Key Element 1:

A student who meets this standard should be able to demonstrate an ability to make responsible decisions in all health areas by discriminating among risks and identifying consequences.

INDICATORS

SAMPLE ACTIVITIES

Students ages 5-8 should be able to:

Identify actions that are risky or safe because of their effect upon self

Develop a safety checklist that includes strategies to prevent injuries at home, school, and in the community. Use the checklist to make informed and responsible decisions regarding the improvement of safety conditions in students’ surroundings.

Explain when and from whom to ask for assistance in making health-related decisions and setting health goals.

Review a list of health goals or situations (e.g., dental problems, bloody nose, headaches, sprained ankle, wounds). In small groups, discuss from whom to seek assistance and why. Have a representative from each group tell the rest of the class what the group decided.

Demonstrate the ability to practice fitness-enhancing behaviors to reduce health risks, (e.g., follow safety rules, stretching before exercising.)

Identify playground behaviors that are safe, risky or harmful. In cooperative groups, compose a list of playground safety rules and use student contracts to enforce rules. During free play, transfer "rules of the gym" to "rules of the playground."

Demonstrate personal responsibility for one’s own actions in group physical activities.

Follow directions and class procedures while participating in physical activities.

Students ages 9-11 should be able to:

Demonstrate the ability to apply a decision-making process to health issues and problems.

Read a short health-problem scenario or literature excerpt. Discuss in small groups and list steps to take for best outcome. Share decision-making steps with others.

Evaluate personal health habits to determine strategies for health enhancement and risk reduction.

Monitor daily management skills (e.g., personal, time, and resources management) through the use of a planner or organizer for one week.

Evaluate factors that influence food choices and their impact on nutrition and health for oneself.

Analyze food labeling information to determine calories, nutrients, and serving sizes in a product.

Students ages 12-14 should be able to:

Analyze a personal health and fitness program to determine strengths and barriers.

Review brochures for two health and fitness clubs or organizations. Compare and contrast the strengths and barriers of each. Select the best match for one’s own needs and explain why.

Demonstrate individual responsibility through use of various team-building strategies in physical activity settings (e.g., etiquette, fair play, self-officiating, coaching, organizing a group activity).

Plan and organize a short game for physical education class or as physical activity for a desk-side break in the classroom. With a friend, introduce activity to do with the class. Classmates give feedback on points such as leadership, clarity of directions, fairness and fun.

Make informed decisions for oneself regarding food choices based on an understanding of balance, moderation, and variety.

Plan menus and a grocery list for five sack lunches that reflect nutrient variety, balance, and correct servings sizes from the different groupings on the food pyramid.

Make informed decisions for oneself regarding the use of tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs based on knowledge of short- and long- term effects on the body, and effects on the individual and society.

Develop over-the-counter and prescription drug guidelines to be posted at home on a medicine cabinet or shelf.

Students ages 15-18 should be able to:

Demonstrate life management skills necessary to be effective in personal, family, career, and community roles.

Write a projected schedule for one week to include time for homework, job responsibilities, sports and other structured activities, fun with friends and family, adequate sleep, travel, etc. Write a reflection paper on the strengths and weaknesses of personal time management, with suggestions for improvements.

Compare and contrast, individually and collaboratively, how attitudes, actions, and personal choices can affect oneself.

Brainstorm factors that affect choices made as activity patterns change over the life cycle. Identify physical activity options available in the community. Determine if the options match needs of the community, such as socioeconomic status, age, and gender. Prepare a display that illustrates the findings.

Analyze the short- and long-term consequences of safe, risky, and harmful behaviors.

Record a 30-second public service announcement outlining responsible use of motor vehicles, including automobiles, four- wheelers, boats, and snow machines (e.g., safe driving practices, obeying laws regarding drinking and speeding).

Analyze the factors that influence dietary choices for oneself, including lifestyle, ethnicity, family, media, and advertising.

Survey a random sampling of high school students to determine their three-day food intake. Analyze food intake to determine if the number of servings per food group was met and what nutrients were lacking or in excess. Determine through interviews what influenced dietary choices. Report findings in school newsletter and make realistic recommendations to address areas of concern.

Key Element 2:

A student who meets this standard should be able to demonstrate a variety of communication skills that contribute to well-being.

INDICATORS

SAMPLE ACTIVITIES

Students ages 5-8 should be able to:

Identify appropriate ways to express needs, wants, feelings, and respect for oneself.

Complete a "My Feelings" booklet to illustrate types of feelings and the situations in which they occur.

Explain attentive listening skills needed to build and maintain healthy relationships.

Use a T-chart to list the attributes of healthy relationships (e.g., how it feels, looks, sounds).

Distinguish between verbal and nonverbal communication.

