September/October
During this first half term, our main strand of focus was Gymnastics. We are fortunate to have two super coaches that work with our school for 6 weeks each year to facilitate the teaching of the gymnastics strand. Kenny and Mikey from DKam sports make gymnastics fun and accessible for every student.
The children spent the 6 weeks working on movement, balances & rolls which cumulated into trying out their own forward rolls and cartwheels!
The class teachers focused on the Fundamental Movement Skill of Balancing for this half term which linked well with the Gymnastic sessions. Children participated in games and activities from the PDST Move Well Move Often manuals in order to further develop their balancing skills.
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November/December
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During November & December each teacher focused on the FMS of skipping with their class group. Children focused on;
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Landing on the ball of the foot
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Keeping head and trunk stable and eyes facing forwards
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Stepping forwards and hopping on same foot & repeating with other foot
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Arms relaxed & swinging in opposition to legs
These skills were developed through games from the PDST manual, teaching the specific points to focus on and they were incorporated into lessons in the Games and Dance strands!
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January/February
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We had two focus PE strands to kick off the New Year; Aquatics and Dance. Our 3rd-6th classes began 6 weeks of swimming lessons in Clonea Leisure Centre developing their awareness of water safety, buoyancy and abilities to perform different strokes. These lessons continue up to our February mid-term break.
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Junior Infants – 2nd class also learned about Water Safety during this time by taking part in the LAND PAWS program with their class teachers.
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While our older children were away swimming, our Infants, 1st & 2nd classes took part in Dance lessons with our super dance tutor Vicky. We have worked with Vicky for many years now and the children absolutely love learning her routines and taking part in all of her dance activities. Through her routines and games, the children explored the movements of different body parts, moving at different levels, using different pathways & responding imaginatively through movement to various poems/stories, etc.
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Our whole school FMS focus for Jan/Feb is Hopping. Every class is developing their hopping skills and abilities during PE time following fun games and the whole-part-whole teaching method as outline in the PDST Move Well Move Often Manuals.
When hopping the children are encouraged to work on;
*Taking off and landing on the same foot
*Keeping their head and trunk stable
*Swinging the supporting leg in rhythm
*Keeping arms bent at elbow and swinging them back and forwards
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March/April​
Our focus PE strand for the month of March was Dance. In keeping with Seachtain na Gaeilge we focused primarily on Irish dance. Each class learned ‘An Damhsa Mór’ with the help of their teachers with the older classes (3rd-6th) also learning ‘The Siege of Ennis’. Our playground leaders also ensured that the infant classes received some extra practice by playing the music and encouraging them to dance during break time!
All this effort cumulated in a ‘Ceilí Mór’ outside in our yard on the 16th of March to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Every class danced the ‘Damhsa Mór’ together and the younger classes sat down to watch the older children dance ‘The Siege of Ennis’ Great fun was had and everyone went home with tired legs from all of the dancing!
Our fundamental movement skill focus for March was ‘Kicking’. Each class played games from the PDST Move Well Move Often books during PE lessons to focus on their kicking skills. Attention was paid to:
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-approaching the ball from behind
-placing the non-kicking foot to the side of the ball
-swinging the kicking leg back & bringing it forwards fast
-making contact with ball using shoelaces
-following through in direction of target
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Our GAA training sessions every Wednesday and at lunchtimes also linked in well with practicing kicking skills on a regular basis.
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May/June
Our focus strand for May is Games with Outdoor and Adventure Activities still to come in June. As part of the games strand each class is focusing on teaching the rules for a variety of games and playing mini games of these sports during PE time. So far classes have focused on basketball, hockey, tag rugby and Olympic handball.
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Our FMS focus for the last term is Catching. This links well into the Games strand.
Class teachers are using games from the PDST Move Well Move Often manuals to develop the children's abilities to;
-position body directly in line with the object
-use eyes to follow the flightpath of the object
-have hands and fingers spread and relaxed to receive object
-catch and control object with hands only
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