Gymnastics 2 - Lesson 5

In Year 1's fifth Gymnastics lesson, the students are set to learn about jumping and landing safely while exploring different techniques. The learning objectives are clear: pupils should be able to land with soft knees, experience various jumping methods, and understand how to push their hips forward and swing their arms to aid their jumps. The key vocabulary for this lesson includes terms like entrance, exit, jump, land, momentum, transfer, and techniques, ensuring that students are not only practising physical skills but also expanding their gymnastics-related vocabulary. The equipment needed for the lesson consists of cones to mark safe zones and safety mats for the jumping activities.

The lesson starts with a warm-up where the teacher sets out a safe zone with perimeter cones and models different types of jumps such as hops, skips, and leaps, emphasizing the importance of landing with soft knees and arms outstretched for balance. The pupils then mimic these jumps, moving around the hall following the teacher's instructions. The main part of the lesson involves pairing up and using mats to practice four different types of jumps, focusing on swinging arms and transferring weight from heels to toes for a safe landing. The children are encouraged to develop their own jumping sequences, including an entrance and an exit, and to perform these to the class for evaluation. The cool-down activity, 'Sea and Sand', involves jumping forwards and backwards on command and incorporates other movements to keep the children engaged. The lesson concludes with a moment of reflection where pupils lie on their backs and consider what they did well and how they could improve in future lessons.