Health

Course Overview

In this semester-long course students will learn about health and wellness. Students discuss healthy habits, decision making, and healthy behavior. Essential life skills such as effective communication and time management are also introduced. By the end of the course, students will be empowered to make more informed choices and understand the importance of managing stress and connecting with others in a positive way.

Course Content

Unit 1: Introduction to Health

This unit introduces the roles of both family and personal choices play in personal health. In this unit, students will evaluate the impact of family history, health choices, and stress on individual health and participate in a discussion with classmates to build a community.

Unit 2: Research and Wellness Strategies

This unit covers current health research in practical areas. The content includes healthy habits such as proper hand washing, sleep, and diet. Additionally, the students will explore the CDC (Center for Disease Control) website for current research as well as to understand their role in public health and wellness. In this unit, students will recognize basic strategies for better health (diet, exercise, sleep, sunscreen, hand washing) and evaluate how research and medical advances influence the prevention and control or illness/disease.

Unit 3: Risky Behavior

This multi-lesson unit includes the topics of substance abuse, avoiding risky behaviors, and personal responsibility. Students will explore the risk factors and dangers associated with substance use and abuse. They will work through lessons to determine and reflect on their own risk. Students will also be given strategies for reducing risk and saying “no” to risky behavior.

Unit 4: Healthy Eating and Movement

This unit discusses healthy food and exercise. Students will learn how to eat healthy at every meal with Harvard’s Healthy Plate, find the best exercise, eat a rainbow, and test out their cooking skills. Students will apply knowledge of food and nutrient needs to personal eating decisions and meal planning, physical activity and health to develop a daily activity plan. They will also implement a wellness plan that meets dietary guidelines and incorporates moderate to vigorous physical activity.

Unit 5: Health Resources

This unit has students plugging into the Internet to learn about finding current, reliable health information. At the same time, students will talk about teens and tech and the importance of unplugging from your devices. In addition, they will start a two-week research assignment and discuss current events and their influence on health promotion and disease prevention.

Unit 6: Healthy Decision Making

This unit discusses how each student’s perception of “normal” influences how they act- and the decisions they make. They will learn different decision making strategies, including how to say “no”. Students will also work on communication skills as they pertain to conflict resolution.

Unit 7: Health and Safety

This unit will cover how to reduce or prevent injuries and violence. In addition, students will learn basic first aid. Students will also explore the concept of mental toughness and how it applies to personal health and wellness.

Unit 8: Managing Mental Health

This unit helps students to identify stressors in their lives and provides strategies for managing them. Students will learn coping mechanisms for dealing with stress and formulate a personal health strategy utilizing self-reflection to achieve overall wellness.

Unit 9: Personal, Family and Community Health

This unit will explore the environmental impact on personal health, including steps that can be taken to encourage a better personal environment. This includes, but is not limited to, home, community and school. This unit continues on to discuss time management and larger influence students can have on their community in order to make it a more healthful environment.