Healthy Living

It's summer school time!!!!  I look forward to summer school for many reasons:  smaller class sizes, less stress, shorter days, EXTRA CASH, and freedom to teach project-based lessons.

Throughout the school year teachers are so pressured to follow the curriculum and stay focused on the core subject areas that it's difficult to fit in one of the most important life-long tools that students will use every day their whole lives (hopefully): HEALTH!  Our 4-week summer intercession is the perfect time to teach health.  I believe it's important for children to learn healthy habits- why should they wait for middle school when their whole lives are ahead of them?

Each week is a different theme around the topic "Healthy Living".  There's a structure to the days of the week, but the content changes.  For example, Monday is the introduction day, Tuesday and Wednesday are centers, Thursdays are speakers/field trips, and Friday is assessment and game day.  I try to get as many community speakers to come in as possible.  Most of the time they are willing to speak for free.  This gives my students an opportunity to meet people in their community that pertain to the subject as well as gain experience interviewing.  They also each get their own portfolio.  The portfolios take a little bit of time and a lot of resources.  Luckily, my school gives teachers a hefty stipend or these portfolios wouldn't be possible.  The portfolios are 3 pronged folders that are made of plastic so they are heavy-duty and durable.  I put together the pages in the portfolio in sequential order, leaving an empty sheet protector at the end of each week so students can put extra handouts in them.  At the back of the portfolio is a Binder Pocket.  Love those!!  It's a great place for additional papers, pencils, or erasers.  It's also made of plastic so it's super durable.

Binder Pocket

There are many aspects to health, so I narrowed down the topics into 4 groups and they are the focus each week:
Week 1- Cleanliness and Personal Hygiene
Week 2- Healthy Diet
Week 3- Exercise
Week 4- Spreading the Word

Cover pages for the unit:

We read books on the topic of the week, learn spelling/sight/vocabulary words that are commonly used on the topic, and have centers to practice skills such as studying food labels (week 2), practicing the correct way to wash hands and brush teeth (week 1), or use calisthenics to exercise (week 3), food or exercise logs (weeks 2 and 3).  I am lucky to have an EA and an adult volunteer (3 adults!) in the classroom, so each adult can lead a center.
Here is the lesson plan outline:

You'll find that under each "Day 1" is the introduction day.  I have students make a list of words that remind them of that topic.  We compile all their words as a class and put it in wordle.net.  This website creates a picture out of words.  The bigger the size, the more students had that word on their list.  The purpose is to emphasize the importance of the words.  Wordle is fun for class summaries, lists, etc.  Here is an example of one we did last year for week 3.  Teachers can adjust the colors, fonts, and picture the words make.  I like to print a copy of this for each student.

Here are some more weekly pages we use:

End of the week goal reflection

Spelling 3 X each

The weekly Interview Page

Food log for Monday and Tuesday

Exercise log for Monday and Tuesday

Weekly graph page- graphing goals

Daily Reflections

Students get to take home their portfolios at the end of the intercession and hopefully use these skills to teach their families and maintain a healthy lifestyle.