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20 Peer-Recommended Resources for Health and Physical Education Teachers

Students in a gym doing exercises led by a teacher

 

New Jersey Alternate Route candidates specializing in Health and Physical Education recently recommended free web resources that they’ve consulted when preparing lessons and engaging, relevant activities for students. Their suggested resources are a part of our blog series featuring go-to-websites, blogs, and other online teaching and reference materials for helping our state’s youth achieve the NJ Student Learning Standards. More than 300 teachers participated in this professional swap and share, with many contributing lesser-known resources that even seasoned educators will be excited to discover.  Read why our Health and Physical educators love the resources they recommend.  

 

BrainPOP/BrainPOP Jr

"This website has a branch (BrainPOP) suitable for slightly older elementary/younger middle school aged students, and a branch (BrainPOP Jr) more suited to younger elementary students.  It has a large range of health topics covered in it, with cartoon videos that my students enjoy watching, as well as different levels of quizzes to complete on topics, and other resources.  There is also a part of the site that is in Spanish.  The videos are short enough to hold student interest, but still convey a lot of important information and ideas."
-Judith T., Grades K-8


Darebee

"Great especially for virtual PE.  Has over 1,000 workouts with videos and images. Students can filter based on body part, type of exercise, level of difficulty, equipment needed, and more."
-Valerie B., Grades 9-12
 

Ed Puzzle

"Allows teachers to use videos and tape over video content to explain what is taking place while the video is playing. This helps if you are remote/using google classroom and you want the students to complete a new skill, you can film yourself doing the skill and then tape yourself explaining the skill. You can also make the video interactive with questions."
-Jenna A., Grades 9-12
 

Gimkit

It is a fun game that has different games but you can reuse your input information on any of the games. The students love it, they can do just about anything including stealing points from class mates which makes it challenging and competitive. 
-Sharon S., Grades 6-8
 

Kahoot

"Great site for a quick study guide game or to review material. The students pull out their phones or computers and answer the questions through there. It feels like a family feud style game."
-Raymond C., Grades 9-12


Newsela

"Formative is a great website to find benchmarks in your content area. You can use the library search tap to find many different benchmarks that cover your content area."
-Ronaldo G., Grades 9-12
 

Padlet

"The site lets the students interact with you and their classmates with virtual post it notes and students can ask questions or respond to questions immediately. "
-Sharon S., Grades 6-8
 

PE & Health Education

"Dives into PE and Health like never before with giving various pointers on how to be effective as an educator and enhancing your skills."
-Kyle P., Grades 9-12


PE Central

"This site has everything for novice teachers. The site goes in depth in helping novice teachers get their gym ready and be prepared for the classroom. It has fitness lesson plans, classroom management ideas (rules, how to deal with misbehavior), fitness challenges, fitness PE apps with reviews, bulletin board ideas."
-Jenna A., Grades 9-12

"This site contains assessments for a PE setting, large group lesson plans, classroom management strategies as well as Professional Development. courses and workshops. There are many reliable resources that are great for a first year PE teacher, where being in a non-traditional classroom setting can have it's challenges. But this site provides many resources and courses to help assist."
-Madison C., Grades 6-8

"This site has everything a PreK-8 PE teacher could need. I discovered this in the beginning of my teaching journey but have not gotten to use much due to me teaching in a High School setting. This website has so much to offer."
-Patricia C., Grades 9-12

"This site has a wide variety of lesson plans for teachers to use. The lesson plans can be adapted for all skill levels. Each lesson is broken down with a description and sometimes even a visual! They also give a list of supplies and on certain lessons there are videos demoing the lesson."
-Robert L., Grades K-8

"Offers a plethora Physical Education resources and material."
-Profit S., Grades 9-12
 

PhysEd Games

"I have used this site for so many of my PE games. They give video examples and written explanations. There is content for K-8."
-Chloe K., Grades K-8

 

Pinterest- Health Education

"Pinterest is a great resource for creative thinking. I love looking here for different projects and ideas. It inspires me to be crafty and go the extra mile in my classroom."
-Ashley S., Grades 9-12


Schoology

"This site lets me post assignments, announcements, and projects keeps me and my classroom very organized."
-Raymond C., Grades 9-12


Shape America

"Shares standards and guidelines for specific subject area, supplies lessons and articles that you can use in your subject specific class."
-Alexa A., Grades 9-12

"Provides access to health moves minds. Monthly calendar with components of health challenges."
-Valerie B., Grades 9-12

"SHAPE America is a fantastic place for Phys Ed teachers for content, professional development, grants, events and conferences, and basically anything a teacher could need to teach Phys Ed and develop into the best teacher they can."
-Patricia C., Grades 9-12

"Dives into PE and Health like never before with giving various pointers on how to be effective as an educator and enhancing your skills."
-Kyle P., Grades 9-12 

"This site offers everything; Professional Development, Standard Resources, Conferences, etc. for PE." 
-Profit S., Grades 9-12


Spark PE

"Spark is one of the national governing bodies for physical education. This site has things available for purchase as well as many free resources. This site has full curriculums listed for a teacher that might be creating an entire curriculum from scratch."
-Robert L., Grades K-8


Sports Know How

"This site has the majority of the sports we teach to the students, the history, rules and how to play."
-Christine S., Grades 9-12
 