Identify the verbal and nonverbal clues that make a teacher-told story interesting. Discuss how different classmates might use their voices and/or faces differently in telling the same story. Identify what emotions or situations were easy to recognize through the use of verbal and nonverbal clues.

Students ages 9-11 should be able to:

Demonstrate healthy ways to express needs, wants, feelings, and respect for oneself.

Create posters in small groups using the following sentence starters: a) When I am afraid...; b)When I am happy...; c)When I am sad...; d)When I am angry.... Illustrate the posters with pictures, poems or drawings that exemplify healthy ways to express different feelings.

Demonstrate effective verbal and nonverbal communication skills to enhance health.

Develop a graphic organizer that compares and contrasts the ways to verbally and nonverbally express feelings. Emotions to consider may include anger, joy, frustration, satisfaction, jealousy, affection, fear, bravery, rejection, loneliness.

Demonstrate communication skills to build and maintain healthy relationships with family and peers.

Discuss differences between "hearing" and "listening." Prearrange for a student to share a hypothetical problem with several classmates during lunch or recess. Students need to believe they are being told about the problem in confidence. The next day, reveal the set up to the class and ask each student involved to describe what he or she heard and understood to be the problem.

Students ages 12-14 should be able to:

Demonstrate skills for communicating effectively with family, peers, and others.

Divide students into groups of four or five; provide each group with a sealed envelope that contains a jigsaw puzzle of no more than 12 to 15 pieces. Students construct the puzzle using only nonverbal communication. Debrief by discussing the following questions:

1. What feelings result from nonverbal communication?
2. How would the puzzle be solved differently with verbal communication?
3. What are the benefits of verbal communication? Nonverbal?

As a variation, put a couple of pieces from each puzzle the other envelopes, so that students have to use nonverbal communication across groups to find all the pieces needed to complete their puzzles.

Analyze how interpersonal communications affect relationships with self and others.

Trace the feet of students. On each footprint, write a rule for communicating with others (e.g., honesty, no name calling). Display footprints in room as "Steps to Good Communication."

Analyze media for healthy ways to express needs, wants, and feelings.

View selected commercials to identify examples of healthy ways of expressing needs, wants, and feelings. Consider the following questions for discussion: 1) Do the situations in commercials represent real life interactions? Why or why not? What is misleading? 2) What roles are most comfortable for the viewer? 3) Why do commercials present interactions in this way?

Students ages 15-18 should be able to:

Evaluate the effectiveness of communication methods for accurately expressing health information and ideas.

Gather current and accurate health information and present the issues in newspaper form. Include news articles, cartoons, editorials, advertisements, human interest stories, and "old wives tales." Discuss what new health information was learned.

Articulate the positive feelings that result from participating in physical activities alone and with others.

Reflect on a recent family recreational activity or physical education class. Describe the situation and what was felt about it. Identify one thing that could be changed to make the activity more comfortable or enjoyable.

Analyze different situations and the need for a variety of communication styles to enhance well-being.

Brainstorm examples of ways one person can function in several relationships at the same time, such as being a friend, sibling, child, and student. Discuss how people behave differently in various relationships. Compare and contrast how one expresses anger differently to a parent and a boss, sadness differently to a friend and a teacher, or fear to a date and a sibling. Consider why people hurt or support others at different times.

Key Element 3:

A student who meets this standard should be able to assess the effect of culture, heritage and traditions on personal well-being.

INDICATORS

SAMPLE ACTIVITIES

Students ages 5-8 should be able to:

Describe how culture, heritage, and traditions influence personal health behaviors.

Illustrate one family tradition that affects or influences personal health (e.g., hiking an Alaska peak each summer, testing new fish preparation recipes, weekly family basketball games).

Identify a fitness or health-related activity that is culturally defined.

Participate in a group dance and tell about its origin and history.

Students ages 9-11 should be able to:

Analyze cultural influences on personal health practices and decisions.

Prepare a food that has cultural significance and share it with the class.

Recognize the role of sport, games, and dance in modern culture.

Review the newspaper or other periodical for announcements of upcoming community sports, games, or dances. Count the number found in one paper. Cut them out for a poster that includes a statement about the purposes such events serve for the public.

Students ages 12-14 should be able to:

Recognize how cultural beliefs influence the use of health services and products.

Distribute popular magazines reflecting different cultural interests. Have students work in small groups to identify health services or products advertised or described. For selected advertisements, answer questions such as: 1) Who would use this and why? 2) How are these services or products different from, or the same as, those used by students.

Explain how diversity impacts self and interpersonal relationships.

Read Winter Camp and reflect on the roles and relationships of different characters. Have students write about the characters who they most closely identify with and why. How are the situations different from, or similar to, their own?

