Upon completion of the unit students will hopefully understand the severity of the issue at hand, as well as become intrigued by it. I hope to use their interest to begin constructing solutions. Throughout this unit students will be encouraged to document solutions they theorize. As a class students will report their ideas by listing them in three separate categories: solutions for students, solutions for parents, and solutions for teachers. I would begin by putting one suggestion on each list to encourage involvement. Some ideas are listed below.
Solutions for Students:
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1 Play outdoors every day!
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2 Join a sports team. Have good sportsmanship; don't discourage others from playing by being negative.
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3 Take your pet, sibling, or parent for a walk.
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4 Encourage recess as a classroom reward.
Solutions for Parents:
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1 Help your children get involved in an age appropriate physical activity.8
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2 Remember, for children, physical activity is normal.1
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3 Create a regular schedule for physical activities.
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4 Model healthy behaviors by including exercise into your life everyday.
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5 Use various forms of activities so everyone does not get bored.
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6 Include your whole family in outdoor games.
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7 Play!
Solutions for Teachers:
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1 Include physical activity into your lesson plans as much as possible. For example, outdoor review - students can listen to a question and in order to be the first to answer they have to race to a certain spot.
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2 Discuss with students your physical routine.
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3 Add physical activity to your daily movements. For example, multiplication jumping jacks.
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4 Be a physically active role model.
After students have written their suggestions on the board, we will review them as a class to edit for spelling and clarity. The students will be split into three groups. Each group will be responsible for one category of solutions. Each group must create a final project as a whole group or in smaller sub-groups to meet the goal of educating their particular population on solutions to the nationwide health problem. Students have the option to create posters, create a newsletter, create flyers, or create a video. This video can be played on the school televisions or at the health fair.
The project will begin by students creating a name for their team, for example, The Council for Healthy Teachers. Next the students will determine which project they are going to complete, if they will do it as a whole group or as individual groups, and begin planning their project. Because Betsy Ross is a magnet school some students travel over an hour to attend. As a result, many of the students would be unable to meet outside of school hours. So students will work in school on their project. The students must plan their project, and then it must be approved by me. Once the project has been approved students may begin working. A rubric will be provided to the students in the planning stage to encourage that all expectations are met.
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1 Does the project meet the goal? Goal: Educate ___________ on possible solutions to unhealthy behaviors of children. (30 pts)
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2 Students offer multiple solutions. (15pts)
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3 Students work as a whole group to not replicate solutions. (15pts)
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4 All students participate in the project in a positive manner. (15 pts)
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5 Final project is both creative and professional. (15pts)
