In school I loved learning about bones and muscles, so I wanted to pick this lesson because I think it would be so fun.

Activity Title:  Movements and Bones, Joints, and Muscles

Grade Level:  Kindergarten

NHES Standard: 1.5.G:  Essential Concepts:  Name body parts and their functions

Objective:  Students will be able to understand the purpose of bones, muscles, and joints in movement.  Students will practice locomotor and non-locomotor movements.

Length of Activity:  30-40 minutes

Materials:

• Book “I Can Move” by Mandy Suhr – Wayland Publishers.
• Posters showing muscles and bones
• Open area (indoor gym area or possibly classroom rug area)

Activity:

The teacher explains that the students are going to be learning about how different parts of the body allow them to move.  They are also going to be practicing various movements, and they will need some space to move without bumping their neighbors.  The teacher asks the students to sit in one line (or a couple of lines with space in between) and spread out so that when they move their arms in a circle, they will not touch any of their neighbors.  Alternatively, the teacher could have circle markers or other markers set out with appropriate spacing.

The teacher asks the students to sit and listen as he or she begins reading the book, and, when asked by the teacher, to practice the movements described at the beginning of the book.  After the first couple of pages, the book says, “I can move in lots of different ways.  I can:

• Skip (the teacher models skipping and asks students to skip for a minute, then return to their spots)
• Run (the teacher models running and asks students to run for a minute, then return to their spots)
• Jump (the teacher asks for a volunteer to demonstrate jumping, then asks students to jump several times)
• Roll (the teacher demonstrates a log roll, pencil roll, or egg roll, and asks students to roll for a minute)
• And Dance” (teacher asks students to dance in place)
• Students in wheelchairs or students who cannot perform a particular movement can substitute another movement. g., moving arms instead of legs.

Students sit down, and the teacher continues to read the explanation that we can do all these movements because we have a skeleton inside our bodies that contains many different bones.  These bones are hard, strong, and don’t bend easily.  The teacher continues to read that the jointed parts of our skeleton move (knees, elbows, etc.).  Muscles make our bones move and are like stretchy rubber bands attached to the bones.

Formative Assessment:  After the book has been read, the teacher can ask questions and engage the students in a discussion about the functions of bones, joints, and muscles.

• What do bones do for our bodies (give our bodies shape, support and protect our organs and body systems)
  • Show students a poster or print-out of the human skeleton, e.g. from https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/bones.html (Links to an external site.). The visual will be useful for ELs and for many others who benefit from visualization.
  • Point out some notable bones such as the skull (Question: what does our skull do for us?), leg bones (femur, fibula, tibia) (Question: What do these bones in our legs do for our bodies?), ribs (Question:  What do the ribs do for us?)
• Do bones bend? Ask students for a thumbs up or thumbs down.
• Joints are places where two bones meet. They bind the skeleton together and make it possible for bones to move.
• What are some examples of joints? Think-pair-share.  (Shoulder, knee, elbow, etc.)  Model and ask students to move particular joints one by one.
• Muscles are made up of elastic tissue akin to a rubber band. Thousands or even tens of thousands of fibers make up each muscle. 
• What do muscles do for our bodies?
  • Skeletal muscles are attached to our bones and make it possible for our bones to move.
  • [There are other types of muscles as well (smooth muscle and cardiac muscle)]
  • Show students a poster or print-out of a human’s muscles, e.g., from https://kidshealth.org/en/kids/muscles.html (Links to an external site.).
  • Point to notable muscles in the poster (e.g., deltoid = shoulder or bicep = upper arm) and ask students to demonstrate how they can use that muscle to move their body.

Wrap up/Summative Assessment:  The teacher can ask students to stand and

• Move in a way that you bend a joint in your leg.  
• Move in a way that you bend a joint in your arm
• Practice the movements from the beginning of the book one at a time: skip, run, jump, roll, dance. 

Relation to Health Unit:  This lesson/activity can be part of a unit on the human body focusing on bones, muscles, and joints.  Additional lessons could focus on tendons, broken bones, and strains and sprains.

Enduring Understanding:  Bones, muscles, and joints work together to keep our bodies moving.

“I love that you are basically including science into your PE activity! I enjoy that you included multimedia as well, but what if you tried doing that bone song too? I think that for your kindergarten age group it would be perfect.”

-Michelle Espinoza

“A very well thought out and descriptive LP!  I wrote a lesson plan in undergrad for kindergarten about the 5 senses that would be a great follow lesson to this! It hits the health standard: “1.6.G Name and describe the five senses.” Let me know if you are interested in seeing it. Just a note: An undergrad professor told me its important to distinguish between a hop, a skip and a jump as most kids use the synonymously. So maybe when you model a skip, you can point out a skip is when you alternate the legs you hop on.”

-Rachel Cherry

“Rachel, I would love to see your kindergarten lesson on the 5 senses if you still have time to share here or by email! (joy.ishii@sjsu.edu)  Your tip about distinguishing between a hop, skip, and jump is also much appreciated.  Thank you!”

