Moving and feeling good
Grade 5 wellness is about the reasons behind choices: why someone wants to be active or not, what food actually does in the body, and what really decides what a person buys.
What Alberta asks for by the end of Grade 5
The subject: Physical education and wellness
- Describe what inside and outside a person affects how much they want to be physically active.
- Combine movement skills into movement patterns in different physical activities.
- Understand that listening and communicating well can shape and share perspectives.
- Identify healthy habits during puberty.
- Understand that nutrition gives the body energy and nourishment, and supports its systems.
- Understand that being responsible includes respecting another person's yes or no.
- Examine what influences what people choose to buy.
Puberty continues from Grade 4, now as healthy habits: sleep, hygiene, food and activity. Since September 2025, Alberta schools must tell parents at least 30 days before lessons that deal primarily and explicitly with human sexuality, and a child takes part only if a parent opts them in — ask the school how it is handling these lessons. Alberta's overview for parents adds managing stress and time.
The words, first
These are the terms a teacher will use at a parent interview, defined before anything below uses them.
| Word | What it means |
|---|---|
| Motivation | What makes someone want to do something. Internal motivation comes from inside — fun, pride. External comes from outside — a coach, a prize, a friend. |
| Movement pattern | Several skills joined into one smooth action: run, jump, land; dribble, stop, pass. |
| Active listening | Listening to understand rather than to reply: looking at the speaker, not interrupting, saying back what you heard. |
| Perspective | How someone sees something, shaped by their experience. Two people can see the same event differently and both be honest. |
| Nutrient | A part of food the body uses: carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins and minerals, and water. |
| Hygiene | Keeping clean. Puberty is when daily washing and deodorant start to matter. |
| Consent | A clear yes, freely given. Respecting a no — without sulking or pushing — is the responsibility part. |
| Consumer | Someone who buys or uses things. Every child is one already. |
| Unit price | The price for one unit — per gram, per litre, per item. It is how to tell which size is really cheaper. |
| Advertising | Messages paid for by someone selling something. Its job is to make people want the product, not to inform them. |
| Nutrient | Its job |
|---|---|
| Carbohydrates | Energy, especially for the brain and for moving |
| Protein | Building and repairing muscles and other parts of the body |
| Fats | Stored energy, and help using some vitamins |
| Vitamins and minerals | Keeping body systems working — calcium for bones, iron for blood |
| Water | Carrying nutrients, getting rid of waste, keeping body temperature steady |
What to do at home
- Ask what makes it fun — For an activity they love and one they avoid. The answers are their motivations, and they are worth knowing.
- Protect sleep — Canada's 24-hour movement guidelines say 9 to 11 hours a night at this age. Screens out of the bedroom is the change that helps most.
- Talk about puberty early — Plain, calm and short. A child who knows what is coming worries less when it arrives.
- Pack lunch using the plate — Half vegetables and fruit, a quarter protein, a quarter whole grains. Let them build it.
- Compare unit prices — Shelf labels show the price per 100 g. Finding the cheaper size is budgeting practice with real stakes.
- Take apart an ad — What is it selling, who is it for, and what does it want you to feel? Consumer choice starts with noticing the push.
Sheets you can print for this
- What moves me? — motivation to be active
- Fuel for the body — nutrients and their jobs
- Sleep, move, screens — a day, measured
- Smart shopper — unit prices and a budget
The expectations above are paraphrased from Alberta Education's New K–6 curriculum fact sheets, which publish a snapshot of each grade rather than the complete program of studies. Alberta's full programs are at alberta.ca/curriculum.