I teach second grade at Roberto Clemente Leadership Academy in New Haven, CT. Roberto Clemente is a Kindergarten through eighth grade school with a student population of approximately 500 students. My classroom is a community of diverse learners, population 26. My students have a wide range of interests, social and emotional needs as well as achievements. The students diverse learning styles help motivate me into creating engaging lessons and activities on a wide range of academic needs.
It is important to me in my teaching that I not only teach the objectives and skills of a lesson, but I point out the life long learning that is occurring every second of every day. This unit is designed to help my students see the correlations among eating, thinking, exercise and their moods and how all 4 components are linked together. Eating, thinking and exercise are key components to be healthy and successful in school. A child's mood will alter if one of these components is uncared for. I want my students to be able to notice the correlation of eating right, and exercising and the positive effects these activities have on their thinking and mood. My students are in the second grade and don't realize how important eating right and exercising is to their bodies and mind. My students will keep logs of their sleeping patterns, their daily exercise and eating habits. Along with this tracker, I will have my students self–assess their moods daily and weekly.
First, the duration of non–interrupted sleep is important for the body and brain to rest. When people are tired, they have difficult time thinking. We will log the amount of hours of sleep every night. Second, we will keep a log of foods we eat during the day. We will calculate how much fruits and vegetables we eat, as well as the amount of water and milk we will be putting into our bodies. The students will get to know the phrase: A healthy body is a healthy mind. And lastly, we will document exercise. What types of exercise we do during the day, and for how long. The body works well and feels good when we are active every day.
The students will engage in activities that promote healthy minds and bodies as well as read and listen to stories. We will keep track of sleep, exercise and eating habits and discuss our moods during each day. The students will be able to notice the benefits and how their mood changes on days they eat right and exercise and how it positively affects their schoolwork. On the days that exercise didn't fit in and/or their eating habits were poor, they may see the change in their moods resulting in a change in their schoolwork. My students do not have a chance to discuss their eating, and their physical activities with one another, so this unit will be full of excitement for them and will have the appeal of extending their learning from the classroom to their homes and hopefully their families. I hope to hear great discussions in the classroom as well as discussions about what is going on at home. This unit will promote life long learning and will extend into their community to promote a healthy, happy environment.
