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Pyramid Battle

Posted By: Corey Baxter on January 28 2010 12:28 AM| Views: 12828
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This is the most effective, innovative, and fun game we use in our physical education class. When we play this game, students come in the gym jumping up and down with excitement. Students leave class sweating with a smile on their face. Academic classroom teachers love to see this game played because it reinforces what they are learning in the Math class. We try to play this game once every 9 weeks to not only polish their math skills, but to also build endurance for the mile run. The game is also flexible to many units. If we are doing this during our basketball unit, we will take the hurdles out and have the students dribble a basketball on their lap. Materials: -15 Hula Hoops, 30 dice, 6 cones, Hurdles, noodle, way to keep score. I have used this game for classes with 20-80 students. It is great for large classes and gets all students involved. This is a game that integrates all 6 National PE Standards with classroom Math standards. I have used this game with grades K-5.

Comments (33) Comment RSS

janasimmons wrote: on May 11, 2011 08:20 AM
Could you send me the set-up picture and written instructions? I can't wait to play this game with my large classes! jana.simmons@birdvilleschools.net
Mike F. wrote: on May 11, 2011 12:20 PM
Game worked great finally got to play kids loved it. 1st and 2nd graders
Dan K wrote: on May 12, 2011 09:50 AM
Seriously, this is the best game ever. It makes all of the kids and teachers/administrators happy... and they leave the gym sweaty. I used it in all grades K-5 and will definitely modify it for other units as well. This game deserves an award! Thank you for sharing.
Jeff Wascavage wrote: on Sep 09, 2011 09:28 AM
This game looks great! I can't wait to try it with my classes.
dhatch wrote: on Sep 26, 2011 11:14 AM
Great activity, but I have a couple questions. If two people from the same team meet in the end , do you just let them both go and give a point to that team? Once you win do you go run a lap or stay?

Dhatch@nodawayvalley.org
GSGators wrote: on Nov 01, 2011 11:40 AM
Corey,
This would be a great game to play at my family P.E. night coming up! Thanks for sharing. Would you mind also sending me the diagram and written instructions? My e-mail is kurmangs@olatheschools.org. Also, what happens if wo people from the same team meet in the end? Do they wait for someone from the other team? Thanks!
Barb Selvey wrote: on Jan 23, 2012 04:12 PM

In response to the questions about if 2 people from the same team face each other at a hoop, I worried about that too, and at first I said the students had to wait until someone from the opposite team before they could roll the dice. I quickly realized it really didn't matter if 2 students from opposite teams or 2 students from same teams versed each other, in fact at the top of the pyramid it kind of took some of the pressure off if 2 from the same team were versing each other because they knew their "team" would get a point either way no matter who won the roll, it just was a matter of which student would run the fitness lap (Olympic training lap) or not.

Secondly, it helped my students quite a bit when I taught this in 2 parts. I taught them the fitness lap FIRST before even mentioning the hoop pyramid or the dice rolling concepts. After a few students demonstrated the fitness lap all students got up and did the fitness lap 3 times - this got their initial energy out and helped them experience what the fitness lap was like. It was good, assessment-wise, for me to see if they understood what I expected of them when they were to do the lap. After teaching them the fitness lap, we sat in front of a large poster/picture I made of the hula hoop pyramid set up and I taught them the dice rolling part.

When I first taught this, some of my students (K-2) initially had a hard time with "losing" (getting the lower number).Ok, some cried, some stomped, some were in denial and moved up to the next level making the person who did win get angry.This activity has many teachable moment opportunities for teaching about winning and losing and how to have good sportsmanship (and I felt myself being extra careful about using the terms winning and losing!). In horror, I even heard one or two students say "Ha Ha, I won, you LOSE!" after a successful roll - prompting me to add into the directions that after a roll they needed to say "Good game" before moving on (you could even have them shake hands, I suppose).

Barb Selvey wrote: on Jan 23, 2012 04:15 PM
It also seemed to help, when teaching this activity, if I asked them when a person got a higher number on the dice did it mean that that person is "better" or "faster" or "stronger"? (NO!) And if a person gets the lower number does that mean that that person is "not as good", or a "loser"? (NO!) The dice are a "chance thing" that makes the activity exciting because anything can happen! I also tried to put a positive spin on the fitness lap and said, "If your number is lower, you get to train for the Olympics, you get to run the Olympic obstacle course and make your heart stronger!!!" I even thought about having them make a mark on a poster if they completed a lap and see how many laps as a class they could do, again putting the positive spin on the lap.

At the top of the pyramid, I encountered some confusion with younger ones making too many tally marks if they did win the roll. Most understood to make one tally mark, but one in one class, when I saw there were several tally marks on the poster I realized the students thought they were supposed to make a tally for each hoop level at which they won. In another class, one student started a trend of kids making as many tally marks as were on the final dice roll, so if the dice roll was a 5 and a 3, the person who rolled 5 made 5 tally marks!!! Oy!!! Needlesstosay, all of these variants became part of the directions of what NOT to do!

For Kindergarten, I didn't even make a pyramid! I just put 7 or 8 hula hoops in a circle in the middle of the gym and the students sat and rolled the dice with a friend, the student with the low number got to get up and run an Olympic Lap (which we practiced first before teaching the dice rolling part) and the other student sat with his/her hand up waiting for a new opponent to come roll the dice with them. Seemed a bit less competitive without the climbing up the pyramid element. They loved it!!!
Barb Selvey wrote: on Jan 23, 2012 04:17 PM
Today, in my grade 1 and 2, the students had been doing the Pyramid Battle (Olympic Pyramid Challenge) as described. With 10 minutes left in the activity, I said 3,2,1 Freeze! I then switched the rules so that the lower number got to move up the pyramid and the higher number got to run the Olympic lap. ALSO...the person who rolled the lower number had to do that many jumping jacks before heading up to the next level. Worked awesome!!!

Lastly, Dice in Dice is a product I got (google it!) to use with this activity - especially if you are incorporating the addition/subtraction/multiplication/division in this. 72 Dice come in a jug for about $14-$19. The dice are colorful, transparent, and have a small white die inside the bigger transparent die making it easy to roll one die, but really be rolling 2 to easily incorporate the math!!! Have fun!!!
Leah wrote: on Feb 08, 2012 02:30 PM
This looks like a great game! Can't wait to try it :)

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