Hiking the White Mountains (See also lesson in Mathematics Section)

Curriculum Frameworks:

• 2.11 - Apply basic principles of training and appropriate guidelines of exercise to improve immediate and long-term physical fitness.
• 2.12 - Participate in activities that promote physical fitness, decrease sedentary lifestyle, and relieve mental and emotional tension.
• 2.13 - Explain the personal benefits of making positive health decisions and monitor progress towards personal wellness.

Objectives:

• Students will list appropriate ways to improve physical fitness.
• Students will demonstrate the personal benefits of making positive health decisions through logging and journaling progress.

Lesson:

In order to physically prepare for the hike that the students are going to make in the White Mountains, in Physical Education class, students will be preparing themselves physically and spiritually for the rigorous hike. We will start the preparation with walking outside and progress to short hikes through the hills and streets surrounding the school.

The students will be keeping a log based on their RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) and will be tracking their physical and emotional improvements as their level of fitness increases. We are keeping the log to help the students see the documented physical journey that they have made since the beginning of the unit. After each half hour walk, we will regroup and the students will record in their physical fitness journal how they felt both, physically and emotionally during their walk or hike.

The students see the improvements in personal wellness that they have made over time and how physical fitness can help them with the stresses that they face on a daily basis.

This journey in physical fitness will help them feel a large sense of accomplishment when they compare how they felt on their first walk with the way that they felt after their hike in the White Mountains.