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Healthy Youth, Healthy Community (K-2)

Unit of 5 lessons

Kindergarten-2nd Grade

Subjects:

Health and PE, Language Arts, Math, Philanthropy, Science and Social Studies

Key Words/Concepts click to view

Lesson 1 :	ELA:	Brainstorming
	PHIL:	Community; Cooperate; Trust
	SCI:	Food; Health; Nutrition
	SOC:	Civic Responsibility/Virtue; Communities; Healthy Community; Rules
Lesson 2 :	ELA:	Analyze/Interpret; Brainstorming; Group Discussions; Non-Fiction Literature; Reflection
	PHIL:	Advocacy
	SCI:	Food; Health; Nutrition
	SOC:	Communities; Healthy Community
Lesson 3 :	ELA:	Brainstorming; Communicate: Fiction Literature
	PHIL:	Community
	SCI:	Data Collection; Food; Health; Nutrition; Observation
	SOC:	Citizenship/Civic Engagement; Communities; Healthy Community
Lesson 4 :	MAT:	Data Collection/Organization; Graphs/Charts/Tables
	PHIL:	Philanthropic Act
	SCI:	Food; Health; Nutrition
	SOC:	Communities; Healthy Community; Wants/Needs
Lesson 5 :	ELA:	Brainstorming
	PHIL:	Community; Helping; Needs; Philanthropic Act
	SCI:	Food; Health; Nutrition
	SOC:	Communities; Healthy Community

Unit Purpose:

The purpose of this unit is to introduce the learners to healthy living habits both for themselves as well as their community. They demonstrate their knowledge by participating in various activities making healthy food choices, exercising and helping people of the community do the same. Learners develop a service-learning project based on a community needs assessment. They reflect on their service project, demonstrate the impact on the community, and celebrate their hard work and success.

Focus Question: Why is it important to practice healthy living habits and advocate for healthy living practices in a community?

Unit Duration:

Approximately ten hours of 20-30 minute sessions

Unit Objectives:

Learners will:

define community, cooperate, and pledge.
work together and explain the benefits of working together.
make a pledge to act responsibly in their community and share their pledges with others.
state why eating good food and exercising regularly are part of good health.
explain the importance of rules and name other traits of a healthy community.
identify food groups and classify different foods as healthy or unhealthy choices.
examine food packaging and charts for ingredients and nutrition.
define a balanced diet and identify a healthy daily intake of food groups.
state why a healthy diet is important to them personally.
analyze the components of a healthy meal.
state that exercise in an important part of healthy living.
keep track of their food and exercise for a week (or day).
identify places in the school that serve or sell healthy foods and snacks.
identify places in the school for exercise.
define obesity and recognize that obesity can lead to serious illnesses.
state that healthy eating and exercise can prevent obesity.
categorize TV, movies, radio, magazines and the internet as media.
identify foods that ads and commercials are trying to persuade a person to buy.
classify foods in ads as either healthy or unhealthy.
define the words leader, citizen and responsible and define what it means to be a responsible citizen in a school community.
practice helping others and describe how it feels.
define the concepts of tolerance and acceptance.
compare and contrast the concepts of needs and wants.
identify places in the neighborhood that fulfill food and exercise needs.
generate ideas for ways to improve the neighborhood healthy living resources.
select a focus for a service project.
list project needs and components.
carry out their service plan.
reflect on the positive elements of the service project.
reflect on what they learned.

Service Experience:

Although lessons in this unit contain service project examples, decisions about service plans and implementation should be made by students, as age appropriate.

Lesson One: The children brainstorm ways to teach others about healthy choices for building personal health. They may find creative places and ways to advocate for and educate about healthy choices.

Lesson Two: The children teach others about eating a healthy, balanced diet. They may hold a healthy food fair or create informational posters; write poetry that uses creativity and humor to teach about healthy habits; plan an event for which they bring in a variety of healthy breads for a taste-testing event and include public service announcements to encourage others to eat healthy. They may want to do a skit or demonstrate how to make healthy snacks.

Lesson Three: Children share what they have learned about healthy eating and exercise with the larger community. For example, they may make posters or host a field day.

Lesson Four: Encourage children to make "advertisements" for healthy choices using the same techniques as the media. They may design posters or wear homemade pins that make healthy choices look attractive.

Lesson Five: The children plan and implement a service-learning project that promotes good health in the community. They choose an area of the community that needs support and brainstorm ways they can act to make the community healthier. They may create posters or mini-books. They may challenge people through a walk-a-thon or a pledge to eat better or exercise more regularly. The children make the choice and follow their passions and interests.

Unit Assessment:

In Lesson Two, have students complete Handout 8: Healthy Foods! to assess their understanding of the food groups. For younger students, do the worksheet together, reading the questions and responses aloud with them.

School/Home Connection:

For homework, have children ask all their family members to name their favorite healthy foods. The children write each family member's name and write or draw his or her favorite food. When children bring this to school, post the words and pictures on a bulletin board with the headline, "Eat a Variety of Healthy Foods."
After each session, send home for homework a copy of the handout My Healthy Eating Worksheet related to the food group they studied in that session. Have the children fill it out as homework. When they bring it back to school, discuss how easy or difficult it is to eat the recommended amount of that food group.
Give children a copy of My Weekly Food and Exercise Chart (Handout 2) to complete as homework for one week. Or, if it is more appropriate to record food for a day, give them a copy of My Daily Food and Exercise Chart (Handout 3) to take home and fill in with the help of family members.
As a home assignment, have children count and tally the number and type of advertisements they observe in a half hour of television or radio (2 car, 3 soda, 1 clothing store). The next day at school, the class can graph the information collected. Extension: Discuss what type of program they were watching and whether the advertisements match the audience of the program.
Organize and hold a family night. Children may display their projects from all of the Building Healthy Communities lessons. The group may sing the songs they learned in the unit. They may demonstrate what they did for a service project and describe the outcomes that they observed in themselves and in the community. They may also serve healthy foods at the event.