For elementary students, a physical education lesson has to do more than get explained. It has to be seen, felt, and moved through.
That’s the standard Ashley Mitchell set for herself walking into her first year teaching PE at Shadybrook Elementary School in North Carolina. Ashley gets her students twice a week, providing far more opportunities for skill development and physical activity.
With that extra time came a clear focus. Ashley wanted to keep lessons engaging, and build instruction that made the most of every minute in the gym.
Here is how Ashley brings her elementary PE lessons to life with slides, videos, GIFs, and more.
Finding The Right Fit In A Sea Of Resources
Ashley knew the kind of classroom she wanted to build. Lessons that felt dynamic and engaging for her K-5 students, not just explained to them.
Turning that vision into a full year of instruction was a different challenge entirely. As a first-year PE teacher, Ashley wasn’t just planning one lesson at a time. She was trying to picture what an entire semester, and eventually a full year, could look like for her students. That’s a lot to map out from scratch as a new PE teacher.
“I was a bit intimidated at first by all the resources that are out there,” Ashley said, describing hours spent scrolling social media and various websites for activities and ideas.
That’s where PLT4M’s elementary curriculum entered the picture. PLT4M is a K-12 platform that gives physical education teachers standards-aligned lessons, instructional videos, and curriculum built for every grade level.
For Ashley, it offered exactly what she needed most in year one.
“PLT4M helped me feel more confident by having the information in an organized, easy to understand way,” she said.
That kind of structure gave her a foundation to build her own style on top of.
Videos, Slides, And GIFs Bring Every Skill To Life
In practice, Ashley runs her classes as whole-group instruction. She projects PLT4M’s slides on her Promethean board so every student can see the activity laid out in front of them.
Students responded to the videos right away.
“Students easily understood the videos,” Ashley said. She keeps a slide up throughout the activity, giving students something to reference if they need a refresher.
That mix of visuals has changed how her students learn a new skill.
“My favorite part of PLT4M is the organization and visuals,” she said. Seeing a skill broken down multiple ways, through different videos and graphics, makes all the difference for her students.
Instructions, movement demos, and skill breakdowns all show up in a format young learners can actually follow. For students still building their reading skills, that visual layer does a lot of heavy lifting.
“Everything was put in a way where the educator and students could easily understand,” Ashley said.
Every skill has a slide, video, and GIF to support different teaching and learning styles. Below is an example of a skill breakdown video for dribbling a ball with hands.
A Program Families Look Forward To
Ashley’s program doesn’t stop at the gym doors. She sends home PLT4M’s Healthy Habits Calendars, and her students and families have come to look forward to them each month.
The calendars are loaded with weekly challenges designed to help kids build healthy habits at home. Activities are built around four focus areas: fitness, family, food, and fun.
“My students and families also love the Healthy Habits Calendars and look forward to them each month.”” Ashley said of the calendars.
It’s a small piece of a bigger goal. Ashley wants the habits her students build in class to follow them home, and outlast the school year entirely.
Empowering Every Student To Move Their Own Way
At the center of Ashley’s approach is a simple belief: physical education is about more than sports.
“I want them to understand that physical education and physical movement doesn’t mean just through sports, and that each student can find a way to move their body in a way that they enjoy,” she said. Her hope is that students carry those skills beyond her classroom, staying active well after they leave it.
That’s the kind of lesson that doesn’t end when class does. It’s one Ashley is still building, one visual, one video, and one class at a time.
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