Staying Safe and Active

Lesson Plan

Grade(s): 1 Unit: Welcome to the Gym

Lesson: 3 of 4

H&PE Curriculum Expectations

2015 H&PE Curriculum Expectations: 1.4, A1.1, A2.1, A3.1

2019 H&PE Curriculum Expectations: B1.1, B2.1, B3.1

Learning Goals
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

demonstrate personal space through participating safely in cooperative activities involving space
awareness.

actively participate in sustained moderate to vigorous physical activity.

Safety Requirements
Refer to the Ontario Physical Activity Safety Standards in Education .

Equipment List
4 – 6 pinnies or other markers

Teacher Resource: Anecdotal Recording Chart

Student Resource 2: FAIR Chart

Appendix: Stretches

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Warm-Up
Students will gradually increase their heart rate by participating in the following activity.

Post Student Resource 2: FAIR Chart.

Teacher prompt: “What does it mean to be ready to participate?” Ask for ideas from the class.

Read the following checklist out loud to the class and have students stand up if they are ready.

F – Are you ready to have fun?

A – Are you ready to be active?

I – Are you ready to listen to instructions?

R – Are you wearing your running shoes?

Moving in Personal Space

Students find an open space and perform the following movements.

Pretend you are a sapling (i.e., a young tree) and reach your branches to the sky.

Pretend you are a big tree with lots of branches and stretch your branches as far as you can reach
around you.

Pretend you are an old tree and reach your branches toward the floor.

Using your arms, now show your personal space.

Remind students that no other students or objects should be in their personal space.

Minds On
Share lesson Learning Goals with students using student-friendly language. Have students predict what they
will be doing based on the Learning Goals.

Teacher prompt: “Today we are going to continue to focus on being safe when playing cooperative activities,
but we are also going to try to be as active as we can during the class. I’m going to ask you at the end of the
class how well you think you participated actively and safely with others.”

Brainstorm active participation Success Criteria with the students and post the list on chart paper in the
activity area for them to view. Have students suggest what active participation looks like, feels like and
sounds like.

Tell students that you will be observing them to see if they participate actively and safely.

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Success Criteria for Active Participation:

demonstrates readiness and ability to take part

participates actively in all physical activities

Success Criteria for Safety:

monitors their own actions to ensure safety

applies safety rules and safety procedures while participating in a variety of physical activities

A&E Minds On
Teacher observation of students’ responses, discussions and interactions using Teacher Resource:
Anecdotal Recording Chart.

Action
Squirrels in the Forest
Identify the designated area.

Divide the class into two groups. Half of the class acts like trees blowing in the wind, using their
personal space. The other half are squirrels, sneaking and scampering between the trees.

The focus is to move around without being touched. If you are touched, you become a tree and the tree
becomes the squirrel.

Switch roles often.

Emphasize moving safely like a squirrel (i.e., running lightly with no sliding or falling). Always travel in
the activity area with control.

Ensure the activity area is small enough that the trees have an opportunity to touch the squirrels.

Call out “wind storm” periodically. When they hear this signal, students change roles so that all trees
become squirrels and all squirrels become trees.

Foxes and Squirrels

Number each player 1, 2, or 3. Also choose 3 – 5 foxes and identify them with a pinnie or marker.

The 1s and 2s join both hands overhead to form a “tree.”

The 3s are squirrels who stand under the trees and perform pogo jumps on the spot. Only one squirrel
at a time can stand under a tree, and there should be more squirrels than trees.

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 On a signal, the squirrels begin travelling from tree to tree. If a squirrel comes to an occupied tree, it
must continue moving around.

The focus is to move from tree to tree without being tagged by a fox.

Foxes tag squirrels, and then the two students exchange roles.

Allow all players the opportunity to be squirrels (e.g., 3s change with 1s and later 1s change with 2s).

After playing this game, discuss with students safe and active spacial awareness.

Teacher asks students to self-assess in response to the following questions using a Thumbs-Up Strategy :

Was I always active throughout today’s activities?

Was I safe during today’s activities?

A&E - Action
Teacher observation of students’ active and safe participation using Teacher Resource: Anecdotal Recording
Chart.

Cool-Down
Students gradually decrease their heart rate to a resting rate by participating in the activity below. Students
should also stretch the body parts that have been active throughout the lesson. See Appendix for stretches.

Students pretend they are squirrels finding food for winter in a variety of places around the activity area
and taking the food back to their spot for winter.

Squirrels sit in their spot and pretend to eat their snack and then curl up for their nap.

Teacher prompt: “What does it mean to be ready to participate?”

Teacher reminds students of Student Resource 2: FAIR Chart.

F – Are you ready to have fun?

A – Are you ready to be active?

I – Are you ready to listen to instructions?

R – Are you wearing your running shoes?

Consolidation
Have students identify what working well with others requires, and then give examples of being safe and
cooperating in this lesson’s activities.

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Student response: “I tried to tag everyone and not just my friends”; “It didn’t matter to me who my partner
was”; “I tried to have fun even when I wasn’t ‘It’”; “I tagged gently”; “I always looked where I was going”; “I
respected others’ personal space.”

Ideas for Extension

Crows and Cranes
Divide players into two teams: one team is the ‘crows’, the other is the ‘cranes’.

Teams sit facing each other across the centre of the activity area.

Teacher calls “crows” or “cranes.”

If the crows are called, they run to a line near the end of the activity area and are chased by the
cranes.

If a crow is tagged before she or he reaches the line, she or he becomes a crane.

Reverse for the cranes.

Repeat several times, giving each team an equal number of opportunities to chase. However, call the
signals in an irregular pattern.

Also, intersperse crows and cranes with other “CR” words such as crumbs, crackers, crayons etc.

Notes to Teacher
When playing the extension version of Crows and Cranes, have students touch the wall instead of
having them stop at a line.

Walls are not used as turning points on relays. A pylon or marker, placed away from of the wall, is
used.

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