Delivering a Healthy Dose of Health Education

The 2004 Reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act (CNA) requires schools to implement health education across the curriculum. However, implementing an all-encompassing health curriculum can seem like a daunting task. Learn to Be Healthy, a new interactive health curriculum for grades 1-6 created by the Susan P. Byrnes Health Education Center, seeks to help schools integrate health across the curriculum. The free online resource was developed with funding from the Highmark Foundation.

Curriculum Modules & Activities

According to the Center director, Betsy Aumiller, the website is a resource that is entirely user-driven. The curriculum and content was developed after an in-depth examination of national and state standards. The site is divided into five sections:

1. The Five Senses—geared toward students in grades 1-3
2. Tobacco and Inhalants—geared toward students in grades 4 & 5
3. Adolescence—geared toward grades 5 & 6
4. Dental Health—geared toward grades 1-3
5. Eating Healthy—geared toward grades 2-4

 According to Aumiller, each of the five modules (or sections) contains a collection of nine to 11 Web-based activities.

“You can fit those nine to 11 into some different categories. For example, one would be the Flash animation activities; there are about three or four of those in each kit that the educator can use as a teacher-directed activity in front of the classroom with a screen. After they direct those activities, the Flash activities also can be easily picked up and done in the lab by a teacher that’s leading the class in the lab, or they can be done collaboratively by small groups of students, or even as individual activities. So the animations can be used in a number of different ways—even as homework assignments,” explained Aumiller.

No Computer Access? No Problem!

And, the online curriculum is not just for schools with cutting-edge presentation technology in the classroom. According to Aumiller, teachers and students can access the curriculum if they have a computer lab, or if a child has a computer at home or in the library. And in addition to the animations, there are other activities included in the kits. For example, each topic area includes a Web quest that can be used in the lab or as a homework assignment.

Aumiller also suggested that many of the activities do not require computer equipment at all. The Eating Healthy module (grades 2-4) includes an activity called Food Is Fuel that talks about the body needing food as energy and making healthy choices, and it uses the analogy of putting batteries in a flashlight. As a group, students look at how long it takes the batteries to run out. Students don’t need a computer for that. And, all of the activities have lesson plans that come with them, and some of the lesson plans are stand alone lab activities that can be done in the classroom.

Catchy Characters & Free Access

Students will also enjoy the characters associated with each content area. For example, in the dental health area, Tuffy Tooth and Paste are actual talking physical models. And Ooey, Gooey, and Looey are characters that are also in that dental program. Another module, The 5 Senses, includes a “mascot” character named Simon. And, the Eating Healthy module features Nutrient Superheroes.

Each module also includes a pre- and post-assessment piece that educators can use to gauge what their kids know. Future online health curriculum will include modules targeted toward middle school students. To sign up for FREE access to the site—including lesson plans and all curriculum materials visit: www.learntobehealthy.org.

*This article was adapted from Federal News Services’ April 2006 Publication of Curriculum Review and was published in School Health Professional, Issue #9 on May 11, 2006.

Curriculum ideas are published twice each month in our newsletter, School Health Professional.