The stations have changed, and we have some brand new things we are doing in the Ready Bodies Lab.  We’ve added the teamster trekkers and the scooter board paddles to our equipment. Check out stations 3, 4, and 9 to see the new equipment in action.

Station 1-Tummy Roll  Students roll on the ball on their tummy while building with the blocks.

Station 2 – Symbol Scotch  Students jump in to the square landing with both feet and turning their bodies to face the direction of the letters.  They begin with AB and must find the next letters of the alphabet to know where to jump next.  They continue until they have completed the alphabet.

Station 3 – Teamster Trekkers  Students stand on the paddles, one behind the other, while holding the rope.  They must coordinate the same side of their bodies to “walk” to the other end of the room.

Station 4 – Scooter Board  Students sit on the scooter board with their legs also on the board.  They use the paddles to scoot themselves around the square formed by the alphabet letters.

Station 5 – Spin Board  Students sit on the spin board with their legs crossed.  They push on the floor to spin themselves 10 times to the right and then 10 times to the left.

Station 6 – Hoola Hoop  Students stand in the center of the room inside the square formed by the letters and try to hoola hoop with the hoop around their waste.

Station 7 – Balance Board  Students sit on the balance board with their legs crossed facing each other.  They toss and catch the bean bag by catching with one hand and slapping the beanbag in to their other hand and then tossing to their partner who catches with one hand and slaps the beanbag in to their opposite hand.  They tried to do this in a rhythmic pattern.  To see other great examples of activities to do with a bean bag and balance board, visit www.bal-a-vis-x.com.

Station 8 – Alphabet 8’s  The students stand with their feet on the footprints in front of the dry erase board.  They complete two figure 8’s by starting in the center and moving the dry erase marker up and around from one side to the other.  They will pick up their marker and draw the letter i.  They repeat two times and then erase their board.  They complete two figure 8 patterns and draw the letter j.  They repeat two times before erasing their board.

Station 9 – Teamster Trekkers  Same as station 3.

Station 10 – Dome Cones  Students arrange the dome cones on the mats in whatever pattern they wish.  The cones must be touching the mat and not stacked on top of each other.  They balance on the cones while walking the path.  They can play a game by telling each other what color cone to step on next.

I recently ran across yet another article from  someone I follow on twitter about the necessity and importance of free play.  Please take the time to read it and give it some thought by clicking on the picture below.

Here are the stations we are currently operating.

Station 1 – Students stand on the balance board and use the flip and catch to catch the ball.

Station 2 – Students wall heel to toe across the balance beam while balancing the beanbag on their head, shoulder, and top of the hand.

Station 3 – Students step on the end of the launch board and pop a bean bag up that they catch.

Station 4 – Students roll on the ball on their tummy while building with the blocks.

Station 5 – Students twirl the stick and jump over the ball that is attached.

Station 6 – Students hop with both feet on the dots and in the hoops.

Station 7 – Students sit on the spin board and spin themselves to the left and to the right.

Station 8 – Students bounce and catch or dribble the ball in the blue square while walking around the square.

Station 9 – Students complete the figure 8 twice and then complete the letters c and d.

Station 10 – Students set out the cones in the pattern they desire and then step across the dome cones.

Three stations include the three primary colors: red, yellow, blue and the three secondary colors: purple, orange, and green.  When describing these stations, we talk about the primary colors and secondary colors.

The kindergarten, first, and second grade students have been working on drawing a figure 8 for the past three or four weeks in Ready Bodies.  They stand at the center of the board and beginning in the middle, they draw a circle up and around to the right, and up and around to the left.  This exercise helps them in crossing the midline.  Mrs. Lakin encourages them to keep their shoulders and head straight and track the movement of the dry erase marker with their eyes.  This activity also helps their vision as it works on aiding their eyes to work together.  After several weeks of practice drawing their figure 8 on the dry erase board, the students drew their figure 8 on chart paper and then used their imagination to create a picture from it.  Click on the figure 8 above to see a slideshow of some of the students’ creations.

I came across this article in the New York Times recently that states, “New research suggests that play and down time may be as important to a child’s academic experience as reading, science and math, and that regular recess, fitness or nature time can influence behavior, concentration and even grades.”  Click on the playground below to read the entire article.

Check out the stations for Ready Bodies.

Station 1 – Ball Tap – Students will lay on their stomach with their head close to a tether ball hanging from       the ceiling. Students tap the ball with both hands while keeping their arms and elbows off the ground.  They will tap the ball ten times and let their partner have a turn.

Station 2 – Hop and Cross Step – Students will step in the hoop and hop on one foot for the count of 5. The student will then cross step down the line to the next hoop.  They will hop in that hoop five times with the other foot and cross step back.

Station 3 – Symbol Scotch – Students will hop in each square and land facing the direction of the arrow.

Station 4 – Scooter – Students will lay on their stomach and grab the rope with their hands.  They will pull themselves to the wall and then carry the scooter back to the start.  Their partner will stand on the rope to stabilize it while their partner pulls themselves to the wall.

Station 5 – Balance Board – Students will stand on the balance board while tossing and catching a bean bag.

Station 6 – Flow– Students will hold the flow by the handles and pull the water to each handle end.

Station  7 – Spin Board – Students will sit on the spin board while pushing on the ground.  They will spin 10 times to the right and 10 times to the left.

Station 8 – Ball Bounce – Students will bounce and catch or dribble the ball in the blue square in front of them with control.

