Physical Education for Children:Daily Lesson Plan Elem School-2E

This book has been a big hit with physical educators since it came out in 1989. Now it's available in a new edition that keeps all the best features of the original, adds new material, and improves the presentation, all while making the information more affordable!

The new edition is split into two books--one for the elementary level and another for middle school--so you pay only for the lesson plans you need. Each book still provides developmentally appropriate lesson plans for every day of the school year plus information on how to organize classes to best implement the lessons. You can use the time you save on developing and organizing content to focus on providing quality teacher-learner interaction.

Both new books include an introductory section that explains basic motor development concepts and effective teaching strategies. With this background information fresh in your mind, it's easy to apply the ready-to-use lesson plans for maximum effectiveness. Other helpful features new to the second editions include

- new activities, including units on health (in keeping with the increased emphasis on health-related physical activity);
- unit summaries; and
- new artwork throughout.

Physical Education for Children: Daily Lesson Plans for Elementary School includes 437 lessons for grades K-5. (Physical Education for Children: Daily Lesson Plans for Middle School features 143 lessons for grades 6-8.) The activities become more challenging as you progress through the grade levels, and new activities are added at the higher levels. For each level, you'll find units of lesson plans on the following topics:

- Organization
- Fitness
- Games and Sports
- Rhythmic Activities
- Gymnastics
- Health
- Classroom Activities

The units on organization include both general concepts and sample lesson plans that demonstrate how to conduct classes that maximize students' opportunities to learn. The classroom activities are perfect to use on rainy days or as a teaching tool in a standard classroom curriculum.

The ready-to-use, fully illustrated lesson plans feature

- student objectives,
- lists of equipment needs,
- warm-up activities,
- skill development activities, and
- concluding activities.

You'll also find an appendix at the back of the book that provides rating scales and evaluation forms to help you conduct assessments.

The Physical Education for Children books make it easy for teachers to combine program planning, lesson plan development, and effective teaching practices to provide a quality physical education program. No elementary or middle school physical education teachers, especially new teachers, should be without them.

Katherine T. Thomas, PhD, is an associate professor of health and human performance at Iowa State University, where she teaches a variety of teacher education and motor development courses. Dr. Thomas also has taught at Arizona State University, Southeastern Louisiana University, and Southern University, Baton Rouge. Her research and numerous publications focus on skill acquisition in sport and exercise and the relation of physical activity to health. She has external grant funding in excess of $800,000 to study physical activity and is the physical activity consultant for the USDA's Team Nutrition.

However, Dr. Thomas calls her early professional experiences as a graduate assistant and as an instructor in elementary schools and a college teaching laboratory the most relevant to the writing of this book. These experiences enabled her to find out firsthand what does and doesn't work in a physical education class.

Dr. Thomas is a member of the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD) and the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA). She received her doctorate in physical education from Louisiana State University in 1981.

Amelia Lee, PhD, is a professor and chair of the department of kinesiology at Louisiana State University. In addition to her 25 years of experience as a teacher educator, Dr. Lee taught physical education at elementary schools in Louisiana and Texas for 10 years. She has published many articles on children's learning and motivation in physical education and has served as a physical education consultant to more than 20 school districts. Dr. Lee is a member of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and she has received the Scholar Lecture Award from the AERA's Special Interest Group on Learning and Instruction in Physical Education. She is a member of AAHPERD, and has received an Honor Award from AAHPERD's Curriculum and Instruction Academy. Dr. Lee earned her doctorate in physical education from Texas Woman's University in 1972.

Jerry R. Thomas, EdD, has taught elementary physical education methods and children's motor development for more than 30 years. Currently, he is a professor and chair of the department of health and human performance at Iowa State University. Dr. Thomas also has taught as a professor at Florida State, Louisiana State, and Arizona State Universities. He has written more than 125 published papers, including many on children's motor skills. Dr. Thomas is former president of the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education and NASPSPA. In addition, his scholarly work in physical activity has earned him the titles of C.H. McCloy Lecturer for children's control, learning, and performance of motor skills; Alliance Scholar for AAHPERD; and Southern District AHPERD Scholar.