WELCOME!
Introduction to the site
This is the companion website for the orienteering presentations at VAHPERD (the annual conference for Virginia Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance). At this website you will find information and materials related to our presentations. We hope this enables you to start teaching orienteering to your students!
Feel free to contact us with questions. We have also obtained permission for you to contact some of the teachers and coaches with whom we have worked:
Barbara Bryant (Navigation Games) president@navigationgames.org
Don Fish (Quantico Orienteering Club), fdonfish+qoc@gmail.com
Amanda Klein, Wellness Department, Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, amanda_klein@lsrhs.net
Elizabeth Bacher, K-4 PE Teacher, Escuela Amigos Elementary School, ebacher@cpsd.us
Rob Tatro, Elementary PE and Wellness Teacher, Sunita Williams Elementary School, rob_tatro@needham.k12.ma.us
David Landrigan, Coach, Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School team, davidlandrigan@gmail.com
Local VA/MD school contacts available from Don on request (fdonfish+qoc@gmail.com)
Presentations at VAHPERD 2022
Orienteering in Elementary School PE
Presenters: Barbara Bryant (Orienteering USA; Navigation Games), Ron Fish (Quantico Orienteering Club); Liz McNerney (Orienteering USA)
Link to the slides about elementary school orienteering - VAHPERD 2022
Orienteering is a great activity for elementary school PE. We will sample activities from the curriculum implemented with thousands of students in Massachusetts schools in the last few years. We will share easy-to implement lesson plans for fun, developmentally appropriate, and educational navigation games. Students learn about boundaries, checkpoint codes, map reading skills, symbols, route choice, and spatial reasoning. They gain skills and knowledge in SHAPE America Standards. Students work individually, with partners, and with teams while learning to solve problems and apply tactics for improved navigation performance. We will talk about materials and how to get maps made, including through Orienteering USA’s maps for schools program. At the workshop, you will try some of the simple games that build agility and map reading skills. Weather permitting, we may go outside for some orienteering.
Orienteering in Secondary School PE
Presenters: Barbara Bryant (Orienteering USA; Navigation Games), Ron Fish (Quantico Orienteering Club); Liz McNerney (Orienteering USA)
Link to the slides about high school orienteering - VAHPERD 2022
Orienteering is a great way to engage students in movement, problem solving and teamwork. We will share an 8-lesson high school curriculum that was piloted in 2017 and revamped in 2018 at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in Massachusetts, in collaboration with Navigation Games. Attendees will receive the complete unit plan package including lesson plans, lists of materials and resource links. We will also describe our experience building a high school orienteering team, and team-building outings to the woods. You will learn about how to get support from Orienteering USA to create an orienteering map of your school campus or nearby green space. We will also share opportunities for families, students and teachers to orienteer outside of school at local and national events.
Quick Links
Lesson plans for elementary and high school PE
The Sunita Williams orienteering map (example of site-specific maps)
Printed and laminated materials (non-site-specific materials: animal clue sheets, geometric maps, etc.)
The family fun night - bringing the family into orienteering!
A workshop for the entire school staff - an introductory video for all 100 staff members (not just teachers!) at the school who participated in a team-building orienteering workshop. Our goal was to raise awareness about orienteering and set the teachers with ideas for how to use the map of the school grounds in creative ways.
The Needham PE teacher applied for a grant from his town's educational foundation, for equipment, materials preparation, lesson planning and support from Navigation Games. Take a look at our application and feel free to emulate it to obtain grants for your orienteering unit. Having said that - orienteering can be super cheap! You can use materials that you already have; the most important thing for grades 3 and up is making a map.
Video summary
The video below summarizes our approach to orienteering education.