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Physical education prepares children for an active and healthy life while improving self discipline and reducing stress. This section includes PE lessons from kindergarten through high school spanning different skill levels and objectives. Lessons are categorized by grade for easy retrieval. These lessons were created by real teachers working in schools across the United States. The section will continue to grow as more teachers like you share your lesson plans. We encourage you! Share your lessons plans Teacher.org, contact us.

P.E. Environmental Lesson Plans

Length of Time: 20-40 Minutes

Students will learn a brief background about energy transfer between the sun, producers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers. ½ of the students are primary consumers (plants) and ¼ of the students are primary consumers (rabbits) and ¼ of the students are secondary consumers (hawks).

P.E. P.E. Lesson Plans

Length of Time: 1 class period

Using a deck of playing cards, the students will pick the number of reps for various exercises.

Length of Time: As Desired

Students will practice listening skills and basic physical concepts as required in physical education class. Students will also work on balance and coordination.

Length of Time: 1 class period

Combining information about the speed of animals, the students will run laps in the gym or outdoors.

Length of Time: As Desired

Students will practice teamwork, dribbling, and shooting a basketball.

Length of Time: About 30 Minutes

This plan will combine reading with balance and coordination skills to allow students to navigate a simple obstacle course.

Length of Time: 15 - 20 Minutes

Students will play a game in which they need to change direction quickly. Students are to pretend that they are on a sailboat that is in the middle of a storm. They will have to run and change direction based on verbal commands and duck quickly to avoid being hit by the imaginary boom.

Length of Time: About 45 Minites

This lesson is designed to help students learn the importance and reasons for exercise through multiple activities and discussions.

Length of Time: 10-40 Minutes

This plan will allow students to practice coordination while staying physical.

Length of Time: 20-40 Minutes

Students will learn a brief background about energy transfer between the sun, producers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers. ½ of the students are primary consumers (plants) and ¼ of the students are primary consumers (rabbits) and ¼ of the students are secondary consumers (hawks).

Length of Time: 1 or 2 Class Periods

The student will participate in a game of basketball using various sizes of available balls.

Length of Time: 1 class period

The students will move to the music based on its beat, words, tune, and other variables.

Length of Time: 10 - 40 Minutes

This plan will allow students to practice coordination while staying physical.

Length of Time: 2-3 Class Periods

The students will research games and activities from other countries to share during a PE class.

Length of Time: 20 - 30 Minutes

This lesson will allow students to practice passing, dribbling, and bouncing skills using basketballs

Length of Time: As Desired

Students will practice basic aerobics moves while trying to stay positioned on paper plates, this aids in coordination.

Length of Time: 20 - 30 Minutes

This lesson will allow students to practice teamwork, basic math skills, and get exercise through a relay race. Note: Problems/difficulty level can be altered by grade

Length of Time: 20- 30 Minutes

This lesson will allow students to practice gross motor skills.

Length of Time: As Desired

Students will practice listening skills and basic physical concepts as required in physical education class.

Length of Time: 10 - 40 Minutes

This plan will allow students to practice coordination while staying physical. Students will demonstrate moving straight, backwards, and in a zig-zag pattern.

Length of Time: 2-3 Class Periods

The students will create a PE activity to share and demonstrate to peers.

Length of Time: 20 - 30 Minutes

This lesson will allow students to practice teamwork and trust building, as well as working on directionality for younger students.

Length of Time: 20 - 40 Minutes

The students play a game where they practice different movements including jumping, galloping, skipping, running, jogging, leaping, and walking. Based on National Physical Education Standards, students should have been learning these skills for the last 4 years.

P.E. Science Lesson Plans

Length of Time: 20-40 Minutes

Students will learn a brief background about energy transfer between the sun, producers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers. ½ of the students are primary consumers (plants) and ¼ of the students are primary consumers (rabbits) and ¼ of the students are secondary consumers (hawks).

Ready to Pursue a Master's Degree in Education? Make it Your Time!

Teacher.org's lesson plans encourage conceptual understanding and lifelong learning skills in students as well as empower and motivate teachers.

