September 2022 - School Physical Activity and Physical Literacy in BC

September 29, 2022/in News /by Lucy Fox

We all know and experience how busy educators are. Between teaching, lesson planning, assessment, supply shopping, etc., having some simple shortcuts to get tasks done makes our days a lot easier!

With its new Term Planner feature, PLAYBuilder is an essential tool in your teaching toolkit–and a quick, simple way to build out your plan for PHE this year.

Planning out your term can be a time-consuming process due to the intricacies associated with developing a meaningful plan that covers the curriculum. Luckily, PLAYBuilder can build out a PHE term plan tailored to your favourite activities in just a few clicks!

Simply log into your PLAYBuilder account and click “New Term Plan”. You will then be guided through a series of steps that help the feature design a plan that fits your customized request.

Don’t have an account yet? Create your account today:

CREATE YOUR PLAYBUILDER ACCOUNT

Term Planner is a feature that will continue to grow and improve as it develops. Please feel free to try it out, and let us know how it’s going through our feedback form!

September 9, 2022/in News /by Lucy Fox

As teachers, we’ve all witnessed and experienced the impacts of the pandemic on our students’ mental health, focus and enjoyment of learning. Moreover, the pandemic took a toll on students’ activity levels—data recently shared by the CBC, alongside information on how important schools are in promoting healthy behaviors as we move back into our pre-pandemic routines.

The article shared some important insights from Sarah Moore, a researcher at Dalhousie University’s School of Health and Human Performance: “In April 2020, a month after the pandemic was declared, a cross-country survey by Moore and other researchers found […] movement numbers had plummeted, with less than three per cent of Canadian kids meeting guidelines. In a follow-up study six months later, and after students began returning to in-person school, they found that figure had risen to about five per cent.”

As we all look to get back into our ‘normal’ day-to-day life, school can be an ideal space to change those sedentary behaviors learned during the pandemic. His published report, shared in the CBC article, explores the ways teachers can incorporate movement into the school day. His suggestions include:

Taking scheduled and unscheduled movement breaks;
Incorporating different types of movement; and
Incorporating movement-based learning.

Moore also speaks to the idea of thinking creatively about movement for kids, and we are here to help achieve just that!

The School Physical Activity and Physical Literacy project has simple, fun activities to support those movement suggestions and keep your students active and developing their physical literacy. Here are a few fun and free resources to get you started:

For more activities, and to learn more about how you can support physical activity and physical literacy in your classroom and school, visit the resource section of our website. You’ll be sure to find a multitude of ready-to-use activities. For even more fun, sign up for a free PLAYBuilder account, where you’ll get instant access to a combination of over 900 printable activities and lesson plans for B.C. educators, which are all but guaranteed to be popular amongst peers.

September 9, 2022/in News /by Lucy Fox

As students come back from the summer break, a great way to encourage physical activity is to get out and enjoy those last days of sunshine! And while the playground has the obvious benefits of being a play space to explore individually, you can also encourage your students to develop their physical literacy with more structured activities.

Even the most basic playground can be used to develop physical literacy and keep students physically active. All that is needed is a bit of creativity! Here are a few great ideas you can use your school’s playground in fun, engaging ways:

Playground Games

Do your students know how to use their playground? Playground games such as tag on the play structure or challenges like traversing the playground without touching the ground show students play possibilities that they can use during recess or lunch breaks. Introduce your students to traditional games like four square, hopscotch, kickball, gaga ball, British bulldog, and red rover.

Softball Diamonds

Softball diamonds are great for warmups and developing different locomotor skills. Run forward to first base, side shuffle on the left to second base, mini-step backwards to third base, and side-shuffle on the right to home base. Try Follow the Leader around the bases, where the leader changes movements at each base.

Playground Circuits

Your playground structure is great for circuits! Be creative in how you use what you have. Try including exercises like balance walks on beams or stumps, push-ups on benches, hanging from bars, or running up the slide. Use these as a themed circuit.

Amazing Races

Have your students explore the entire schoolyard with an Amazing Race challenge, incorporating various tasks that use different equipment and obstacles. Activities should have students climbing, jumping, running, etc. In all, students should be using a variety of equipment in the schoolyard to use different fundamental movement skills.

Looking for more ways to use your playground and develop physical literacy? Download Developing Physical Literacy on the Playground and share it with your school! And, if you’re looking for more ways to incorporate physical activity in your class, sign up for PLAYBuilder for free! You’ll gain instant access to an online platform that has 900+ cross-curricular games and activities to implement into your school schedule.

Archive for month: September, 2022