Part B

Topic: How Animals Move (P.E.)

5th Grade
Individual, and 7 groups.
Standard: 2.5: Identify the locomotor skills of walk, jog, run, hop, jump, slide, and gallop.
Objective: On the assigned worksheet, students will successfully match animals to their
corresponding movement type 5 out of 7 times.
Teacher resources: projector and computer, animal movement GIF slideshow, animal-movement
cutout worksheet, orange cones, signs with 7 different animals on them.
Prerequisite skills: Students will have learned about how we as humans use the locomotor
movements of Walk, Jog, Run, Hop, and Jump.
Presentation of New Information:
I will begin by asking students if they remember which 5 types of movement we talked about
the previous day (Walk, Jog, Run, Hop, and Jump). I will then state that animals make these
kinds of movements, as well as a two others: Slide and Gallop. From here, I will show on the
projector a GIF slideshow of animals performing the different movements. Ill ask the class to
identify the animal, then ask them to identify the movement type before advancing the slide.
From here, well step outside the classroom.
Guided Practice:
Outside of the classroom, we will practice moving like the animals do. Students will be divided
into 7 groups. I will call on groups one at a time, and ask them to name a movement type. I will
then name an animal, model how I remember its movement to decide what it is, mimic its
movement type, and the entire class will attempt to move like that animal as well. Once weve
gone through the 7 movement types, well move onto the activity.
Group Practice:
Student groups will be creating a zoo exhibit of an animal of their choice. I will assign each of
them an animal (marked by a sign on an orange cone), and they will decide how best to mimic
its movement. They must stay near the orange cone marking that animals enclosure. I will walk
around to each group, ask them how they think their animal moves, and ask them to show me.
The aide(s) will do this as well. Well switch animals every 3 minutes to do the activity a total of
seven times, then head back inside.
Culmination:
Inside, students will be given a worksheet. Theyll cut out the animals, and place them adjacent
to their corresponding movement type.
Differentiation:
My ADD/ADHD students will go with myself or an aide, and they will do their best to mimic each
type of animal we visit with the groups. They will do this for 2-3 minutes at a time for each
movement type.
For my English Learners, I will have labels for the animals in their home language, and keep a
set of notecards of the terms and animals for myself and the aides in those students home
languages.
Explanation of Assessment:
I will be using the time outside to assess whether the students are understanding the ideas of
the movements. When we return indoors, students will be tasked with completing a worksheet,
placing cut-outs of animals in motion next to the word describing the action. Outside, if student
groups havent quite gotten the correct movement type, Ill offer them corrective feedback and a
chance to try again. This, coupled with their cut-outs worksheet, will give me a good idea of
whether or not the students understand the types of locomotor motions weve talked about, and
Ill use that to guide further instruction. These two things comprise an informal, formative
assessment.
Part C

Guided/Independent Practice:
Karen Lea, writing for Edutopia, advocates for using modeling not as a means by which the
teacher does things while students watch, but for a teacher to do something and involve
students in the thinking process. While modeling how I would move like a certain animal, I am
careful to talk aloud about how I picture the animal in my head, how it moves on all-fours if it
does so, and whether it has a peculiar gait (as a giraffe does). By talking aloud through my
process, my students can connect to how they could use their thinking process to determine the
same things.
Their independent practice consists of determining how an animal moves, and mimicking that
movement. By having modeled for the students my own thinking process, students will have the
thinking tools necessary to accomplish this task.

Presentation Procedures/Differentiation Accomodations:

Christen Bouffard advocates the use of animated GIF images in place of streaming video
where short clips are concerned, and where the essence of the idea is the most important. My
presentation makes use of GIF images because they can easily convey the essence of the
motions being discussed, they can be set to loop indefinitely, and they are simple to create.
Furthermore, they do not rely on internet connectivity.
Ellis, Lieberman, and LeRoux recommend having students with short attention spans move
between areas and activities every 2-3 minutes. Having worked with students with ADHD in
upper grades, I agree with the validity of this method, and have made it so that the whole class
can move along at the same pace (these students will still be accompanied by myself or an
aide). If possible, I would also find a way to make a challenge out of the activity.

Assessment:
The use of worksheets in relation to a Physical Education lesson is a contentious issue in
California and other states using the Common Core State Standards. I am using a worksheet as
part of a formative assessment to determine that students can identify the word for a type of
motion based on an image of an animal in motion. The second part of is my observation of the
group activity, wherein I provide corrective feedback if student groups require it. Using such
informal, formative assessments is supported by the Association for Middle Level Education.
They state, Formative assessment is a tool teachers can use to probe student understanding,
[and] inform instructional decisions.... If I see that students are not understanding the lesson, I
will reteach it the next day, making changes according to my observations. For example, I might
exclude the examples of animals and focus on purely human-illustrated means of understanding
locomotion if the students cannot make the mental transition of human to animal movement.

Works Cited

Bouffard, C. (2013, October 11). Animated GIFs: From Gimmick to Gestalt. Retrieved May 04,
2016, from https://iteachu.uaf.edu/2014/01/28/animated-gifs-from-gimmick-to-gestalt/

Ellis, K., & Lieberman, L. (2009, November 4). Using Differentiated Instruction in Physical
Education. Retrieved May 04, 2016, from http://www.aph.org/pe/articles/using-differentiated-
instruction-in-physical-education/

Kaftan, J. M., Buck, G. A., & Haack, A. (2006, March). Using Formative Assessments to
Individualize Instruction and Promote Learning. Retrieved May 04, 2016, from
http://www.amle.org/TabId/270/artmid/888/articleid/454/Using-Formative-Assessments-to-
Individualize-Instruction-and-Promote-Learning.aspx

Lea, K. (2013, March 20). Modeling: Essential for Learning. Retrieved May 04, 2016, from
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/modeling-essential-for-learning-karen-lea