-Joy Ishii

“I love how your lesson plan ties science and PE together in one! I think that this is an informative and engaging lesson because students are actively participating through movements while they are learning about their body parts. While they are doing the movements, they can actually feel their own body parts move as you are pointing out how the information relates to each part of their body.”

-Wendy Pham

Students will have such a great time with this lesson because it involves so much moving and materials that they will be engaged the whole lesson, and that is extremely encouraging as a teacher.

Standard: 1.10 Travel in straight, curved, and zigzag pathways.

Objective: Students will be able to understand what straight, curved, and zigzag lines look like and how to travel using them as pathways. 

Materials:

• Tape
• Cones
• Rope
• Jump rope
• Visual cue cards with different lines
• Music
• Hula hoops

Activity: Pathway Racers

      To pre-assess the students understanding of lines, the teacher will have students spread out in the room. The teacher will ask students to travel in a straight line. He/She will begin playing music and allow students to travel across the room demonstrating their understanding of straight pathways for 30 seconds to 1 minute. The teacher will repeat this process for curved lines and zigzag lines. The teacher should remind the students not to bump into their peers and to be mindful of their surroundings. 
      The class will come together as a group to review what each line is and how we can travel in these different pathways. The teacher will model how to travel in each of these paths. Teacher modeling will be a good visual for students who might be EL’s. The teacher can also provide pictures of the different types of pathways and demonstrate a person walking along these. The teacher will explain that the class is going to do a relay activity practicing these pathways. On the ground, the teacher will have placed tape in alternating pathways for the students to follow. The class is split into three to four groups. The students will line up behind a cone at the starting point. When the teacher plays music, the first student in line follows the pathway. As they are traveling along the line, they must say/call out what type of path they are traveling on. When they get to the end, they must tag the next person in line. The group sits down when the entire team finishes. By using tape, this activity becomes accessible to students with wheelchairs. If you have students who have visual impairments, you can have a rope along the path that indicates the various pathways that they can hold onto to follow along. The tape is also good for ELs because it is visual and they can follow along. 
      After this, the teacher will place “obstacles” in a way that will guide children to walk in a certain pathway. For example, cones in a straight line on both sides of you forces you to go straight, hula hoops staggered has you travel in a curved/wavy line, and jump ropes lined in a zigzag pattern on each side of you has you travel in a zigzag pattern. The entire class will line up at the start and one will go at a time. The following student will begin when the first student reaches a certain point that the teacher has designated. This will be used as a formative assessment to understand if the students know the various pathways. The teacher should make the obstacles wide enough that wheelchairs can navigate through the path. Students who are visually impaired can use these tactile obstacles to navigate the path as well. 
      To assess the students at the end of the lesson, the teacher will have the students line up against one side of the wall. The teacher will say that the students are cars and they are trying to get to their destination (the wall across from them). However, the route is very crazy. The teacher will call out a pathway and the children will have to move towards their destination in this way. The teacher should remind students not to bump into their peers and to be mindful of those around them. The teacher will say “When I say go, move to your destination on a (curvy, straight, zigzag) road.” The teacher can hold up pictures of different lines or roads that are curvy, straight, and zigzag for English Learners. Continue to do this, varying the types of pathways, until then students make it to their destination. 

This lesson can be used in a math unit to explore how different lines create different shapes. This can also be tied to a unit on locomotor activities and how we can use movement to travel distances. This lesson focuses on answering the questions, “How can we get to places using different pathways? Which ways are the most efficient?” This second question can be used in a follow up activity where students have to time their peers when traveling a distance using the different pathways. The enduring understanding question is, “What is the importance of locomotor skills? Why is it important to develop these for use in other physical activities?”

“I love this lesson plan!  I especially love the last activity where students have to pretend their cars trying to reach their destinations.  This idea connects to real world situations, which deepens the importance of the lesson and learning locomotor movements.  I also liked how you incorporated visual signs into the lesson.  They not only help EL learners but students who have hearing impairments as well.” 

-Rachel Burnette

“Hanna, this is such a great lesson plan that engages students through gross motor skills that can be applied on paper as well. One Udl-ify feature that stood out to me the most was using tape for students with wheelchairs and rope for students who have a visual impairment. I think as teachers, we may get caught up in the activity and may forget the needs of all students. Again, this is a great activity to teach and bring in physical education. Most teachers teach this by cutting and drawing. I’m glad to see a physical activity to teach this.” 

-Rosa Gonzalez

This is a great lesson to help students with dribbling and passing which also helps with sharing and that is super important for students to learn.

Card Sharks Basketball Passing

Grade: 3rd – 5th 

Length of Activity: 20-40 minutes

Objective: Students will practice bouncing and passing a basketball with a partner.

Materials:

• 1 deck of playing cards
• 1 basketball for every pair of students
• Open area; outdoors or basketball court/gym preferable.

Modeling:

• Inform the students that the activity will help the students practice their bounce and chest passes with a basketball.
• Have two students volunteer to demonstrate a correct bounce and chest pass to the class.
• Explain to the students that they will be using a deck of cards to determine the type of pass that they are going to perform with their partner.
• Explain what each card means for them:
  • Show the students each card while explaining what each card means.
  • Black card = bounce pass
  • Red card = chest pass
  • 10 of Spades = 10 bounce passes
  • King of Hearts = 13 chest passes
  • Ace of Clubs = 1 bounce pass
  • Joker = 20 dribbles
  • To check for understanding, draw random cards and have the students recite what action is related to the card. Repeat until students understand what each card means.

