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Fitness Zone

Four Corners

This activity deals with personal opinions, e.g., the penalties for drinking and driving should be harsher; candy sales should be prohibited as school fundraisers. Place a sign in each corner of the room: strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree, along with a movement to be done (e.g., skip in place, jumping jacks, jump in a circle, jog in place). Once the question is asked, students move to the corner they feel best represents their opinion and performs the high energy activity.

Since there may be some discussion after each question, the activity will be somewhat like interval training (high intensity, then rest).

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State Action

The teacher/leader begins the activity by asking what other states students have lived in or visited. Assign students to work with a partner or small group where all members are familiar with a specific state.

Partners/groups develop an action for their state that is representatives of that state and demonstrates it to the class. Examples: Illinois has the Chicago Bulls, so everyone jumps to shoot a basket; skiing is popular in Colorado, so everyone jumps back and forth with a skiing motion; in Florida, you can swim year-round so everyone moves their arms in a swim motion.

Once these actions have been demonstrated, the teacher/leader calls out the state names and everyone in the class performs the action associated with that state.

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The Wave

Have students form a large circle. One student starts the "wave," beginning in a semi-squat position to fully extended and back to a semi-squat. The wave continues with the next student, then the next, and the next until the movement has gone all around the circle. The next person in line begins a new wave with a new movement that continues around the circle. Continue until all students have had the opportunity to initiate a movement.

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Line Up

The object of this activity is for students to line up in the right formation as quickly as possible, using different movement patterns. Different challenges can be used for lining up or staying in line. For example, have students arrange themselves in the correct order for their birthdays, their height, length of hair, alphabetical order, etc. Movement patterns may include lining up by hopping on one foot, then balancing; jumping; lunging, etc.

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Move for Each Food Group

Designate different movements for each food group, e.g.,:

• Grains - Shake
• Vegetables - Twist
• Fruit - Slide back and forth
• Dairy - Touch head, shoulders, knees, and toes
• Protein - Pogo (Jump / bounce your Body)
• Oils and Sweets - Run Fast

As the teacher/leader calls out each food group, the class demonstrate the appropriate movement.

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