Are you currently teaching but have the desire to pursue a Master's Degree in Education? Follow your passion for teaching but at the same time give yourself the tools to further your career and learning. Whether it's higher salaries, advanced career opportunities, or leadership positions, earning your Master's Degree in Education is one worth pursuing. Make it your time!

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Physical education prepares children for an active and healthy life while improving self discipline and reducing stress

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Last fall, I sent out a survey asking via The #PhysEd Newsletter asking my readers if they had any burning questions that they would like me to tackle in 2019.

One question that was submitted by a lot of people was "what advice would you give a first-year physical education teacher?" This is a question I've seen asked several times on Twitter as well, so I thought it would be cool to answer it here.

Here's the thing though: my advice is coming from only one perspective (my own). The beauty of the online #physed community is that it is composed of thousands of educators from around the world. Collectively, that involves thousands of roads travels, thousands of background stories, and thousands of unique perspectives. So to complement this blog post, I'll be creating a #PhysEd Thrive Guide that will include responses to this question from other members of the #physed community. I will be embedding it at the end of this blog post once it is done. For now, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@phys_educator) to make sure you get notified once the #PhysEd Thrive Guide for this post goes live.

Ok, here's my advice for first-year physical education teachers which I've limited it to the top five items I wish I could go back and tell myself a decade ago.

Stay Healthy

As ridiculous as it may sound for me - as a physical educator - to be saying this to a fellow physical educator, I need you to remember that health is your greatest wealth.

Teaching has the power to make you feel superhuman, saving the world one child's life at a time. That being said, it also has this tendency to completely drain you physically, mentally, emotionally, and - on some occasions - spiritually.

A wise man once told me that to give, you need to have; that to fill, you need to be full. If you allow yourself to become depleted, you will no longer be in a position to continue to serve the young people that you are blessed to be able to teach.

As a first-year teacher, you hopefully have that mad fire in your belly that is burning hot. That fire is an incredible thing and something that you can sustain over time if you focus on keeping your body, mind, and spirit active and healthy.

Don't underestimate the terrible impact that a few skipped runs, a few missed lunches, a couple calls you forgot about with friends/family, and some lost self-reflection time can quickly have on your ability to teach to the best of your capacity. There is a fine line between being selfless and being stupid. I'm calling it as it is because creating that sense of balance in my life is something that I have struggled with throughout my career and something that has had an unnecessary negative impact on my own wellbeing.

Over the past ten years, I've learned better and have been working hard to stay balanced and healthy ( check out this post to learn about some of the habits that have helped me get there). Do yourself a favour and learn from mistakes. Make your own health a non-negotiable priority in your life and empower yourself to continue to be the best teacher you can be.

Go Slow

As I mentioned before, you're probably feeling pretty fired up about teaching in your first year. To that, I say HELL YES! The world doesn't need unmotivated, unenthusiastic people teaching its future. Rumble, young teacher, rumble!

Your incredible motivation as a first-year teacher might lead to you wanting to make a massive splash as possible as quickly as possible. You'll want to teach every outcome, coach every team, tweet every moment, run every show. You'll want to show the world that you mean business and deserve to be in the position that you are in.

This belief that you need to do as much as possible to prove yourself as an educator is a mistake. In most cases, you'll wind up skimming the surface on most things while never giving yourself - or, more importantly, your students - the opportunity to live rich, deep experiences. This surface dwelling as you try to check every box on your "Super Teacher Checklist" can actually create a lot of self-imposed pressure on yourself which can lead to you missing out on the magic of teaching.

I'm not telling you to be lazy and do as little as possible. I'm just telling you to go a little slower:

Go slow as you get to know your students. Take your time getting to know what they like, what they don't like, what they need, and what they can teach you. Give them time to get to know you and take the time to get to know them.

Go slow as you build your teaching style. Be patient as you establish routines and procedures with your students. Don't try to be that teacher you saw at the conference/on Twitter. Figure out the role you can best play in your students' lives and allow yourself to be you.

Go slow as you learn all of the things that I promise you they didn't teach you in school. I thought I knew it all when I graduated back in 2009. I learned more in that first year of teaching than I did in the four years of university that preceded it. Take your time digesting all of the information the trenches of teaching will teach you as you find your footing as an educator.