Activity:

• Teacher will split the class into pairs.
  • Have the pairs spread out around the room/area, and make sure there is enough space between each pair.
  • For students with physical disabilities, have the gap between the pair be close enough for comfort and ability to perform the activity.
  • Teacher will walk around the room/area with a deck of cards and verbally say the card being drawn which showing the card to the students. If students do not know what action to do, the teacher can remind them what action to do.
  • Have the students practice the action for 30-45 seconds. Have a timer go off so the students are aware that they will be moving on to another action.
  • Summative Assessment:
    • Walk around the room/area and ask the students if they are able to do each pass with ease. 
    • If students are having a hard time with a pass, have the pair shorten their distance between each other so that they aren’t far away from each other. Have the students practice the pass until they are able to do it with ease. Once the students are able to do it easily, have them step back further away from each other.
  • Continue activity until there are no more cards in the deck.

End of Activity Debriefing:

• Formative Assessment:
  • Have the students come together as a whole class and sit down with you.
  • Have the students give a self-assessment via hand signals:
    • Thumbs up – I can do a GREAT bounce pass and chest pass.
    • Thumbs in middle – I can do an OKAY bounce pass and chest pass.
    • Thumbs down – I need MORE PRACTICE doing bounce passes and chest passes.

Purpose: This physical education activity correlates to the National Health Education Standard (NHES) 4 – Interpersonal Communication: Students will demonstrate the ability to use interpersonal communication skills to enhance and avoid or reduce health risks. (Telljohann et al, p. 207). Within this health standard, students are expected to use appropriate verbal/nonverbal communication strategies in an effective manner to enhance health or avoid/reduce health risks. The standard also expects students to use appropriate skills, such as negotiating, refusing, eye contact, body language, and attentive listening. 

With this activity, students are engaging in a physical activity with a partner. With their partners, they are communicating with each other using verbal and nonverbal communication, as well as using eye contact, body language, and attentive listening. As a new card is being drawn, one of the students, or both, might say verbally what passes they will be doing, which requires attentive listening and verbal communication. Before passing the basketball to their partners, they would need to have eye contact from each other so that they know when the other student is ready to receive the pass. 

Relation to Health Unit: A health unit that this activity can relate to would be about muscles and strength. As the students learn about the different muscle groups in our bodies, they would relate the physical activity of passing the basketball to the muscles being used. Also, the students would note that they are building their strength as they continue to practice their passes. 

” I really like your lesson plan! I think that it is perfect for the age group and that your UDLifying definitely facilitates those learners as well. Your assessment is simple, but affective. What are other ways you can assess the students as well? Maybe a demonstration of their new skills? Great work overall! 🙂 “

-Michelle Espinoza

“Really like this lesson plan! I think it’s fun and the kids would enjoy it.  The ULDifying of your lesson was great too- I especially liked that you incorporated visuals by showing the students what each card means as you’re talking  about it.  Definitely benefits those students who need more visuals or EL students.”

-Mathea Turkalj

“I really like this lesson plan and sounds like the kiddos would really enjoy this activity. I think the UDLs you came up with are great and would be really beneficial to students who need that differentiation. I think to differentiate even deeper you can have different size balls that could help a student cannot hold a bigger ball and might make it easier for them to catch. Another suggestion would to create the cards out of 8×11 paper instead of using the small cards so that the students can see what card you are pulling easier and can be seen from further away.”

– Monica Ardanuy

Students tend to gear more towards unhealthy eating, I want my students to know the importance of healthy eating and why we need to give our body these nutrients.

Lesson Plan Title: Healthy & Unhealthy Foods  (UDL Color like this)  

Grade Level:Kindergarten

Enduring Understandings:  

(1) Choosing to eat healthy foods helps our bodies stay strong and healthy and grow to be healthy adults.

(2)  Eating a mix of foods from the five food groups provides our bodies with essential vitamins and minerals to grow strong and stay healthy.

Important Health Unit Question:  Are you what you eat?

Curriculum Standard: 1.1.N – Name a variety of healthy foods and explain why they are necessary for good health.

Content Objective:  Students will be able to classify different food items as either healthy or unhealthy.

ELD Standards:

• Content Objectives: Students will be able to identify different types of foods as either healthy or unhealthy, as well as understand the importance of healthy food.

• Language Subjectives: 

• L.K.5 – With guidance and support from adults, explore word relationships and nuances in word meanings. 

a. Sort common objects into categories (e.g., shapes, foods) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent. 

c. Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., note places at school that are colorful).

• L.K.6 – Use words and phrases acquired through conversations, reading and being read to, and responding to texts.