Discover the history and role of games, sports, and dance in getting to know and understand people of diverse cultures.

Design a mini-Olympics competition for the entire school. Include history and evaluation from ancient games to present-day Olympics, origin of activities, countries that dominate certain activities, family Olympians, and Olympic records.

Students ages 15-18 should be able to:

Analyze how cultural diversity enriches and challenges health behaviors.

Invite a panel of health practitioners from a variety of cultural perspectives to talk to the class about their practices. Ask students to write about which of the practitioners they would feel comfortable visiting for an illness and give their reasons.

Describe how cultural beliefs influence health planning and decision-making (e.g., marriage, child bearing).

Research the marriage arrangements and/or child-bearing routines of people from another culture. Write a paper comparing and contrasting these practices with those of one’s own culture. Comment on personal reactions to the findings.

Key Element 4:

A student who meets this standard should develop an awareness of how personal life roles are affected by and contribute to the well-being of families, communities and cultures.

INDICATORS

SAMPLE ACTIVITIES

Students ages 5-8 should be able to:

Explain the role of the family in meeting needs of family members.

Create a pictorial collage of family activities. Circle examples where a family member is helping another person.

Describe characteristics needed to be a responsible friend and family member.

Trace each child’s hand, or pair children so partners can trace each other’s hands. Through class discussion, identify characteristics of being a good family member or friend. Write one characteristic on each finger of the hands. Mount the hands in the room as reminders.

Students ages 9-11 should be able to:

Describe rights, responsibilities and expectations of family members.

Create two columns: "Rights" and "Responsibilities." Under the "Rights" column, brainstorm and list things such as food, safe home, or voice in family discussions. Under "Responsibilities," brainstorm and list things such as caring for younger siblings, doing house and yard chores, or completing homework. Discuss the changes that occur in these areas as one grows older, the rights and responsibilities held by different family members, the responsibilities in a home, and how responsibilities and rights represent maturity. Imagine a world with no responsibilities.

Propose strategies for promoting satisfying relationships with siblings.

Describe different ways to express nonsexual love to family members (e.g., use of voice, body, language, or actions). Select one way to express love to a sibling and commit to acting on it by the end of the week.

Explain how positive family relationships contribute to personal effectiveness in other settings.

Describe positive ways families solve problems (e.g., family meetings seeking advice from others, expressing feelings honestly). Identify at least one method of problem-solving that applies to friendships as well. Think of an example of a recent situation where the problem-solving method would have been helpful.

Students ages 12-14 should be able to:

Describe various roles of family members and the impact they have on others and others on them.

Using a T-chart, identify actions of individual family members (e.g., teaching another to fish, nurturing, joking) and their impacts on others. In a third column, record reactions to the actions and impacts. Discuss whether the individual actions had positive or negative impacts and what actions could be changed to improve family well-being.

Evaluate methods to promote the health and safety of individuals and family members.

Develop with family members a disaster or crisis plan that addresses health and safety issues such as an earthquake, fire, home accident, or neighborhood crisis. Identify family routines or rules that promote health and safety, and which would be helpful in the event of a disaster or crisis.

Explain the family’s role in the identification and prevention of health issues and concerns (e.g., eating disorders, stress).

Work together to identify family situations where family involvement would be appropriate (e.g., eating disorder, substance use, bad grades, sexual abuse, peer rejection, harassment). Brainstorm verbal and nonverbal steps family members can take, such as contacting medical or legal personnel, sharing information, and developing a coping or management plan.

Students ages 15-18 should be able to:

Assess the impact of technology on roles and responsibilities of family members.

Review an article about someone who has become an Internet addict. Discuss the affect this has on family roles and responsibilities. Suggest mitigation measures.

Identify daily management practices required by individuals with multiple family, community and wage-earner roles.

Invite a panel of individuals who "wear many hats" in the community to talk to the class about "juggling it all." Have students record the variety of management strategies used by the guests. Individual students can predict which strategies might work best for them and why.

Discuss societal, cultural, demographic and economic factors affecting the responsibilities of family members.

Track a favorite television show for a week and document the roles, rights, and responsibilities of the characters. Discuss what factors determined those roles. Also track personal family roles, rights, and responsibilities, and discuss the influencing factors. Compare the list of influencing factors and add others that may be brought up in discussion.

Assess the family’s role in the intervention of an alcoholic member.

Invite a counselor to address the class about interventions for alcoholics. Discuss the benefits and barriers to family involvement in an intervention. Have students identify which roles in an intervention would be hardest or easiest for them and why.

Key Element 5:

A student who meets this standard should be able to evaluate what is viewed, read and heard for its effect on personal well-being.

