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Heart Health

Fifth graders learn that the heart is a muscle that pumps blood — and that aerobic activities like running, swimming, and biking make it stronger and healthier, one of the best things they can do for their body.

Grade 5Fitness40 minutes1 class periodSHAPE / Skills-BasedExplicit teaching4 StandardsSHAPE
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Lesson at a Glance

Everything you need before the bell rings

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to…

  • ✓Explain the heart.
  • ✓Know exercise helps your heart.
  • ✓Feel your heartbeat.
  • ✓Value being active.
Essential Question

Your heart beats about 100,000 times a day without stopping! It’s a muscle — and you can make it stronger. How do you keep your heart healthy?

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Lesson Phases
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Vocabulary Terms
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Standards Aligned
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Interactive Task
Explore · Interactive

Heart Health Check

Project each item and have students answer about heart health. The tool explains how exercise strengthens the heart.

❤️ Understand heart healthTry it
Answer each question about heart health.
The Lesson · Health & PE Flow (Warm-Up · Learn · Practice · Apply · Cool-Down)

40 minutes, five moves

Tap any phase to open the teacher moves and student actions.

1

Warm-Up — 100,000 Beats a Day

5 min

Your heart beats about 100,000 times a day — and you can make it stronger!

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Feel your heartbeat.
  • Ask what the heart does.
  • Get ready.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Feel it.
  • Wonder.
  • Get ready.
2

Learn — Heart Health

10 min

Students learn.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Send students to Heart Health Check.
  • Note the heart is a muscle.
  • Note exercise helps.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Answer.
  • Note it.
  • Explain.
3

Practice — Practice

11 min

Students practice.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Do a quick active game.
  • Feel your heart speed up.
  • Explain why.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Move.
  • Feel it.
  • Explain.
4

Apply — Apply

9 min

Students apply.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Pick a fun heart-healthy activity.
  • Explain the benefit.
  • Plan to move more.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Pick one.
  • Explain.
  • Plan it.
5

Cool-Down — Cool-Down

5 min

Students close.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Say what the heart is.
  • Name a heart-healthy activity.
  • Complete the exit ticket.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Say it.
  • Name one.
  • Complete the exit ticket.
Standards Alignment

Built to the standards you report on

Aligned to SHAPE America National Health Education & Physical Education Standards.

SHAPE
HE.1

Comprehend concepts about heart health.

SHAPE
PE.3

Achieve health-enhancing cardiovascular fitness.

SHAPE
HE.7

Practice heart-healthy activity.

SHAPE
PE.2

Understand how the heart responds to activity.

Differentiation

One lesson, every learner

Multilingual Learners

ELL / EMERGING READERS
  • Heart-fact cards.
  • Sentence frame: “Exercise makes my heart ___.”
  • Feel the heartbeat.

Support & Access

IEP / 504
  • Start with “heart is a muscle.”
  • Feel the heartbeat.
  • Name one activity.

Stretch & Extend

GIFTED / EARLY FINISHERS
  • Explain aerobic vs. anaerobic.
  • Compare rest vs. active heart rate.
  • Design a cardio game.
Materials

What to gather

  • 📽️Projector / board
  • ❤️A heartbeat activity
  • 💻Heart Health Check
  • 🏃Open space
  • ✏️Pens
  • 🎫Exit-ticket slips
Vocabulary

Key terms — hover for a quick definition

heartthe muscle that pumps bloodmusclea body part that helps you movepumpto push blood alongaerobicactivity that raises your heart ratecardioexercise for your heartheartbeatone pump of the heartoxygenwhat blood carries to muscleshealthystrong and well
Evaluate

Exit Ticket

Preview the three formative checks. Tap “Sample answer” to see what mastery looks like — hide them before you print for students.

QUESTION 1
What is your heart?
A muscle that pumps blood all around your body.
QUESTION 2
What does exercise do for your heart?
Makes it stronger and healthier.
QUESTION 3
What happens to your heart when you exercise?
It beats faster to send more oxygen to your muscles.

Cool-Down: a happy heart.

Have students pick a heart-healthy activity they enjoy and plan to do it this week. A printable heart-health sheet is in the PE & Health library.

Study · Flashcards

Study the key terms

Tap a card to flip it, then rate whether you knew it. Built from this lesson’s vocabulary.

🃏 Heart HealthFlip
Card 1
Term
Tap to flip →
Meaning
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Nice work!

Practice · Quiz

Check your understanding

A quick self-check with instant feedback, drawn from this lesson’s key terms.

📝 Heart HealthQuiz
Score: 0
1 / 6
Question 1
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Nice work!

Practice · Worksheet

Printable worksheet

A print-and-go review sheet with a built-in answer key. Tap “Show answer key” to reveal answers, or print the clean version for students.

🖨️ Heart HealthPrint
Name: ________________________
Date: ____________

Part A · Write the word that matches each meaning

Word bank: aerobic, cardio, healthy, heart, heartbeat, muscle, oxygen, pump
  1. one pump of the heart
  2. exercise for your heart
  3. activity that raises your heart rate
  4. strong and well
  5. what blood carries to muscles
  6. the muscle that pumps blood
  7. a body part that helps you move
  8. to push blood along

Part B · Show what you learned

  1. What is your heart?
  2. What does exercise do for your heart?
  3. What happens to your heart when you exercise?
Answer key — Part A: 1) heartbeat · 2) cardio · 3) aerobic · 4) healthy · 5) oxygen · 6) heart · 7) muscle · 8) pump
Part B: 1) A muscle that pumps blood all around your body. 2) Makes it stronger and healthier. 3) It beats faster to send more oxygen to your muscles.