Kindergarten – Grade 2
Below are discussion questions and activities to highlight the importance of being active and how activity makes us – and our pets – feel! Both the discussion questions and activities are part of the ‘Active Together’ character education theme for the 2023-2024 school year! To see other character building themes, click here!
Discussion Questions:
- What does being active mean? Moving our bodies and engaging our minds
- What are some ways you are active (Think of both physical activities where you move your body, and activities that use your mind)? Exercise, running, skating, walking, dancing, reading a book, doing a puzzle, learning a new skill, etc.
- Why is it important to be physically active (moving our bodies)? Why is it important to be mentally active (using our minds)?
- How does being active make you feel?
- What do you think the term “active together” means? What do you notice about the picture in the poster?
- What are some ways that you can help your pet stay physically active? What are some ways that you can help your pet’s mind stay active?
- Why is it important that you make sure your pet stays physically active? Why is it important to make sure your pet has things to do?
- How do you think pets feel when they are active?
Activities:
1. Get Active!
Read aloud My Amazing Body by Pat Thomas. Alternatively, you can show the read aloud My Amazing Body by Pat Thomas video (4:04). While students are listening to the book, encourage them to think about all of the reasons why our bodies are amazing. When the book is finished, ask students the following discussion questions:
- Why are our bodies amazing? What are some examples from the book? Our brain is capable of complicated thinking, we can move in many different ways, we have five senses, our heart beats, our lungs breathe and our body heals itself when we are hurt, etc.
- How can we make sure that we keep ourselves healthy? Brainstorm a list. Eating healthy foods like fruits, vegetables, and protein, getting exercise, sleep, bathing and brushing teeth, listening to the messages our body sends us, etc.
- How often do you do these things?
- One way to stay healthy is to be physically active. We know it’s good for our body, but it is also important for our minds! Moving our bodies can improve our mood and help us to focus, and feel calm and happy! Have students think about how they feel when they are moving their bodies. Ask students:
- How do you feel when you move your body/are active?
- Do you think animals feel the same way when they move their bodies? Why or why not? Our pets are happier, calmer, and healthier when they can be physically active too!
- What are some ways we can be active with our pets? Walking a dog, playing with a cat, getting a wheel for your hamster, ensuring fish have an appropriate size tank for space to swim, explore and hide, etc.
After the class discussion, have students complete the Get Active Activity Sheet. Encourage students to include a pet.
2. Normal Behaviours
We have normal behaviours that we carry out that keep us active! We need time and space to be active as it’s important for our well-being. Ask students:
- What are some normal behaviours/activities of kids your age? (Think of activities where you move your body, and activities that use your mind).
- How does doing these behaviours/activities make you feel?
- How do you think you might feel if you couldn’t do any of these behaviours?
Animals also have normal behaviours that they need to carry out to help them to feel good. Many of these behaviours are instinctual – which means they don’t need to be taught by their parents, they are born wanting to express them. Ensuring animals have opportunities to express their normal behaviour is an important part of meeting an animal’s needs.
As a class, watch the Five Needs of Animals – Behaviour video (4:30).
Post Video Discussion Questions:
- What are some normal behaviours of pets that you know? (Think of behaviours where they move their bodies and activities that engage their minds)
- How are your normal behaviours similar to or different from an animal’s normal behaviours?
- Enrichment is anything that helps animals express their normal behaviour (such as toys, games, and other animals to socialize with). What are some examples of enrichment that help kids your age express their normal behaviours? Friends: Playing with friends at recess, Books: for reading, Bikes: for riding, games: for playing, etc.
- Why is it important for you to express your normal behaviours? It helps you feel good, burns off energy, relieves boredom, helps you relax, help you to feel happy, allows you to be you!, etc.
- Why is it important for animals to be able to express their normal behaviours? Just like people, animals need the opportunity to express their normal behaviour to feel positive emotions such as contentment, enjoyment, etc. Animals that do not have an opportunity to express their normal behaviour might experience negative emotions such as boredom, anxiety, depression and frustration.
Building on the post video discussion, work through the Normal Behaviours slides as a class. Have students identify the animal on each slide, and then answer the following questions for each animal.
- What are some normal behaviours of this animal?
- What can we do to help the animal express their normal behaviour?
Remind students that being providing the opportunity for animals to express their normal behaviour is one way we stay active with our pets. Sometimes this means providing our pets with enrichment so that their minds are active!
3. Active Together
Building on what students have learned about staying active with pets in the previous activity have students create their own ‘Active Together’ poster using the poster template. Have students draw a picture of themselves with a pet being active together. Remind students that ‘active’ looks differently depending on the animal species (i.e., walking you dog and letting him sniff, providing enrichment for your hamster so she is not bored, training your cat to do a trick, etc.). If able, have students write one or two sentences explaining their drawing and the importance of being ‘active together’ with our pets. Hang completed posters up in the classroom or around the school to help spread the message!
Curriculum Connections
ELAL
- Organizing Idea: Oral Language: Listening and speaking from the foundation for literacy development and improve communication, collaboration, and respectful mutual understanding.
- Guiding Question: In what ways can listening and speaking communicate feelings, ideas, and information?
- Learning Outcome: Children explore listening and speaking skills through a variety of literacy experiences.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Participate in group discussions.
- Listen to and follow simple one- to two- step instructions.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Children explore listening and speaking skills through a variety of literacy experiences.
- Guiding Question: In what ways can listening and speaking communicate feelings, ideas, and information?
- Organizing Idea: Comprehension: Text comprehension is supported by applying varied strategies and processes and by considering both particular contexts and universal themes.
