Grades 7 & 8 Sample Lesson: Team Pact Cooperation

• One student with a prosthetic arm who is East-Asian and comes from a middle-class family.
  • Consideration: Incorporate strategies to support students from diverse cultural/religious backgrounds to make connections to their experiences. 

• One student who has just lost a younger sibling to cancer over the winter holidays and is closed off, with occasional bouts of panic and anxiety.
  • Consideration: Incorporate strategies to create a safer and compassionate learning environment for the student who is experiencing loss and grief to support their well-being. 

• Five students from the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) classroom, one who is non-speaking and is South-Asian, one is Black and a Jehovah’s Witness, and two who are Jewish.
  • Considerations:
    • Incorporate strategies to support students from diverse cultural/religious backgrounds to make connections to their experiences.
    • Ensure all aspects of the lesson are accessible for and inclusive of students with ASD. 

• 5 objects to send (e.g., rubber chickens, various balls, deck rings)  

• 6–8 hula hoops 

• 20 beanbags per team 

• 20–30 small cones or pylons   

• Access to a document (e.g., chart paper and markers or online interactive tool)  

• Cones to designate boundaries 

• Music player and speakers 

• Multicoloured ribbon, scarves, or yarn 

• Rope or skipping ropes (long enough for each student to hold) 

• Student Resource: Team Pact 

• Teacher Resource: Recordable Assessment Tool (Rubric) 

• Set up an obstacle course using available equipment (e.g., cones, hula hoops, beanbags, mats, skipping ropes) to identify the obstacles (e.g., trees, rivers, boulders, animal habitat), as well as the boundaries for the activity area. 

• Divide students into small groups of 4–6. Review the safety rules and instructions for the activity, including pointing out the designated boundaries. 

• Explain to groups that their task is to work together to “Build a Bridge” to move through the obstacle course. Each member of the group must maintain contact with their rope as they navigate the obstacles. 

• Provide each group with a rope and have them stand at one end of the activity area. Have groups identify ways they might communicate with each other to be most successful in navigating the course. Encourage group to identify speaking and non-speaking ways of communicating (e.g., head and hand gestures).  

• Use a staggered start to have each team begin the course.  

• After each group has navigated the course once, provide each group with 4–5 pieces of coloured ribbon or yarn. Have groups identify ways they were successful working as a team and ways that can work to increase their success. Have groups tie one piece of ribbon or yarn to their rope to represent strategies they used and strategies they will try. Encourage groups to use all pieces of their ribbon/yarn to decorate and customize their team rope. 

• Invite groups to navigate the obstacle course while using non-speaking ways of communicating. Clarify types of non-speaking cues that may be used as needed. 

• Have teams navigate the course again. Remind them to focus on the ribbons/yarn as a visual cue to apply their identified strategies.  

Once the challenge is completed, gather students for a whole group discussion to reflect on their participation using the following teacher prompts:

Teacher Prompt: “How did you feel during the activity and what strategies did your group use to communicate effectively to overcome obstacles? You may also show how you feel through a hand gesture or a facial expression.”

Student responses may include:

• “It was fun to have a group to work with, but I did not feel comfortable when I couldn’t use words to communicate.”
• “We made sure we kept looking at each other and nodding in agreement when we couldn’t use words to communicate.”
• “It felt great when we finished and made it to the other side.” 

Teacher Prompt: “How did you support each other as a group? What did you learn about communication and collaboration?”

Student responses may include: 

• “In our group we encouraged each other when one of us was frustrated.” 
• “We listened to each other’s suggestions and tried different ways to move together.” 

Using the following teacher prompt, have students generate ideas for teamwork guidelines that will be used to create a Group Pact.

Teacher Prompt: “What are some of the actions we can take to increase our chance of success while engaging in physical activity and build our relationship skills?”

Student responses may include:

• “We can listen to each other.”
• “We can encourage our teammates.”
• “We can acknowledge each other’s contributions to the activity.”
• “We can take turns to ensure each person feels included.”
• “We can find a fair way to make decisions when we are working through a challenge.”  

• Encourage students to consider what teamwork and cooperation looks like and sounds like in their community and/or make connections to their prior experiences playing games.  

• Record students’ ideas to create the Group Pact and for reference during the “Mining for Gold” activity in the “Action” section. 

• Post the student generated ideas in the activity space for reference as a visual reminder for actions that foster positive relationships and teamwork skills.  

• Divide students into new groups of 7–9. 

• Have groups line up facing one direction with about 2 m between each other. 

• Place a hula hoop at either end of the line and place 20 beanbags (pieces of gold) into the hoop at the back of the line. 

