Creative Solutions with Large PE Classes

At my elementary school we average about 80 students per class period. Our gym is small, so I have to be very creative to manage such a large number of kids. Currently there are two certified teachers and two instructional aides in PE, so we are able to split into various groupings.

I have developed a running/walking program called the 50 Mile Club that has been a lifesaver. The students can choose to run or walk laps at the track during PE class with the goal of completing 50 miles by the end of the school year. Anywhere from 20-40 students usually choose to participate in the 50 Mile Club each class, which leaves a much more manageable amount of kids in the gym for the activity or game.

Now... this always works, but what about bad weather days???

The key is to keep an open mind and find a solution. I know so many colleagues that would prefer to shut PE down for the day and put a movie on for the kids to watch. Please, please avoid this trap. I have fallen into this trap in the past, and in my experience, it is more stressful to keep the kids quiet to watch a movie than it is to find a solution and let them be active. The kids need every minute of activity possible.

Scenario One

One day a couple of years ago, we were experiencing quite the cold snap in Southeast Texas. The lesson plan involved every child's favorite, the parachute, but I wasn't sure how to pull this off with so many children in a small gym, and they were already bouncing off the walls.

Creativity kicked into gear. There was a spare classroom not being used near the gym, so I pushed the desks to the side and got the parachute ready.

The main bulk of students stayed in the gym and played dodge ball (another favorite), and I called a group at a time out of the gym to travel to the classroom for the parachute activities. The kids had a fun filled PE class and got their energy out. Now, imagine if I had made them sit and watch a movie... everyone would have been miserable!

Scenario Two

Here is a more recent example; this happened just yesterday. It was a good ol' rainy day, which I wasn't going to let rain on PE's parade!

The kids were supposed to have "Free Day Friday" at the football field or in the gym, so some adjustments had to be made. I already had a volleyball net set up in half of the gym from activities earlier in the week, so I knew some of the kids would want to play volleyball. We decided to use the other half of the gym for a basketball game.

But I knew there was still quite a few students that would quickly become disengaged with both of these activities. So I had one of my aides grab some hula hoops, and I gave the students a third choice of practicing with the hula hoops in the hallway outside of our gym. (This happened to work because there is a hallway with no students in classrooms, just a few people's offices, but they are used to all the noise from the gym anyway.)

The kids had a blast! My aide was surprised that the kids that chose to hula hoop were so happy hula hooping the whole time. She said that one girl never stopped! Ha! I was also pleasantly surprised how much the kids were enjoying volleyball. The smiles and laughter said it all. And basketball was a hit as well. Once again, a movie would have been miserable.

Bottom line... don't fall for the trap of laziness. Get creative so kids can get active!