MTLE Physical Education (Grades K-12) cheat sheet

Physical Education (Grades K–12)

• NASPE/Shape America standards define the physically literate individual across five areas: motor skills and movement patterns, concepts and strategies, health-related fitness, personal and social behavior, and value of physical activity.

• Motor development sequence: reflexive (birth–1 yr), rudimentary (1–2 yrs), fundamental (2–7 yrs), specialized (7+ yrs); fundamental patterns (locomotor, nonlocomotor, manipulative) must be mature before sport-specific skill work.

• Health-related fitness components: cardiorespiratory endurance, muscular strength, muscular endurance, flexibility, body composition. Skill-related components: agility, balance, coordination, power, reaction time, speed.

• FITT principle: Frequency, Intensity, Time, Type. For youth, 60 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily, including vigorous activity and muscle/bone strengthening at least 3 days per week.

• Target heart rate: HRmax ≈ 220 − age; moderate intensity = 50–70% HRmax, vigorous = 70–85%. Talk test is a practical field indicator of intensity.

• BMI = weight (kg) / height (m)². BMI is a screening tool, not a diagnostic; youth BMI is interpreted by age- and sex-specific percentile (underweight <5th, healthy 5th–85th, overweight 85th–95th, obese ≥95th).

• Class management rules: maximize activity time (target ≥50% of lesson in MVPA), minimize transition and management time, use small-sided games and station work to raise practice trials per student.

• Skill learning progression: pre-control, control, utilization, proficiency. Feedback should be specific, corrective, and delivered after the attempt; use part-whole teaching for complex skills, whole teaching for simple ones.

• Assessment types: formative (ongoing, observational checklists, exit tickets) vs summative (end-of-unit skill rubrics, fitness testing). Fitness tests commonly used: PACER, curl-ups, push-ups, sit-and-reach, mile run.