Physical Activity Lesson Plan #3

In school I loved learning about bones and muscles, so I wanted to pick this lesson because I think it would be so fun.

Activity Title:  Movements and Bones, Joints, and Muscles

Grade Level:  Kindergarten

NHES Standard: 1.5.G:  Essential Concepts:  Name body parts and their functions

Objective:  Students will be able to understand the purpose of bones, muscles, and joints in movement.  Students will practice locomotor and non-locomotor movements.

Length of Activity:  30-40 minutes

Materials:

• Book “I Can Move” by Mandy Suhr – Wayland Publishers.
• Posters showing muscles and bones
• Open area (indoor gym area or possibly classroom rug area)

Activity:

The teacher explains that the students are going to be learning about how different parts of the body allow them to move.  They are also going to be practicing various movements, and they will need some space to move without bumping their neighbors.  The teacher asks the students to sit in one line (or a couple of lines with space in between) and spread out so that when they move their arms in a circle, they will not touch any of their neighbors.  Alternatively, the teacher could have circle markers or other markers set out with appropriate spacing.

The teacher asks the students to sit and listen as he or she begins reading the book, and, when asked by the teacher, to practice the movements described at the beginning of the book.  After the first couple of pages, the book says, “I can move in lots of different ways.  I can:

• Skip (the teacher models skipping and asks students to skip for a minute, then return to their spots)
• Run (the teacher models running and asks students to run for a minute, then return to their spots)
• Jump (the teacher asks for a volunteer to demonstrate jumping, then asks students to jump several times)
• Roll (the teacher demonstrates a log roll, pencil roll, or egg roll, and asks students to roll for a minute)
• And Dance” (teacher asks students to dance in place)
• Students in wheelchairs or students who cannot perform a particular movement can substitute another movement. g., moving arms instead of legs.

Students sit down, and the teacher continues to read the explanation that we can do all these movements because we have a skeleton inside our bodies that contains many different bones.  These bones are hard, strong, and don’t bend easily.  The teacher continues to read that the jointed parts of our skeleton move (knees, elbows, etc.).  Muscles make our bones move and are like stretchy rubber bands attached to the bones.

Formative Assessment:  After the book has been read, the teacher can ask questions and engage the students in a discussion about the functions of bones, joints, and muscles.

• What do bones do for our bodies (give our bodies shape, support and protect our organs and body systems)
  • Show students a poster or print-out of the human skeleton, e.g. from https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/bones.html (Links to an external site.). The visual will be useful for ELs and for many others who benefit from visualization.
  • Point out some notable bones such as the skull (Question: what does our skull do for us?), leg bones (femur, fibula, tibia) (Question: What do these bones in our legs do for our bodies?), ribs (Question:  What do the ribs do for us?)
• Do bones bend? Ask students for a thumbs up or thumbs down.
• Joints are places where two bones meet. They bind the skeleton together and make it possible for bones to move.
• What are some examples of joints? Think-pair-share.  (Shoulder, knee, elbow, etc.)  Model and ask students to move particular joints one by one.
• Muscles are made up of elastic tissue akin to a rubber band. Thousands or even tens of thousands of fibers make up each muscle. 
• What do muscles do for our bodies?
  • Skeletal muscles are attached to our bones and make it possible for our bones to move.
  • [There are other types of muscles as well (smooth muscle and cardiac muscle)]
  • Show students a poster or print-out of a human’s muscles, e.g., from https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/muscles.html (Links to an external site.).
  • Point to notable muscles in the poster (e.g., deltoid = shoulder or bicep = upper arm) and ask students to demonstrate how they can use that muscle to move their body.

Wrap up/Summative Assessment:  The teacher can ask students to stand and

• Move in a way that you bend a joint in your leg.  
• Move in a way that you bend a joint in your arm
• Practice the movements from the beginning of the book one at a time: skip, run, jump, roll, dance. 

Relation to Health Unit:  This lesson/activity can be part of a unit on the human body focusing on bones, muscles, and joints.  Additional lessons could focus on tendons, broken bones, and strains and sprains.

Enduring Understanding:  Bones, muscles, and joints work together to keep our bodies moving.

“I love that you are basically including science into your PE activity! I enjoy that you included multimedia as well, but what if you tried doing that bone song too? I think that for your kindergarten age group it would be perfect.”

-Michelle Espinoza

“A very well thought out and descriptive LP!  I wrote a lesson plan in undergrad for kindergarten about the 5 senses that would be a great follow lesson to this! It hits the health standard: “1.6.G Name and describe the five senses.” Let me know if you are interested in seeing it. Just a note: An undergrad professor told me its important to distinguish between a hop, a skip and a jump as most kids use the synonymously. So maybe when you model a skip, you can point out a skip is when you alternate the legs you hop on.”

-Rachel Cherry

“Rachel, I would love to see your kindergarten lesson on the 5 senses if you still have time to share here or by email! (joy.ishii@sjsu.edu)  Your tip about distinguishing between a hop, skip, and jump is also much appreciated.  Thank you!”

-Joy Ishii

“I love how your lesson plan ties science and PE together in one! I think that this is an informative and engaging lesson because students are actively participating through movements while they are learning about their body parts. While they are doing the movements, they can actually feel their own body parts move as you are pointing out how the information relates to each part of their body.”

-Wendy Pham