I was lucky to get to be exposed to some of the most masterful physical educators in Canada while attending PHE Canada's Student Leadership Camp back in 2007. I remember that one of my early goals when I started building this website, was to fast-track it to becoming a "Master Teacher" like the mentors I spent time with at the SLC. Listen, I learned skills, developed ideas, built resources, and made incredible connections that no doubt had a positive impact on my professional development and helped me become the physical educator I am today. However, there is no such thing as "Master Teacher" speed plan. The title, which I hope to one day feel like I've attained, comes from experience. What I've learned is the teacher's I met at that camp were who they were because of years of trying, learning, growing, and enjoying. They were who they were because they put in the work.

So put in the work, get your reps in, and enjoy taking the time getting to understand what it means to be someone's teacher. It's fun, trust me.

Be Kind

Contrary to what the news these days wants you to believe, there is a lot of power in practicing kindness.

Obviously, kindness towards your students can lead to them practicing kindness in return. It can help build trust, gain their support, and not be too hard on you the next time your lesson plan performs a belly flop (which is 100% going to happen at some point).

Kindness towards your school's parent community can help you recruit advocates for your program and volunteers for your events. It can help you build relationships in which you feel comfortable having the honest-yet-difficult conversations we sometimes need to have to best serve a child.

Kindness towards your colleagues/administrators can help you create a stronger teaching team at your school. It can help you develop bonds in which you feel like others have your back (like when you really need to pee but have been teaching back-to-backs all day... I bet they didn't teach you that in school). It can help you build friendships that will last a lifetime.

Here's one last kindness that I really want you to remember: be kind to yourself. I promise you that, at some point, you're going to make mistakes. On the rare occasion, you might even feel like you've really f*cked up. You might feel like a failure, a loser, or a complete incompetent.

In those moments, here's what I want you to do:

Breathe.

Understand that this feeling of unworthiness comes from a place of wanting to be great for your students.

Remember that with each failure comes a better understanding of how to be successful.

Focus on your next step towards success.

Promise to be a little bit kinder towards yourself next time this happens.

Feel better? Ok, good. Now get out there and teach!

Be Consistent

For many of you in your first year, you may find yourselves inheriting a program with a problematic culture. Maybe it was a "roll-out-the-ball" thing, a "let's cater to the athletes" thing, or (my favourite) a "I just kinda did whatever, the kids were sweaty though" thing.

Strong classroom culture is like having an additional teacher in your class: it's there to help your students make the right decisions, guides them through the routines and procedures that serve as the foundation of your classroom management, and can help your students maintain a positive mindset when facing challenging situations in their learning.

Often, new teachers wind up feeling crushed by the culture that they've inherited from the teacher who was there before them. This legacy effect can make you feel as though you are always swimming upstream in your efforts to create the program of your dreams. It's tough and - given the lack of teacher accountability frequently found in physical education programs - it can be really easy to give up on your dream and just go with the flow.

Here's what I've learned about culture change: it's really hard, but it doesn't take as long as you'd expect. There is a tipping point after which you can sense an increase in momentum that will help accelerate the rate at which you dream becomes a reality.

From my experience, the thing that slowed me down the most wasn't outside forces, oppositional voices, or uninterested students. Instead, it was a lack of resolve in how consistent I was being in making my dream come true.

If you want your students to demonstrate responsible behaviours in your class, be consistent in your behaviour management.

If you want students, parents, teachers, administrators to view your program as an important and essential component of education, be consistent with the quality of work (e.g., lessons, programs, events) that you produce for your program.

If you want to build strong relationships with your students, be consistent in the way that you show respect and interest in who they are as individuals.

There are going to be moments in which you falter, make mistakes, or underperform (remember the "Be Kind" point). The important thing is that, when you take a step back and look at the big picture of the body of work you produce, that you see that was a clear and consistent purpose in what you've done.

