Teaching Fundamental Motor Skills

Book excerpt: A lot of books focus on which motor skills should be taught to elementary school children, but few focus on how to teach those skills. Teaching Fundamental Motor Skills, Third Edition, steps into that gap and provides expert instruction on both, serving as a foundation for successful movement experiences for children. The book will help you guide your students in mastering the critical elements of 8 locomotor and 17 manipulative skills. The approach offers a perfect balance between sound pedagogy and fun activities that will engage your students and keep them learning. Skill Chapter Organization The authors have organized the content in a way that makes it easy to locate and implement a multitude of activities that will help children grasp the fundamental skills. Each skill chapter includes the following: • An introduction, which includes a suggested age at which the skill or a portion of the skill should be mastered and, where appropriate, where the skill aligns with the National Standards and Grade-Level Outcomes • Four to six critical elements that are necessary for the skill to be correctly performed • Cue words to help students remember each critical element • Partner skill check assessments that help partners evaluate others’ progress • Success Builders to help students correct problems • Activities for practicing the entire skill at once • Troubleshooting charts for identifying problem areas • Lesson plans that guide you through the instructional sequence New to This Edition The content is directly tied to the SHAPE America National Standards and Grade-Level Outcomes and is endorsed by SHAPE America, which is including it in their lineup of resources for physical educators. A web resource contains reproducible forms and checklists. This material is easily accessible and printable from mobile devices. And you’ll find the fillable PDFs to be a great aid for your record keeping. Each skill is animated on the web resource. These animations will help children better understand the critical elements of each skill and identify skill techniques that need to be corrected. All the content is now in print. In the previous edition, much of the content was available only on a CD-ROM. Additional Features Teaching Fundamental Motor Skills retains many of the features from its earlier editions that have made the book a favorite among physical educators: outstanding illustrations, cues for you to use in teaching the skills, a troubleshooting chart for spotting and correcting common errors for most skills, assessment sheets, lesson plans, activities, and a wealth of supplementary material. Maximizing Your Time—and Your Students’ Experience The authors provide tried-and-true management and instructional tips to help you prepare your lessons and maximize your teaching time. Teaching Fundamental Motor Skills will help you capitalize on the natural excitement and eagerness that most elementary-age children bring to physical education. The book provides you with motivating methods to keep the children excited as they learn fundamental motor skills and movement patterns through sound, sequential, high-quality instruction that will meet the needs of all children, regardless of skill level.