Sunday, March 31, 2019

Elementary Health Resources


It's funny to see in the shop what sells better than other things.  Health resources, that's what my teacher peeps are needing right now.  I'm guessing they're in the same boat I'm in these days- non-existent or extremely outdated provided health curriculum.   That's why I created these resources for my 3rd graders.  This is what my third-grade team uses for our whole first quarter health curriculum. 


Food Plate Informational Article, Meal Planning, Food Tracking Health Activity



Before, during, or after health lessons on keeping your body physically healthy, read about the benefits of eating healthy food and using the US Department of Agriculture's MyPlate.  Use the provided note-taking paper to organize information from the included article. There are two choices of articles, depending on the level of your readers. Students can use the information from the text to plan a healthy meal as well. Cumulate the activity with tracking your eating for a day or more. Two different tracking pages are included for your selection as well.
Contents:
Page 2  Teachers’ Notes
Page 3  Shorter, easier to read article
Page 4-5  Longer, more detailed passage (best for note-taking page)
Page 6  Note-taking Graphic Organizer
Page 7  Plan a Healthy Meal Activity
Page 8  Meal Tracking Sheet- option 1
Page 9  Meal Tracking Sheet- more detailed option


Cereal Nutrition to Compare the Nutritional Facts of Cereals




Students will read the nutritional labels on boxes of cereal and record and compare the nutritional value of various types of cereals.   This activity leads to interesting discoveries about nutritional facts, added vitamins, and if what appears to be healthy actually more healthy.
Contents:
Page 2  Teachers’ Notes/Directions
Page 3  Recording Sheet with 2 columns
Page 4  Recording Sheet with 3 columns


Compare Nutrition and Sugar Content of Popular Drinks




Before, during, or after health lessons on nutrition, visually compare the amount of sugar in some types of drinks.  Students can record their findings and answer questions about the sugar content and health aspects of popular drinks.  It’s especially interesting to compare the ‘healthy’ looking drinks with what might look ‘unhealthy.’

Contents:
Page 1-3  Teaching notes and conversion information
Page 4  Single-sided follow-along activity page
Page 5  Double-sided activity page- allows for more drink choices and more written responses.


Fire Safety Informational Article and Fire Safety Plan Activity



After studying fire safety from either reading the included text piece (choice of two reading levels) or using your school provided curriculum, students can create their own fire safety plan for their own home.  If using the included text, the ‘taking notes’ foldable can be assembled and used to sort information from the article.
Contents:
Page 2  Teachers’ Notes
Page 3  Fire Safety Article -lower reading level option
Page 4-5 Fire Safety Article- longer, higher-level option
Page 6-7  Note Taking Foldable and Directions
Page 8  Fire Safety Plan Project and Rubric


The Benefits of Sleep For Health Informational Text and Activity



Read about the health benefits of sleep with the included informational text, use the graphic organizer to sort the information from the text in web form, or use the main idea and detail organizer. Students can then track their sleep and energy level for several days.   

Contents:
Page 2  Teacher’s Notes and Directions
Page 3 Article about Benefits of Sleep
Page 4  Note Taking Page
Page 5  Main Idea Graphic Organizer
Page 6  Sleep Tracking Sheet


Communicable and Non Communicable Diseases Informational Text and Activity




After reading about communicable and non-communicable diseases in, either in your health curriculum and/or using the provided informational text, students visit patient charts as ‘doctors’ making diagnosis. Students refer to their reading and record their findings on their doctor notes page. I say this several times during the year, but this is one of my favorite activities we do!

Contents:
Page 1-2 Teacher Notes, Answer Key
Page 3 Informational Text For Students
Page 4 Doctor Name Badges
Page 5 Recording Sheet
Page 7-9 Patient Charts


Understanding Your Feelings and Emotions Health Lesson




This health lesson includes a full-page article about emotions, feelings, body language,
and self-control for students to read and evaluate for main idea and detail, or use for note-taking practice. There are pieces for two different hands-on activities to reinforce the ideas of body language and facial expressions being indicators to someone's emotions. Included are a journaling writing activity sheet and a fun doodling activity.
Contents:  
Page 1 Teachers Notes
Page 2 Feelings and Emotions informational article
Page 3 Note-taking web organizer
Page 4 Main Idea and Detail graphic organizer
Page 5-9 10 photos showing emotions
Page 10 12 emotion cards for playing ‘act it out’
Page 13-14 Finish the Face emotions journaling  pages
Page 15 Finish the Face drawing page


Importance of Exercise For Youth Health Reading Article and Hands-On Activities


This health lesson includes a full-page article about exercise (types of exercise, benefits for the body, and safety precautions) for students to read and evaluate in order to summarize or use for note-taking practice. Included are a heart rate observation activity and recording sheet and an activity tracking sheet for students to use over several days to track their physical activity.
  
Contents:  
Page 1 Teachers Notes
Page 2 The Importance of Exercise For Your Health article
Page 3 Note-taking web organizer
Page 4 Summarizing Sheet- graphic organizer
Page 5 Aerobic exercise observation activity and recording sheet
Page 6 Activity tracker sheet

Pathogens and the Body




Students will research the ways that pathogens enter the human body and how the body protects itself. Students are asked to help research for the creation of an app. They will complete research using the provided articles, present their research to the class, create an "app" icon and add to the "app" map.
*Students are NOT using technology for this activity and NOT actually creating an app.

Content:
Page 1 Teacher Directions
Page 2 Pathogens and the body pre-reading page
Page 3-14  Research article and questions on 6 topics
Page 15 Icon design page
Page 16 Body map

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Or get it all in a bundle and save some money.  This is the bundle I'll continue to update.  When you buy now, you'll get free updates as I add resources this summer.  The price will increase as items are added, but by buying in now, you pay once and get all the updates as I add them for no charge.  



Health Reading and Activities -Nutrition, Fire Safety, Sleep, Diseases, Exercise   

(and... Food Plate and Exercise and Pathogens)




Sunday, March 10, 2019

THE chocolate cake

My last post was our favorite chocolate chip cookies, today is our favorite chocolate cake.  There's a theme running here.  

So, I did a round of 21-day eating- which is through Beach Body and is basically low carb, low dairy, sugar-free.  So it's over and all I could think about was chocolate cake.  And it was delicious. 


I had planned to make a 2 layer round cake, but my springform cake pan was leaking.  I ended up with something not as pretty, but just as yummy. 

This cake is not hard to make and totally worth the effort.  

Favorite chocolate cake recipe
Add dry ingredient to your mixer. 
1 3/4 c flour
2 c sugar
1 t salt
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 baking powder
3/4 c cocoa powder
Mix wet ingredients separately and add to dry mix.   
2 eggs
1 c buttermilk (or add 1 T vinegar to 1 c regular milk)
1/2 c vegetable oil
2 t vanilla (I use Mexican vanilla)
Once well mixed, add boiling water and mix briefly again until smooth.  
1 c boiling water
Mix until well blended, about 2 minutes. 
Pour into well-greased pans and bake 350 degrees for @35 minutes.  

Cool.  Or better yet- toss in the freezer for a bit.  I like to ice the cakes when they're really cold.  
Icing:
1/3 c milk
1/2 c butter (melter)
3 c powdered sugar
2/3 c cocoa powder
1 t vanilla

This recipe will make 2 round cakes to layer, or a 9x13.  This time I split it between two 9x13 pans and then cut in half to get 4 layers.