Fitness Q-Chart: Critical Thinking

Fun ways to use the Ophea's 50 Fitness Activities and integrate literacy tools into PE!

Intermediate Warm-up activity or cardio-respiratory endurance to get them moving and critically thinking about their personal fitness.

WHAT - WHERE - WHEN - WHO - HOW - WHY...IS - DID - CAN - WOULD - WILL - MIGHT

Equipment: 

• Die (6-8 pairs of die)
• 6-8 Fitness Q-Chart Posters (click for download)
• Pylons to designate a safe zone around die/posters if needed

Instruct students to find a partner.

Have a couple sets of Die in the middle of the gym (use clear mini lunch box containers and place 2 die inside then students shake) or in each corner.  Post the Fitness Q-Chart on the wall or place beside the die in the centre of the activity space.  

Partners role 2 die once.  One number corresponds to vertical column and other to the horizontal column (their choice after reading each corresponding question.  The numbers cross-reference to a critical question in the matrix along with a fitness activity.  Students perform the number of repetitions MULTIPLIED BY THE NUMBERS (1X3=3 REPS).

Example:  Roll a 1 and 3: 1(WHAT) by 3(CAN) = What can you do to make your lifestyle more healthy and/or active? (1X3=3) 3 REPS of LOW ROW.

Partners then jog one lap returning to the corner they started from or return back to the middle and roll the dice again for the allotted time.

Monitoring Fitness Levels: RPE

Shout out to a great blog post titled "Heart Rate Monitors Bulletin Board" and  "Using Rate of Perceived Exertion in Elementary PE", that inspired me to make my own anchor chart of the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE). 

My students seem to need a better understanding of what warm-up means vs. continuous moderate to vigorous physical activity vs. high-intensity all-out sprints!  I am definitely going to try red and green post-its, having students calculate their heart rates at various times to show resting-heart rate and active heart rate.  Click here for RPE BLM.

Primary/Junior RPE: 

Primary PE: Rate of Perceived Exertion Anchor

 Junior/Intermediate RPE:

Intermediate PE:  RPE 

Going old fashioned!  I made a heart-rate calculator chart (using Grade 7 Maximum heart rate then shaded off 60-80% training zone) to allow students to monitor how hard they are working.

Gr.7-8 Passport for Life Pilot Letter to Parents

Attention Lawfield Parent/Guardians of Ms. Merritt grade 7/8 students (Mrs. Fallon's class) (letter from Passport for Life Website):

Your grade 7/8 Students will be participating in Passport for Life.  This initiative, developed by Physical and Health Education Canada (PHE Canada), supports the development and advancement of physical literacy (explained in link) among students. The goal of physical literacy is to support all individuals in their ability to move with competence and confidence in a wide variety of physical activities and environments. 

Passport for Life is an online program which will be used to gather information about your child’s level of physical literacy. Passport for Life is an online program which will be used to gather information about your child’s level of physical literacy. To learn more about Passport for Life and strategies to help your child improve their physical literacy visit the Information for Parent section of the website. 


Your child’s Passport for Life results are not equivalent to their Physical Education grade, however, the teacher will use this information to provide individualized help for students to set goals and work towards continued improvement. Parents play a critical role in helping children develop physical literacy. As your child uses Passport for Life, you can expect your child’s teacher to involve you in helping him or her to set realistic and achievable goals. 

The Passport for Life Program includes: 
 tools to assess student levels of physical literacy, 
 guides to help interpret results, 
 ideas and resources to help your child’s teacher improve the physical literacy level of your child, 
 connections to the mandated health and physical education programs in your jurisdiction, and 
 resources and connections to further knowledge and competence. 

The program is divided into four key areas: 
 Active Participation: Includes involvement in activities within school and beyond, both 
organized and unorganized. Children and youth should experience activity in a variety of 
environments, such as on land, on ice and snow, in water and in air. 
 Living Skills: Those skills associated with making healthy active choices that are both beneficial to and respectful of their whole self, others and their environment. 
 Fitness Skills: Include balance, muscle endurance and cardiovascular fitness (stamina). 
 Movement Skills: Include throwing, jumping, and running—the building blocks of more complex skills used in games, activities, sports and leisure pursuits. 

The information collected will also inform overall regional and provincial levels of physical literacy in order to monitor improvements over time and to assist in understanding what other resources or interventions may be needed. Please be assured that all data collected through this initiative will be anonymous and will reflect a compilation of all data (not individualized). 

Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions or concerns. 

Sincerely,

Ms. C. Merritt