Elementary Field Day Combines Teamwork and Fun

The Elementary Field Day was held on Monday, April 20th.

While the field day concept was a departure from the elementary track meet of old, trepidatious parents who may have not looked forward to the change were generally satisfied once they witnessed the amount of fun had by the kids during the events.

The theme for the field day was "Survivor", which meant that classes were teamed up as "tribes" that had to focus on working together and building camaraderie in order to navigate a series of events, according to Elementary PE Teacher Stacy Hagedorn.

Some events were familiar to previous track meet participants, such as the long jump, high jump, and relay race, while others were new.

Here's a list of events, with the details laid out for the participants:

KANGAROO RELAY - Station 1

Island Kangaroos have challenged your tribe to a race. The tribe lines up in two lines, and the first two people have a gator skin ball. On the whistle the two put the ball in between their knees and hop down to the cone and back.

JUNGLE WALK- Station 2

Tribes are lost in the jungle, they need to maneuver their way out of the jungle without losing anyone. Tribes pass five hula hoops down their class line of joined hands. If someone breaks hands they must start over.

COCONUT CARRY - Station 3

Again the tribes are in a straight line. The first two carry the "coconut" ("soft"ball) between their foreheads, without using their hands, down to the cones and back, and then hand off to the next two members.

ESCAPE - Station 4

The tribes have been captured by another tribe and they have tied their legs together so they must figure out a way to escape. This is a five person three legged race. (five people are connected instead of two).

FIRE DRILL - Station 5

Your campfire has gotten out of control. All you have is one bucket to put out the flames. First person goes to the water source (big garbage can)) and brings the bucket back to the line. The tribe passes the bucket to the end trying not to let any water spill. The last person empties the water into the bigger bucket at the end of the line, runs the empty bucket to the front, fills it and starts the bucket moving again. Tribes are trying to fill their bucket up.

RIVER JUMP- Station 6

You are fleeing a wildfire and must jump the river. Standing long jump.

RUN THROUGH THE JUNGLE - Station 7

You are being chased and racing through the jungle. Obstacle course. Through a rope ladder, under a hurdle, through a hula hoop, over a cone across the finish line.

FLYING HIGH- Station 8a

High Jump.

FETCHING FOOD - Station 8b

Egg Race. Get your egg back to your tribe.

FRUIT HOOPS

Throw various manipulatives through hanging hula hoops. We are keeping track of which tribe and collect the most hanging fruit.

Frisbee - 3 points

Whiffle ball - 2 points

Tennis ball -2 points

SURVIVING (Relay Races)

You are racing the other tribes for the last fire stick.

Throughout the events we noticed the teams would learn and adapt their techniques to better navigate the obstacles, learning as they went.

A post-meet survey indicated that the two most popular events were the relay race, and most of all the "run through the jungle" obstacle course.

Judging by the number of smiling faces and tired kids, the event was a success.