Lesson Plans
Smart Commute has developed lesson plans with the goal of helping teachers engage students about the environmental, health and social benefits of making active and sustainable travel choices. They are designed for the Ontario curriculum and can help with EcoSchools certification.
Kilometre Club
Create a Kilometre Club at your school to encourage students to be active during recess.
Step 1 – Create Distance Goals
Choose some impressive distance goals to help get your students excited about their Kilometre Club. Some distance goal ideas are below.
- Walk across Halton 45 km
- Walk across Ontario 2,100 km
- Walk across Canada 4,828 km
- Walk around the Earth 40,000 km
- Walk to the Moon 384,400 km
Step 2 – Determine the Distance of One Lap Around the School Yard
Once you know how many laps of the school yard it takes to reach 1km, you can use this knowledge to create lap goals during a single recess. Teachers are encouraged to create alternative lap routes for students who have physical limitations.
Step 3 – Track the Number of Laps Completed
Teachers can track this with a traditional paper and pen, or they can give each student a popsicle stick (or similar) for every lap walked.
Step 4 – Calculate the Number of Kilometres Walked
Count up how many laps were walked during recess and use that number to determine how many kilometres that equals.
Step 5 – Celebrate Your Goal!
Keep track of the daily kilometres walked and once you have reached your first distance goal it’s time to celebrate! Teachers can encourage participation by making a “Golden Shoe Award” (an old sneaker spray-painted gold) that gets to stay in the classroom that has most recently reached a distance goal!
Weekly Walk to School Days
Pick one or two days a week to promote active travel to and from school to students.
Examples: Trekking Tuesday, Walking/Wheeling Wednesday, and Phys. Ed. Friday.
You can find other active travel activities on our Active Travel Calendar.