Content Area: Health and Physical Education

 

Index: 2.2A Grade 2 CPI 2

 

Standard: 2.2 - Integrated Skills

 

Strand: A -   Communication 

 

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 2 - The student will express ideas and opinions about wellness issues.

 

Grade: 2

 

Sample Activities:

 

·        HEALTH HELPERS MURAL - Students brainstorm people and places they can go to for help and information about health and use this information to create a mural depicting “health helpers” in action. Students use the mural as background to create a role-play for each health helper (e.g., a student asking the school nurse for help with a cut, a counselor offering help after a student’s pet dies). Display the mural in the hallway and add new faces or agencies as the school year progresses.

 

      Variation: Students visit a hospital, health clinic, or health education center and create a panel drawing (a sheet of drawing paper folded into four squares) of their visit.

Variation: Using children’s television shows, discuss real vs. imaginary helpers (e.g., Spiderman, Batman, other cartoon heroes). Discuss why it is important to know to whom and where you can go for help. Students draw a picture of their favorite health helper.

 

·    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 puppets 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.

 

·        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.

Variation: Write a trigger word on each footstep (e.g., teeth, danger, food). All footsteps dealing with one category of health are the same color.

Variation: Divide the class into two teams. Ask each team a health question. If the question is answered correctly, team members move forward on the path. If the question is answered incorrectly, the team moves backward. First team to complete the path wins a healthy prize. Alternatively, award points for each correct answer, calculate team total points and reward the entire class periodically for reaching point totals (e.g., 20 points wins 10 minutes of free time, 50 points wins 30 minutes of recess, or 100 points wins a healthy snack day).

 

·        HEALTH PUZZLE - Prepare a black-line master of a shape or object, such as a heart, triangle, or rectangle. Divide each shape into several irregular sections to form a puzzle. Give each student a puzzle sheet and have him or her illustrate a positive health behavior in the shape (e.g., brushing teeth, eating fruit, wearing safety equipment). After completing the picture, students glue the illustration on oak tag or construction paper and then cut the puzzle on the sectioned lines. Students exchange puzzles and try to guess the health behavior. After students have had a chance to solve several different puzzles, students place their own puzzle pieces in an envelope. On the front of the envelope, students write a brief clue about the puzzle for his/her parent or guardian (e.g., if the puzzle illustrates eating vegetables the clue might be “you’ll be green with envy when you solve my puzzle”). Students take the
puzzle home and share with family members.