Through Physical Education for Young Children, you can
learn about the unique needs of 4- to 8-year-olds and write developmentally appropriate lesson plans to meet these needs,
provide a logical progression of movement skills and awareness of the elements of movement (space, shape, time, force, flow, and rhythm), and
develop kids’ motor skills, manipulative skills, and fitness while making connections across the curriculum.
Physical Education for Young Children: Movement ABCs for the Little Ones author Rae Pica is constantly asked by elementary physical education teachers, “What am I supposed to do with the little ones?” Most college preparatory programs don’t address the issue, either, but Pica takes it on in Physical Education for Young Children: Movement ABCs for the Little Ones, coming to the aid of teachers who are stumped when it comes to the developmental needs and abilities of young children.
Physical Education for Young Children places the focus squarely where it needs to be: on the fundamentals. The book provides teachers with the following tools:
A logical progression of movement skills, including the ABCs of movement, body-part identification, and nonlocomotor, locomotor, and manipulative skills
Awareness of the elements of movement: space, shape, time, force, flow, and rhythm
An understanding of the developmental differences between younger students and their older counterparts
Guidance in understanding the unique needs of 4- to 8-year-olds and writing developmentally appropriate lesson plans to meet those needs while making connections across the curriculum
Many activities that develop motor skills, manipulative skills, fitness, and the understanding of the elements of movement
In addition, Physical Education for Young Children offers guidance in teaching across subject areas to provide an interdisciplinary approach, offers sample lesson plans to meet the unique needs of the little ones, and lists resources for children’s music, equipment, and props.
Chapter 1: What Your College Courses Didn’t Tell You
Physical Domain
Social and Emotional Domain
Cognitive Domain
Remember This
Chapter 2: Maintaining a Successful Learning Environment
Beginning With the Body
Teaching Methods
Keeping Them Off the Walls
Remember This
Chapter 3: Elements of Movement
Space
Shape
Time
Force
Flow
Rhythm
Remember This
Chapter 4: Fundamental Motor Skill Development
Acquiring Motor Skills
Skills
Using the Elements of Movement
Remember This
Chapter 5: Fitness for Young Children
Definitions of Fitness
Fitness in Early Childhood
Fitness Factors
Remember This
Chapter 6: Manipulative Skills
Nontraditional Manipulative Skills
Introducing Equipment
Traditional Manipulative Skills
Remember This
Chapter 7: Linking the Gym With the Classroom
Language Arts
Mathematics
Science
Social Studies
Art
Music
Making the Links Stronger
Remember This
Rae Pica, BS, has been a children's physical activity specialist since 1980. A former adjunct instructor with the University of New Hampshire, she is the author of 17 books, including Experiences in Movement, the award-winning Great Games for Young Children, and A Running Start: How Play, Physical Activity, and Free Time Create a Successful Child, written for the parents of children birth to 8.
Rae is known for her lively and informative workshop and keynote presentations and has shared her expertise with such groups as the Sesame Street research department, the Head Start Bureau, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, Nickelodeon's Blue's Clues, Gymboree, and state health departments throughout the country. She is author of the blog The Pica Perspective, in which she shares her thoughts on matters related to children and physical activity, and is the host and cocreator of Body, Mind and Child, a series of podcasts that help parents prepare their children's minds and bodies for life. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, crocheting, and cheering on the New England Patriots.