Content Area: Health and Physical Education

 

Index: 2.1A Grade 4 CPI 3

 

Standard: 2.1 - Wellness

 

Strand: A - Personal Health

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 3 - The student will analyze the impact of health choices and behaviors on wellness.

 

Grade: 4

 

Sample Activities:

 

·        WELLNESS PLAN - Place the following items on a table or desk in the front of the room: towel, soap, comb, toothbrush, book, and pillow. Volunteers select one of the objects and describe how the object contributes to wellness, then places the object in a large, decorated box labeled “Good Health” or “Wellness.” After all the items have been described and placed in the box, brainstorm a definition of wellness. Write the students’ ideas on the board. Each student creates a written plan focusing on an important health skill. Divide the class into small groups and allow students to share their plans. Students report on their progress during the week. After a designated time period, students write a short note to their parents announcing their accomplishments related to the plan. Variation: Organize students into groups with similar goals. Students track progress towards their
goals, provide support and suggestions, and report to the class at the end of the project on individual and group accomplishments.

Variation: Label the health items and “Wellness” box in another language. Students write a pledge, in both English and a second language, to reach a health goal.

 

·        WELLNESS POEM - Open this activity by asking students what wellness means to them. Write several responses on the chalkboard. Students develop an acrostic poem using the word “WELLNESS” or “HEALTHY” and create a collage or poster illustrating the wellness theme. Display the poems and artwork and discuss ways to remain healthy.

 

·        SUPER HERO FOODS - Write the words “super heroes” on the board and ask what these heroes do. One of the ideas should be related to protection or protecting people from the “bad guys”. Tell students that we call things that keep us safe protectors. Explain that there are certain foods that protect our bodies from diseases, such as cancer or heart disease, and that healthy people eat more of those foods for added protection. Divide the class into two teams. On chart paper, one team writes the names of as many vegetables as they can think of while the other team lists as many fruits as they can think of. Give each team about 3 minutes, verify the responses, and post the lists. Draw attention to some of the less-common fruits and vegetables on the list. Provide students with resource materials so each team can review their lists and indicate if the fruit or vegetable is high in vitamin C or vitamin A. Discuss which fruits and vegetables are the best protectors and why. Poll the class to determine how many students actually eat at least one serving of fruit and one serving of a vegetable per day. Relate the discussion to a review of the Food Guide Pyramid.
 

·        RATING THE SUPERHERO FOODS - Wash and cut fruits and vegetables into small pieces and place on serving trays. Display the cut-up fruits and vegetables attractively at several stations around the room. For each fruit or vegetable, you need a brown paper lunch bag with the name of the item on the outside. Students move from station to station tasting and rating each item. Give each student a rating sheet that provides a scale of 1 (not so good) to 10 (great) for each item displayed. Encourage students to try new items. Circulate and reinforce the importance of protector foods. After the students have tasted and rated all the foods, each student deposits his/her rating sheets in the corresponding brown paper bags. Divide the class into small groups and give each group several of the bags to tabulate the ratings. Create a large chart or poster with the ratings and summarize. Students complete a journal entry outlining three things they learned about health protectors.

 

·        THINGS THAT INFLUENCE WHAT YOU EAT -  Brainstorm the reasons why people eat (e.g., they’re hungry, it feels good, mom makes me) and list on the chalkboard. Tell students that all of these are very real reasons why people chose to eat but they might not always be the best reason to eat. Explain that all of us experience both internal and external influences that cause us to do the things we do (define the terms). Develop two graphic
organizers, one describing the external influences (e.g., food supply, income, social settings, ads, culture) and the other the internal influences (e.g., hunger, nutrition, exercise, rest, general health, smell, taste, texture, shape, temperature, family preferences, peer preferences, appetite, feelings, body image, attitude). Discuss situations in which these influences play an important role in the selection and consumption of food. Students keep a food log for 5 days. At the end of 5 days, divide the class into small groups and allow students to discuss the most common influences on their food decisions. Each group tabulates the most common foods eaten, the most common location, the most common time, and most mentioned feelings associated with eating. Reconvene the entire class and discuss the findings, relating the ideas to the impact of external and internal influences on food choices. Students conclude this activity by writing a paragraph on how they will use this information to make better and healthier food choices.

 

·        PYRAMID CONSTRUCTION - Students create a Food Guide Pyramid model (or design one using a computer program) and list foods that are appropriate for each section of the pyramid. Students can use clip art, magazine pictures, or drawings to enhance their pyramid.

Variation: Share the “Dietary Guidelines for Americans”. Explain that there are many national health organizations that collaborate to provide citizens with up-to-date information about nutrition and health. An easy way to remember the guidelines is through the Food Guide Pyramid. Ask students: “How does healthy eating contribute to overall wellness? How do you feel when you eat healthy versus when you eat too much junk food?” Correlate healthy eating with increased energy levels, the body’s ability to fight off simple diseases, and more efficient and productive use of muscles. Give each student a copy of the pyramid to complete the chart with appropriate representative foods for each section.

 

      Variation: Divide the class into small groups. Students review magazines for pictures of foods that are representative of categories in the Food Guide Pyramid and create a collage of the pyramid.

 

·       TIC-TAC-TOE SAFETY GAME - Draw a large tic-tac-toe grid on the chalkboard. Divide the class into two teams as in the traditional game. Play progresses by asking each team member a health and safety question. Be sure to include demonstration and performance-related questions, not just factual information. If the team member responds correctly, the team places an “X” or an “O” in a box.

 

      Variation: Instead of using the chalkboard, take the class outdoors and draw the grid on the play-ground. Team members can act as “Xs” and “Os” and occupy spaces in the grid.

Variation: Play the game on a baseball diamond. Each correct response takes a base and the team scores runs. The team scoring the most runs in a specified period of time wins the game

 

·        EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW TO STAY HEALTHY - Divide the class into small groups. Each group brainstorms tips to stay healthy—as many ideas as they can during a set time period (3-5 minutes). Reconvene the class and create a master list of tips. Organize the tips into categories (e.g., safety, nutrition, exercise). Use these ideas to create a tip of the day which can be used on bulletin boards, or to trigger journal-writing activities.

 

      Variation: Incorporate the health tips into the school’s daily announcements.