Well all the Secondary and Senior pupils had a super morning at Sports Day! We went to the big two court hall at the Sports Village to complete all our races. As always our pupils (and staff) brought their competitive spirit and really enjoyed all the camaraderie and fun. The overall winner was Charlie Robertson with Millie Rae and Michael Templeton coming in 2nd and Alistair Whitson who came in 3rd. After we returned from the sports hall we went outside and played some parachute games and had a game of kickball rounders. A lovely wee morning had by all.

Hello everyone,

Hope you are all well. It’s lovely to have welcomed most of our young people back through the door this week and it’s starting to sound like Hillside again when you walk through the corridors. I have been working in the Primary department all week this week and will be for the next few weeks up until Easter due to limiting the crossing of bubbles.  Unfortunately this means I will be in class and unable to continue with the online lessons for the secondary and senior classes. Also this is the last little bit of home learning activities for PE too . I have made a wee revision exercise on Boardmaker , which is attached below, for your young people to work through/complete as is appropriate to your situation.  Take care and lets keep our fingers crossed for things going in the right direction and for an end to lockdown learning for good! Thank you to all the home school hero’s out there and well blooming done for getting through it. Thanks and take care, Susie xxx

Home Learning Revision Activities

Good Afternoon,

I hope you’re all doing well and looking forward to being back in school sometime very soon. I know we are excited to see you guys! For this weeks home learning activities I decided to pull together some of the previous lockdown PE videos into one place for you to watch or try out . I’ll attach a link to a YouTube channel below where I’ve uploaded them. Feel free to give them a go and as always please share any photos you might take.  Take care and enjoy the weekend, Susie.

Susie PE – YouTube

Good Morning,

I hope you are all well and you enjoyed a break from the home schooling last week. It feels a little like spring is coming and there is hope in the air. Given the six nations are going ahead I though we could have a rugby inspired week for all the home learning troops out there.  As always these can been done anywhere that is suitable to you and your situation but if you are able to get outdoors to a local green space or park that would add in a bit more activity and vitamin d to your day.

Cat and Mouse

This game is played with two players. The ‘mouse’ tucks a piece of material such as a sock/soft belt/tea towel into the back of their trousers or up a sleeve if in a chair and moves a few meters in front of the ‘cat’  catcher(or more depending on mobility and space). On go, the cat the has to chase the mouse and try to steal their tail before they reach a designated spot ahead.

Cat & Mice Game – YouTube A similar example but having to catch tails and you already know who is chasing who on the ‘go’.

Touchdown

This is a physiotherapy type exercise which helps with your balance, core strength and proprioception. Using your ball or ball alterative kneel on one knee or sit up comfortably in your chair and tap the ball onto three target areas at full reach in front of your body (one in the middle and one either side) then change knees. The target can be an adults hand/pillow/switch or marked area on a wall). This can be made harder by placing your knee on wobble board/gym ball or cushion.

Half Kneel on Stool Wall Taps – YouTube Another similar example but without the stool and/or a cushion under the knee not the foot.

Goal Kick

Why not take a ball to a local park which has goals and try taking a goal kick. As most parks have football goals the aim will be to kick the ball high over the goal and not into the net. If this is not possible maybe you can make a big obstacle with whatever toys or things you have in your garden and aim to kick the ball over it without knocking anything over.

9 year old Rugby Goal kicking Practice – YouTube

Drop Punt

This is another rugby specific skill that can be quite tricky so best to try with a balloon first before a ball or rolled up socks. You need to drop the balloon from hip height then aim to kick it before it touches the ground. A string can be attached to the balloon or ball for young people using a wheelchair to dangle at the right height for pupils to try and strike with their foot. Alternatively if you have a gym ball you could use this too as its lots of fun (with the foot plates up for W/C users if appropriate).

Dan Carter : Spiral & Drop Punt Rugby Kicking – YouTube

Tune In

Lastly why not get faces painted blue and white, half time snacks at the ready, Scotland flags in the air and your singing voice warmed up  to blast out the national anthem and tune in to the next Scotland 6 nations match with your family. Unfortunately this weekends fixture has been cancelled but the next one is on the 14th of March at 3pm BBC.

As always if anyone needs any more info, ideas or even just a chat about how to get started with some PE home learning activities don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Cheers, Susie.

Good Afternoon,

Another week down and some well needed holidays are on the horizon for all the hard working home learning hero’s in  your house.  This weeks blog will be brief as it’ll be a much shorter week for you all and will look at some simple parachute games that you could do at home or outdoors. Don’t worry, I’m sure no one has a parachute lying around, you can easily use an alternative like a bed sheet/large scarf/blanket or any big piece of material you have. If possible try and get everyone in the household/bubble involved as it works best with a few people. However if this isn’t possible you can always tie the ends onto something and it should still work for most of the games. All our young people enjoy the parachute when it comes out and they each have their preferences on what things we do with it. Here are a few of them………

Nursery Rhymes

Head Shoulders Knees and Toes:

Pull the material up or down in line with that body part each time it is sang.

