First - Health

Overview

First-grade students in SFUSD engage in 20 Health lessons per year. Lessons are created from the HealthSmart curriculum and correspond to SFUSD monthly health themes. Elementary health education strives to improve health outcomes for youth and their families by teaching the knowledge and skills necessary for life-long healthy choices. We view comprehensive health education as a rite of passage for all students.

Priority Standards

What students will know, what students will do, and what thinking skills students will develop to apply and transfer Health understandings that endure within the discipline, leverage deeper understandings, and/or support readiness for success at the next grade level.

In First Grade focus on these critical areas:

Diagram of major bones and organs in human body

Describing how humans grow and naming major body parts

illustration of four steps for handwashing: wet, wash for 20 seconds, rinse, dry

Explaining and applying ways to stay healthy

oral & personal hygiene practices
sun safety
prevention of disease & germ transmission - hand washing, covering coughs & sneezes

Illustration of two children walking on sidewalk with text: Think. Look Ahead! Eyes wide open! See and be seen!

Identifying and explaining safe and unsafe practices

identifying labels on products
distinguishing safe & unsafe touches and using refusal skills
explaining the use of seat belts & sitting in the back seat of a vehicle
defining conflict resolution techniques

Instruction: Signature Elements

Below are signature elements of SFUSD Health instruction that students should experience regularly throughout first grade as they develop health literacy.

Create an Information-Rich Environment

Provide meaningful, health-related text on classroom walls and well-stocked, inviting, and comfortable libraries that contain a range of health-related texts (e.g., nutrition and physical activity, social and emotional learning), including texts in students’ home languages.

Illustration of question mark, gears turning, light bulb coming on, and exclamation point over faces

Promote Inquiry & Autonomy

Allow students to generate their own questions and to choose health-related activities, texts, and even locations in the room in which to engage with health-related books, manipulatives, and tasks independently.

Text: Student like with multicolor circle around text

Make It Relevant

Ensure that health education experiences are relevant and responsive to students’ interests, everyday life, or important current events.

Icon of four people forming a circle by interlinking arms

Emphasize Collaboration

Structure frequent opportunities for students to collaborate with their peers in health-related group learning tasks, to read and discuss texts, and in creating artifacts that demonstrate their learning.

Materials

First Grade HealthSmart Lesson Slide Decks

Link to this item

Units & Planning Guide

Lessons are created from the HealthSmart curriculum and correspond to SFUSD monthly health themes. Harvest of the Month lessons correspond to the availability of the produce at local farmers’ markets. To meet the required 20 health lessons per year, we recommend at least three lessons from each health topic. Health lessons are not available in Spanish.

Unit	Lessons
Personal and Community Health (AUG/SEPT)	Handwashing for Health (Report Card entry) Keeping Teeth Healthy (Report Card entry) Getting Enough Sleep Harvest of the Month: CUCUMBERS (Spanish)
Substance Abuse Prevention (OCT)	Tobacco Hurts the Body Why People Smoke Sharing the Tobacco -Free Message Harvest of the Month: PERSIMMONS (Spanish)
Violence Prevention (NOV/DEC)	SFUSD Inclusive Schools Week Resource Guide Find Bullying Prevention and other SEL lessons to support Violence Prevention Month in the SEL portal Additional Lesson: We Don't Bully at Our School Harvest of the Month: PUMPKINS & SWEET POTATOES (Spanish) Harvest of the Month: CABBAGE & BROCCOLI (Spanish)
Growing Bodies and Active Consent (JAN/FEB)	Belonging Helps Me Keep Healthy Being Safe is a Good Feeling (Report Card entry) You Can Get Help for Unsafe Touch (Report Card entry) Harvest of the Month: GREENS (Spanish) Harvest of the Month: MANDARINS (Spanish)
Nutrition & Physical Activity (MARCH)	I Eat Breakfast Everyday We Drink Plenty of Water *I Like and Move my Body (Report Card entry) Harvest of the Month: ROOT VEGGIES (Spanish)
LGBTQ and Advocacy (APRIL)	*All read aloud books can be found in SFUSD libraries From the Stars in the Sky readaloud Toys and Gender The Great Big Book of Families readaloud Harvest of the Month: PEAS & BEANS (Spanish)
Summer Safety and Environmental Health (MAY)	You Can Be Safe Walking and Crossing the Street (Report Card entry) You Can Think Ahead to get Places Safely (Report Card entry) You Can Be Safe in a Car (Report Card entry) Dressing for the Weather (Report Card entry) Harvest of the Month: STRAWBERRIES (Spanish)

**Lessons will continue to be added as they are developed
Unit Overview as Document for First-Grade Health