Gymnastics

Gymnastics at CAW

 

To best meet the needs of children in gymnastics we adopt a skills approach and use resources from TOPS/Skills2Play cards. Each lesson focuses on one specific skill that is modelled alongside three key teaching points, which enable children to acquire that skill. Our lessons follow a simple structure of five stages (see below), with the Individual, Paired and Group activities all giving children opportunities to practise a specific physical skill in scenarios on their own, with one other and in groups. Children adapt their activities by using self-differentiation using the term STEP. This is adjusting their activity by Space, Task, Equipment and People.

 

The teaching of gymnastics requires staff to model (using either video, an excellent volunteer or by doing it themselves) a skill, as well as modelling or discussing how to differentiate the activity to adjust the level of challenge. The use of pictures for children to use, to help self- select their movements/balances and to order their sequences, is an important tool to use alongside modelling in each gymnastics lesson.