Ontario Physical Education Curriculum: Fostering Healthy and Active Lives

The Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum plays a vital role in shaping the well-being of students from Grades 1 to 12. It prioritizes the healthy development of all students, enabling them to reach their full potential. Recognizing that students’ health and well-being are integral to their ability to learn across all disciplines, the curriculum aims to equip them with the knowledge and skills necessary to lead safe, healthy, and active lives.

Curriculum Overview and Goals

The updated and inclusive Health and Physical Education curriculum for Grades 1-8, implemented in September 2019, identifies and describes the knowledge and skills that students are expected to learn in each grade. A key element of the Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum for Grades 1-8 is for students to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to develop their health literacy to lead healthy, active lives, and promote healthy living.

The curriculum emphasizes the development of health literacy, empowering students to make informed decisions about their well-being. This includes:

Recognizing, analyzing, and interpreting the overt and underlying messages in food marketing and media advertising.
Making informed food choices based on nutrition, ingredient lists, and food and beverage labeling.
Understanding and managing their food choices.
Setting healthy eating goals.

Focus on Healthy Eating

The curriculum addresses healthy eating in a progressive manner across the primary, junior, and intermediate divisions.

Primary Division

In the primary division, the topic of healthy eating focuses on students learning about food and nutrition to understand and apply basic concepts related to food choices.

Junior Division

In the junior division, the topic of healthy eating focuses on students learning about food and nutrition and applying their developing understanding about food to make healthier eating decisions.

Intermediate Division

In the intermediate division, the topic of healthy eating focuses on students continuing to learn about food and nutrition to deepen their understanding of healthier eating practices, explore the relationship between eating patterns and disease, and apply their developing understanding in order to make healthier food choices and promote healthier eating to others. Integrating the Social-Emotional Learning Skills into learning about advertising, food marketing and media influences helps students make connections between their thoughts, feelings, actions, and healthy eating choices and increases their self-awareness in fostering a healthy relationship with food.

Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Integration

The curriculum integrates Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) skills, helping students connect their thoughts, feelings, and actions with healthy eating choices. This integration fosters self-awareness and a healthy relationship with food.

Human Development and Sexual Health

The Rainy River District School Board addresses Human Development and Sexual Health expectations in the elementary Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum with elementary students in the spring. By then, teachers have developed strong relationships with students and have a clear understanding of their maturity levels. This helps ensure that we teach the curriculum in a developmentally age appropriate manner. The board ensures that lessons around Human Development and Sexual Health are sensitive to the subject matter and the students. Parents can request an exemption from instruction related to Human Development and Sexual Health expectations in the elementary HPE curriculum using the Exemption from Instruction in Human Development and Sexual Health Form.

Resources and Tools for Educators

Various resources are available to support educators in implementing the Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum effectively:

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Digital and Paper Units: These units provide informative reading passages, interactive activities, and assessments to guide lessons and help students meet curriculum expectations.
Long-Range Plans: Structured long-range plans aligned with the curriculum offer a clear roadmap for the school year, including curriculum expectations and suggested lesson focuses.
Task Card Bundles: Comprehensive task card bundles provide engaging, interactive ways for students to build health knowledge and skills.
Google Forms Quizzes: Auto-graded Google Forms quizzes offer a time-saving assessment solution for health and physical science concepts.
Curriculum Checklists: Digital and printable checklists help teachers track the outcomes they have covered in the curriculum.
Project-Based Activities: Ready-to-use projects based on grade-specific expectations provide hands-on learning experiences for students.

Grade-Specific Examples and Resources

The Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum provides specific expectations and resources for each grade level. Here are some examples:

Grade 1

A digital and printable checklist of all outcomes in the Ontario Curriculum for Grade 1 Phys. Ed and Health is available.

Grade 2

A digital and printable checklist of all outcomes in the Ontario Curriculum for Grade 2 Phys. Ed and Health is available.

Grade 3

A digital and printable checklist of all outcomes in the Ontario Curriculum for Grade 3 Phys. Ed and Health is available.
A Christian Healthy Eating Workbook for Grade 3 is aligned with the Ontario Health Curriculum, teaching nutrition and healthy living through a Biblical lens.
A Grade 3 Health: Healthy Eating Unit is aligned with the Ontario Curriculum (2019), supporting students in developing lifelong healthy habits.

Grade 4

A Grade 4 H&PE Long-Range Plan is aligned to Ontario’s 2019 curriculum, integrating Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), Healthy Living, and Active Living & Movement Skills.

Grade 5

The New Ontario Science Curriculum 2022 includes Grade 5: Strand B- Human Health and Body Systems, focusing on the effects of social and environmental factors on human health.
Easy, ready-to-use projects are available for Grade 5, based on grade-specific expectations from the Ontario Curriculum.

Grade 6

Save time and feel confident covering the Grade 6 Health curriculum with a structured long-range plan aligned to the Ontario Health & Physical Education Curriculum (2019).
This unit includes 5 lessons that cover the Ontario Health Grade 6 Health Unit: Making Healthy Choices in Relationships.
Easy, ready-to-use projects are a great addition to any Personal Safety and Injury Prevention Unit for grade 6.

Grade 7

Easy, ready-to-use projects are available for Grade 7, based on grade-specific expectations from the Ontario Curriculum.
Easy, ready-to-use projects are a great addition to any Personal Safety and Injury Prevention Unit for grade 7.

Grade 8

A complete no-prep unit includes both digital presentation slides for in-class and online teaching and a printable workbook of the entire Grade 8- Human Development and Sexual Health (2019) curriculum.
A Grade 8 Health: Personal Safety Unit provides full lessons with scaffolded readings, questions, checklists, and assessments.
A Grade 8 Health Mega Bundle offers a complete Ontario Curriculum (Strand D - Healthy Living) with 10 engaging lessons.
The Ontario Health & Physical Education | Full Year Curriculum | 17000 Task Cards BUNDLE | Grade 8,9,10 is the ultimate all-in-one resource for educators looking to cover the entire H&PE program with confidence.

Grades 9-12

A comprehensive Google Forms Quiz Bundle is designed to align with the Ontario Health & Physical Education Curriculum for Grades 9-12.

Key Topics Covered

The Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum covers a wide range of essential topics, including:

Healthy Eating: Understanding nutrition, making informed food choices, and promoting healthy eating habits.
Mental Health: Understanding the relationship between mental health and mental illness, identifying signs of mental health problems, and developing coping strategies.
Personal Safety and Injury Prevention: Learning about personal safety, injury prevention, and protective gear.
Human Development and Sexual Health: Understanding physical and emotional changes, personal hygiene, and healthy relationships.
Social-Emotional Learning (SEL): Developing self-awareness, empathy, emotion management, and decision-making skills.
Active Living and Movement Competence: Promoting physical activity, developing movement skills, and understanding the benefits of an active lifestyle.

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