Healthy Active Living Education

This is the first unit of PPL1O, Healthy Active Living Education, Grade 9 (Open), one full credit. It covers two of the course's three strands: A. Active Living and B. Movement Competence: Skills, Concepts, and Strategies. The living skills (self-awareness and self-monitoring, adaptive and coping skills, communication, relationship and social skills, and critical and creative thinking) are built into every lesson.

In Active Living you learn what active participation looks like, what keeps people active for life and how to get past barriers, and how to show fair play and leadership, including officiating. You do at least 20 minutes of sustained moderate to vigorous activity, using the heart-rate reserve (Karvonen) method to find your zones. You explain the benefits of health-related and skill-related fitness and the training principles, assess and monitor your own fitness, and design, carry out and revise a personal fitness plan. You take responsibility for safety in many settings, learn how to respond to emergencies (asthma attacks, concussion, possible spine injuries, shock and the recovery position), and learn CPR and AED use.

In Movement Competence you keep your balance while responding to external stimuli, combine movement and object skills while reading the play (curling, ultimate, sledge hockey and more), refine technique using the phases of movement and movement principles, understand the components, rules and etiquette of many activities, and use problem solving to choose tactics, seeing how growing skill builds your confidence and motivation.

Every activity is designed for a home, yard or park, with a warm-up and safety notes. Useful equipment: running shoes, comfortable clothes, water, a timer or phone, a soft ball, a flying disc or paper plate, a skipping rope, a mat or towel, a few markers (cones, shoes or bottles), a ruler and a box, a notebook, and a grown-up or friend to practise with. The CPR lesson teaches knowledge and rhythm only; a certified course is the best next step.

Curriculum expectations covered: A1.1, A1.2, A1.3, A2.1, A2.2, A2.3, A2.4, A3.1, A3.2, A3.3, B1.1, B1.2, B1.3, B1.4, B2.1, B2.2, B2.3, and Living Skills 1.1 to 1.5 (The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 to 12: Health and Physical Education, 2015, course PPL1O). The Healthy Living strand (C) is taught in the Healthy Living unit.

In this unit you will learn how active living and healthy eating support your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being; use nutrition principles, Nutrition Facts tables, healthy cooking methods and your activity level to build a healthy eating plan; and analyse the social and environmental factors that shape food and beverage choices. You will weigh the benefits and risks of electronic communication and practise staying safe online, build skills and strategies to prevent and respond to bullying and harassment (including sexual harassment, gender-based, dating and domestic violence), and learn the warning signs of mental health concerns and how to cope and get help for yourself or a friend. You will explore resilience and the protective and risk factors for substance use and addictions, and the social influences on substance use (including prescription drugs, alcohol, tobacco, chewing tobacco, supplements and performance-enhancing drugs) and on addictive behaviours (gambling, gaming and eating disorders), with decision-making and communication skills to respond. Finally, you will compare methods of preventing unintended pregnancy and STIs, including HIV, understand factors that influence gender identity and sexual orientation and sources of support, build healthy social and intimate relationships, and think in advance about consent and personal limits.

Some topics are sensitive. Each of those lessons begins with a short note and ends with a note for parents. Lessons 10 to 13 are part of Ontario's human development and sexual health expectations (C1.4, C1.5, C2.2, C2.3); they follow the curriculum's wording and stay factual. Families with concerns can talk to the school about its policy and options.

Curriculum expectations covered: C1.1, C1.2, C1.3, C1.4, C1.5, C2.1, C2.2, C2.3, C3.1, C3.2, C3.3, C3.4 (The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 9 to 12: Health and Physical Education, 2015; Healthy Active Living Education, Grade 9, Open, PPL1O).