Content Area: Health and Physical Education

 

Index: 2.1A Grade 2 CPI 1

 

Standard: 2.1 - Wellness

 

Strand: A - Personal Health

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 1 - The student will define wellness and explain how making healthy choices and having healthy relationships contribute to wellness.

 

Grade: 2

 

Sample Activities:

 

·        EVERYBODY STAYS SAFE -  Brainstorm special safety problems associated with playing in the neighborhood (e.g., drug paraphernalia on the playground, trash dumped on blacktop, teens that harass them on the basketball court, gunfire or drug dealing, roaming animals, construction sites, major highways). Discuss alternative activities that can be done in a safe environment. Develop a list of safe play alternatives for the neighborhood. Students design a map of the neighborhood and indicate safe places to play on the map.

 

·       OUTDOOR PLAY - Ask students: “What do you do to prepare to play outdoors?” List the responses on the board. After a brief discussion, divide the class into four groups—one for each season. Provide each group with magazines that contain pictures of individuals participating in outdoor play. Each group selects several pictures that represent healthy and safe seasonal play (e.g., wearing a sunscreen on the beach, wearing appropriate attire for the winter weather, wearing protective pads and helmets). Each group shares their pictures and discusses safe outdoor play. Students create a class collage using the pictures.

 

·       THE GREAT WALL OF WELLNESS - Divide the class into small groups. Within that group, each person lists five things that make him/her healthy. Each group presents their list to the class and a master list is developed. From the ideas on that list, the entire class creates a mural illustrating the healthy behaviors. Display the mural in the hallway, and encourage other classes to contribute to the continuation of the “wellness wall.” Link the activity to a wellness theme such as “Health Happenings” or “Proud to Be Drug-Free.”

 

·       FEELING WELL - Distribute a piece of paper and crayons to each student and write the word wellness on the chalkboard. Ask the students to close their eyes and imagine a time when they feel well. Use prompt questions such as the following:
-        How does your face look when you feel well?
-       Where are you? on a beach? with friends or family?
-        What are you doing? playing a game? listening to music?

Direct the students to open their eyes. Each student draws a picture of himself/herself when feeling well. Display the pictures in the classroom, and use them to introduce the elements of wellness (identify such concepts as happiness, laughing, exercising, being loved). After discussion, students complete
a slogan such as:

      -       I feel great when...
-        Wellness means...

Variation: Preschool and kindergarten students create a “Feeling Well Face” using a paper plate, crayons, and scraps of fabric and yarn.

 

·       THE MOST WONDERFUL PERSON IN THE WORLD - Pose the following questions and write the responses on the board.
-       Who is the most important person in the world?
-       Who is the most wonderful person in the world?
-       Who is the healthiest person in the world?

 

      Discuss the responses and explain that each student knows the most important, most wonderful, and healthiest person in the world (obviously, you want the children to answer that they are most important and wonderful). Each student develops an “All About Me” booklet using a black-line master for the cover with space to include a photo. Supply pages with headings such as “A Healthy Me,” “A Happy Me,” “A Friendly Me,” or “A Strong Me.” Each page should focus on those things the student likes to do that support wellness. Students use drawings, magazine pictures, computer graphics, or photos to illustrate the booklet and display their books.

 

      Variation: Students create a poster, using a photo or self-portrait, that illustrates three things they do to remain happy and healthy. Students frame the poster with the three positive statements (e.g., I always wear a smile, I always brush my teeth, I like to play with my friends).

 

·       WASH AWAY THOSE GERMS -  Brainstorm responses to this question: “When should you wash your hands?” and write the responses on the board. Ask for a volunteer. Rub petroleum jelly on the student’s hands as you explain that all humans have oils on the surface of their skin and that the jelly represents the oils. As the volunteer places his/her hands in a dish that contains sand, tell the rest of the class that the sand represents the many germs that live on objects, on our skin, and in the air all around us. The student rinses his/her hands in a bowl of water, without using soap, and then shows the class the oil and sand remaining on the hands. Ask the students: “What does this tell us about the germs on our hands? What do we need to do to really get our hands clean?” Now have the volunteer wash his/her hands in warm water using soap. Ask the students to describe the difference. The school nurse demonstrates proper hand-washing techniques and allows each child time to practice.

 

·       PATH TO GOOD HEALTH - For this activity, create enough life-size footsteps to form several paths on the classroom floor. Tape the footsteps in staggered positions around the room. Explain that the footsteps lead down the path to wellness and that healthy habits formed now will help students stay on the right path. To illustrate this, students play a game that requires them to demonstrate how much they know about being healthy. Divide the class into two teams with each team forming a separate line. One at a time, students offer a tip about good health (e.g., brush your teeth, don’t eat junk food). Teams alternate responses and with each new response, team members move up one footstep. At the end of the path, students write a response to this statement: “I can follow the path to good health by...” and share their responses.

 

·        GOOD HEALTH PUPPET - For this activity, you need a black-line master of a familiar object (e.g., an apple, a valentine, a circle) with a happy face on it. Begin by asking: “What health habits do you practice every day?” List the responses on the chalkboard. Using the black-line master, students color and cut out the object and paste the face on a brown paper lunch bag to make a puppet. After the puppets are completed, divide the class into small groups. In each group, students use their puppets to communicate about healthy behaviors (e.g., I always cross at the crosswalk, I always eat my vegetables). After all pup-pets have had a chance to talk, reconvene the class and have a few volunteers share their puppets’ “advice.” Add any new ideas to the list of healthful habits already on the board. Display the puppets and allow students to use them on a regular basis to reinforce healthy habits. Variation: Students select a “healthy” name for their puppet (e.g., Ernie Exercise, Franny Fit, or Wendy Wellness) and share a health habit that relates to the name of the puppet. Videotape the student presentations and use the videos to review and reinforce positive health behaviors.

 

·       WAYS I EXERCISE - Give each child a sheet of construction paper and have him/her fold the paper into four sections. Students illustrate each of the following in a section: Outdoor Exercise, Indoor Exercise, Favorite Exercise, and Family Exercise. Students share their pictures and create a class list of their favorite forms of exercises with classmates. Invite the physical education teacher to discuss the benefits of exercise and to demonstrate several simple forms of exercise that can be accomplished right in the classroom.

 

·        RECHARGING THE BATTERIES - Bring a battery-powered toy to class. Demonstrate the toy with fresh, highly energized batteries. Students describe the actions of the toy. Then replace the batteries with older batteries. Again, students observe the actions of the toy. Explain that batteries are like our energy level and that we need fuel (food) and rest to keep our “batteries” charged. Students create a poster, refrigerator magnet, or laminated wallet card that reminds them of three ways to recharge their batteries.