Teaching Plan:

1.  Opening:

a. Read a book called Jack and the Hungry Giantby Loreen Leedy (here is a video of another teacher reading the book; to have a good idea of what the content of the book) Jack and the Hungry Giant (Links to an external site.)

b. Active Listening – Students are fully engaged to the speaker and concentrate on what is being said. Students will use proper body position, listening ears, and response techniques to maximize their understanding of what the speaker is saying.

* While reading, pause and ask questions about the story:

1. Out of all of the fruits on this page, what is your favorite fruit? What is a fruit that you don’t like? What is a fruit that you would like to try?

2. Ask the same questions for vegetables, protein, grains, and dairy. 

What are foods with “empty calories”? What are some “empty calorie” foods that you’ve eaten? Should we eat a lot of these types of foods?

c.   After reading, have a further discussion about different types of food.  For each question, provide Auditory Wait Time, in which students are provided with time to process information presented orally.

1. What can we do to help our bodies stay healthy?(exercise, eat healthy, sleep, brush our teeth, take baths, wash our hands often)

2. What kinds of food help to keep us healthy?(fruits, vegetables, meat, eggs, milk)

3. Should we eat a lot of sweet foods and snacks? Why or why not? (cavities and they are not good for us)

4. What is your favorite food to eat?? (pizza, cookies, chicken)

5. What is a fruit?

6. What is a vegetable?

d. Peer Interview – Students find a partner, and they ask each other questions regarding the discussion about healthy and unhealthy foods. After 2 minutes, they find another partner and ask questions. Repeat around 5-6 times, depending on time.

2. Modeling:

a) Do a K-W-L chart and ask students what they know about healthy and in healthy foods. Do this as a class to incorporate a safe classroom community and practice group norms, allow students to offer foods from their cultures and backgrounds to tap into prior knowledge and diversity. i. Write down what they know and write questions they have

b) Write healthy and unhealthy in columns on the board. Pull pictures of different foods and place them in their corresponding food group. As you go through each food, discuss why they go in this category and what the benefits of these are. Write the name and provide a picture to allow multiple entry points for learning and supports for ELLs. 

i. Ask students where they think it would go. After you get a few in each category, do a check for understanding to see if students can place similar foods in each category

3.  Shared and/or Guided Instruction:

a) Healthy vs Unhealthy Food Class Activity:

i. After learning about healthy and unhealthy food from the class discussion, students will use their knowledge to sort food into two categories: healthy & unhealthy.

ii. Have two big, empty boxes with the label “healthy food” and “unhealthy” food on each box. Have another box full of food toys, or cut out pictures of food.  Consider using realia such as food models or actual food items such as apples and wrapped Hostess Twinkies.

iii. Call on students to pick a food from a box, and have them sort it into the correct box.  The teacher can use Equity Sticks when calling on students to ensure an equal chance of participation.

iv. Ask the students to name the food out loud and to share with the class whether it is healthy or unhealthy.  Use Preferred Modes of Expression to allow a student to choose whether they will name and classify the food orally or provide an acting/movement demonstration of what the food is and whether it is healthy or unhealthy.

v. Repeat until all foods have been sorted in the boxes.

4.  Independent:

a. Healthy Food Collage Activity.  Provide directions to students, then ask them to Repeat the Directions in their own words to a nearby classmate to help them internalize the instructions.

i. Students will create a healthy food collage independently.

ii. Have enough magazines from grocery stores for the students.

iii. Have the students look through magazines and see all of different pictures of food. 

iv.  On a construction paper, students will cut and glue healthy foods they see onto their paper. Students can glue the pictures in any design they’d like.  Make both standard and loop scissors available.

v. Once finished, have students pair share and talk with a partner about their collage.

vi. After the pair share, have a couple of students share their collage with the entire class.

vii. Ask the students to compare and contrast their collages with their peers.

5. Closing:

a. Assessment Criteria: Formative Assessment

i. After the lesson, return to your K-W-L chart and ask students what they learned. This will help solidify and emphasize the key ideas that they have learned, draw from different experiences in the lesson, prompt them with questions and ask them to visualize what they had seen in the activities to help draw upon their memory. 

ii. As an exit ticket you can have students make two columns on paper. Call out a fruit, vegetable, grain, etc. and ask them to put it in the correct column “healthy” or “unhealthy” or you can do it by food group. You can let children represent the information in various ways: allow them to draw the food, write the word, say which category it belongs to, etc. 

6.  End-of-lesson Assessment:

a. Assessment Criteria: Summative Assessment

i. Lunch Box Activity

1. Students will have a print out of a lunch box and pictures of both healthy and unhealthy foods and snacks.

2. Students will color and cut all of the pictures of foods.

3. Student will glue their choice of healthy lunch food items into their lunch boxes.

“I think this lesson would be done best over several days. I think it could be followed up with the lesson above on ingredient lists. because that’s a skill necessary to transfer the learning in this lesson into practice. Also, the reverse is true. The info in this lesson is necessary to be good at analyzing ingredient lists.  So when you put these lessons in your compendiums (compilations of health ed resources), put this one first. These are critical!