Wheels on the bus:

The wheels on the bus go round and round (hold material with one hand and walk around in a circle)
The horn on the bus goes beep, beep, beep (two feet together jump/bounce in place)
The door on the bus go open and shut (raise parachute above head and lower parachute by touching toes)
The wipers on the bus go swish, swish, swish (hold parachute with 2 hands in front of body and move arms from side to side)
The babies on the bus go waa, waa, waa (pretend to wipe eyes with parachute—like a handkerchief

The Parachute Dance Song | Maple Leaf Learning – YouTube

Relaxation

Often before a yoga session or during a cool down we get everyone under the parachute/material lying facing up. We usually turn off the lights and have calming music on. We practice some deep breathing by taking a breath in through our nose as the parachute falls down and breathe out by blowing the parachute away towards the ceiling as it gets lifted up.

Beautiful Relaxing Music for Stress Relief ~ Calming Music ~ Meditation, Relaxation, Sleep, Spa – YouTube

Catch

This is a fun game where the young people run or are wheeled under the material and have to avoid being trapped under the parachute as it comes down.

Parachute Games – YouTube

Ball Launch

This can be done with soft toys or rolled up socks  instead of balls. The idea is you put all the objects in the middle and everyone takes an end or the material. You then count up or down and launch them all high up into the sky and try and catch as many as you can before they hit the ground.

Physical Education at Home – Parachute Games – YouTube

This is only a selection of the ones we play most so if anyone would like more ideas or would like them adapted to suit an individual child then please get in touch. Take care everyone and enjoy the holidays.

Cheers, Susie.

Hello all,

It’s another week of lockdown learning and I hope you are all doing ok.  In light of getting outside and trying to add a little more activity to your day I’m going to share a few of the warm up games we play in school.  All of these can be played in the garden, at a park or any green space you might visit during your daily walk. I’ll also add a choice board to use if appropriate for your child.

What’s The Time Mr Wolf

This is a big playground favourite at Hillside. I’m sure you all know it well but here is how we play it.

• Someone is the wolf and stands at one end of the space with their  back to everyone else.
• The others then ask ‘what’s the time Mr Wolf’ and the wolf replies one, two ,three, four or five o clock. The players then take the associated number of steps towards the wolf.
• This continues until the wolf answers ‘its dinner time’ when he/she then chases all the players.

Traffic Light Game 

This is an easy one that can be done in any space and indoors as it can be done on the spot.

• Someone is the caller and shouts red, amber or green. Everyone can take a shot at being the caller and pupils with switches or talkers can have fun with this too.
• Everyone else has to follow the callers instructions.
• RED- means stop or freeze. AMBER- means walk/wheeled slowly. GREEN- go as fast as you can.

Blast Off

We have lots of fun playing this at school.

• We usually use a few hula hoops spread out over the gym hall but these could be substituted for chalk drawn circles, circles made up from stones/twigs or old pillowcases/rags laid out within the area.
• The players then wind in and around the circles and a caller shouts rocket launch. Each player has to get into the circle as quick as they can.
• They then count down from 10 and blast off, weaving in and out the circles again.

Shark Attack

We always used to play this with our buddies from Barshare.

• Its set up the same as above with circles  spread out within the area and players weave in and out.
• The catcher shouts shark attack and the players need to get to a safe zone before getting eaten (tagged) by the shark.

Body Part Game

Make sure you have clothes on you don’t mind getting dirty for this one if you are playing outside.

• Players move quickly around the space and a caller shouts out different body parts.
• The players then need to put that body part on the ground. For wheelchair users players would put their hands on the body part called.

Ball Steal

We play this in teams at school and our young people always love shouting their teammate on. However it works fine with one player too and can be timed for a competitive element.

• This game is usually played with balls but these can be swapped for any objects around the home like toys, socks rolled into a ball or even stones.
• The object is to place the objects a reasonable distance away from the player.
• The player has a basket or bag or box and has to steal all the objects as quickly as they can. However they can only retrieve one item at a time.
• Try timing one another and aim to beat your partners time or if you have a sibling get them involved and race and count out who collects the most items.
• For wheelchair users you might want to try and put the items on a chair or somewhere higher up so the young person can be more independent when collecting.

Choice Board- warm up games

Take care everyone and please share any photos of the young people taking part in any learning at home if you manage to snap any. As always please please don’t hesitate to contact me for any more information, ideas, personalisation of activities or just for a chat about how best to support your young person with these activities.

Thanks and stay safe,

Susie

Good Morning,

So its another week of lockdown and I have some more PE learning suggestions you can try at home if you choose to. I hope you are all safe and well and coping as best you can. Like last week, this weeks activities will be focussed on getting outdoors and trying to add a little more activity to any walks or visits to green space you might be doing throughout the week.

