Juggling Lesson Plan 2

EQUIPMENT:

3 juggling scarves per student
3 tennis balls per student (advanced performers only)
1 jump rope per student
Music for Jump and Rip Fitness
Stuffed animal/chicken

OUTCOMES:

The student will:

Perform a locomotor movement, jump, hop and change directions during the Rubber Band Introductory Activity following the directions given by the instructor.
Participate in Jump and Rip Fitness activities to improve their overall fitness.
Demonstrate Cascading, Reverse Cascading, and Column Juggling skills while using one, two, and three scarves or balls and using form demonstrated by the instructor.
Demonstrate cooperation in Help Me Tag game following the instructions established by the instructor.

NATIONAL STANDARDS: 1-5

Rubber Band

INSTRUCTIONS:

Students begin from a central point with the teacher. On signal, students move away from the teacher with a designated movement such as run, hop sideways, skip backward, double-lame dog, or Carioca. On signal, they sprint back to the central point.

TEACHING HINTS:

Another way of doing rubber band is to give students 5 seconds to see how far they can move away from the central point. On signal, they return and see if they reach the original point in 5 seconds.

Jump and Rip Fitness

INSTRUCTIONS:

Rope jumping—forward / 25 seconds
Double Crab Kick / 30 seconds
Rope jumping—backward / 25 seconds
Knee Touch Curl-Up / 30 seconds
Jump and turn body / 25 seconds
Push-Ups / 30 seconds
Rocker Step / 25 seconds
Bend and Twist / 30 seconds
Swing -Step forward / 25 seconds
Side Flex / 30 seconds
Free jumping / 25 seconds

TEACHING HINTS:

Use music segments (25 seconds) alternated with silence segments (30 seconds). When the music is playing, students jump rope; when silence occurs, students do a flexibility and strength development exercise. If the class is experienced, let them choose their own exercises to do. It may be helpful to put up examples of exercises that focus on all parts of the body, i.e., upper body, lower body, and core.

Allow students to adjust the workload to their level. This implies resting if the rope jumping is too strenuous.

Cascading with Balls

INSTRUCTIONS:

Using one ball and one hand only, toss the ball upward (2 to 2 feet), and catch it with the same hand. Begin with the dominant hand, and later practice with the other. Toss quickly, with wrist action. Then handle the ball alternately with right and left hands, tossing from one hand to the other.
Now, with one ball in each hand, alternate tossing a ball upward and catching it in the same hand so that one ball is always in the air. Begin again with a ball in each hand. Toss across the body to the other hand. To keep the balls from colliding, toss under the incoming ball. After some expertise has been acquired, alternate the two kinds of tosses by doing a set number (four to six) of each before shifting to the other.
Hold two balls in the starting hand and one in the other. Toss one of the balls in the starting hand, toss the ball from the other hand, and then toss the third ball.

For advanced students, challenge them with the juggling activities listed in Lesson 1.

TEACHING HINTS:

Juggling with balls requires accurate, consistent tossing, and this should be the first emphasis. The tosses should be thrown to the same height on both sides of the body, about 2 feet upward and across the body since the ball is tossed from one hand to the other. Practice tossing the ball parallel to the body; the most common problem in juggling is that the balls are tossed forward, and the juggler must move forward to catch them.
The fingers, not the palms, should be used in tossing and catching. Stress relaxed wrist action.
Look upward to watch the balls at the peak of their flight, rather than watching the hands. Focus on where the ball peaks, not the hands.

Catch the balls about waist height and released a little above this level.
Two balls must be in the starting hand, and the art of releasing only one must be mastered.

6. Progression should be working successively with first one ball, then two balls, and finally three balls.

Help Me Tag

INSTRUCTIONS:

Start with four or five taggers in a large area. Three or four students hold a rubber chicken as a safe area. Three students can be touching a chicken at one time. The chicken must be passed on before 30 seconds or the holder becomes a tagger. Students can yell, “Help me,” for a chicken when they are about to be tagged.

TEACHING HINTS:

Encourage students to run under control.

Students must manage themselves to make this game work. They must get rid of the chicken quickly or assume the role of being a tagger.