Physical Education for the 21st Century
Grade 5 Fitness
Central Idea:
Developing fitness requires a plan, realistic goals and motivation
Learner Outcomes:
Active Living:
Demonstrate an understanding of the principles of training in developing and maintaining fitness
Identify and discuss changes that occur during puberty and their impact on well-being
Identify realistic goals and strategies to improve personal fitness
Identity:
Analyse self-talk and use it constructively
Examine the complexity of their own evolving identities
Lesson 1:
This unit is one I always enjoy teaching due to my background in personal training. For years I was helping adults become healthier by losing weight, exercising and teaching them how to follow healthy eating habits. However, at least now I have a chance to teach these habits to kids before their lifestyle choices can really impact their health as they grow older.
Therefore, I wanted to show my students a similar story of what I was dealing with before I became a teacher. I showed them the story of Arthur – a former paratrooper who became injured from too many jumps out of a plane. His story is incredibly inspirational and touching. You can watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9FSZJu448
I’ve got the kids hooked at this stage – a provocation is essential, once you have that emotional hook, the kids are invested in what you have to say. Once we finished watching the video (there were tears), I asked them:
“What did you see?”
“What is the big idea from this story?”
Then I asked them the key question of the unit:
“What does being fit and healthy mean to you?”
This question will permeate throughout the entire unit since it ties in closely with our Identity outcome of “evolving identities”. I can treat my students like I did with my clients during my Bootcamp days and they will get fit, but that is only a short-term fix – it is best for them to take ownership of their health and fitness. That way it is their responsibility. I will be there throughout to help them with their journey.
After this video and discussion, we went outside to get active. We started out with a team run, a few movement exercises: jumping jacks, inch-worms and crab walks. We then did an activity called, “Leg Battle”.
Break students into pairs – I used Team Shake
Object of this game is to slap your opponent’s knees with your hand but at the same time avoiding their attack
First to 5 wins
Loser does 3 burpees or whatever consequence you think is appropriate
We did 3 rounds of this
This activity is quite taxing but yet fun at the same time.
Afterwards, we discussed how they felt doing the activity.
“How did your body feel?”
“How did your heart/lungs/muscles feel?”
“What are ways we could become better at this game?”
“How was your performance as we were nearing the end of the 5 rounds?”
Towards the end of the lesson, I got the kids set up on Seesaw, we reviewed the lesson and asked if there were any questions or anything they wanted to learn in the unit.
Lesson 2:
We started the lesson with a quick warm-up involving a team run and some mobility exercises: crab walk and the ape walk.
Afterwards, I introduced the Central Idea: developing fitness requires a plan, realistic goals and motivation. We started unpacking this by finding out the words the kids were not familiar with and found synonyms that helped them to understand what this statement is all about.
We then commenced their baseline testing. Before starting, I asked the kids what is the purpose of testing at the start of the unit. We did the following tests in pairs:
Push-Ups:
Partner has a clench fist with a raised them underneath their sternum
Only count when their chest hits the thumb
Sit-Ups
Partner can hold feet down
Arms on the thighs
Sit and Reach
2 attempts
Straight legs
Partner holds knees down
1600m run
Partner hits ‘lap’ on their iPad timer
Flexed Arm Hang
Partner times on their iPad timer
Stops timing once arms become straight
We started with the 1600m run and then the Sit and Reach. When the kids were waiting for their turn and were not timing their partner they started working out how to tabulate their results with Pages on their iPads. You can see an example here. Other attempts were not as organized but I did work with them and recruited other students to assist.
To end the lesson, I asked the students how the Central Idea links with the Key Question.
Lesson 3:
We got straight into our warm-up and spent the rest of the lesson completing the remaining tests. To prevent idle time while they were waiting for their turn on the Flexed Arm Hang, I got the students to log into Seesaw and explore its features since they were new to it.
Once we completed their testing, we worked together to upload their results table onto Seesaw. If they were not satisfied with their table they could work on it some more at home. Their homework was to like and comment on another student’s results.
Lesson 4:
To ensure the students knew what they were being assessed upon I made the learner outcomes of this unit explicit. For now, I only focused on the Active Living outcomes. We will look at the Identity outcomes later on – I don’t want to overload them too quickly. We looked at each of the outcomes and briefly unpacked each one and found ways they could demonstrate their understanding.
Once we completed our discussion, I showed them a new warm-up: Indian Sprints. I broke up the class into 4 groups and emphasized that this is not a race. The groups jogs in a line and then when the front person yells ‘go’, the person up the back sprints to the front and subsequently yells, ‘go’ for the next person. We did our mobility work and got stuck into introducing the three areas of fitness:
Cardiovascular Endurance
Muscular Endurance
Flexibility
We did an activity for each fitness and I wanted the kids to determine what was the difference between the activities and why they fell into that category of fitness.
Cardiovascular Endurance: 200m run, 3 sets, 1 minute rest
Muscular Endurance: Plank, 2 sets, 1 minute rest
Flexibility: Straddle Stretch, 2 sets, 10s hold
Afterwards, we reviewed their baseline results and I got them into pairs to determine what they would like their goals to be for the unit. I emphasized that it was their choice but their partner can help them determine if it is realistic.
Lesson 5:
I uploaded a 10-minute challenge on their Seesaw accounts and they completed it at the start of the lesson. They could work in pairs and it was up to them to work together to decipher what the program is telling them to do – sets, reps and rest. They could also search online what the exercises are. You can find their first 10-minute challenge here.
Once they finished that, we did a quick review of everything we accomplished so far in the unit:
Arthur
Key question
Different warm-ups
Baseline testing
Areas of Fitness
10-minute challenge
I then asked them about the 10-minute challenge and what did the program contain. I asked them about the structure of it and what it tells you to do.
We then went to goal setting. I referred to the Central Idea and the learner outcome to help with the lesson. I then airdropped them this document to write down their goal. Their homework was to complete writing this and post onto Seesaw.
Since they could complete this for homework, we did not spend too much time on this. I wanted the kids to modify a game they have played for ages in PE and during recess – Stuck in the Mud. I asked them to modify it in a way that could make us improve an area of fitness. Eventually, we settled on this: When the catcher tags you, you sit down. To be free, you and your partner who is rescuing you need to do 3 sit-ups.
We finished the lesson by discussing what we did and reminded them of their homework. Furthermore, from now until the end of the unit, students have the option of filming themselves train at home and uploading onto Seesaw.
Lesson 6:
I uploaded their second 10-minute challenge onto Seesaw and they started the lesson with that. You can find it here.
Afterwards, we started learning about fitness programming. I airdropped them these documents, where they can write down exercises they did in order to achieve their goal(s). Their first task with these was to use the 10-minute challenge they just did and write down where each exercise goes in the respective charts. The documents were in Pages format so it was easy for them to edit.
I then showed them an app called, “Sworkit”. This app is awesome since it has hundreds of exercises the kids could use to put into their own programs. I set the timer for 5 minutes, just to give them a taste of what it involves.
Once we finished that, I let the kids go to start writing their own programs. I wandered around giving a hand here and there finding exercises that could help them achieve their goals.
With 5 minutes left of the class, I gave the kids their formative assessment:
“Tell me everything you have learned so far. You can use any medium to demonstrate your understanding and creativity.”