Physical Education, Health, Nutrition

Healthy Behaviors Arts Integration

6th Through 8th Grade • Physical Education, Health & Martial Arts

Lesson Overview: This lesson plan outlines a collaborative, arts-integrated approach to teaching 6th-8th grade students about nutrition, healthy habits, and wellness. The core of the lesson integrates physical education concepts with the arts, specifically yoga. The plan emphasizes student engagement, inclusivity, and differentiated instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners. It leverages arts integration to enhance understanding and application of healthy living principles.

Learning Objectives:

Students Will:

  • Understand the relationship between healthy behaviors and overall well-being.

 Lesson Process: Rowlett Middle Academy's lesson plan between a classroom teacher and a teaching artist integrates physical education with arts to promote student wellness. The plan includes a student habits survey, yoga, discussion about nutrition, and sleep habits. It emphasizes inclusive teaching methods that recognize students' cultures and individual needs. The goal is to foster an engaging environment where students actively participate and understand the relationship between healthy behaviors and overall well-being. The plan adheres to state and national standards while focusing on a multi-tiered system of support and Universal Design for Learning.

Time Required:

  • Approximately 45 Minutes Class Time

Materials List:

Assessment :

Assessment methods include performance-based tasks, portfolio development, quizzes/tests, demonstrations, and presentations. These assessments allow both the content teacher and the teaching artist to evaluate student understanding and application of the material.

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Lesson
Activities & Instructions

The Activities & Instructions section provides a structured sequence of learning experiences, guiding educators through engaging, interactive lessons.

Lesson Activities

  • Conduct an initial assessment through the pre-visit student habits survey, which helps to  gauge students' baseline knowledge and behaviors regarding nutrition, physical activity, and sleep patterns.

    • Introduce self, background, life experience, and skill set to students

    • Yoga warmup

    • Discuss importance of the pre-survey and assessing student habits

  • Explore the connection between nutrition and healthy eating, and integrating movement into understanding the content - energy/fuel for the body.

  • Item description

  • Classroom teacher will follow up and enforce PBS Learning Lesson, “Nutrition: What Your Body Needs”

NATIONAL CORE ARTS STANDARDS

  • Anchor Standard 6
    Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work.

  • Anchor Standard 11
    Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural and historical context to deepen understanding.

Key Themes & Ideas

  • Arts Integration as a Pedagogical Tool: The lesson plan explicitly uses arts integration (yoga) to enhance learning and engagement. It recognizes the importance of an arts integrated curriculum and its impact on students.

  • Focus on Student Wellness: The plan aims to address various aspects of student wellness including nutrition, sleep habits, physical activity, and mental health. There is a stated goal to foster an inclusive teaching environment for students that recognizes and incorporates their cultures, diet, and wellness practices for healthy living goals.

  • Differentiated Instruction and Accessibility: The plan emphasizes the importance of meeting the needs of all learners through differentiated instruction (ESE) and accessibility strategies (ELL). This is supported by the recognition of diverse needs, including the need for visuals and modeling. The lesson design embraces Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

  • Data-Driven Instruction and Assessment: The lesson plan emphasizes data collection through student surveys, observations, and formal assessments. This data is then used to inform instruction and identify students who need additional support. Data should be used to guide meaningful decision-making. Reliable, valid, and instructionally relevant assessments should include screening measures, diagnostic measures, progress monitoring measures, formative measures, and summative (outcome) measures, including program evaluation.

  • Collaborative Teaching: The plan highlights the collaborative roles of the classroom teacher and the teaching artist. The plan seeks to identify teachers’ and teaching artists’ roles in developing arts integrated teaching units.

Success Criteria:

  • Students understand the relationship between healthy behaviors and overall well-being.

Overall Significance

The lesson plan integrates physical education by  combining nutrition education, physical activity, and lifestyle analysis to empower students to make healthier choices. It creates a holistic approach to wellness by having students examine their own habits through surveys and apply analytical skills to track food intake and energy expenditure. The collaboration between the classroom teacher and teaching artist brings multiple perspectives to health education, incorporating yoga and physical activities that expose students to wellness practices beyond their own experiences. This comprehensive approach addresses several dimensions of health—physical, mental/emotional, social, and intellectual—aligning with Florida state standards while fostering inclusive teaching that recognizes students' varied backgrounds and personal wellness practices. By providing students with practical tools to assess their habits and understand the consequences of their choices, the lesson cultivates lifelong health literacy skills essential for their development.

– REACH –

Thank you to our Educators, Artists, and Collaborators.

School: Rowlett Middle Academy

Teacher: Jill Durrence

Teaching Artist: Will Newton

  • Resource 1: link