Balance: 1 Grade

INSTRUCTIONAL PLAN
st

PROGRAM GOAL:
To provide students with a foundation of balance and stability while performing a variety of
activities which promote lifelong physical fitness through enhancing students ability to
maintain their center of balance.

UNIT GOAL:
Students will visible display the ability to maintain control over their body and center of
balance while performing various balancing poses and balance while engaging in various
movement patterns.

GRADE-RELATED LEARNING EXPECTATION:

Fifth Grade
Students will be able to combine balance and transferring weight in a gymnastics
sequence or dance with a partner. (S1.E7.5)
Fourth Grade
Students will be able to transfer weight from feet to hands varying speed and using
large extensions. (S1.E8.4)
Third Grade
Students will be able to balance on different bases of support and move into and out
of gymnastics balances with curling, twisting, and stretching actions. (S1.E7.3)
(S1.E10.3)
Second Grade
Students will be able to balance in an inverted position with stillness and supportive
base and rolls in different directions with either a narrow or curled body shape.
(S1.E7.2b) (S1.E9.2)
First Grade
Students will be able to maintain stillness on different bases of support with different
body shapes. (S1.E7.1)
Kindergarten
Students will be able to form wide, narrow, curled, and twisted body shapes.
(S1.E7.Kb)

Josh Barnhart

October 2014

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LESSON SEQUENCE 1st Grade

Lesson One: Students will be able to maintain balance in three different poses with 80%
proficiency for two to five seconds.
Lesson Two: Students will be able to maintain balance while performing four poses with
90% proficiency for five to nine full seconds.
Lesson Three: Students will be able to maintain balance in six different poses with 100%
proficiency for duration of approximately ten seconds.

ASSESSMENT (Yoga & Gymnastics Rubric):

1st Grade Benchmark:
Students will demonstrate the ability to maintains stillness on different bases of support
with different body shapes (S1.E7.1) and roll with either a narrow or curled body shape.
(S1.E9.1)
Performance Expectation:
Score a 3 or better on the scoring rubric.
Program Goal:
For at least 80% of the first grade to score a 3 or better on the scoring rubric.
Rubric for Lesson Two: Balance and Yoga:

Rating Proficient/Functional Goal:

4

Fundamental Form

Intermediate Form

Partial Form

Foundational Form

Josh Barnhart

Executes three yoga poses for the full 10 seconds

while exercising control over self- balance and
completing a full forward roll with 100%
efficiency.
Executes two yoga poses for the full 10 seconds
while exercising control over self-balance and
completing a forward roll with 80% efficiency.
Executing two yoga skills for 5 to 9 seconds and
attempting a forward roll.
Executing less than two skills for less than 5
seconds and attempting a forward roll.

October 2014

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INSTRUCTION
(Lesson Three)
Materials Needed:
Music Player
Music
Instructional Objectives:
1. Students will be able to maintain balance during for the duration of 20 seconds
during a variety of yoga positions.
2. Students will be able to begin a roll forward in a narrow or curled body shape.
3. Each student will be able to maintain three different yoga poses.
Cues/Key Words: None
Time Frame: Approx. 30 minutes
Instructional Outline:
1. Stump the Teacher
2. Anticipatory Set
3. Tree Pose
4. Group Practice
5. Application
6. Showcase

(20-30 minutes)

1. Warm-up Activity: (3-5 minutes)

Stump the Teacher
Tell the students to think of an animal. Tell them to imagine they are that animal. Tell them to
pretend to be that animal when the music begins. Tell the students to stop (using your class
protocol) when the music stops. Let the students know you will try to name the animal they
are pretending to be. Now turn the music on. Observe as the students move like their selected
animal. Use the pen and paper to write down some of the animals you saw. Now turn the
music off. When the students stop, read the list of animals that you saw. There will be some
animals that you didn't name. Have those students tell you and the class the name of their
animal. Tell those students that they "stumped" you. Of course, you should tell them what the
word "stumped" means. Play several more rounds of this game, but use a different category
each time. Here are some categories you can try.
1. Animals
2. Pets
3. Farm Animals
4. Sports
5. Tools, equipment
6. Household chores
7. Transportation (Trains, planes, cars, etc.)

Josh Barnhart

October 2014

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Variations:
You can be more specific when naming categories. For example, you can use basketball as a
category instead of sports. This will allow the students to focus on specific movements in one
specific sport instead of trying to think too long about a sport.
2. Anticipatory Set:
(3-5 minutes)
Ask students for what activities they know of that require balance and body control. Show
images of famous athletes, dancers, and Olympic athletes that use yoga or have a history of
yoga or gymnastics in order to maintain their fitness. Ask students if they could be in those
positions one day? What would the students want to be when they grow up? And you can
help them reach those goals by improving their balance and body awareness. Explain to
students that by the end of the class period they will individually be able to complete their
second day of yoga poses and maintain two poses for over 20 seconds. They will start by
practicing the tree pose in the following activity.
3. Demonstrate the yoga "tree" pose. Balance on one leg while drawing the other leg up
and resting it on standing leg by the knee. Arms or "branches" may rise up into the air
above head with palms touching, or stretch out to the sides for added balance.
Incorporate a game of Simon Says and review poses from the previous lesson while also
adding in the new tree poses that were just demonstrated.
4. Practice Activity:
(3-5 minutes)
Tree Dancing
Play the song "Tree Dancing" by Tickle Tune Typhoon. Kids can dance around the room or
outside of their yoga mats swaying their "branches" (arms) and tapping their "roots" (toes).
When teacher stops the song, children freeze in the yoga "tree" pose and try to keep their
balance. Switch legs each time you pause the music. Encourage children to have strong
"trunks" and hold their pose steady as a tree.
5. Application: (7-10 minutes)
Students will be placed in pre-determined groups and will be asked to get into those groups
as quickly as possible. Then tell the students that in their group the must decide on a nursery
rhyme to use in a presentation. Each group must sing/say the nursery rhyme as a group, and
must incorporate both the yoga pose learned in the previous lesson, and the tree pose, into
their presentation. Students will sing/speak the rhyme while maintaining the poses. Everyone
in the group must attempt both of the yoga poses before the completion of the rhyme.
Students will count and keep track of the number of times they lose control of a pose while
reciting/singing a nursery rhyme.
Demonstration: The teacher will show an example of what he/she expects all the groups to
present to the class. The students cannot use the nursery rhyme that the teacher uses.
Check for Understanding: Ask: Does each person in the group have to perform a yoga pose
during the rhyme? How many yoga poses does each person need to perform?

Josh Barnhart

October 2014

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Reminders: If directions/feedback needed during this time make sure to pull students in
quickly, make sure students arent moving, make sure everyone can hear, and get them back
to practice quickly.
6. Yoga Showcase:
(3-5 minutes)
Returning to the activity and yoga pose from the previous lesson, students will demonstrate
as a whole class the pose from the previous day. The class will perform the pose either in
groups or as a class to make the activity as fair as possible. Provides the teacher with a quick
check for understanding on the learning from both this lesson and the previous lesson.
Closure:

(3-5 minutes)

Notes/Comments:

Josh Barnhart

October 2014

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