This unit is part of a health initiative designed for a fifth-grade science curriculum to educate students on the importance of physical fitness for a person's overall health. The goal for the students is to be one of four classes that participate in educating their peers at a school-wide health fair. Through this unit students will discover the importance of physical activity, adequate forms of physical activity, and how physical activity supports the mind, skeletal system, respiratory system, and muscular system. Students will also learn how to improve the physical activity of students, how to get family involved in physical activity, and the consequences of physical inactivity. Independent work, small-group work, and whole-group activities will be carried out while students participate in classroom daily exercise, maintain daily nutrition and exercise journals, create pictorial representations of the human body systems, and work in small groups to develop and carry out final project ideas for the school health fair. The ultimate goal for this unit is for students to become knowledgeable about their own health and learn lifelong skills to live a healthy lifestyle.
(Developed for Science, grade 5; recommended for Science and Health, grades 4-6)