How to Organize and Run a Successful Field Day
(Link to Podcast Episode)
YouTube Show Below:
Resources and Links
- Field day is an awesome event student loves to participate in because of the memories a well organize Field Day can provide.
- Try to find the best time for Field Day. We prefer to structure in the spring because where we live in South Carolina, it is difficult to have a Field Day at the end of the school year. The weather can be too hot.
- We plan ours to be the Friday before Spring Break. Excellent time because the weather is nice and it’s a structured day on the last day before break.
- Once Field Day is complete, it free’s up the rest of the school year for Fitness Testing, Grades, and all the other end of the year events teachers have to do.
- Field Day can be spread out of multiple days, not ideal, but a possibility.
The Format for Your Field Day
- If you’re new to the school, the previous Field Day experiences for the school may be the structure they want you to start with.
- Track and Field Style – where teams are picked and students perform in events representing their teams.
- Station Format – set up stations around the school, each class will start at a station, and we blow an air horn to signal to move to the next station.
- We practice the stations a couple of weeks out so students are aware of the stations on Field Day because they have a short amount of time at each station.
- Festival Style – more a party or carnival style. (i.e. dunking booth, cake walk, bounce house)
- Some schools coordinate with community organizations (Parks and Rec, YMCA) to run a Field Day. Ideal for schools with limited space or resources for Field Day events.
- Off-campus field trip Field Day event involving all students is an option.
Plan the Activities
- Organize what activities you plan to do and what students will be involved. We struct K-2 students together in the morning and 3rd – 5th students together after lunch.
- Structure the number of events based on how many home rooms you have in your school. Make sure to provide time for rest and travel. So if you have 18 home rooms, try to have 19 or 20 stations.
- Find games and activities that are simple, easy to play quickly, and fun for students.Examples of Station Ideas:
- Great way review the skills from PE class and also show the skills for teachers, parents, and administration to show what’s been learned throughout the year.
- Field Day Resource Pack – it contains all the information we use for Field Day.
Who is Going to Run the Stations?
- Station Format requires people to run the stations. Depending on your situation you could have parent volunteers, classroom teachers, recruit high school or middle school students, and sports teams as community outreach.
- Make sure the Field Day experience is fun for the volunteers. Clear communication with parents is extremely important this will help if you want to use them again the following year.
- Express gratitude to volunteers to create a sense of worth.
- To recruit, place an ad in the school newsletter, send an email from the list you create to see who would like to volunteer again.
- Send the parent volunteers as much information as needed so they are prepared when they arrive.
Clear Communication with Teachers
- At a faculty meeting, go over the Field Day procedures or answer any question teachers may have.
- Using an app called ShowMe this allows you to create a video packet to show. Check out all the information on the Field Day Blog Post.
- Make sure your communication is clear and you go through all the steps needed for a successful field day.
- Set expectations for teachers and parents.
- Reliable students can help guide teachers on Field Day because we prep the students in the class.
- Discuss with teachers about splitting students up into four relay teams before Field Day.
- At each station, set up four cones (different colors) for teachers to easily put their teams in the right spot. Saves time!
- Give a shoutout to those teachers who are organized and have their students ready on Field Day.
- Provide teachers with an optional scorecard if they want to make Field Day competitive.
Prep Your Students
- Plan out the games you want to play and go over those with students.
- Give time for students to practice the games so they know what to expect.
- Discuss respecting the parent volunteers and showing good sportsmanship.
- If students are not following the rules, have a “time out” room available for those students. They are in the room for about 10 minutes, they fill out a sheet explaining what they did, and then take the sheet home to be signed by parents. Afterward, they can return to Field Day.
- Motivate students by having clear consequences for students who do not behave.
Have a backup “Rainy Day” plan
- Some teachers may want to reschedule if it gets rained out. But all the prep of parent volunteers is the reason we try to have a backup plan available.
- Be open to having a different type of plan even if it is not similar to the original plan.
Setup up on the Big Day
- The day before Field Day, preset all the stations and where they are going to go to the gym for easy setup the next day.
- Load up all the equipment and set it up early the next morning.
- Have volunteers arrive early and prep them with an orientation and answer any questions. This is a great time to thank them for volunteering and getting to teach their children.
- After the first station has started we are on the walkie talkie communicating with teachers for when the next station starts. We blow an air horn to signal the next station.
- Walk around and talk to parents, see students performing, and being available for any needs/concerns.
- Put volunteers first, make sure they get everything they need.
- Keep track of how many stations remaining. Pro tip: Have the parent volunteers or students help clean up the stations and bring them back to the gym.
- Once Field Day is complete, send out an email/letter thanking parent volunteers, teachers, administrators for a success Field Day.
Have Fun and Teach On!