Jumping Rope

I've had jump ropes hanging in my classroom for student use all year long. How many jump ropes used? ZERO! There has been so many issues on the playground I thought maybe it is time for a new activity. I've never even seen kids using the jump ropes provided by the school. I pulled them off the hook today taught them a couple of jump rope rhymes. I showed them how to rotate people in and out and keep the line moving. There were a few that had no sense of how to swing the rope. I hope this will give them another positive playground activity. Maybe it will help with a little of the playground drama.

One of the playground issues is that boys significantly outnumber girls. This creates an environment where all the boys want to play the same game (usually soccer) and are unleashed maniacs. Okay maybe not that bad. I'd love for their soccer coach to come visit the mayhem of soccer on the playground. I think the coach would cry. My students were angry at me because I told them snow on the ground means no soccer. If you'd seen the kids slipping and sliding across the icy playground after a soccer ball it would give you anxiety attacks. I didn't mind the playing of soccer on the ice. I minded the perpetual injuries on the ice. There was a lot of pouting when I said no soccer on ice. When the snow was gone they could play again. The upside of soccer on the playground is that all of these boys run the entire recess. They need to run the entire recess!

The lunch ladies were tired of soccer drama and told the kids there would be NO Soccer for the rest of the year. It seemed excessive to me. There has been a few times individuals have lost soccer privileges for not being team players and fighting. It wasn't a permanent ban. The kids were told you'd better have good sportsmanship or I will take it away again. It pretty much took care of most of the issues. Not sure why the lunch ladies couldn't identify the individuals that might be creating problems and have them go do something else. Our lunch ladies are the stereotypical grumpy grouchy lunch ladies. I used to help round up kids and get them moving in the lunch room, but I got so much attitude from them that I refuse to help anymore.

Do you know how hard it is to find jump rope rhymes that aren't spine chilling? There are mostly disturbing jump rope rhymes. It didn't seem like the kids new any so I picked a few that didn't make me go "WHAT?"!   I ordered a couple of new jump ropes too. I thought about playing them a double dutch video. Then I realized that I'd have boys attempting athletic prowess that they do not possess! So yeah.... one jump....one person...one rope at a time!