You’ve a well aligned lesson here. I think this also should be taken up at home or shared at parent-teacher meetings so that parents can be warned that their kids might have some informed opinions about food. I mean what if you do this summative here and then in real life kids are bringing lunchables?! Do you know what’s in those!? I referenced these above, too. So here’s an example of a take home that might be necessary for this learning to really occur in life (the aim, right!?): Homework could involve kids actually going with a care-giver to the grocery store and really involving parents. So this isn’t a one-off kids could gather data at the grocery store – and if you have informed families prior (this is key) – then having them help to choose healthy options. You would need to know if this was possible before assigning it. OR you could UDL-ify it from the beginning by letting kids choose virtual grocery store trip links (these exist! And some are made by dieticians!). This can be sensitive, but with child obesity and so forth, it’s critical for students to learn how to take care of themselves. One assignment that my middle school students loved was to reconfigure a family favorite with healthier ingredients so there was appreciation of culture and tradition and learning how to eat healthfully.  I’ve gotten into trouble before when I didn’t pre-view for parents. Ask me about this in person!”

-Colette Rabin

“Great Lesson! Our group also focused on Healthy Eating. As I read your lesson, I couldn’t help but think what a great way to introduce the topic of healthy eating. I can see this lesson as that  “prior knowledge” piece to ours. Meaning, what have the students been focused on and what foundation do they need to have before going into labels and ingredients. I also really enjoyed the detailed questions your group provided each step of the way. You can send a note home a few weeks earlier asking parents to send to school their empty and cleaned food containers (cereal boxes, milk carton, soda bottles, etc.) and create a mini grocery store where kids can observe and sort too! Overall, great job!”

-Angela Thao

I think students forget how important simple tasks, such as hand washing, can be so I wanted to stress the importance of personal hygiene in not just the classroom, but outside the classroom as well.

Title of Lesson: The Importance of Personal Hygiene By Hand-washing 

Grade Level: Third Grade

California Content Standards: 

NHES. 1.5.1. Describe the relationship between healthy behaviors and personal health.

California ELD Standard:

• Interpretive 5. Listening actively to spoken English in a range of social and academic contexts.

Learning Goals:

• Students will learn to wash their hands through personal hygiene practice.
• Students will understand what materials are necessary for proper hand-washing.
• Students will develop a good grasp on the importance of personal hygiene practices in the classroom.

Materials:

• Poster board and/or slide presentation
• Classroom sink/water
• Antibacterial soap
• Paper towels

 Language Objective: 

• Writing skills: Students will engage their writing skills through either their graphic organizer, and or written description of the steps to healthy hand-washing at the end of the lesson.
• Speaking Skills: Students will be asked to engage in a group discussion about what they learned from the demonstration, as well as sharing their key ideas with the class during the teacher facilitated discussion.
• Listening Skills: Students are engaging their listening skills during the instructor presentation, as well as during the group and whole class discussion.

Academic Language & Vocabulary:

• Personal health: the wellness of one’s self
• Hygiene: routines we do to prevent disease through cleanliness  
• Antibacterial: active against destroying bacteria, or suppressing the growth and/or reproduction of bacteria
• Bacteria/germs: Very small organisms that cause disease

 Content of The Lesson:

Students will enter third grade knowing that hand-washing is something they need to do anytime they get their hands dirty and/or after using the restroom. Most students have been introduced to hand-washing by their parents/guardians. Other than understanding that hand-washing will remove marker from craft time or dirt from recess, they might not understand the more important aspects of why we regularly wash our hands. 

After engaging in the lesson, Students will have a deeper understanding of bacteria and how it can cause disease and or infections. They will be able to make the connection between practicing good and frequent personal hygiene (specifically hand-washing) and staying healthy through the school year. 

Instruction to Support Learning:

• The lesson will be introduced to the students by reviewing the content objectives. The students will be provided with a visual aid (i.e. Poster or slides) with the key vocabulary for the lesson in English as well as the first languages of the ELL students within the class (i.e. Spanish and/or Vietnamese). 
• Students will then be broken into small groups of three or four. Each small group will then take turns gathering around the sink area while the instructor demonstrates proper hand-washing techniques. It is important to ensure that one group watches the demonstration at a time so that everyone has a clear view of the demonstration. The instructor will briefly explain the materials needed for proper hand-washing. As the professor reviews the materials needed, she is actively pointing to, or if possible holding up each item as she explains. During the instructor’s explanation, he/she will review the academic language and vocabulary related to proper hand-washing.
• The instructor will demonstrate hand washing (visual learners) and orally state the step-by-step procedure (auditory learners). 
• The instructor will sing the ABC song during her hand-washing demonstration to show students the necessary amount of time it takes to properly wash their hands in order to remove and prevent bad bacteria. 
• After each group watches the demonstration, they will be asked to return to their seats and have a discussion with their group members about why they think personal hygiene practices such as thoroughly washing hands, is very important, especially at school. 
• After all groups have had a chance to watch the demonstration and have a group discussion, the instructor will then facilitate a whole class discussion based on what each group talked about. 

Assessment/Checking for Understanding: 

• Formative Assessment:
  • The formative assessment is the class discussion. The instructor will have a clear understanding of what the students learned during the lesson, based on what they share with the rest of the class about their group discussion. 
• Summative Assessment:
  • Individually, students will be given the options to create a graphic organizer (i.e. comic strip) or write out in words a step-by-step guide on proper hand-washing. 