INDICATORS

SAMPLE ACTIVITIES

Students ages 5-8 should be able to:

Interpret how the media can influence consumer decisions regarding health practices and products.

Interview students and adults regarding their choices of specific products and why these products have been selected (e.g., soda, cereal, juice, soap, toothpaste, chips). Graph and narrate results.

Use technological tools and other resources to exchange health information and ideas.

Plan an effective advertising campaign (e.g., visuals, video, brochures) to persuade students to follow safety rules, eat breakfast, participate in a physical activity, etc.

Students ages 9-11 should be able to:

Use technological tools and other resources to locate, select, and organize information.

Use computer software (e.g., Dine Healthy) to design a food log, analyze the nutritional content, and make meal adaptations to reach a health goal.

Analyze consumer health issues and products to make wise decisions.

Interpret labels to make decisions about product selections. After discussion and study of basic advertising techniques, create an advertisement for a health product, food, or services that uses one or more advertising techniques.

Students ages 12-14 should be able to:

Demonstrate the ability to utilize resources from home, school, and community that provide valid health information.

Select a dentist after comparing advertisements, brochures, interviews, and other information.

Determine potential uses of technology for health education.

Use interactive technology to create a learning center for a health fair.

Students ages 15-18 should be able to:

Explain how health and safety concerns have been improved by technology, media, and medicine (e.g., product testing, control of polio, advanced surgical techniques, improved treatments for cancer, diabetes and heart disease, work site safety management).

Create a time line focused on a specific health and safety problem. Have the time line reflect technological, media, and medical innovations and influences on the problem. Present the time line in class and predict future outcomes.

Analyze health claims - fact and myth - made through the media to determine their impact on personal and family health.

Apply knowledge learned about the validity and credibility of fad diets to create an "Eat Up the Facts About Diets" brochure or bulletin board display that dispels diet myths.

Evaluate the idealized body image and elite performance levels portrayed by the media and determine the influence on a young adult’s self-concept, goal setting, and health decisions.

Develop "quack buster" teams to evaluate fitness and health-related products to determine credibility and effectiveness (e.g., spot reducing, gut busters, cellulite dissolvers). Support or reject, based on student lab inquiries and research, that the product represents a potential type of quackery.

Key Element 6:

A student who meets this standard should understand how personal relationships, including those with family, friends and coworkers, impact personal well-being.

INDICATORS

SAMPLE ACTIVITIES

Students ages 5-8 should be able to:

Describe how the family influences personal health.

Create a bulletin board of photos brought in by children to show health family activities. Children will complete the sentence strip "My family helps me be healthy by ..." for the bulletin board.

Describe how healthy relationships with friends and families and a positive self-concept can affect an individual’s well-being.

Write a story or draw an illustration explaining how one’s family makes one feel good about oneself.

Students ages 9-11 should be able to:

Create solutions to problems that occur in family relationships.

Identify a family problem and role-play a solution. The problem may be as simple as a sibling not doing chores, or more complex, such as a parent losing a job.

Describe changes in family memberships that affect one’s well-being.

Develop a web identifying changes that occur in a family unit, including decisions and events related to jobs, family memberships, moving, illness, and/or finances. Add pictures from magazines or newspapers to help students understand the media’s role in how and what we learn about families in this society.

Students ages 12-14 should be able to:

Analyze how adolescent health-related decisions are influenced by peers, family and community.

Divide the class into two groups: boys and girls. Each group selects a recorder and a group facilitator. The group of boys respond to "I like girls who..." and the girls respond to "I like boys who..." Each group also responds to "I dislike boys (girls) who ..." As a whole group, review the lists to determine their common factors. Discuss how students’ choices and decisions are influenced by others’ perspectives.

Evaluate constructive and destructive family relationships.

Cut from the local newspaper stories and articles about communities and/or families. Sort by constructive and destructive situations and analyze the characteristics used for determining the piles.

Distinguish between rights and responsibilities in family relationships.

Create two columns on a paper: "Rights" and "Responsibilities." Students list things they believe fit in each category. Discuss the lists and address questions such as who decides the responsibility, how much responsibility a child has, and the balance of rights and responsibilities.

Students ages 15-18 should be able to:

Evaluate personal risks for chemical dependency based upon peer, family, and relationship factors.

Invite a psychologist, counselor or social worker to discuss with the class the topic of chemical dependency, its risk factors, and ways to get assistance.

Examine the use and misuse of power in a relationship.

Role-play a variety of relationships (e.g., friends, parents, siblings, employer, teacher, date) to explore the use of power.

Understand how the family can provide for the economic, physical, and emotional needs of its members.

Arrange for students to shadow an adult at work. Arrange interview time to discuss the relationships of work and family.