Wouldn’t it be great to get Kentucky’s coach John Calipari to teach teach Passing to your kids and have some NBA players demonstrate it?
Well with technology this is now possible.
During the second lesson our basketball unit we focus on passing and shooting skills. Check out the video below to see how we quickly teach passing through a youtube video and demonstration.
The kids really liked seeing NBA players and I think it helped some of the more advanced students buy into doing some basic passing practice – it helps kids to see that even advanced players need to work on basic skills to get better.
Here is the youtube video we used for the demo, if you want to use it in your lessons:
Teaching Shooting with BEEF Cues
After the passing practice we do a quick review of B.E.E.F. shooting cues that we learned during the previous week.
After allowing students some practice time, we play a fun game called Hot Spots.
If you’re interested, check out a run through of the game below:
This is an awesome game to play with any level. For our younger students we just crank the goals down or use our shorter wall mounted goal (the one we have is from Bison but most equipment retailers have something similar to this) and we use Gatorskin balls instead of basketballs. We also move the dots in closer to the goal to make it easier for them (see below for an example).
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Note: If you have 4 students on a team, use 3 gator skin balls per team to reduce any waiting around and to give students more practice time.
Example of the game being played below:
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Instant Replay (AKA PIG)
If you’re looking for a shorter quick game that’s perfect for partner work or a group of 3, you can teach your kiddos the classic “PIG” or Instant Replay as I call it. In this simple game, you take turns shooting and when a goal is scored your partner must try and copy your shot. If they are successful play continues, but if they are unsuccessful they receive a letter. The first person to make their partner spell the designated word (PIG in this case) is the winner.
Many of us have played this at some point in our childhood, see how I explain it in the video below:
Smackball
Another fun shooting game for K-2nd (or even older kiddos) is Smackball
Check out the video below for an example of how to play
This one works great with partners or groups of 3 and you can vary the goal height and swap out partners to mix things up if you want to.
Using a Smaller Ball for Shooting Skills
For a long time I found it hard to teach younger students to shoot properly. It’s tough for them because they don’t have the physical strength to get the ball up to the goal.
I’ve had way more success using 6” gatorskin balls or the 7″ Mini Basketballs with my younger students and even offering them as a choice with my 3rd and 4th grade students if they want to use them. It’s also good to remind your students to use their legs to jump up when they take a shot to help them get some more power behind the ball.
See an example of the smaller ball below as I teach B.E.E.F. to 2nd graders.
Another CLASSIC shooting game that I teach my 3rd – 5th graders is the popular basketball game Knockout.
I play a version I call “Round Robin Knockout” which you can check out below if you’re interested:
Basketball Station Activities
With my K-2nd Graders I also do lots of Station Work (more info on teaching with stations here) so they can build up the fundamental skills needed to play modified games when they get to the 3rd – 5th grades. You can purchase my Station Signs at the bottom of this post if you’re interested (see a few examples of the signs below)
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9AAbsxBTI3/
3 v 3 Basketball Tournament
For most of my 3rd – 5th classes (unless I don’t think they can handle it, some classes are a different breed, am I right?) I end the basketball unit with a 3 v 3 basketball round robin tournament.
I keep it pretty simple and use an app called TeamShake to make my teams quickly and evenly and use an app called Round Robin to track all the scoring and tournament info.
You can check out the clip below for a walkthrough of how I explain the tournament to my students and some important points to go over before trying to do any type of tournament in PE class (purpose of the tournament, importance of good sportsmanship and basic review of rules/procedures of the game). I feel like setting the tone for the culture of your tournament ahead of time make a HUGE difference in how much fun the kids have while playing and reduces your management and behavior issues.
Hope those ideas are helpful! Thanks for reading.
If you have some more tips leave them in the comments!
Also, if you missed my previous post about teaching Ball Handling and Dribbling Check It Out Here
More Basketball Resources
If you want to check out our Basketball Resources you can see an overview of them in the videos below. Each resource is available to all teachers in our membership program (info on our membership here), just login and download them straight from the membership area. They are also available in our Teachers Pay Teachers Store for anyone who isn’t a member.
