In our Montessori environment, primary students get to choose their own work in PE class. I give a group lesson at the beginning of the class and students then can choose different activities from the shelves. Usually, the jobs will be practicing the skills of the monthly unit. Recently I have been observing a need for more free play and manipulation of material. Students love to play with cones, dots, agility hurdles, and other parts of equipment to create obstacle courses and pretend play. I follow the principles of respect when determining if what they are doing should be allowed or not. These three principles are: are they respecting the material? Are they respecting their friends? And are they respecting themselves? If the answer to all three is yes, I let them explore the material. Here is an image of a cart I bring out with different jobs for students to choose from. They practice locomotor skills throughout the year as I add more jobs according to the monthly subject.
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