Cross Disciplinary Examples

Incorporating content from other subject areas into a physical education curriculum has many benefits. One, it helps students with their other classes. Two, it builds support for your program. And three, classroom teachers can use some of these activities in their class, boosting physical activity throughout the day. We have lots of examples of how to do this below. Once you get the hang of it, incorporating other content in your lessons will become easier to do.
SHAPE America Appropriate Practices
  • 3.7.1 Physical education forms part of a multidisciplinary curriculum, but integration doesn’t compromise teaching the concepts important to developing a physically educated individual.
Examples from twitter
Any Content - INTERVAL RUNNING GAMES
Any Content - using PROJECTORS​​
Project images on the wall/screen for your students to use for targets (ie. throw or kick a ball). Click here for more information.
math
  • ​Students can calculate the score from a given game scenario: "Team A scored 14 two-pointers, 4 three-pointers, and 7 free throws. What is team A's score?"
  • Students can calculate statistics for a student's performance: "Student A made 19 of 23 attempts. What is his/her success rate?"
  • Students can calculate calories expended in activities: "Food A has 'X calories' and jumping jacks burn 'X calories per hour.' Perform jumping jacks for as long as needed to burn off the calories of Food A."
  • Students can add numbers to determine who is the tagger: "Students play a modified version of rock, paper, scissors. On 'go,' students place 1 to 4 fingers out. The first student to add both students' numbers together becomes the tagger."
  • ​Math Trails: students stop at designated sites along a route and explore math in the environment.
 
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READING AND WRITING
  • Connect concepts from physical education to books they are reading.
  • Have students act out stories from books like Dr. Seuss, Go Dog Go, or Harry Potter (​Read Across America Day Activities).
  • Have students write stories/poems that include the lesson/unit objectives (ie. skills with cues). These poems can also be used for learning motor skills.
  • Include journal entries, reflections, task sheets, and exit slips in the curriculum.
  • Post vocabulary terms on a "Word Wall" (download our Word Wall List with Instructions ​and ​our Word Wall PowerPoint Template).
  • Teach the class common sayings in multiple languages; such as: hello, goodbye, thank you, your welcome, etc.
  • Start each lesson with the "Word of the Day" from the unit. Teachers can also do "Joke of the Day," which often include words with double meanings that must be explained to understand the joke.
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the arts
UNFINISHED - Biomechanics Labs for grades 7-12
Unfortunately I have been unable to finish this project but it is done for the most part. These labs are appropriate for middle school and up. Check out this website for more information on biomechanical principles.