Teaching Sexual Health

"This site has lesson plans, kahoot, and other resources that are research based and up to date. The website is not affiliated with politics or agendas. It is unbiased."
-Ashley S., Grades 9-12


The PE Geek 

"This site shows how to incorporate the power of 21st century technologies into physical education and physical activity. The site has video analysis for a myriad of activities and games , a podcast, and a blog that largely focuses on technology in a Physical Education setting."
-Kevin A., Grades 6-8


The PE Shed

"This website has a ton of games with lesson plans, visual guides, and videos."
-Chloe K., Grades K-8
 

The PE Specialist 

"Has a lot of resources and articles. Provides lesson and unit ideas and explanations. Also shows videos and gives you links to social media accounts. It is very subject specific too, which I like."
-Alexa A., Grades 9-12

"This site contains great resources for classroom management in a non-traditional classroom (gym), technology resources, lesson plans, and video demonstrations. There are many videos discussing how each unit is structured and how-to videos for different skills that you can show classes."
-Madison C., Grades 6-8

"This is one of my favorite websites to use when looking for ideas or information on different units when I am planning.  The website covers all areas of teaching, from lesson content, to parent contact, to classroom management.  It is realistic and easy to follow and understand, has many free and printable resources, and  covers a huge breadth of information around PE teaching.   It contains videos, demonstrations of activities, and links to further resources."
-Judith T., Grades K-8


The Physical Educator

"The mission of the site is to rethink what can be done in a Physical Education setting. It includes : Interactive games, Skill games, Skill Posters, an Innovative blog , Phys Ed Visuals to show what should a Gym should look like, A Gym Shop , etc."
-Kevin Alonso, Grades 6-8
 


 

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Comments

Joseph Lima

Sat, 06/10/2023 - 10:45

Email
Josephclima@aol.com

Kahoot is a useful resource for physical education. It is very interactive, and it engages students. Within Kahoot there are premade quizzes that teachers can utilize and it provides instant results which will help assess student learning in a fun way. I found that the easiest way to utilize Kahoot in the physical education classroom is to have student use their phones as it is difficult for them to bring their laptop devices into the gymnasium! Overall, I am happy to see Kahoot on this list of recommended apps for teachers to use in physical education!

Rachel Daddio

Fri, 05/31/2024 - 10:42

Email
rachel.daddio@ebnet.org

This app has been very useful in health class due to the relevance of the lessons in the app and how well they connect with the curriculum. There is flexibility in the level lessons are taught at by choosing pause points in videos to allow reflection and different questions based on grade or developmental level. When assignments are given through this app, I am able to give the students grades and feedback directly on the assignment. The app is very user friendly for students of all ages. The only question I really get is if we are using brainpop or brainpop jr. This is something I regularly use as part of my health class.

Brianne Connelly

Thu, 06/06/2024 - 11:13

Email
brianneconnelly@ymail.com

PE central is one of my favorite websites to use when lesson planning. It has lesson plans, assessments, best practices, professional development, classroom management ideas, and more. Because they are organized by grade they are extremely helpful and relevant. It also allows customization to meet your students needs. The lesson plans offer different modifications for students on lower or higher levels than the rest of the class. It also helps with higher order thinking questions, which my school finds to be extremely important in lesson planning.

Kevin Crowley

Thu, 06/06/2024 - 14:13

Email
kevjamcro@gmail.com

PE Central is a valuable resource for middle school health and physical education teachers. It offers a wide array of relevant activities and lesson plans that align well with curriculum standards. The content is designed to promote critical thinking and problem-solving skills through diverse and interactive activities. The website is user-friendly, making it easy for teachers to find and implement resources. Its engaging design helps maintain student interest in those cases where they would be interfacing with it directly. PE Central also encourages sharing and collaboration among educators.

Thomas Giordano

Sat, 06/08/2024 - 16:28

Email
thomas.paul.giordano@gmail.com

PE shed is a great resource with plenty of games and videos to assist in creating meaningful physical education classes. Activities are clearly shown and organized for ease of understanding and implementation. The videos are a great way to visually see the activities and are explained nicely. I really enjoy that they have the activities grouped in categories so that you can easily choose games that are related to what you want to teach. I would recommend any physical education teacher to give it a try.

Email
kkc58@scarletmail.rutgers.edu

Darebee appears to be a well-designed app that strongly connects to the purpose of providing physical education activities for students. The app offers a variety of exercises that can be easily adapted to meet the needs of different students.

The rubric indicates that the app offers some flexibility to alter content and settings. This would allow teachers to tailor activities to different age groups or fitness levels. Additionally, the ability for students to track performance data can motivate them and inform instruction.

Overall, Darebee seems like a promising resource that can add variety and engagement to PE classes. While I would need to explore the app’s features more to assess its ability to promote higher-order thinking skills, it appears to be a user-friendly and adaptable tool for teachers.

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Heather Ngoma

Heather Ngoma has over 25 years of experience collaborating with educators across New Jersey to drive education innovation. She currently serves as the Director of the Rutgers-GSE Alternate Route Program in the Department of Learning and Teaching, a program which helps career changers, recent college graduates, and other aspiring education professionals become licensed teachers in New Jersey. Follow her on Twitter @heatherngoma.