Skipping

Here is a few fun activities to try using skipping ropes or if you don’t have those at home any kind of rope, a washing line, string or an old dressing gown belt works too.

You could lie out your rope in a straight, zig zag or wavy line  and try to walk along it. To make it harder you could walk backwards or place a toy or object in the middle and bend down to collect it without stepping off the rope. You might also want to try and make the rope into a letter or number.

This game requires two people to hold each end of the rope or you can tie one side to a pole/post/tree if you only have one helper. The aim is to wiggle the rope and you have to jump over it. You can pretend its a scary snake and practice different combinations of jumps. These are the different jump combinations in order of difficulty – one foot to the other, two feet to two feet, one foot to two feet and two feet to one foot. Another option is to pretend its a swap or lava and put some teddys or toys on the other side to rescue and bring back over the swamp.

This is the helicopter game and you play it while singing the rhyme. You need someone to spin the rope above their head  and you sing “Helicopter, helicopter please come down, ill give you all my money if you touch the ground” then the person spins the rope round in a circle at ground level and you have to jump over it each time it comes to you and count how many you can do without stepping on it.  You can go as fast or slow as you like and remember to take turns of spinning the rope and jumping.

Here is a link to some videos showing more skipping games and rhymes. you can give them a watch or try them out if your getting really good.

Long Rope Games | Mouse Trap | Teddy Bear | Hot Peppers | School – YouTube

Fit Walk

Another suggestion to add just a little bit more activity into your day/ week is to go on a fit walk. Below I’ve added a Boardmaker activity sheet which shows four common things to look out for when you are out and about. Each one has a movement task assigned to it to complete every time you pass or spot the item. This can be made really fun by getting everyone you are with to join in too. By the end of your walk you should be feeling a bit sweaty, your breathing should be faster and your heart should be beating a little quicker. If this is the case it means you have worked you body harder and got a little bit fitter.

fit walk

Take care everyone and stay safe,

Susie

Hello ello,

I hope your are all well and managing ok at home. This weeks PE blog will focus on active games/tasks that you can do outdoors. As we know its good for everyone’s mental health to get outside and active (sometimes easier said than done of course) and these are just a few wee ideas that can be done in a garden or safe space that is local  to you. I’ve decided to go old school……………..😊

Hopscotch

HOW TO PLAY HOPSCOTCH – Raising Rookies – YouTube

• In order to play you will need some to draw out a hopscotch grid and number it or put letters of the alphabet on it.
• You could make the boxes different shapes and they could go in a circle or zigzag pattern too.
• If you don’t have any chalk at home you could use tape or even mix up some mud with water and paint it.
• Remember to make the boxes an appropriate size for your young person or if they are in their wheelchair then big enough to fit them, you and their chair.
• Instead of using a stone you could use something more motivating like a soft toy.
• Above is a good link that explains the rules of play that you can follow or adapt to suit.
• For some of our pupils the hopscotch pattern may be a little difficult so instead they could step into each box, step backwards to increase the difficulty or jump with two feet into and over the boxes.
• If pupils are in their w/c then you could go forwards on the hop and backwards on the scotch and when you collect the stone/toy encourage your young person to stretch for it, grasp it and keep hold of it until you are back to the start.

Marbles

• Marbles is a fun target game you can play in your garden or pavement outside.
• I’m sure a lot of you wont have marbles lying around the house so we could do a different version using stones.
• Why not collect a few in a bucket when out walking, making sure you wash your hands on return. You could also get a basin of soapy bubbles outside and wash all the stones too.
• You could decorate one of them with paint that could be used as the jack.
• Draw out a big target circle using chalk/tape/mud paint and place the jack in the middle.
• Take turns to throw the stones as close to the jack as you can, knocking your opponents out the way if necessary.

As always if you would like other ideas or more personalised activities don’t hesitate to get in touch. My email is easusan.todd@eastayrshire.org.uk. Hopefully we will have less rain and you can try out some of the games and soak up some Vitamin D. Please post any photos or videos on here or the FB page as its always lovely to see our young people learning and enjoying themselves.

Take Care,

Susie.

Hi Everyone,

I’ll refrain from the usual greeting at this time of year and instead say I’m really really hopeful for some better times ahead for us all. I’ve attached snaps of the home learning pack for PE which will be sent home next week for you to work through at a time and pace that suits your circumstances. I’ll update the blog with a couple of fresh ideas each week and I’m also hoping to connect with you all via Vscene every Monday. This will be done in class bubbles and everyone at home is also welcome to join in. Michelle will kindly send you on the details of this. As with before if anyone would like any help or you’d like more personalised activities for your young person please don’t hesitate to get in contact. I hope you are all well and keeping safe.

Thanks, Susie xx

Well we had some lovely Christmas outings this week to Dumfries House. We played at the park, went on the reindeer trail, climbed the big old trees and of course managed to squeeze in a tasty snack. All the young people had a really positive trip and enjoyed themselves.