Rick Pappas Wichita State University

Get Your Kicks on Route 66

KAHPERD Convention – October 26-27, 1017

Rick Pappas – Wichita State University

U.S. Route66 has been referred to as the Main Street of America or the Mother Road, was one of the original highways within the U.S. Highway System. US66 was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The highway, which became one of the most famous roads in the United States, originally ran from Chicago,Illinois, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, NewMexico, and Arizona before ending at Santa Monica, California, covering a total of 2,448 miles. It was recognized in popular culture by both the hit song "(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66" and the Route66 television show in the 1960s. We will do an activity from each state through our travels on Route 66.

Life is a Highway Dance

Standard 1 - The physically literate individual demonstrates competency in a variety of motor skills and movement patterns.

Credit goes to Danny Davis:

Illinois – Pizza Tag

Standard 1 - The physically literate individual demonstrates competency in a variety of motor skills and movement patterns.Standard 4 - The physically literate individual exhibits responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others.Standard 5 - The physically literate individual recognizes the value of physical activity for health, enjoyment, challenge, self-expression and/or social interaction.

Two or three students are given white fleece balls representing mozzarella cheese. For larger classes, have more taggers. They are trying to tag those who don’t have a ball. When a student is tagged, he/she holds his palms up in front of them. Two or three students who have “pizzas” will look for those who are frozen and unfreeze them by touching the “pizza, pizza, you are now freeza. After a while, change taggers and pizza helpers. “Pizzas can be purchased through Flaghouse or you can use Frisbees or poly spots.

“Pizza Toss” purchased at Flaghouse are $16.95 for a set of six 6 inch pizzas.

Missouri – St. Louis Jump Rope

This activity is to remind students of the iconic Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Students are divided into groups of three with two students holding a 10 foot jump rope with the other student in the middle. The groups are positioned spread out around the gym facing clockwise. The student in the middle will try to jump the rope while the turners are walking around the perimeter of the gym. The students will take turns jumping and turning the rope.

Kansas – Prime Number Cards

Standard 4 - The physically literate individual exhibits responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others.Standard 2 - The physically literate individual applies knowledge of concepts, principles, strategies and tactics related to movement and performance.

Kansas has the shortest stretch of any of the eight states with only 13 miles. Route 66 only passed through Galena, Baxter Springs, and Riverton. The number 13 is a prime number meaning it is a number greater than 1 that has no positive divisorsother than 1 and itself.

Students divide into groups of 2 or 3 with each group having a deck of playing cards. Shuffle the cards and deal themface downto the players and ask the players to arrange theirin a pile.Each round consists of all the players turning over the first card in their pile in an outward motion, giving every player a fair chance of seeing the card as it's turned over.When a prime is played, the first player to call out "prime"takes the card and any others that may be in the stack.If there's a tie, the pile should remain in the center and play should continue. If the number turned over isn't aprime number, leave the cards in the center of the table until a prime number appears and the cardsare won. A variation could be if a child says “prime” and it’s not a prime number, they would have to place their next card in the middle. For this game, an ace counts as one, which wouldn’t be a prime number. All numbered cards are their face value. A jack is equal to an eleven, a queen would be 12, and the king would be 13.

Oklahoma – Native American Target Throw

Oklahoma is an Indian name that comes from the Choctaw words oklahhomma, which means "red people." Native Americans used target activities to practice their hunting skills. Students get a partner with one student holding on to the hoop and the other one with a pool noodle. The child rolls the hoop on the floor, while the other child tries to throw their noodle through the hoop. Students switch equipment every three throws.

Texas - Texas Snowman Relay

Suzanne Bathe & Adrienne Wallace presented this activity at the 2009 Texas AHPERD Convention. Because a number of Texas students will never have an opportunity to build a snowman, this activity gave them that opportunity. Have the equipment for each team in front of that team or in a specified area.Hula hoops can be used for the head and body, a flow marker for the nose, a large bean bag for the hat with a lummi stick under it, lummi sticks for the arms, small bean bags for the eyes and buttons. Divide the class into teams and have them line up behind the starting line.On “go,” the first person runs to the equipment pile and picks up one piece of equipment, runs to the designated place to build the snowman and puts it in place. They then return back to the line and tags the hand of the next person. That person then takes their turn.Players continue until all the equipment has been placed in place and the snowman is built. You can use your imagination and add other equipment.

New Mexico – Fire Safety Tag

The living symbol of Smokey the Bear was a black bear three-month-old cub who in the spring of 1950 was caught in a wildfire that burned 17,000 acres in the Lincoln National Forest, in New Mexico.

Choose 3 people to wear pinnies. They are the helpful firemen. Then choose 4 taggers--2 have a red ball(fire) and 2 have a blue ball(smoke). The taggers chase the students and say "Fire!" if they are tagging with the red ball and "Smoke!" if tagging with blue(the students being tagged may not always see what color they have been tagged by). If tagged by red/fire the student needs to go to a designated area away from the playing area and stop, drop and roll and then they can reenter the game. If they are tagged by blue/smoke, the student needs to crawl in a designated area. Older students can do a crab walk. They do this until a helpful fireperson comes to help them up. Then, they are saved and can run again.

Arizona – London Bridge Ball

London Bridge is a bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona. It was built in the 1830s and formerly spanned the River Thames in London, England. It was dismantled in 1967 and relocated to Arizona.

Five or six children get in a circle with feet spread The object of the game is for players to try to hit the ball between other players’ bridges (formed by their legs) and block balls from coming through their own bridges. Players get a letter in the word “bridge” each time the ball goes through their legs. Once a player has spelled bridge, the game restarts.Players may only strike the ball with an open palm keeping the ball on the floor. No throwing.If a ball goes outside the circle, the player closest to it when it went out may go and get it.If the ball goes between a player’s legs, s/he gets a letter toward the word bridge. That player may go get the ball and hit it back in play.

California - Beach Ball Hockey

You will need a beach ball and pool noodles for the hockey sticks. Divide the players into teams and set up goals at opposite ends of the playing area. For maximum participation, have more than one game being played.Players use only their noodles to try to hit the ball into the other teams’ goal.For safety, students should keep the pool noodles close to the ground.