Standard 2.2C: Health and Physical Education

Content Area: Health and Physical Education

Index: 2.2C Grade 4 CPI 1

Standard: 2.2 - Integrated Skills

Strand: C - Planning and Goal Setting

Cumulative Progress Indicator: 1 - The student will develop a personal health goal and track progress.

Grade: 4

Sample Activities:

· SELECTING HEALTH GOALS - Brainstorm possible health goals and write on the board. Each student selects three health goals that can be achieved within a two-week period. Students develop an action plan and chart progress towards attaining the three goals. On a daily basis, discuss the successes and obstacles encountered as students attempt to reach their goals. Use a graphic organizer to illustrate how barriers impact the achievement of a goal, and then have each student create their own “barrier map” for each personal goal. Allow students with similar goals to form small groups and discuss their progress. Students outline strategies that support their goals and compiles a goal diary that includes their plan, progress chart, notes, and a list of strategies and modified goals for the future.

Variation: Write a different health goal on index cards. Be sure you have at least one card for each student. Pass out the cards, one to a student. Each student develops an action plan for that goal, outlining ways to achieve the goal in a specified time period. Students exchange cards with a classmate who reviews the strategies and adds any other ideas. Organize students into small groups to share ideas. Students select one health goal and strive to attain it over a specified time period, using the strategies on the action plan. Students answer the following questions in a journal entry:

      -        Did you use additional strategies to help meet the goal?
-        Did the strategies listed by your classmates work? Why or why not?
-        Were you committed to reaching the goal? If not, why?

· GOAL ACHIEVEMENT - Explain that in order to achieve a goal you need to make a plan. Reaching a goal requires effective decision-making skills. Using the acronym TARGET, students analyze a number of potential health goals. The TARGET method, outlined in the box below, provides steps to reach goals. Students review the health goals, decide if they are realistic, and discuss what might need to occur to reach the goal. Students select two personal health goals and analyze them using the TARGET method. Pair students with similar goals to share their goal plans.

Variation: Students write a story or diary about how they achieved their goal.

· SETTING FITNESS GOALS - In the beginning of the school year, students participate in the school’s annual fitness testing program. Share the results with each student, and discuss personal improvement and goal setting. Each student develops goals for the next phase of testing (usually conducted later in the school year). Review the student’s goals and assist with revisions. Discuss variables that can impact the achievement of a goal (e.g., growth, weather, illness, percentage of improvement). Brainstorm factors that will help students achieve their goals. Using a simple fitness goal, illustrate a goal-setting and planning model and discuss the process with the class. Using the previously selected fitness goal, each student develops an action plan, keeps a log during the school year describing progress, and submits the completed action plan and diary during the end of the year fitness testing program. In a journal entry, students evaluate their plan and the results. Include the activity log and supportive materials in the student’s portfolio.

Variation: Using the results of the fall fitness-testing program, students develop class goals, grade level goals, or team goals. Be sure the teams are balanced across abilities and grade levels. All students impact the achievement of the goal. Goals should be based on improvement, not percentile rankings. Students graph the results.