- Guiding Question: How are messages understood?
- Learning Outcome: Children demonstrate understandings of messages communicated in texts
- Skills and Procedures:
- Listen to a variety of texts that are read aloud.
- Engage in discussions about texts that have been listened to.
- Share connections between a text and personal feelings or experiences.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Children demonstrate understandings of messages communicated in texts
- Guiding Question: How are messages understood?
Physical Education and Wellness
- Organizing Idea: Character Development: Exploration of life opportunities and virtues develops resilience and personal talents and promotes lifelong learning.
- Guiding Question: How can personal characteristics influence feelings and emotions?
- Learning Outcome: Children describe personal characteristics and explore feelings and emotions.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Express feelings in a variety of ways.
- Recognize that feelings and emotions are part of the human experience.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Children describe personal characteristics and explore feelings and emotions.
- Guiding Question: How can personal characteristics influence feelings and emotions?
Science
- Organizing Idea: Energy: Understanding of the physical world are deepened by investigating matter and energy.
- Guiding Question: How can objects, humans, and other animals move?
- Learning Outcome: Children explore movement of objects, humans, and other animals,
- Skills and Procedures:
- Identify various ways that humans and other animals can move.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Children explore movement of objects, humans, and other animals,
- Guiding Question: How can objects, humans, and other animals move?
English Language Arts and Literature
- Organizing Idea: Oral Language: Listening and speaking from the foundation for literacy development and improve communication, collaboration, and respectful mutual understanding.
- Guiding Question: In what ways can listening and speaking be applied to develop oral communication?
- Learning Outcome: Students develop listening and speaking skills through sharing stories and information.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Contribute to discussions as a listener and speaker.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students develop listening and speaking skills through sharing stories and information.
- Guiding Question: In what ways can listening and speaking be applied to develop oral communication?
- Organizing Idea: Comprehension: Text comprehension is supported by applying varied strategies and processes and by considering both particular contexts and universal themes.
- Guiding Question: What messages are conveyed through ideas and information within texts?
- Learning Outcome: Students investigate meaning communicated in texts.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Share personal connections to ideas or information in texts.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students investigate meaning communicated in texts.
- Guiding Question: What messages are conveyed through ideas and information within texts?
Physical Education and Wellness
- Organizing Idea: Active Living: Developing physical literacy through movement and active living supports well-being across a lifespan.
- Guiding Question: How can physical activity contribute to health?
- Learning Outcome: Students investigate the benefits of physical activity.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Reflect on personal feelings or emotional well-being when participating in physical activity.
- Describe health benefits of regular physical activity.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students investigate the benefits of physical activity.
- Guiding Question: How can physical activity contribute to health?
Science
- Organizing Idea: Living Systems: Understandings of the living world, Earth, and space are deepened by investigating natural systems and their interactions.
- Guiding Question: How do plants and animals survive?
- Learning Outcome: Students investigate and examine needs of plants and animals.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Describe personal experiences related to how humans take care of plants and animals.
- Discuss how humans depend on plants and animals to meet their basic needs.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students investigate and examine needs of plants and animals.
- Guiding Question: How do plants and animals survive?
Art
EXPRESSION
- Component 10 (i)
- PURPOSE 1: Students will record of document activities, people and discoveries.
- Concepts
- A. Everyday activities can be documented visually.
- Concepts
- PURPOSE 1: Students will record of document activities, people and discoveries.
English Language Arts and Literature
- Organizing Idea: Oral Language: Listening and speaking from the foundation for literacy development and improve communication, collaboration, and respectful mutual understanding.
- Guiding Question: How can listening and speaking be developed to improve oral communication?
- Learning Outcome: Students examine and adjust listening and speaking to communicate effectively.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Contribute to discussions as a listener and speaker.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students examine and adjust listening and speaking to communicate effectively.
- Guiding Question: How can listening and speaking be developed to improve oral communication?
- Organizing Idea: Comprehension: Text comprehension is supported by applying varied strategies and processes and by considering both particular contexts and universal themes.
- Guiding Question: How does comprehension facilitate the meaning of a text?
- Learning Outcome: Students examine and apply a variety of processes to comprehend texts.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Share personal connections that support understandings of ideas and information in texts.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students examine and apply a variety of processes to comprehend texts.
- Guiding Question: How does comprehension facilitate the meaning of a text?
Physical Education and Wellness
- Organizing Idea: Active Living: Developing physical literacy through movement and active living supports well-being across a lifespan.
- Guiding Question: What makes physical activity meaningful?
- Learning Outcome: Students investigate physical activity and relate it to personal experience.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Identify how factors influence physical activity.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students investigate physical activity and relate it to personal experience.
- Guiding Question: What makes physical activity meaningful?
Science
- Organizing Idea: Living Systems: Understandings of the living world, Earth, and space are deepened by investigating natural systems and their interactions.
- Guiding Question: How do plants and animals live and grow?
- Learning Outcome: Students investigate the growth and development of plants and animals and consider their relationship to humans.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Discuss how humans might interact with land, plants, and animals if they see land, plants, and animals as equals.
- Skills and Procedures:
- Learning Outcome: Students investigate the growth and development of plants and animals and consider their relationship to humans.
- Guiding Question: How do plants and animals live and grow?
Art
EXPRESSION
- Component 10 (i)
- PURPOSE 1: Students will record of document activities, people and discoveries.
- Concepts
- A. Everyday activities can be documented visually.
- Concepts
- PURPOSE 1: Students will record of document activities, people and discoveries.
