Grade 3: Unit of Inquiry Body Systems Integration and PE

Place Value Maths Link and Taking Heart Rate

In an earlier blog I wrote about the collaboration taking place between PE and the unit of inquiry on Body Systems happening in our grade 3 classes at Nanjing International School. We have had an excellent start to the unit with the students already making a strong connection between the different body systems and how these systems are affected by exercise. 

I aim to fully integrate PE into this unit as it really is a perfect fit. The central idea is ‘We must care for our body systems to be healthy’. The 3 systems that we are going to look at in PE are the circulatory, respiratory, and the muscular. During our collaboration, we had a look at the maths outcomes for this unit. Place value and graphing are among some of the outcomes being covered by the classroom teachers (Marina Gijzen, Georgia Perry, and John Rinker). 

Lesson Breakdown
We began with the students resting for a couple of minutes, lying on their backs and finding their heart rate. It took a few minutes for all of the students to be able to confidently do this. Once they were able to find the HR with certainty, we calculated their beats per minute using the 6-second formula described above. I modeled how to record their heart rate using a place value system on chart paper to prepare them for the actual recording that they will do in the next 2 weeks. We then exercised at various levels of intensity and recorded further. 

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Start of class. Mentally figuring out beats per minute using 6-second formula

Walking with a partner for a few minutes to determine HR while doing light exercise

As I did this activity last year, upon teacher reflection at the end of the unit, I realized that I could have greatly improved upon accuracy and efficiency of finding and recording heart rate by taking a class to model how to record on paper and giving them more time to be able to correctly determine heart rate in the first place. Some of my students last year had difficulty counting their own heart rate, so with today's extra practice, I am certain that the students will be better prepared this year. 

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Next Week's Record Sheet
The students will be recording their own heart rate and the heart rates of some of their peers using this record sheet. Once completed this record sheet in two week's time, I will give the results to the classroom teacher who will then use the data to create graphs.

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