Due to the large
number of e-mails requesting more information on this field day, I have
included all of my field day material on this page. Furthermore, I have added all
of my forms and game instructions to the bottom of this page. This material
may not be copied or published without the expressed written consent of
MrGym.com.
To make this section easier, all of these links will
come up in a separate window, so you may need to have your pop-up blocker
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inconvenience.
First let me start off by giving you a little information on my field
Day situation. My field Day consists of 18 classes. 6 classes
each of 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. My field Day takes place during one
entire school day.
Not to put down any other educators
field day, you do what works for you. But, I decided several years
ago that I did not like the field day format that the previous teacher had
implemented. Our previous field day consisted of several individual
morning events and several individual afternoon events. The students
would then pick 3 morning and 3 afternoon events in which to
participate. In my opinion, this led to a lot of wait and down time
while students waited for their event. 30 seconds later, their event
would be over and the wait would to begin again. The second problem, in
my humble opinion, was that you often have the same students winning a
gazillion ribbons, while most of the students leave with no ribbon.
So to take care of both of these problems, I tried to develop a field day
that keeps all students busy, drastically reduces down time, and
drastically increases the number of "winner", all while
increases teamwork and cooperation. Following is how I run my field
day at Duncan Falls Elementary.
About 1 -
2 weeks prior to field day, I send home a notice describing field day and
asking for volunteers. Volunteers can choose between the morning
session or the afternoon session or even both.
(See
parent notice)
(See Volunteer Sheet)
(These two are sent home with each student and are stapled together).
Also, please notice that There is a new website that was developed to help
organize and schedule volunteers, you can click here to visit
VolunteerSpot.com or click the ad at the
right. A new window will pop up, so make sure your pop-up blocker is
disabled.
A week
prior to field day, classes are notified of their team color.
(See it Here) And
are encouraged to make team banners, pennants etc. (similar to how
countries represent themselves in the Olympics) but you could use other
themes as well. With 5 classes at each grade level, I assign Red,
Blue, Green, Gold, and White/Grey as the team colors.
My field
day works like this: The morning consists of 3 stations (as I have 3 grade
levels) Each station has 2 activities. (See
my Schedule)
Station 1 - Has Tug-of-War and Giant Volleyball
Station 2 - Has Hot Tamale and Team Flag Tag
Station 3 - Has Nuke Walk and Sack Races (3
legged) has now been changed to inflatable obstacle course that I
can now afford due to a
Creative fund raiser.
Each station also has a holding area where teams discuss strategy as they
wait for their event
(This past year, I added filler
games for students to play, while they wait for their event. There
were no awards given for these events, but we kept track of times in
order to keep the teams motivated. These games included a truck
pull and clown races and worked very well. This year, 2011, I will
have a filler game at each waiting area).
But, while at each station,
each class will participate in a single elimination tournament for each
of the two games at that station. Following is an example:
9:15 am 3 graders are at station 1. 4th
Graders at station 2, and 5th graders at station 3. At this
time, each class is competing against each other (same grade level) in a
single elimination tournament for the 2 events at each station. Of
the five teams, I will award a first place and second place for each
event, each grade level. So at about 10:00, when we switch, 3rd
grade has finished Tug-of war and Volleyball. 4th Grade has
completed Hot Tamale and Flag Tag, and 5th Graders Nuke Walk and Races.
10:00 (approx.) rotate stations 3rd grade
to station 2, 4th grade to station 3, and 5th grade to station 1.
Again, they will run single elimination tournaments for each event.
10:45 until lunch - classes rotate to their last
station and complete tournaments.
Lunch Schedule
also 3 stations: Station 1 Eat Lunch.
Station 2 Lunch recess, Station 3 Mystery activity ( has included miniature
sculptures, movie, slide shows etc.). Anyway, classes will rotate
through the lunch schedule. In the meantime, I now have time to take
down the morning events and set-up the afternoon events. The
afternoon is very similar to the morning. (directions
for all games can be found at the bottom of this page.)
Station 1 - Crab Cageball and Sploosh
Station 2 - Target Toss and Fireman's relay
Station 3 - Road races have been replaced by
inflatable bungee run that I know rent each year due to a
creative fund
raiser. and Truck Pulls/Snack station
pop/chips
** I will put directions to these
games on this site shortly**
These
events are run with the same single elimination format as the morning
events. Each event is rotated after about 40 - 45 Minutes.
For the last two years, I have not done
individual awards, instead I have starting giving every student, teacher,
and volunteer a tee shirt, which I can now afford, due to my creative fundraiser :)
However, in the past, below is how I used
to. due my awards
Awards -
Students are awarded with certificates instead of ribbons (for expense
reasons). I give each student from the 1st and 2nd place classes (in
each event) personalized certificates. That means each event will
have about 150 certificates 2 classes x 25 students = 50 awards x 3 grade
levels for a total of 150 awards per event. Chances are excellent
that every student will receive at least 1 award during the day.
(update) - I have since eliminated the
certificates and opted to give every student a field day shirt. The
certificates worked fine, but did require a few volunteers.
Class Awards
- Each winning classroom is given a banner to display for the following
school year.
How - As
field day is going on, I have volunteers working on the awards. I
have runners take the brackets (each event is given brackets ahead of time
so they already know who plays who and when. Furthermore, these
brackets are arranged so that in the first round no team is needed in both
events at the same time.) to the award workers immediately upon the
completion of a bracket. The award workers will then fill in the
certificates. With this system, awards are ready to go home by the
end of the day.
Granted, there is a lot that must be considered
in this type of field day, but I personally like the way it works
out. No one person dominates, no one person can be singled out for
losing, less "down time" and everyone works as a
team.
If you
would need more details on this type of a field day, just drop me an
e-mail
and I will be happy to assist any way I can.
