Hockey+and+Superheroes

Once again, we find ourselves challenged by our students to teach something that reflects Ohio standards but to use as a starting point the weirdest things the students could think of. We so enjoy this challenge, after the initial moment of fear that we won't be able to do it this time. Soon the creative juices flow and we are on our way.

Here are the standards our lesson meets:

Physical Education Knowing about the game (e.g., rules, etc.)

Science States of matter (solid, liquid, gas) Scientific method

Literacy Writing narrative

Art forms Movement and drama

Imaginative Education suggests that we find the "story" in whatever we are teaching, and superheroes lend themselves easily to a story. So here it is, with actual Superheroes:

Skate (comic book character) is next to a swimming pool in summer. He has his ice skates and hockey stick with him, but the pool is liquid, not ice. He wants to practice his hockey skills.

Killer Frost (an actual Superhero) sees Skate and thinks he is pretty good looking. So she tells him she will solve the pool problem. She sucks all the heat out of the pool and the pool turns to ice. Skate has a great time practicing his hockey skills.

But along comes Magma. She thinks Skate is cute and she wants him for herself. So, she adds heat to the pool and it transforms from solid to liquid to gas.

Any number of things could happen next--Magma and Killer Frost could have a duel to the death of one or both of them, Skate could choose one of them himself, other characters could enter the story. Use simple props for Skate, Magma, and KF.

Here is the comic of this story on Pixton.com: media type="custom" key="10345560"

Movement portion of the lesson: Water molecules.

Solid (ice): students stand with their arms stretched out to the side, one foot to the front and one foot to the back. Each person is connected to the person/people beside them by their fingertips and their shoes are touching the shoe of the person in front and the shoe of the person in back. This position is designed to make ice have a bigger "footprint" than water because of the crystalline structure.

Liquid (water): students move around freely in a confined space.

Gas (steam): students move freely and leave the confined space.