Grades 7 & 8 Sample Lesson: Find Your Fit

• Two students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who take medication at their respective homes in the mornings. One student receives therapy to support with executive functioning skills.
  • Considerations:
    • Incorporate strategies to support students with ADHD to ensure a meaningful experience for all students in the class. 
    • Integrate strategies into the lesson to support executive function. 

• Four students from the nearby First Nations reserve.
  • Consideration: Integrate cultural sensitivity to Indigenous ways of knowing and being, with recognition of the ongoing colonization and attempted eradication of Indigenous peoples. 

• We are learning to participate actively and safely, according to our capabilities in sustained moderate to vigorous physical activity for a minimum of 20 minutes while demonstrating behaviours and applying procedures that maximize our safety and the safety of others 

• We are learning to identify and demonstrate an understanding of factors that contribute to our personal enjoyment of being active. 

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

• Appendix: Stretches 

• Fitness equipment from available equipment (e.g., mats, bands, cones, medicine balls, skipping ropes, agility ladders) 

• Music player and speakers 

• Student Resource: Fitness Journal 

• Teacher Resource: Recordable Anecdotal Recording Chart 

• Select and display visual instruction cards illustrating various dynamic movement stretches. Provide demonstrations for students so they have the choice in how they perform these stretches to the best of their ability (e.g., sitting, standing, one arm only, one leg only) while vocalizing clear step-by-step instructions. Refer to “Appendix: Stretches” for sample movements.   

• Have students work alone or in pairs. Students choose 4–5 stretches to perform from those displayed. Encourage students to select stretches to warm up all body parts and to perform them at their own pace. 

• Provide students with a copy of the stretches for ease of reference and understanding as needed. Check for understanding before students begin the warm-up. 

• Use a predetermined signal (e.g., music, hand gesture, hand clap) for students to rotate through each of their selected stretches. 

Divide students into pairs, considering intentional groupings based on needs, interests, and relationships. Provide students with a recording tool (e.g., sticky notes, paper, interactive device). 

Using the Think Pair Share Strategy (consult Teaching Strategy Descriptions) and the following teacher prompt, have students consider and share their responses to the benefits of physical fitness for everyday living:

Teacher Prompt: “With your partner, generate and record some possible benefits of engaging in physical fitness on a regular basis to help you perform your daily tasks.”  

Provide pairs with sufficient time to record their responses and then join another pair to compare similarities and expand their list. 

Have pairs share a few responses.

Student responses may include:

• “It helps improves my cardiorespiratory system so I can do well in our community challenge events.”
• “My coach told me that doing strength work improves muscle endurance.”
• “I help out with daily tasks at home, so fitness helps me develop the strength and endurance I need to finish them.” 

Gather and display images (e.g., slideshow, posters, videos) highlighting various ways individuals engage in activities that requires the use of various fitness components (e.g., cardiorespiratory, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility). Images should also highlight a blend of cultural forms of physical activity and diverse ethnicities, races, and abilities.

Teacher Prompt: “With your partner, identify the images that most appeal to you and explain why (e.g., you participate in that activity, you like to move your body in similar ways, you would like to try the activity). How can participating in physical activities impact others or contribute to a person’s enjoyment of being active?” 

• Encourage pairs to share their perspectives and experiences with other pairs.  

• Using the following teacher prompt, introduce students to the focus of the lesson:

Teacher Prompt: “It is important for individuals to engage in activities that they enjoy to motivate them to be physically active. Today you will have the choice of determining what activities you participate in while focusing on your personal fitness development.”  

• Cone runs 

• Short sprints (starting on tummy or on the back and turn over to tummy) 

• High knees 

• Create your own 

• Push-ups (wall, bench, floor), plyo push-ups 

• Medicine ball toss with a partner 

• Hopping (over objects, over lines) and strength challenges 

• Create your own 

• Ladder drills 

• Dance routines 

• Agility drill relay 

• Create your own 

• This activity can be done as a large group or in smaller groups.  

• One student begins by performing and holding a stretch. 

• The person beside them performs the same stretch and passes it down the line or around the circle like a wave. 

• When all students have performed the stretch, have another student volunteer to lead a new stretch. Students follow, one at a time, when the “wave” reaches them. 

Review the lesson’s learning goals with students.  

Using the Thumbs Up Strategy (consult Teaching Strategy Descriptions), have students assess their ability to achieve the lesson’s learning goals. 

Provide students with a recording tool (e.g., “Student Resource: Fitness Journal”). Have students identify action steps to help develop their personal fitness. Break down the actions into manageable steps and provide support as needed to help students articulate and identify action steps. 

Use an Exit Card strategy for students to share one thing they enjoyed and/or learned during the lesson.  

Students work in teams of four or five. They select fitness activities they enjoy and create an obstacle course that incorporates speed, agility, and muscular endurance. Each team presents their course to the class. 

Have students identify and share ways they can incorporate fitness activities with friends, family, and community members.  

Invite guest speakers (e.g., various members from the Indigenous community, Para-sport athletes and/or coaches, students and/or instructors from local fitness and promotion programs, local fitness team members) to share ways in which physical activity and/or fitness is, and should be, accessible and inclusive for all. This includes learning about the importance of all individuals being able to engage in culturally relevant ways of moving. The core of the presentation can revolve around the joy that sport brings to them and/or what success, strength, and fitness can look like for different people.

• Incorporating recording tools and student resources help students track and pace self-monitoring and assessment of their performance based on the learning goals.  

• Using images and illustrations of exercises and activities support student engagement by attending to their learning styles and needs. 

• Providing choice within stations promotes autonomy and allows students to engage in activities that align with their interests and abilities. 

• Using purposeful grouping and providing choices and options for participating; the choices and options take into account possible effects of medication, such as changes in appetite, mood, or behaviour. 

• Maintaining open communication with students and parent(s)/guardian(s)/caregiver(s) to stay informed about any changes in medication or dosage, as well as any concerns or observations. 

• Copies of instructions or exercises are broken down into smaller, manageable chunks and are provided as needed.  

• The lesson is organized into manageable components. Illustrations/worksheets are provided when specific to the lesson (e.g., stretches during the warm-up, Student Resource during the consolidation).   

• Repetition of directions and purposeful groupings to include potential peer mentors available to check in with throughout the lesson.  

• Visual timers (e.g., for amount of time at each station or centre, hand signals) provide cues when transitions are going to occur (e.g., five and then two minutes). 

• A check-in is included for students to indicate that they are ready to begin (e.g., thumbs up, thumbs down).  

• Culturally diverse examples, images, and references are incorporated for students to reflect and make connections to Indigenous ways of movement and joy in movement.  

• Opportunities for students to share Indigenous practices, as well as what other students (e.g., differing cultures and abilities) offer, allows space for student voice to be valued.   

• All instructions and components of the lesson emphasize and honour that there are various ways of moving and highlight that fitness may look and feel different for everyone, allowing students to make connections to their background, culture, and preferred way of moving and being. This supports students in feeling seen, valued and heard in how they choose to participate in the lesson. 

• Strategies are incorporated to ensure that the learning environment celebrates the efforts of students who might feel hesitant to engage, based on negative experiences with fitness. These strategies include choice and voice when engaging in all or some of the lesson (e.g., choices for the warm-up, selecting activities to set up and participate in the fitness circuit). 

• Educators are also encouraged to collaborate with Indigenous community members to explore traditional activities grounded in Indigenous ways of knowing and being, and then incorporate them into the lesson through activity and/or discussions.