• Provide each student with a small cone/pylon and tell them they must keep one foot on their cone/pylon, which serves as a physical cue for positioning. 

• Explain to students that the object of the game is to get all the beanbags from one hoop to the other by passing the beanbags one at time to the person next to them in line. 

• Remind students of the Group Pact actions and the safety rules and then have groups play one round of Mining for Gold.  

• When groups have played the game once, stop, and review the Group Pact. Have groups identify one action they did that contributed to their success and one action they will try to use more often when they continue the game. 

• Have groups determine an alternate way they will send the beanbag (e.g., slide or kick it rather than toss it.)  

• After a second round of play, encourage students to add additional variations (e.g., alter the length of the line or the space between each other, mix or vary the objects they send, modify the rules). Ask students to decide how they might change the game to enhance their fun, challenge, and success. 

• Have groups collaborate to determine the variations they will make and then continue playing with the new variations in play.  

Model and provide speaking cues for the following stretches and have students mirror the movements.

• Neck Stretches: Slowly tilt the head to the right side, moving the right ear toward the right shoulder. Hold. Repeat on left side. Slowly tilt head forward, moving chin toward the chest. Hold. Slowly roll head across chest from shoulder to shoulder in a half circle. Repeat four times.
• Side Bends: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart or sit with feet wide apart, knees slightly bent. Bend at the hips from one side to the other. Hold the position. Do not bounce. Keep body facing straight forward.
• Lunge and Reach: Stand with legs wide apart and knees bent. Place hands on thighs. Slowly lunge to the side by bending one leg and straightening the other. Keep feet flat on the floor. Alternate sides.
• Sky Stretch: While standing on tiptoes or sitting, stretch one or both arms overhead, reaching up as high as possible. Hold. Repeat. 

Allow students to stand or sit and provide alternative instructions to accommodate the needs of students (e.g., if sitting, have students limit the range of motion or change the direction, omit or make the Lunge and Reach optional).  

Considering playing relaxing music while students engage in the cool down as an additional calming strategy.   

• In groups of 4–6, students pass an object (e.g., ball, beanbag) from one group member to another as quickly as possible for 2–3 minutes. Challenge students to work together to make quick and accurate passes. 

• Ask students to identify what helps them achieve success (e.g., calling a person’s name before throwing to them, looking in the target's direction, using controlled passes, staying alert). 

Increase the number of objects in Speed Pass. 

Use large balls, foam balls, different textured balls, or objects with different shapes.

CRRP and Disability-Centred Movement Strategies Embedded in the Lesson 

• Incorporating the use of coloured ribbons or yarn helps students from South-Asia and East-Asia make connections to their cultural background and the importance and significance of colours.  

• Encouraging students to consider what teamwork and cooperation look like and sound like in their community helps students from South-Asian, East-Asian, Jewish communities, and students who are Jehovah’s Witnesses make connections to their background and prior experiences. This can foster cultural pride and a sense of belonging. 

• Focusing on cooperative games to foster relationship and teamwork skills creates a safer space to help the student reintegrate into learning at an appropriate pace for them. 

• Using small groups and strategies that promote pairs discussion provides a peer or support buddy as another level of connection.  

• Co-constructing criteria to form a Group Pact and building choice into the activities help foster a safe and caring environment to further assist the student to re-establish connections with others and participating to the degree with which they feel comfortable (e.g., the cool down stretch).  

• Incorporating music into the lesson provides an outlet for emotions, and can help regulate the nervous system, potentially reducing the student’s bouts of panic and anxiety.  

• Being aware of students’ sensory sensitivities and using outside spaces where external sounds become muffled in nature sensory creates better conditions for learning through physical activity experiences.  

• Having all students perform tasks focusing on various senses (e.g., using non-speaking communication) helps students feel a sense of belonging. 

• Providing sensory-friendly options, such as using calming music, can help to regulate sensory input. 

• Providing schedules and using gestures to communicate and/or signal transitions during and between activities help prepare students for transitions, remind students of the expectations of the activity, and help them participate and communicate effectively.   

• Scaffolding the activity through students’ selected variations allows students to adjust their participation based on the chosen complexity of tasks.   

• Using clear, concise, and concrete language when giving instructions and highlighting abstract concepts (e.g., hula hoops representing rivers) minimizes confusion for students with ASD.  

• Providing beanbags or objects that are easier to catch to accommodate the student's prosthetic arm. This ensures that every student can participate regardless of their physical abilities. 

• The student is allowed to progress at their own pace during the lesson, with additional time or breaks as needed to accommodate any challenges they may encounter.