Physical Education · Works with Fitness and Conditioning

SEL activities for Fitness and Conditioning

36 Physical Education activities you can teach during a Fitness and Conditioning unit. Each one builds one Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skill in about 20 minutes, inside the movement you already teach.

PE Course 1

• Who Am I as a Mover? Self-awareness · Week 1Students rotate through a movement sampler of jogging, dancing, throwing, and balancing stations, then journal about which movements feel most like them and why.
• Building a Safe Gym Together Relationship skills · Week 2After a boundary tag game, the class agrees on norms for a physically and emotionally safe gym and each student journals one norm they will personally protect.
• Five Components, My Way Self-awareness · Week 3Students move through stations for cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and flexibility and privately note which ones energize them and which feel hard, without comparing to anyone.
• Personal Bests, Private Data Self-management · Week 4Students complete a baseline fitness check, record results only in their own journal, and set one goal measured against their own starting point.
• Strengths in Every Partner Social awareness · Week 6Teams plan a relay by assigning legs based on each teammate's strengths, then journal about a strength they noticed in someone else.
• Reading My Heart Rate Self-awareness · Week 7Students take their pulse at rest, after a jog, and after slow breathing, then journal how heart rate and feelings rise and fall together.
• Breathing to Reset Self-management · Week 8After short sprint intervals, students practice box breathing to bring their heart rate down and journal one moment outside PE when the reset could help.
• Yoga Flow and Focus Self-management · Week 10Students learn a short yoga flow paired with slow breathing and journal how their attention and body felt before and after.
• Heat Smart in the Valley Social awareness · Week 11During a shaded, low intensity circuit, students learn the warning signs of heat illness in the Coachella Valley and practice checking in on a partner and following the class heat plan.
• Exercise as Medicine Responsible decision-making · Week 12After a brisk 6 minute walk, students privately rate their mood before and after and connect regular activity to preventing disease over a lifetime.
• Dances From Our Cultures Social awareness · Week 15Students learn basic steps from cumbia and other cultural dances and journal about a family or community tradition that involves movement.
• Looking Back on Semester One Self-awareness · Week 18Students repeat a favorite activity from the first weeks and journal how their skills, confidence, and goals have changed since then.
• Goals Without Comparison Self-management · Week 19Students redo their private baseline check, compare only to their own week four results, and adjust their goal for the next half of the year.
• Learning a Skill on My Own Self-management · Week 20Using step by step task cards, students teach themselves a new jump rope trick and journal the strategies they used when they got stuck.
• Fitness Myths and Smart Choices Responsible decision-making · Week 22Between circuit stations, students examine sample fitness product ads, judge whether the claims are honest, and name the feelings the ads try to stir up.
• My One Month Plan Responsible decision-making · Week 23Students sample three home friendly workouts and draft a private one month activity plan that fits their schedule, space, and interests.
• Moving for a Purpose Responsible decision-making · Week 24Students try a mini circuit modeled on the physical tasks of local jobs like firefighting and farm work and reflect on how fitness supports the work people do.
• Fitness Resources Near Me Responsible decision-making · Week 34After a walking warm up, students map nearby parks, trails, and early morning or indoor options in the valley and choose one to try.
• How I Have Grown as a Mover Self-awareness · Week 35Students revisit their week one movement sampler and journal how their identity as a mover has changed this year.

PE Course 2

• My Story as a Mover Self-awareness · Week 1Students try a short activity sampler, then sketch a movement timeline of activities they have loved and how their preferences have changed.
• Assessing Myself Privately Self-awareness · Week 3Students complete self-assessments in the components of health related fitness, record results only in their own journal, and note feelings that came up.
• Goals That Stretch Me Self-management · Week 4Students choose one fitness area to grow beyond where they started and write a specific, private goal with first steps.
• Why I Choose This Workout Responsible decision-making · Week 5Students try three workout styles and justify which one best fits a goal they care about.
• Exercise and a Calmer Mind Self-management · Week 6Students rate their stress privately, complete a rhythmic cardio session with mindful cool down, and reflect on the mental benefits they noticed.
• Harder Than It Looks Self-awareness · Week 6Students predict how long they can hold their arms straight out, test it, and compare the prediction with what their body tells them.
• Listening to My Body Self-awareness · Week 9Students use body awareness and partner feedback to refine a gymnastics skill and journal the difference between healthy challenge and pain.
• Encouraging Every Level Social awareness · Week 12In mixed ability stations, students practice specific encouragement for classmates at every level and journal about encouragement that helped them.
• Looking Back on Semester One Self-awareness · Week 18Students revisit their fitness and skill goals, repeat a favorite early activity, and journal how they have grown and what they will refine next.
• Leading the Warm Up Social awareness · Week 20Small groups take turns leading a warm up and adjusting it to the group's energy and needs in the moment.
• Who Plays and Why Social awareness · Week 23After trying an unfamiliar game from another culture, students discuss how age, culture, and access shape who gets to play.
• Training Smart in Desert Heat Social awareness · Week 30Students adapt a training session for Coachella Valley heat with shade, water breaks, and partner check ins and practice spotting signs of heat illness.
• A Plan for My Future Self Self-management · Week 31Students sample activities they could do after high school and outline a private fitness plan for future leisure and work.
• Fitness for Someone I Love Social awareness · Week 32Students try a low impact routine designed for an older adult and plan a simple activity program for a family or community member.
• Smart Consumer, Strong Mind Responsible decision-making · Week 33Between stations, students evaluate fitness products and programs using clear questions and notice how marketing targets emotions.
• Community Fitness Map Responsible decision-making · Week 34Students rate the availability and quality of fitness resources in their part of the valley and propose one way to improve access.
• Two Years of Moving Self-awareness · Week 35Students revisit the movement timeline from week one of their first PE course and add how their preferences, confidence, and goals have changed over two years.

Some activities are set in this sport. Others work in it with no changes, like a calm breathing reset or a self officiating routine.

RoseThread Connect activities are drafted with the help of AI and shaped by educators. Students never have to share anything personal. Our five SEL skills are informed by CASEL's SEL Framework; RoseThread Learning is not affiliated with or endorsed by CASEL.