balloons better? Put balloons inside a clear garbage bag and tie the end of it closed Moves very slow Easy to track and catch If a balloon pops, it is closed inside balloon bag

Equipment Items to consider Color Speed Softness More colors stimulate the eyes Easier to see Speed Make sure it moves slowly Children don’t respond as quickly as adults Softness What happens if it hits them? Comfort and nervousness

Standards National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Standards 4.41-4.50 relate to Physical Education Helps prepare students for kindergarten www.naeyc.org Arnold Gesell set up a series of abilities for children at various months (1month -8 years old)

Developing a curriculum Must be developed for children of the same age, but at various developmental levels Should be simple and fun Eight fundamental Physical Skills Balance General Coordination Body Image Hand-eye Coordination Laterality Tactile Touch Language Vision

Balance Ability to move your body under control Relates specifically to Concentration More distractions require more concentration to not fall over Three types Static (not moving) Dynamic (Moving) External objects

General Coordination Ability to coordinate movement Sequencing Anything with a beginning and end Additional steps in the middle add difficulty Skipping is the best example Step – hop – step – hop 5 ½ year old skill

Body Image if a child doesn't know where a part of his or her body is, the child can't use it effectively NOT how someone looks or perceives they look Where you are in space Over Under Around Through Behind In front Controlling their bodies

Hand-Eye Coordination How the body responds to what the eyes see Includes anything with an external object Writing Catching or throwing a ball Sit on bottom with legs in a V and roll a ball Any time a student must track an object, it is hand-eye coordination

Laterality knowing my left from right, top from bottom, and front from back Three midlines of the body Any time these midlines are crossed, its laterality Working on opposite sides also counts Throw with right hand, step with left foot Can help dramatically with reading Top left to bottom right (crosses 2 midlines)

Tactile Touch Feeling items as they are meant to be felt Two types Dysfunctional – not feeling correctly Defensive – doesn’t like the feeling Must teach feelings Hot and cold Soft and hard etc

Language Ability to communicate clearly Includes four aspects Audio receptive (listening) Includes appropriate noise levels Audio expressive (speaking) Sign language Body language

Vision The ability to see Each eye contains 6 muscles controlling your vision You “see” much as your television screen works Millions of tiny dots that form a vision Three types of vision issues Tracking (side to side) Depth perception (distance) Color blindness

Social skills Various social skills should be taught at different times. In Early Childhood, teach the following: Sharing – allowing others to use equipment Playing with others Parallel play Cooperative play Sharing Taking turns – allowing others to have chances Listening – proper ways to react when others speak

Connecting to other subjects Various subjects taught in Early Childhood Letters and numbers put them down on the ground with vinyl floor tape and walk the letters (make them big) Colors Use colors to mean different things Fast = green Slow = yellow Stop = red Animal sounds Play games where animal sounds are required

Evaluation Some portion of their grade should be based on improvement on… Social skills Physical skills Usually it is not a grade that is given, but an update on skills levels Usually a form of a checklist

Alternative plans Where can activity be completed? No physical educator Often it is the classroom teacher Most of the time, the classroom can be used for the eight fundamental physical skills Outside (if weather is nice) Make sure to have a boundary set Children love to run.

Activities Chapter 19 has multiple activities for children in Early Childhood