Daily Physical Activity (DPA)
Daily Physical Activity helps students to improve or maintain their physical fitness and enhances their learning opportunities.
Requirements for Daily Physical Activity:
- Include all students from grades 1 - 8.
- Occur every school day during instructional time; but does NOT replace your school's health and physical education curriculum.
- Involve at least 20 minutes of continuous moderate to vigorous physical activity every school day, including a warm up and cool down period.
- Be planned and modified to ensure that students with special needs can participate.
- Follow safety guidelines as outlined in the DPA Ministry Resource Guidelines (PDF 823 KB, 75 pages).
Physical Signs of Moderate to Vigorous Effort
During DPA look for these physical signs to determine your students' effort level and adjust activity as needed.
Physical Signs of Moderate Effort
- Some increase in breathing or heart rate
- Can carry on a conversation comfortably
- Body temperature increases
- Students feel warmer
Physical Signs of Vigorous Effort
- A marked increase in breathing and heart rate
- Conversation becomes difficult due to the increased effort required
- Body temperature increases
- Students feel very warm
- Students might start to sweat and be out of breath
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Revised: Wednesday November 23 2011
