Unit 3: Keeping Fit.(Brief Article)

Background Bonus

May is Physical Fitness month, and Florence Griffith Joyner and Tom McMillen, as co-chairs of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (PCPFS), have a challenge to get the kids of America fit.

U.S. children are not very fit. Sedentary activities, such as watching television and playing video games, compete for children's time. In addition, parents often think children are more active than they really are. According to the PCPFS, only 36 percent of America's schoolchildren in grades one through 12 are enrolled in daily physical education. And, 40 percent of children aged 5 to 8 show at least one heart-disease risk factor. Boys generally outperform girls in fitness tests, except in the area of flexibility.

Unit Objectives

Students learn to

* take the pulse rate and learn how the pulse changes after exercise;

* name ways that physical activities are important for them;