Mix, Match, and Motivate:107 Activities for Skills and Fitness

This book:

-Presents activities that allow all students to succeed

-Lets you mix and match activities to create varied daily lesson plans

-Ensures that your students are meeting the NASPE standards for skill and fitness development

-Includes an activity finder to make it easy to select activities that meet your students' needs

Mix, Match, and Motivate helps you show elementary students that physical activity can be fun and meaningful. It shifts the emphasis away from competitive games in favor of activities that allow all students to succeed, ensuring maximum student involvement and a positive experience for all.

These 107 activities take a developmentally appropriate approach to skill development and fitness. You'll be able to meet a range of individual needs while motivating kids to participate in lifelong physical activity and meeting the NASPE standards for skill and fitness development.

The book has an easy-to-follow format that allows you to mix and match activities to create a multitude of fresh, new lessons to keep your students moving and learning. Chapter 1 provides straightforward, practical information on developing and implementing a program for maximum student success. Chapters 2 through 5 are organized along the lines of a complete lesson: instant activity and warming up (chapter 2), developing fitness (chapter 3), developing core skills and enhancing motivation (chapter 4), and concluding the lesson and cooling down (chapter 5). Finally, chapter 6 provides ideas for activities that celebrate individual and program success, which involve parents and community members.

Several features make this book particularly teacher-friendly. In the opening pages you'll find an activity finder—an easy-to-read chart that summarizes key information about each activity, including the age for which it is intended, the lesson component it covers, and the health-related fitness component it fulfills. You can use the chart to pinpoint the activities that best meet your students' needs. For those activities listed as core activities, you'll also find a list of the skills each activity develops: throwing and catching, striking and kicking, volleying and dribbling, movement and balance, skill combinations and techniques, or strategies and communication.

The activities themselves are presented in a clear, easy-to-digest format that provides everything you need to introduce the activity successfully:

-Age-level icons indicate at which age group—primary or intermediate—to use the activity.

-An overview summarizes the activity and explains how it fits into a lesson plan.

-An equipment list shows you at a glance what you'll need.

-A preparation section helps you get ready.

-Step-by-step instructions show you how to present the activity to your students.

-Hints and modifications make your teaching more effective, create individual variations for students, or increase the challenge for students.

Every activity in this book has been field-tested and proven successful. If you want to create successful experiences that will not only help students develop basic skills and fitness but also leave them with a desire to return for more, then Mix, Match, and Motivate your way to success.