My Fun in the Sun success story happened during week one in the Physical Education class. I planned a variety of games that focused on team building that included using respectful actions and displaying citizenship. During these activities, the kids had to work together in order to win the game. One game I chose to play with the students was called Shipwrecked. This game is similar to Battleship, in which two teams compete against each other to find out where the other team’s ships (hula hoops) were located on the other side of a wall.
The next game the students played was Math Basketball. This game required kids to be split up into three teams. The object of the game was to encourage each of their teammates to help them make a basket to score a point. This game was very effective in building math skills and teamwork skills. To play Math Basketball, dots are set out all over the court and under each dot was a different number. One player from each team would dribble the ball down the court towards the dots and pick one to stand on. If the student makes a basket, he or she gets to keep the dot with the number on it. After all the numbers have been collected, each team adds up the dots with the labeled numbers. Whichever team has the highest total, wins the game.
The last game I played with the students was soccer. It is the most popular game to play here at the Santa Ynez site. Soccer is a great team sport to play because it teaches them to work together, depend on each other, and include everyone on their team on order to score a goal. After the first week, I was impressed with how the Fun in the Sun scholars demonstrated great communication skills, teamwork, citizenship, and fairness towards each other.