Basketball Unit Resource Pack
The Unit Resource Pack will provide you with a ton of printable resources to plan an AMAZING basketball unit.
Included in this download:
- Sample Unit Plan with 50 pages of activities
- Printable Station Activity Signs
- Basketball Cues Poster
- Create Your Own Basketball Routine Worksheet
- Basketball Tricks Checklist
- Player of the Day Certificate
- Basketball Golf Scorecard
Check out the Basketball Unit Resource Pack (TPT)
Basketball Follow the Leader Pack
All of our follow the leader packs are a “technology upgrade” for anyone with a screen that goes along perfectly with the Unit Resource Packs.
Included in this download:
- 3 Follow the Leader Videos (Basic, Intermediate, Advanced)
- Animated GIF Looping Videos
- Powerpoint Slideshows with all Animated GIFS
- Create Your Own Ball Handling Routine Worksheet
- Basketball Trick Checklist
maura brum says
Where is the basketball resource pack for members? I am only seeing the link to the basketball resource pack in teacher pay teachers.
Thanks!
Maura
Marcus says
Hey Maura,
As a member you get access to everything we’ve ever created in the membership.
You can get all of the E-books, Unit Plans, Activity Guides, Videos and Trainings (and ever single other resources we’ve ever created) inside the membership area.
You can check out the page below for a walkthrough of how to sign in and get into the members section on the site:
https://membership.thepespecialist.com/start-here/
Once you get logged in you can go here (our Members Home Page): https://membership.thepespecialist.com/forums/forum/general-discussion/
We also created a Table of Contents for the Membership with a link to EVERY RESOURCE! You can find it below:
https://membership.thepespecialist.com/table-of-contents/
Link to Basketball Resources Page HERE
Lastly, you should’ve gotten an email explaining all of this when you signed up, so we just want to make sure you’re getting our member emails – if not make sure to check your SPAM folder – sometimes we get filtered because of the links. If you find us in SPAM add us to your contacts so you can receive all the member updates.
If you haven’t gotten any member updates and would like to use another email, you can do so HERE (Gmail works great)
Let us know if you have any other issues!
Justin Mohr says
I’ve started a sports club in our school’s afterschool program and this was incredibly helpful for us! Thank you so much!
Ben Landers says
Awesome – Pumped to hear that, hope the club goes well!
Katie says
Can you please explain to me the breakdown of the lessons you would do with a Kindergarten class for your Basketball Unit?
For example –
Lesson 1: Ball Handling and Dribbling
Lesson 2: …?
Lesson 3: ….?
Thank you so much!
Ben Landers says
2 – Passing and Shooting
3 – Modified Game (like the spot shot game you see in this post by using gatorskin balls) or stations
I teach in stations A LOT with kindergarten, so after teaching them the basic skill, we work on the skills in station format
Darrell Allbright says
Thanks for sharing, this is an awesome video for young students.
Ben Landers says
Sure thing, glad it was helpful!
James Toppeta says
Hi Ben,
I purchased the jump rope unit for $25. I loved it!!! Thank you, as it was very helpful. Is there a basketball unit that I can purchase? If so, where can I find it?
Ben Landers says
Hey James! Thanks for the purchase and so pumped to hear it was helpful, currently we don’t have the bball unit for sale outside of the membership, but in the future we hope to get more products out to folks for stand alone purchases.
Dan says
Hey Ben!
I have my students 3 days a week for 45 minutes each day (approx. 25 students), so they get a lot of practice dribbling, passing, and shooting. Just wondering if after those games you play small sided games such as 2v2 or 3v3 with grades 3-5? I was going to set up 6 half courts and let them try 2v2 to ensure everyone is getting playing time.
Ben Landers says
Yep, we usually shoot for 3 or 4 on a team. Play 5 minutes and report your scores – I use the round robin app to track the tournament.
Claudia Lund says
Do you have any Basketball skills or lessons for 6 through 8th graders?
Ben Landers says
I teach Elem, but I think all the activities and ideas in this post would be relevant to teaching middle school as well.
Claudia Lund says
Thank you