Enduring Understanding:

Proper personal hygiene is extremely important for young children to grasp at an early age. By Practicing personal hygiene, students will begin to reduce the spread of sickness and disease within the school. Aside from the many personal hygiene strategies that should be practiced at home (i.e. regularly washing hair and brushing teeth), hand-washing is something that can and should be practiced outside of the home, especially at school. Students need to be aware of the connection between washing hands and the prevention of spreading diseases to their peers. By engaging them in an informative, yet interactive activity, students are encouraged to continue the practice of hand-washing both at school and out of school. 

“You Love that the summative has the comic option (udl-ifying with art is a personal favorite of mine because art is a way to cultivate creativity, to bring in culture, to acknowledge who students are, and it can also be trauma-informed teaching). See my comment above with the link to Cult of Pedagogy podcasts and the one about graphic novels. 

This – and so many health ed lessons – can be a great window of opportunity to engage parents. Just like with the emotional regulation lesson above, creating take home charts (and ones that kids can check things off or receive stickers upon completion) and weave the new understanding into meaningful homework so that kids can transfer what learn into their actual lives. Kids can have a homework assignment to explain their learning to their parents (scaffolded by illustrations and prompts) and practice at home together with parents. They can “teach” their parents how the abc song helps. them know how long to wash. And this is me quoting me: “Think how appreciative your students’ parents would be?! and my personal bias based on years of experience teaching… when you have happy parents in your classroom… you seriously have more opportunity for happy students.” I want to explain this a bit more. There is often a perceived or real (!) divide (of several kinds, like SES, culture, goals) between parents and teachers. Health ed aims can be leveraged to bridge this gap. Hand washing is especially good for this because it’s not controversial like food can be (when we have sugars in home culture recipes, etc.).”

-Colette Rabin

Hello ladies,

“This lesson is so important! By including small group demonstrations instead of just images and verbal or written steps visual learners are much more likely to grasp the proper procedure. Your summative assessment ties in well, and I like the comic strip option. “

-Nicole McPherson

As a student, responsibility is a an extremely important term because it is up to the student’s to complete their work and be their own person, us teachers need to emphasize that in the class room and this lesson encompasses that.

https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-citizenship/lesson/your-rings-of-responsibility (Links to an external site.)

Warm Up: Rings Metaphor (5 mins.) (Links to an external site.)

Before the lesson: Use masking tape to create a large, physical version of the Rings of Responsibility on your classroom floor. Alternatively, you can create the rings with chalk on an outdoor blacktop.

1. Invite your students to gather around you. Drop a pebble or a penny into a bowl of water and watch the concentric circles grow.
2. Ask: What do these circles remind you of?

Students may respond with: a bull’s eye, the Target company logo, rings in a tree stump, etc. Explain that the circles remind you of the Rings of Responsibility. Clarify that a responsibility is a duty you have to yourself or others. (Slide 4 (Links to an external site.))

Learn: The Rings of Responsibility (15 mins.) (Links to an external site.)

1. Show the Rings of Responsibility  (Links to an external site.)video on Slide 5 (Links to an external site.) and ask: According to the video, how could throwing a bottle out of your window be similar to something you do online? Take turns sharing with your partner. 

Invite students to respond. Clarify that littering is similar to doing something online because they both show how your actions affect not only you, but also your community and your world. 

1. Ask: According to the video, what are the Rings of Responsibility?

Invite students to respond. Clarify that each ring represents a person or group you are responsible to (yourself, your community, and your world) and that being responsible to someone means that you think about how your actions will impact them.

1. Show students the Rings of Responsibility framework on Slide 6 (Links to an external site.) and explain what each ring represents:
2. Self: The center ring represents responsibilities you have to yourself, such as keeping yourself safe and healthy.
3. Community: The middle ring stands for responsibilities you have to your community, including the people you know and interact with on a regular basis. This can include both friends and family. But it can also include people you don’t know well, but with whom you interact with (e.g., grocery store clerks, a friend in an online gaming community, etc.).
4. World: The outer ring stands for your responsibilities to the larger world. This would include people you don’t know but whom your actions might affect.

(If necessary, define the vocabulary term community.)

1. Pair students up and assign each to be “A,” “B,” or “C.” Have each pair answer one of the questions on Slide 6 (Links to an external site.), according to their letter.

Call on pairs to share out their answers. Example answers include:

• Self: I eat healthy food, I keep my bedroom clean, I don’t watch too much TV before bed.
• Community: I help my neighbors with yard work, I follow rules like using the crosswalk.
• World: I don’t litter, I don’t say mean things to others online.

Explore: Our Responsibilities (10 mins.)

