On November 14th and 15th, over 100 participants gathered in Regina for the Mini Summit for Developing Physical Literacy, presented by the Partners for Physical Literacy.  The participants represented a wide variety of sectors including education, sport, recreation, community and health.  Dr. Dean Kriellaars, from the University of Manitoba, facilitated an energetic and information rich two days on the area of Physical Literacy.  Participants left with a better understanding of what Physical...

PHE Canada brings us a new resource designed to help enhance the Physical Literacy levels of children and youth.

This resource uses a Teaching Games for Understanding approach to work students through tactical gameplay problems, think through options and skills, and learn how to apply this learning to broader gameplay situations. The series explores archery, badminton, canoe-kayak, cycling, ringette, softball, squash, soccer, and team handball. Targeted to educators working with children...

The group of invasion games is the most complex out of all games categories. It includes sports such as basketball, football, hockey, and soccer. While the required skills for each sport differ, the tactical problems remain very similar in that players will move up the court/pitch/surface to take an object to a hoop/goal/end zone.

The teaching of invasion games has been the focus of discussion in recent teaching methods, such as Teaching Games for Understanding. This method suggests that...

For those teachers and coaches working with youth, it is important that we teach fundamental movement skills.  Within Saskatchewan's physical education curriculum there are 26 movement skills that we need to focus on in grades 1-5.  On page 26 of each curriculum guide all of these skills are listed.  Within that list you will see letters that represent the four levels of skill.  When it comes to assessing movement and providing formative feedback to the youth, we need to understand these...

Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) is a teaching model that is prominent in the Saskatchewan physical education curriculum.  When teaching games from the various categories of TGfU, it is important to connect to outcomes.  Many games can be played at various grade levels with minor adjustments.  Check out the Connecting Games to Outcomes section within the Tools header for ideas on how to incorporate great games.  Download the curricular connections and view how to videos for...

This downloadable resource was co-created by 27 pre-service elementary teachers from the University of Regina.  Each of the movement skills within this resource is directly connected to Saskatchewan's physical education curriculum for grades one to five.  Teaching points for each movement skill coincide directly with indicators at a control level of skill.  This resource is certainly a great support to elementary physical educators, coaches, and parents as we all work to enhance the physical...

How often have you heard students or athletes say, “I am tired”?  As we work alongside children and youth around physical activity and physical fitness it is important to understand what tired really means.  The Rated Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale is not something that is new to physical educators or coaches.  We have simply offered a simplified version that works with a 5 level scale.  At different times, students/athletes will be at different levels.  The intent of the poster is to help...

Jim Grove is a senior contributing editor at Active for Life.  Grove’s article entitled, The one crucial thing missing from your kid’s education: physical literacy, brings light to the importance of unstructured play for children and youth.  Focusing on fundamental movement skills at an early age while engaging children and youth in many movement opportunities are certainly beneficial in developing physical literacy levels.  Read Article

In “Coaching Tips” we sit down with Bob Maltman, head coach of the University of Regina women’s soccer team, to acquire some ideas around coaching children and youth in a team sport.  Bob has over 25 years of coaching experience, coaching provincial teams and of course university athletes.  He has also spent a great deal of time coaching children and youth ages 4 to 12 years old. 

As a coach of a team sport, you will certainly benefit from hearing Bob’s message on engagement, planning...

Teaching Games for Understanding - Activity Support Package is a terrific resource from OPHEA.  This resource provides various small-sided games that will help kids understand common concepts in many traditional sports.  The intent is to teach concepts rather than specific sports.  

Games are separated into four categories:  Target, Net/Wall, Striking, and Invasion/Territorial.  Educators, coaches, and program coordinators can all use this valuable resource to support the physical literacy...