Finding Your Pulse & Using the Pulse Card
Students find and count their pulse at the wrist and neck to find beats per minute (BPM). Further discussion questions help students form a working definition of pulse and why it speeds up or slows down.
Alignment: GLE 1.3.1, 2.3.2

Food Pyramid Relay
In relay teams, students race to the opposite end zone of the play space, place their food card in the colored bar corresponding to the food group the food item belongs in and race back. Each student measures his/her beats per minute (BPM) after his/her leg of the relay to identify the fitness intensity level of the activity (i.e. sedentary, moderately active, or active).
Alignment: GLE 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.3.1

Heart Parts
In teams of four, each student wears a jersey with a different chamber of the heart highlighted. When the teacher calls a chamber of the heart, students wearing the called chamber run to the opposite end zone of the play space dodging the paramedics trying to tag them. Students find their pulse, count beats per minute (BPM) and identify the fitness intensity level of the activity (i.e. sedentary, active, moderately active).
Alignment: GLE 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.3.1

Carbon Snatcher
In teams of three, two students wear red belts and one wears a blue belt. The red belts represent oxygen; the blue belts represent carbon. The red belt marked "LEAD" is the chaser and the other two are dodgers. The LEAD oxygen pulls the oxygen and carbon flags from his/her teammates (only) to make carbon dioxide…major ingredients of the blood in the circulatory system. Students find their pulse, count beats per minute (BPM) and identify the fitness intensity level of the activity (i.e. sedentary, active, moderately active).
Alignment: GLE 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.3.1

How's Your Breathing?
In relay teams, students walk (heal-toe, heal-toe) to the opposite end of the play space and back. Round two, they skip. Round three, they run backwards. The catch…they can only breathe through a straw. If it gets difficult to breath, they must slow down. It simulates how much harder the heart has to work to pump blood through narrowed blood vessels. Students find their pulse, count beats per minute (BPM) and identify the fitness intensity level of the activity (i.e. sedentary, active, moderately active).
Alignment: GLE 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.3.1