Health Smart Virginia
Cyber Tattoo
Sophomores use a website evaluation tool to determine if their selected websites are valid and reliable. They read about and list three behaviors about taking and sending photos of minors that qualify as Class 1 misdemeanors in their...
Health Smart Virginia
What Is It Like to Be You?
Two poems, "What it is like to be you" and "I am more than what you see," provided young scholars an opportunity to reflect on how others see them versus how they see themselves. After reading the poems, individuals write their stories...
Health Smart Virginia
Effective Communication Skills
As part of a review of concepts taught in the Health Smart unit, individuals fill out a chart contrasting passive, assertive, and aggressive behaviors. They then practice their assertiveness skills by craft "I" messages and responses to...
Health Smart Virginia
Shark Tank - Mental Illnesses
Young entrepreneurs research and develop a Shark Tank-style pitch for a solution to help people who have a mental illness. After the presentations, research groups complete a rubric for each product and vote for the one product they feel...
Health Smart Virginia
Be Smart with Smartphones (and Screens)
Would you rather have a broken phone or a broken bone? This very engaging question launches a discussion about the smart use of smartphones and screens. Young scholars watch a series of videos, complete worksheets, and engage in...
Health Smart Virginia
Fitting In and Setting Healthy Boundaries
Saying "No" isn't easy. Setting healthy boundaries and sticking to them takes practice. A series of exercises enables sophomores to practice these skills and reflect on the difference between fitting in and belonging.
Health Smart Virginia
Stressors, Coping Strategies, Mindfulness breathing
After discussing the benefits of positive coping strategies, class members practice the stress management and stress reduction technique of Mindfulness Breathing.
Health Smart Virginia
Ending the Silence on Mental Illness
To end the silence on mental illness, groups research a mental illness. They then create a scene-by-scene script, cast parts, and record a video that details the symptoms, causes, and treatment of the disorder. They also include what...
Health Smart Virginia
Mental Health Stress
Improve circulation! Strengthen muscles! Reduce hypertension! Research has shown that stress balls provide these and many other benefits. Freshmen create their own stress balls in a fun, engaging activity.
Health Smart Virginia
Mental Health PowerPoint and Notes
A 15-slide presentation summarizes key concepts from the Mental Health unit designed for freshmen. Viewers record the information on the provided worksheets. The notes prepare learners for a game of jeopardy.
Health Smart Virginia
What's Up with Mindfulness
Mindfulness is all about paying attention to the present. Introduce freshmen to a stress-reducing tool that helps them pay close attention to what is happening, choose their behavior, and respond. Learners use a timeline to track their...
Health Smart Virginia
What Is Mindfulness?
Stop. Breathe. Think. A richly detailed instructional activity on mindfulness introduces freshmen to meditation as a coping strategy to deal with stress.
Health Smart Virginia
"SuperBetter" Stress Management
The goal of this Health Smart instructional activity is for freshmen to develop a personal system for coping with stress. They create a power-up list of things that make them feel happier, healthier, or better connected, identify people...
Health Smart Virginia
Stressed Out
Stress, eustress, distress. A step-by-step plan leads middle schoolers through a lesson about coping with stress. To gather background information, scholars watch a presentation, examine a list of positive coping skills, and read...
Health Smart Virginia
Happiness
There's power in a flower. After taking a happiness survey and watching a PowerPoint about the habits of happy people, pupils decorate a paper flower with six positive affirmation statements that they feel they can benefit from reading...
Health Smart Virginia
Wrinkled Heart
Contrary to the old saying, words, like sticks, can hurt. That's the central idea in a instructional activity about the importance of considering another person's perspective, stopping, thinking, and listening before responding in anger...
Health Smart Virginia
Compliment a Character
Compliments are true, specific, and positive. Crafting those compliments can be a challenge. Graciously accepting a compliment can also be a challenge. The first lesson in the Health Smart series designed for sixth graders provides them...
Teach With Movies
The Great Gatsby
Are you thinking about incorporating a film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel in a study of The Great Gatsby? Check out a guide loaded with suggestions for how to supplement a reading of the novel with scenes from three film...
Newseum
Confronting Conformation Bias
Be curious! Seek out different opinions! Be conscious of your thinking process! After reading an article about confirmation bias and motivated reasoning, class members apply these strategies to the topic of school start times. They read...
Facing History and Ourselves
Identity and Names
Would a rose smell as sweet, as Juliet Capulet asserts, if called by any other name? The importance of names and the connection between names and identity are examined in a instructional activity that explores identity in the United...
Facing History and Ourselves
Identity and Labels
Scholars look at the connections between identity and labels, assumptions, and stereotypes, in a lesson that examines identity in the United States. To set the stage for a discussion of these connections, class members analyze a cartoon,...
Facing History and Ourselves
Identity and Choices
Timshel! Thou mayest! is the big idea in a lesson that reminds learners that they have choices about how they present themselves to others. To begin, individuals rate the degree to which the choices they make each morning are influenced...
Facing History and Ourselves
Connecting to the Past
Young historians research the connections between their personal histories and the histories of our country to gain a deeper understanding of who they are. To begin, class members write about an object that they consider significant to...
Facing History and Ourselves
Many Voices, One National Identity
To conclude the unit on "Exploring Identity in the United States," pupils consider whether it is possible to combine many voices into one national identity. After creating an identity chart that lists words, phrases, and images that they...