1. Ask: Have you ever heard the term “digital citizen”? What comes to mind when you hear that term?

Invite students to share out any words or ideas that come to mind. Clarify that a digital citizen is someone who uses technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate. Say: As digital citizens, we have responsibilities to ourselves, our communities, and our world as we learn, create, and participate on the internet. (Slide 7)

UDLifying: To prepare for a share out on a new possibly new topic, allow students time to pair/group share. This will give students more time to develop their thoughts into words they feel comfortable sharing to the large group. Also, you should break down the parts of the phrase “digital citizen” and provide multiple definitions, phrasings, and examples to support second language learners or students who have trouble understanding figures of speech.

1. Direct students to stand outside the physical Rings of Responsibility you’ve marked in your classroom. If space is an issue, you can also designate corners or areas of your room to represent the three rings. 

UDLifying: For a student who is physically disabled, and not able to move around the classroom freely, the teacher can offer sings that the student can hold up indicating their choice of ring of responsibility. The teacher can also ask another classmate to help the physically diabled student, if possible, move around the classroom.

1. Say: As I read each statement, move silently to stand inside the ring you think best fits with that statement. For example, if I said “I never tell anyone my full name online,” you would walk to the center ring — Self — because that’s a way that you can protect your own privacy.

1. Read the following statements aloud, pausing after each one so students have time to move around. If you have time, discuss and reflect when students have different answers. Some examples may fit into multiple rings.

I only use apps and websites that are OK for someone my age. (Self)

I never share things about my friends that they wouldn’t want other people to know. (Community)

I don’t post or share information online if I’m not sure that it’s true. (World)

I treat others with respect, in person or online. (Community or World)

Wrap Up: My Rings of Responsibility (15 mins.) (Links to an external site.)

1. Have students return to their seats, and distribute the My Rings of Responsibility  (Links to an external site.)student handout. Read the directions aloud and pass out crayons, colored pencils, or markers. (Slide 8 (Links to an external site.))

Allow five to seven minutes for students to complete the handout.

1. Invite students to share out their answers. (See the Teacher Version (Links to an external site.) for reference.)
2. Invite students to select one statement from the handout and write an explanation for which ring(s) it belongs in and why. They can write this either on the back of the handout or by adding a second page to the document. Collect handouts to assess student learning. (Slide 9 (Links to an external site.))
3. Have students complete the Lesson Quiz (Links to an external site.). Send home the Family Activity (Links to an external site.) and Family Tips (Links to an external site.).

UDLifying: These final steps of the lesson can be adapted to meet the needs of particular students. Students can be given the option to draw a picture for step 3 or sentence frames can be provided to accommodate this written opinion. Also, the quiz should be available as a physical handout for students who are unable to focus or produce their best work when using a screen and keyboard.

Enduring Understanding:

Making healthy decisions for yourself also means making healthy decisions for the people around you. The reverse is also true; the decisions other people make have an affect on you. We want the students to know that the decisions they make in their lives can change what someone else does in their lives. We want them to think about and evaluate their actions before they act upon them in order to make the best possible decisions. 

Essential Questions:

“Do my choices affect other people?”Paragraph

“Am I protecting myself and/or my community in my decision making?”


“This lesson is well paired from the standards to the assessments. With the formative assessment, think about how you could gather tangible evidence of growing understanding and misunderstanding so you can teach to it: clip charts with all kids names on them are a classic way to gather data as you circulate and listen to kids in groups. What else? I think we should transform “exit tickets” to something like “transition tickets” and have kids do them in between key transition points in a lesson, where kids need background knowledge to continue.

This lesson could totally initiate a unit, like many of the important lessons here. How could you extend it? I think that your lovely enduring understanding might be an amazing place to think about extensions. How might you involve parents here?  &/or extend this to the playground (where it can be like the “lord of the flies”)? Here’s a super interesting listen from a cog pysch perspective on kids truly transferring learning… and this lesson – about one’s rings of responsibility – is so important I want you to truly teach it! So check this out: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/powerful-teaching/  (Links to an external site.)“

-Colette Rabin

“I really liked the essential questions for the lesson plan! I do think that it is important for students to understand how they can affect others through their actions, and it’s important to make responsible decisions, especially with health.”

-Kate Kelly Aso

I chose this lesson because it is important for students to have a healthy and safe relationship with their teachers and I feel that this lesson facilitates that.

NHES 4: Interpersonal Communication

4.2.1. Demonstrate healthy ways to express needs, wants, and feelings.

4.2.2. Demonstrate listening skills to enhance health.

4.2.3. Demonstrate ways to respond in an unwanted, threatening, or dangerous situation.

4.2.4. Demonstrate ways to tell a trusted adult if threatened or harmed.

Grade(s): TK-2

Objective:

Students will demonstrate the ability to use interpersonal communication skills to enhance health and avoid and reduce health risks.

Students will demonstrate their listening skills when listening to the book, and when pair-sharing. 

Students will brainstorm and come up with multiple ways to solve different scenarios in healthy ways and how they can help each other as a class. 

Language objective 

The students will demonstrate their writing skills by writing an entry in their journal about a time they experienced a strong emotion. 

The students will demonstrate their speaking skills while discussing ways to handle different scenarios and feelings with classmates.

The students will demonstrate their listening skills while listening to the book, their teacher and their classmates.  