So how do you make sure you do that? Start with the end in mind!* Take time to sit down and map out where it is you want to go in your work. What kind of program do you want to build? How do you want your lessons to run? How do you want your school's community to view you? Paint a clear, detailed portrait of the culture that you want to build and keep it close to your heart at all times. Review it on a regular basis. Let it guide your actions, decisions, and efforts as you move forward in your career. Know that others will resist it, push back, and try to crush it. This includes yourself, via that small voice in the back of your head. Stay focused on your mission, let your passion be infectious, and others will begin to see your vision as something they want to be a part of too**.

*" The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People " is essential reading for ever human being on the planet. I'd add it to your library asap.

*Again, from my experience, this usually happens right when you're about to give up and don't. Once it does, things get easier (without necessarily being easy).

Keep Learning

Alright, so you're about 2000 words into this post. I'm going to go ahead and say that you're one of those "passionate about P.E." types (I'm not that good of a writer). That's good news because you're going to need that passion for this last piece of advice:
Accept and embrace the fact that you still have a lot to learn.
Here's the thing though: you always will. The more you learn, the more you realize that there is so much more to know. Lucky for you, we live in a time where information and professional development are more accessible than ever before!

At any moment, you can hop online and connect with teachers from all around the world via the power of social media. Be it Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or Voxer: teachers are finding ways to get together, share ideas, and learn.

I want to really encourage you to be proactive in the way that you go about creating your professional learning network. Don't wait to be in crisis mode to start reaching out for help and support! Make a conscious effort to engage in discussion, read an article, scroll through tweets, or watch a video each and every day. Keep finding new people to follow and learn from. Be sure to introduce yourself to them, don't just lurk! Step outside your comfort zone and politely interject/add to conversations that are taking place.

Also, share your work! The real value of social media as a tool for professional development is felt when you start putting your own ideas out there. Let people take a look, add comments, and help you build those ideas. You're lucky that the #physed community is one of the most respectful, kind, and energetic communities you are likely to find. Yes, people might be critical of your work at times. Don't let yourself become defensive. Instead, engage with them and encourage them to help you grow. You would be amazed at the number of times that the person who was most critical of my work wound up being the person I had the most to learn from.

As you connect with other educators, as you build your PLN, you will find yourself feeling inspired and excited about the work that you do. Impossible obstacles will become exciting challenges, mistakes will become opportunities for growth, and the fear of hitting "post" will become a hunger for feedback. That's what lifelong learning feels like.

I hope this advice serves you well. There is so much more I would love to share with you, but I'm going to stop myself here. Instead, I will be sharing the Thrive Guide I mentioned at the top of this post below ( it will be up soon, I promise! It's up!) If there are any questions you may still have, feel free to leave them in the comments below.

Thanks for reading and happy teaching!

February 20, 2020

January 15, 2020

September 24, 2019

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Advice For First-Year Physical Education Teachers

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Last fall, I sent out a survey asking via The #PhysEd Newsletter asking my readers if they had any burning questions that they would like me to tackle in 2019. One question that was submitted by a lot of people was "what advice would you give a first-year physical education teacher?"

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If you missed the presentation you can watch the replay below.

Thanks for attending my presentation. I hope that you enjoyed it and find this page of notes from the presentation helpful. Good luck in implementing some of these strategies to help take your teaching to the next level for your students.

If you want to stay connected make sure to subscribe to the blog to get updates on new content and blogs as I put them out.

Stopping Signal - 1,2,3 ... Stop, Drop and Listen... Use Music as a signal

Home Base Spots - Use letters and numbers on your wall to designate spots like a spreadsheet

See a blog about my 5 favorite management hacks for downloads of the next 4 Hacks (Shoe Form, Conflict Corner, Daily Self Assessment, Good Sportsmanship Code)

No Tennis Shoes, Time Out or Injury Form - automates problems and provides parent communication

Conflict Corner - Save yourself time and teach your kids to resolve their own conflicts

Daily Self Assessment - Quick and easy way to self assess at the end of each lesson

Good Sportsmanship Code - Great reminder for your kids about what's important

Self Timed Time Outs and Penalties - Have students time themselves when they break a rule or go to time out with a stopwatch or by counting "Mississippi's"

Student Roll/Attendance Management - For once a week PE use a different clipboard for each day and tape a full week schedule on each clipboard for easy access. Use codes to keep up with management.

