Unit Framework- Email the teacher
Title: A Healthy Kid Is A Happy Kid
Subject and Level - Health, Science, and Social Studies , Grades 3 and 4
Learner Description - There are sixty third and fourth graders. The classes encompass ESL and LD students as well.
Overview -
Three classrooms worked together to bring an awareness to the students of good nutrition related to the third and fourth grade health curriculums. Our students were provided with current research regarding children's eating habits and physical fitness. Once students had an awareness of recent trends in children's nutrition and lack of physical activity, the whole group discussed ways to share this knowledge with the rest of the school.
Rationale -
Why would you teach this unit? -
It is apparent from the children we see and the lifestyles we observe that children today are less physically fit. In addition, fast foods and busy schedules have affected the nutritional habits of young people. As teachers, we feel a responsibility to educate children about their health. It is our hope that this awareness will help them enact some changes in their lives.
Why would this this qualify as an Engaged Learning unit?
The knowledge they acquire and the goals they set will directly affect their lives. They will personally analyze results and be responsible for making changes in their personal health.
It is our hope that they will take ownership in this project and be excited to improve their health when they realize the potential positive affect it could have on the quality and length of their lives.
Why is technology an important component of this unit?
There are a number of good kid friendly web sites on health and nutrition. The students will be using these to do research. They will also be using computers to collate information from surveys and display it on graphs.
They will also use the digital camera and the scanner to get pictures to use for visually displaying their projects.
Why is this project authentic/meaningful and challenging for students?
The health trends of children in the U.S. directly affect the students who will be conducting this project. It impacts the quality and length of their lives.
Goals - Content, Cognitive and Social -
National, State benchmarks/Standards addressed:
State Goal 20 - Achieve and maintain a health enhancing level of physical fitness based upon continual self assessment.
Learning Standard A -Know and apply the principles and components of health related fitness.
20A.2b - Regularly participate in physical activity for the purpose of sustaining or improving individual levels of health related fitness.
Learning Standard C- Set goals based on fitness data and develop, implement and monitor an individual fitness improvement plan
20C.2a- Set a personal health related fitness goal.
State Goal 21- Develop team building skills by working with others through physical activity.
Learning Standard B- Demonstrate cooperative skills during structured group physical activity.
21b.2- Work cooperatively with a partner or small group to reach a shared goal during physical activity.
State Goal 23 - Understand human body systems and factors that influence growth and development.
Learning Standard B- Explain the effects of health related actions on the body systems.
23b.2 - Differentiate between positive and negative effects of health related actions on body systems.
State Goal 24 -Promote and enhance health and well being through the use of effective communication and decision.
Learning activities -
The activities required to achieve the goals.
The learning activities that the students will experience are:
Student Assessment
The students were responsible for their own goal setting. Through the use of their personal journals, they documented changes they were making in their own health habits.
The rubric that we used to assess the student's understanding was also developed by the students.
Evaluation of the student's progress on their individual goals was ongoing. We will meet regularly to monitor and discuss the changes they were making.
How will students demonstrate their knowledge and skills?
After we had met several times to discuss some of the ways they were working towards their goals, we let the students brainstorm ways they could share what they had learned with other students and adults. They came up with the following ideas:
Resources
The resources we needed to do this unit were first of all, a health expert. We used our nurse, Mrs. Presutti for this.
In addition to this human resource, we used a variety of resources (books, the Internet, health magazines etc.) to get information about trends in students' health.
We also needed computers to make the projects that were technology related.
Technology support personnel were also used to assist students.
Management -
Initially, we met as a group and presented the students with information and research about trends in children's health today. We listened to presentations, read articles and developed goals as a group. The students then spent time individually monitoring their goals
Next, the students were divided into interest groups based on how they chose to demonstrate what they had learned. When we met as a group, we would often group the students with students from other classes to encourage more interaction. The group meetings were led by the three teachers but involved a lot of small group discussion.
The interest groups met in one of the three classrooms or in the computer lab depending on what they were working on. Having the students grouped by interest allowed for valuable for students with special needs.
Unit Evaluation -
What was effective?
We felt they became more aware of their personal health and the fact that they have control over it. They were excited because they were able to come up with their own ideas and method of presentation. The group dynamics were also generally good. The students looked forward to our work times.
What wasn't effective?
Scheduling was difficult with three regular education classes. Behavior management was also a challenge with some students because of the less structured setting. There was an inordinate number of children that chose to work on producing a play and the large groups were hard to manage with the differing opinions. It also took a lot of teacher guidance to make sure subject matter was appropriate.
What will we do differently next time?
We would not do a project with three classes again because of the scheduling difficulties. We also discussed that we should have given the students more background knowledge and independent research time.