Opening:  

Read “Quit Calling Me a Monster” by Jory John. The story is about a monster who does not like being called a monster because it hurts his feelings. He knows he is one and he knows he can be scary “but he can’t help it, he was born this way”.  

Support for emergent bilinguals, IEPs, and advanced students:

• Teacher will use facial expressions, noises, and different intonations to help bilinguals and IEPs further understand the book. 
• For the formative assessment, the teacher can allow time for students to share with a partner before sharing out loud.  The teacher should also have the questions written down and provide visuals when they can. The teacher can provide sentence frames and a word bank if needed.  

Formative Assessment: 

Discuss the book with the students: How did the monster feel? Why did he feel this way? Could he help the fact that he was a monster? How would you feel if you were the monster? How can we help people (or monsters) who feel this way? 

Modeling:

Students will be divided into groups. Each group will be assigned a different skit to perform addressing different ways in which to tell trusted adults if they feel threatened or harmed (e.g. “Johnny and his friend Jane have not been feeling comfortable in their classroom because their classmate has been making threatening comments. They decide to tell someone about what happened.”)  Students will perform skits in front of the rest of the class.

Support for emergent bilinguals, IEPs, and advanced students:

• ESL students will be paired with advanced students.  Prompts will also be translated if necessary. Modeling also allows for visual learners to better understand the point. Repetition and rehearsal can benefit emergent bilinguals as well as students with IEPs.

Formative Assessment: 

Students will discuss each skit after it is performed, reflecting on the choices that were made and why they chose the person they did to report to. Students who did not perform the skit will be asked what they would have done in that situation if it was them.   

Shared and/or guided instruction: 

Come together as a class and make an anchor chart of good interpersonal communication skills they want to have. Come up with ideas as a class on what to do when someone is feeling sad, angry, excluded, etc. and write those down as well. Most, if not all students should be able to participate in this.  Students should be able to come up with a list of 10-20 ideas collectively. Teacher will be able to assess who is participating and who isn’t as well as how good each student’s understanding is.  

Support for emergent bilinguals, IEPs, and advanced students.

• Allow students time to share with a partner next to them before they share outloud, which will take a lot of pressure off of ELs and students with IEPs.  

Closing & Summative Assessment: 

-In their journals, students will select a time where they felt a strong emotion (happy, sad, angry, scared, etc). The student will then describe how they handled it (e.g. angry = hitting) and what they will do next time instead (e.g. i will take deep breaths, walk around my backyard, listen to music and then talk to my parents about it).

-Have students pair-share what they wrote.  Their partners will practice listening and they can discuss even more ways to solve this issue. Anyone who wants to share out to the class can.  The teacher will be walking around and checking in to assess students’ understanding. 

Support for emergent bilinguals, IEPs, and advanced students:

• Teachers can have sentence frames for emergent bilinguals and IEPs.  They can also have the opportunity to draw the scenario out and what they would do.  If needed, the student can also speak one on one with the teacher (or another IEP or emergent bilingual) about the situation and how the dealt with it/will deal with it next time. 
• For advanced students, they can pretend they are writing a book (similar to the monster book).  They can use dialogue, draw pictures, include different POVs, etc. 

Assessment Criteria: 

To receive full credit, the student’s writing will clearly demonstrate their ability to use interpersonal communication skills. To receive partial credit, the student will recognize their need to use a skill, but is unable to identify an appropriate skill in the given situation

Enduring understanding:

Apply interpersonal communication skills to express needs, wants, and feelings productively. 

Important health education question:Why is it important to communicate effectively

“This is so important!

The standards and assessments are aligned here. Why is that so important!? As you learn to lesson plan, I want you to think about how that’s an equity issue – because if I’m assessing something I’m not teaching I’m advantaging those who know it from home or just already know it. Also, if I assess what I’ve taught I can learn if I taught it well. And formative assessment should be a way to catch if I’m teaching it before I administer a test that “counts.”  So here, how will you be recording your formative assessment so you can be sure to reteach if needed? In the moment when kids are pair sharing? If so, how can you catch all of them? What if you added white boards to the mix and kids could show their understanding so you could get a glimpse rather than rely on hearing lots of small group conversation?  I love that you included advanced students, students with IEPs, and emergent bilinguals.

Some reflections and follow ups for you all:

How will you follow up on this lesson? How will you support your students to apply this learning in authentic situations such as playground cases? What if you wove this into your writer’s workshops? One way could be graphic novels. Check this out: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/student-graphic-novels/ (Links to an external site.) I suggest graphic novels because of what the teacher described finding: that kids shared deep things, like the art aspects seemed to help them to share. So story-boarding a case might allow kids to share more or to prepare to respond, for example. Kids could use the prompts on your anchor chart and make plans for up-coming situations, like what could I say when…”

– Colette Rabin

“I thought your lesson was really comprehensive! Starting with the abstract story, then allowing students to evaluate scenarios in real life, and finally connecting it to heir individual experiences will help the students stay engaged in this lesson.  I  think an important topic that this lesson really connects to is empathy (and point of view) and using these same activities and this book can emphasize the  connection between being aware of your emotions and of the emotions of others.”

-Erin Gsoell