First - Physical Education

First grade students in SFUSD engage in 100 minutes of weekly physical education instruction provided by a credentialed teacher.  This may look like three 35-minute classes per week or five 20-minute classes per week. While lesson structures vary, the overall design of the units remains consistent. Physical Education units prioritize maximum student engagement, motor skill and movement pattern development, creativity and exploration of movement, positive social interactions with peers, growth mindset skills, and development of physical literacy.

Students will demonstrate knowledge of concepts and motor skills by engaging in meaningful movement experiences.  Students have opportunities to develop competence and confidence by participating in activities that are age and developmentally appropriate, challenging, socially engaging, personally relevant, and enjoyable.

• Performs a variety of locomotor skills to tempos rhythms and signals 
• Jumps a swinging rope held by others 
• Catches a self-tossed ball

Students go beyond demonstrating knowledge of concepts and motor skills by identifying specific cues, understanding the “why” of movement or concepts, and reflecting on their movement experiences.  

• Explains the differences between a variety of locomotor skills (walking/running, jumping/hopping, skipping/galloping)
• Identifies physical activities that cause the heart to beat faster
• Recognizes that the heart is the most important muscle in the body and is approximately the size of a fist

Students develop their social and emotional well-being by experiencing meaningful and culturally affirming learning opportunities.  Students learn to manage emotions, exhibit empathy and kindness for others, foster and maintain positive relationships, and develop social skills to manage various situations and problem-solve. 

• Demonstrate acceptable responses to challenges, successes, and failures
• Demonstrate the characteristics of sharing and cooperation
• Identify and demonstrate the attributes of an effective partner

Our first grade curriculum encourages confident active movers and fosters imagination through guided discovery and movement patterns. Our comprehensive instruction focuses on working cooperatively in groups and plentiful opportunities to explore and refine their fundamental motor skills. Learning to move in a positive supportive context helps our students develop a sense of achievement and self-confidence that encourages joyful learners and lifelong fitness.

First graders will experience Physical Education lessons that embed growth mindset strategies and language.  Students will experience successes and failures guiding them to make meaning that we learn through failures and mistakes.  Students will experience language through positive self-talk, exhibiting kind words toward others, and using the power of “yet”.

Our First Grade District-wide Dance Party is a collaborative event designed with DancePl3y to build community and provide students with an opportunity to develop their physical literacy in a non-intimidating setting. Students are encouraged to explore and express their creativity through music and movement in a collaborative dance unit aimed at improving balance and coordination while developing a sense of achievement and enjoyment. Skills such as jumping, skipping galloping, rolling balancing, and throwing are purposely woven into the choreography so that students can begin to draw connections and transfer these skills across different physical activities.

Skills such as jumping, skipping galloping, rolling balancing, and throwing are purposely woven into the choreography so that students can begin to draw connections and transfer these skills across different physical activities.