Teach at a School
Structured lesson progressions organized by grade level. Each progression builds skills over multiple sessions, moving from basic spatial awareness to independent map navigation. Written for PE classes, but they work just as well for classroom teachers, STEM and geography teachers, after-school programs, and anyone else teaching kids at school.
The grade levels follow the same underlying sequence of skills, the Navigation Games Progression, tuned to each age group's pacing and depth. Students who are new to orienteering start at Lesson 1 of their grade band, whatever their age: the early lessons build foundations every navigator needs, and older beginners simply move through them faster.
Lesson Plan Progressions
Orienteering in the school day
Schools have real constraints, and the curriculum is built around them.
Time. Class periods are short, and setup and teardown eat into them. Every lesson is written for a typical 30-45 minute period, with a compact delivery version for teachers who already know the activities. Most activities set up in minutes with cones and printed sheets.
Space. You do not need a forest. The progressions work in a gym, a schoolyard, or a local park, and the Indoor Orienteering lesson runs entirely on a basketball court. Early activities need no map at all.
Mixed abilities. Students in any class span a wide range. The curriculum handles this through its progression: simpler tasks give early success, and harder variations challenge students who are ready. Every activity page lists differentiation options.
Standards and learning outcomes. Every teacher brings learning outcomes to consider. The lessons align to SHAPE America PE standards, with each lesson citing the specific indicators it addresses. Beyond PE, orienteering connects naturally to geography (maps, symbols, scale), math (distance, spatial reasoning), and science practice (observing, predicting, checking). Classroom and STEM teachers can run the same lessons and lean on those connections; see why orienteering is good for kids for the broader case.
One setup, many classes
A PE teacher often sets up once in the morning and runs several grades through the same space all day. The curriculum supports this: one set of checkpoints can serve different activities at different levels. With animal checkpoints and colored corner cones set out, a kindergarten class can do Explore & Find, a 3rd grade class can run Animal-O clue sheets, and a 5th grade class can navigate Geometric-O map courses, all on the same arrangement. With checkpoint markers placed for Score-O, younger classes can do Map Walk and Symbol-O on the same points while older classes run full courses. When planning your day, pick the setup for your most advanced group and select activities for each other class from the same arrangement. The Lesson Plan Advisor can suggest activity pairings for your specific schedule.
Year over year
The progressions are designed to be taught more than once. A class can repeat the same lesson plans in consecutive years: the variations, harder courses, and extension activities give returning students new challenges inside familiar structures, and skills that were shaky the first year become fluent the second. Students move up to the next grade band when they reach it, or earlier if the teacher feels they are ready. If your students did the sequence last year, start the new year with a quick refresher lesson and then lean on the harder variations. The Lesson Plan Advisor can suggest a returning-student plan, and Navigation Games staff are happy to consult on multi-year progressions.
For administrators: orienteering across a district
Orienteering can be more than a unit in one teacher's class. A district-wide program typically starts with a conversation to align orienteering with district goals, whether those are PE standards, outdoor learning, SEL, or student engagement. From there, the pieces are: identify a champion among district staff who will own the program; run workshops so teachers experience the activities before teaching them; tailor the curriculum to the district's spaces, schedules, and priorities; get orienteering maps made of schoolyards and nearby parks and collect the materials; and support the first classes with co-teaching until teachers are confident. Navigation Games provides ongoing consultation as programs grow.
The school day is only the beginning. Districts can add after-school orienteering teams at the middle and high school level, and parents can get involved both in school programs and by taking interested students to local orienteering events outside of school (see where to orienteer near you). Contact us to talk about what this could look like in your district.