Safe Bodyweight Circuit: Effort Scale and Safe Limits

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Health and Physical Education · Physical Education
SP-PE-009 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 2
Safe Bodyweight Circuit: Effort Scale and Safe
Limits
Health and Physical Education · Physical Education · Grades 8-12 · 45 minutes
Time needed
45 minutes (one class period)
Prep
Copy the 2-page worksheet (one per student). Clear floor space so each student has an arm’s
length around them. Have a watch or wall clock ready.
Technology
None. A watch or wall clock is needed to time 30-second intervals.
Student
independence
Medium. The sub times the optional circuit; students then work independently.
Copies to make
One 2-page worksheet per student
Materials
Pencils, Worksheet, Watch or wall clock
Goal for today: Students will use a 1–10 effort scale to rate activity, explain the safe limits of a beginner circuit, and
analyze a sample effort log.
Before the bell
☐ Copy the worksheet, one per student (2 pages).
☐ Pick your option: CLASSROOM (students stand in clear space beside or between desks, an arm’s length from
everyone) or GYM/OUTDOOR (students spread out on an open floor or a marked outdoor area your school
allows).
☐ The circuit is OPTIONAL. Any student may sit out for any reason and does not need to explain. Those students
still complete the full worksheet by predicting their effort.
☐ Write the safe limits on the board: 30 seconds of moving, 30 seconds of rest, one round only, effort never
above 6 out of 10, STOP right away if anything hurts or you feel dizzy, sick or short of breath.
Say this to start
Good morning! Today you will learn how to rate how hard you are working. This is called an effort scale. You may try a
short, gentle, five-move circuit if you want to. It is optional, and you can sit out for any reason. Every move is small and
slow. Stop right away if anything hurts, if you feel dizzy or sick, or if you cannot breathe comfortably. Then you will
study a sample student’s log.

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Health and Physical Education · Physical Education
SP-PE-009 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 3
Run of show
Minutes
What you do
What students do
0–6
Take attendance. Hand out the worksheet. Read the safety
rules aloud: move slowly, keep an arm’s length of space
from everyone, stop right away if anything hurts or feels
wrong, and tell the sub. Moving is always optional; any
student may sit out and do the written work instead, and
does not need to give a reason. Point to the safe limits on
the board and read them aloud.
Listen carefully. Decide whether to join the
optional circuit.
6–12
Read the passage and the Station Guide aloud. You do not
need to demonstrate any move.
Follow along. Everyone reads the effort
scale.
12–25
OPTIONAL CIRCUIT. Warm up with 1 minute of easy
marching. Then call each station: 30 seconds of the move,
then 30 seconds of rest while students write their effort
number in the My Circuit Log. CLASSROOM or
GYM/OUTDOOR: same circuit, only the space changes.
Stations: 1 marching, 2 partial squats, 3 wall push-ups (or
palm presses if there is no clear wall), 4 heel raises, 5 low
knee lifts. Finish with 1 minute of slow walking. Do only
ONE round. Students must not jump, run, use chairs or
desks for support, hold weights, work with a partner, or
push through pain. Stop the circuit if students get loud or
unsafe.
Move gently, or sit and predict the effort.
Write an effort number after each station.
25–39
Tell students to sit and complete items 1–8. Remind them
that item 3 is an average.
Analyze Alex’s sample log and answer
questions.
39–43
Tell students to finish items 9 and 10.
Write short answers.
43–45
Collect all worksheets.
Hand in the worksheet.
If things go wrong
• If a student says something hurts or feels wrong, tell them to stop and sit down right away. Do not make them
continue. Send them to the nurse or office if the problem does not pass quickly.
• If a student says they feel dizzy or sick, have them sit, give them water if they have it, and send them to the
nurse with a classmate if it continues.
• If students get silly, race, or try to jump, end the circuit at once. The written work is the main lesson.
• If a student does not want to move, do not ask why. They may predict their effort numbers and finish the
worksheet. If a student shares something that worries you, follow your school’s reporting procedure and tell
the office right away.
Early finishers
• Design a second, even gentler station for someone who has had a long day. Describe it in two sentences.
• Explain why an effort scale can be more useful than a number on a screen.
Support and challenge
• Support: Students may skip the Station Guide and complete only items 1–6.
• Challenge: Students write a rule for how to progress safely, such as adding only one small change at a time.

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Health and Physical Education · Physical Education
SP-PE-009 · Free to print and use in your classroom · substituteplans.com
Page 4
Notes for the teacher (you fill this in)
Jot a few lines before you leave. A full Daily Sub Report is in the free Sub Survival Kit at SubstitutePlans.com.
How far the class got / what to pick up next:
Students who were especially helpful:
Anything the teacher should know: