November 2021 - School Physical Activity and Physical Literacy in BC

As the winter weather starts, you might be looking for ways to keep physical activity a part of your daily class’ routine without needing to go outside between your gym blocks.

Physical activity and physical literacy aren’t just things you can work on when outside or in the gym. Here are four activities to encourage physical activity and physical literacy while in the classroom, from the School Physical Activity and Physical Literacy project‘s PLAYBuilder (a free, digital lesson-planning tool for B.C. K-7 educators, aligned with the B.C. Physical and Health Education Curriculum):

Animal Stretches

Participants stretch like various animals.
Grades K-3

Equipment
No equipment is necessary!

Setup
Students form a semi-circle around the leader; alternatively, have students stand behind their desks.

Instructions

Reach up to the ceiling like a giraffe. Stand on your tippy-toes, and reach with your arms. Pick some leaves off the trees, and place them at your feet to eat later. Reach from side to side.
Stand on one leg like a flamingo and hold your foot with your hand. Try the other foot.
Clasp hands behind your back and puff out your chest like an angry bear. Can you make a bear sound?
Sit on the floor, bend knees, open legs, and touch soles of feet together like a butterfly. Flap your butterfly wings by moving thighs up and down.
Pretend you are a turtle on its back. Clasp hands around the back of knees and bring knees to chest. Rock back and forth, and side to side.
Lie on your back like a sleeping snake. Close your eyes and breathe softly

Move to 10

Students practice their fundamental movement skills while counting to 10.
Grades K-3

Equipment

No equipment is necessary!

Setup

The educator places the names of some fundamental movement skills (e.g., jumps, hops, balance) in a hat or in a website that randomly picks a movement (https://wheelofnames.com/).

Instructions

The educator picks a skill.
The students and educator perform the skill while counting to 10 (e.g., 10 hops on the left, 10-second balance on one foot, 10 jumps, etc.).

Variations

Try counting backward.
Try counting by twos.
Add two numbers together and perform the skill to the sum.

Math True or False

Students perform a movement activity for true and false math questions.
Grades 4-7

Equipment
No equipment is necessary!

Setup

The educator writes on the board, “True = Squats, False = High knees.”
Students stand up.

Instructions

The educator states various math questions and provides an answer.
If students think the solution provided is true, they do squats; if they believe it is false, they do high knees.

Variations

Have students provide the math questions and answers.
Change up the movement activities (e.g., lunges, balance on one foot, jumping jacks).

Word Puzzles

Students work together to put a word puzzle together.
Grades 4-7

Equipment

No equipment is necessary!

Setup

The educator prints out a word at their grade level and cuts it into pieces that can fit back together.
The educator places students into groups of three and lines them up on the end line.
Each group has the same puzzle, which is on the opposite side of the play space.

Instructions

When the educator says “Go,” the first person in line runs to the other side, grabs a piece of the puzzle, and runs back to tag the next person in line.
When groups have collected all puzzle pieces, they must work together to put the puzzle together and tell the educator the word.

Variations

Make it a race, and whoever finishes first wins.
Use different locomotor movements (e.g., skipping, jumping, hopping) instead of just running.
Use phrases instead of words.

For more activities like the above that align with the B.C. Physical and Health Education Curriculum, register for PLAYBuilder today: https://schoolpapl.ca/resources-home/playbuilder/

Physical literacy is a competency in the B.C. Physical and Health Education (PHE) Curriculum. Students are expected to develop and demonstrate a wide variety of fundamental movement skills in various settings, using proper techniques.

But how can we as educators assess those fundamental movement skills to support our students’ development? The answer: Physical literacy assessment.

Why Is Physical Literacy Assessment Important?

By observing how your students move, you can plan your physical literacy activities and support your students’ learning over time. Assessment highlights gaps, directs instruction and builds a case long-term for physical literacy development.

Among other things, assessment of physical literacy gives you an idea of the broader picture of your students’ movement capabilities. It shows you where they are and where they need to go to be confident, competent and motivated to be active for life. In turn, this contributes to better self-esteem, self-awareness, self-regulation and social connectedness.

How Do We Assess Physical Literacy?

PLAY basic for Educators is a resource available through the School Physical Activity and Physical Literacy project that allows educators to assess students based on a: run there and back, ball kick, overhand throw, hop and walk backward heel-to-toe. While it is effective, it is not comprehensive in assessing other fundamental movement skills, components of physical literacy, or fitness levels.

It is, however, a quick and easy tool that requires minimal space and assesses your students’ competence, confidence and comprehension of those five fundamental movement skills mentioned earlier.

To support capacity building around PLAY basic for Educators and assessment of students, the School Physical Activity and Physical Literacy project offers a Physical Literacy Assessment workshop and eLearning course available for free for B.C. K-7 educators.

Archive for month: November, 2021

Animal Stretches

Move to 10

Math True or False

Word Puzzles