Know your kids names

Buy a yearbook and review it before school starts

Take iPad pictures of your students with name tags on the first day and memorize them

Play name games during the first couple of weeks

Quick Tips

Start directions with the phrase "When I say Go"

Separate management/organization

Play music when students should be moving

Give teams 30 seconds to "Strategize" before any gameplay/activity

Allow students to choose their own teams when appropriate
Not by picking teams, but by quickly pairing up

Bathroom & Water only when the music is on

Discipline with an "Oh No" attitude

Increase the Buy-In
Have students repeat these phrases back to you regularly

It's just a game

I will not give up

I will do my best

Nice Job Self

Awwww Man... (at the end of class)

Paraphrase rules for younger students (K-1st) and repeat daily at the beginning of class

When the teacher is talking you are doing what??? (Listening)

If you have something to say you should do what??? (Raise your hand)

"Any problem can be solved with a little ingenuity" - MacGyver

"Remember that technology is a tool, not a toy" - Nathan Horne

SHOW ME APP - easily communicate instructions visually to teachers or substitutes
Examples of Show Me's that I have used

Pano Your Setup - Using your phone to take a panoramic picture to include in your lessons for the following year so you can remember how you set it up - Waaaay faster than drawing a diagram

Canned Response in Gmail

Saves your time and allows you to use email templates quickly for responding to parent volunteers or teachers with the same information

Tutorial on how to set it up

Plickers - an easy and quick way to assess your students with an iPad (DETAILED TUTORIAL HERE)

Stay tuned for a detailed blog about this coming soon...

You can purchase pre-laminated Plickers Cards - if you try and laminate your own they will sometimes not scan well because of the reflection of the light

You can also use this Pocket Organizer to organize the cards for easy access by your students, you can see how I do it in the pictures below - students are all assigned a "Home Base Spot" which is labelled on their card, super easy.

After quickly scanning the students cards - you can tell how well you are communicating the content knowledge that you were hoping - it's an awesome way to assess student learning (which reflects the effectiveness of your teaching). See an example of a report from an inservice session I did with our district PE Teachers in the iPad screenshot below (we had some teachers intentionally answer wrong so I could show them what the report looked like with wrong answers):

Bluetooth Streaming - Turn that old stereo into an iPad/iPod streaming device with a bluetooth receiver. for an example. Also, for instructions on setup you can read my blog about the subject

Put Videos and Pictures on a USB Drive

Great to backup in case your WiFi goes down

Never has to load or buffer - always ready to go

Plug and play in newer TV's and DVD Players

QR Codes
Gotta refer this one to and Jarrod Robinson, check out their blogs and resources on the topic - lots of cool possibilities!

Great Resource for tons of PE Technology Hacks - Check out ThePEGeek.com, Jarrod Robinson is definitely the Tech Guru in the PhysEd Community. I got to meet him recently and must say he's an awesome guy and is doing some incredible stuff for the PE community.

I hope you enjoyed the presentation, if you have any feedback hit me up on the contact page.

Have Fun and Teach On!

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If you missed the presentation you can watch the replay below. Thanks for attending my presentation. I hope that you enjoyed it and find this page of notes from the presentation helpful. Good luck in implementing some of these strategies to help take your teaching to the next level for your students.

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Designed to be taught in 8 integrative lessons, the curriculum begins with the simple goal of teaching a child how to move, balance, and stop while on a two-wheeled balance bike. Midway through the curriculum, the bikes are converted from balance-mode to pedal-mode with one bolt.

This progressive-based approach aligns with SHAPE America National Physical Education Standards.

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How do I bring the Kindergarten PE Program to my school? All Kids Bike is a national movement to place Kindergarten PE Learn-To-Ride Programs into public schools, using donations from individuals, businesses, and organizations. Getting Started A simple 5-step process enables educators to get their students rolling!

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PE  Rules and Procedures Overview During First Week of School #physed

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Tips for Future Physical Education Teachers |Q & A Interview|

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Why is physical education a student’s most important subject? | William Simon, Jr. | TEDxUCLA