Station 9 – Board Work – Students will stand and draw a figure 8 with the dry erase marker.

Station 10 – Bed of Balls – Students will step in the ball pit and crawl around on their hands and knees before rolling on their back and stomach in the balls.

“What does the TCEA (Texas Computer Education Association) Conference have to do with Ready Bodies”, you may ask? Attending the conference has inspired me to expand this blog to include my personal thoughts and findings that support the reason behind  the Ready Bodies, Learning Minds motor lab we call Brain Train Depot .  While in Austin this past week, I found a jewel that I would like to share with you.  According to the cover story of USA Today, July 12, 2005 titled “Childhood Pastimes Are Increasingly Moving Indoors (Fishing, Biking, and Sports Giving Way to Video Games) by Dennis Cauchon, “The fundamental nature of American childhood has changed in a single generation.  The unstructured outdoor childhood-days of pickup baseball games, tree houses, and “be home for dinner”- has all but vanished.  Today childhood is spent mostly indoors, watching television, playing video games and working the Internet.  When children do go outside, it tends to be for scheduled events-soccer camp or a fishing derby-held under the watch of adults.  A child is six times more likely to play a video game on a typical day than to ride a bike, according to the surveys by the Kaiser Foundation….The change can be seen in children’s brains.  Studies indicate that children who spend lots of time outdoors have longer attention spans than kids who watch lots of television and play video games.  Click on the USA Today link to read the article in its entirety.

Some of our stations have changed. Check out the changes below. 

Station 1 – Ball Tap – The student will lay on their back with a tennis ball suspended from the ceiling directly above their chest.  They will tap the ball between their hands ten times.

Station 2 – Flip and Catch – The student will pick up the flip and catch toy and flip the ball in to the cone.

Station 3 – Bungee Bouncer – The student will stand on the bungee bouncer and hop forward from one line to another.  They will turn around and hop back.

Station 4 – Ring Toss – The student will toss three rings on to the X stakes and add up their points.

Station 5 – Ball Crawl – The student will lay on a large ball on their stomach.  They roll forward by walking with their hands until the ball is under their knees.  They bend their knees and balance on the ball for a count of 10.  They straighten out their legs and walk back off the ball.

Station 6 –  Scooter – The student will lay on the scooter on their stomach.  Their partner will stand on the rope.  The student will grasp the rope with both hands and pull themselves to the wall.  They will pick up the scooter and walk back to the starting point.  They will stand on the rope for their partner to ride the scooter.

Station 7 – Ball Bouncing – The student will pick up a playground ball and dribble the ball in a square in front of them.

Station 8 – Board Work – The student will stand at the center of the dry erase board.  They will draw a figure eight with the dry erase marker.

Station 9 – Ball Pit – The student will step in the ball pit.  They will crawl on their hands and knees around the inside edge.  They will roll onto their back, over to their stomach, and back to their back before stepping out.

Station 10 – Spin Board – The student will sit on the spin board with their legs crossed.  They will spin themselves 10 times to the left and 10 times to the right.

The Primary students are enjoying some changes to their stations on their return from Christmas break. 

Station 1 – Ball tap 

Students are tapping the tennis ball with a motor control stick (actually, it is the empty roll from the laminating film with colored tape in the center and about two inches from either end) while standing on the balance board.

Station 2 – Superman

 Students are doing superman reflex warm up so I can access their ability.

Station 3 – Skip counting on the trampoline 

 Students step on to the trampoline and jump while skip counting by 2’s from 2 to 20 (K, 1st, 2nd), 3’s from 3 to 30 and 4’s from 4 to 40 (1st and 2nd graders).  The number sequences are written on the dry erase board for their reference.

Station 4 – Swim and dry 

Students lay on the mat on their stomachs and pull themselves across the mat using their elbow and knees.  When they get off at the end, they “dry” their arms and legs with their hands or some other object (ball, textured cloth, etc.)

Station 5 – Monkey Hop

Students place their hands on the ground in front of them and their feet on the ground behind them.  They move their hands to the left and hop with both feet to the left.  Then they move both hands to the right and hop with both feet to the right.  They move to the right again, and then move back to the left. 

Station 6 – Scooter Pull 

One student lays on the scooter on their stomach and grabs the rope with both hands. The other student stands on the end of the rope with both feet.  The student on the scooter then pulls him(her)self to the wall by pulling on the rope.

Station 7 – Bubble Wrap Pop

Students grab a piece of bubble wrap ( I purchase it by the roll at Sam’s Wholesale Club and tear off pre-perforated sections).  They are instructed to pop the bubbles using their thumbs and one other finger.

Station 8 – Board Work Spider Web and Tornado

Students draw a spider web in one color on the dry erase board.  A spider web is drawn by drawing a square.  They place an X in the square by drawing the diagonal lines.  They draw three vertical lines in the square, evenly placed.  They then draw three horizonal lines in the square, evenly placed.  With a different color, they draw the tornado on top of the spider web by beginning a circle on the outside edge of the spider web and continuing to circle around smaller and smaller until they reach the center of the spider web.

Station 9 – Ball Pit

Students step in to the inflated pool of balls.  On their hands and knees, they crawl around the inside edge.  Once around, they lay on their back, roll to their stomach, and then roll back to their back and step out.

Station 10 – Spin Board

Students sit on the spin board with their legs crossed.  They push themselves ten times to the left and ten times to the right.