Tag: teaching

This is a Project-Based Lesson Plan about healthy living for Kindergarten students.

At a time when health seems like the world’s primary concern, this lesson plan can help refocus and re-energize your young students. This project was created with home isolation/ quarantine in mind. Feel free to use this in your own classroom. If you do, please let me know your thoughts!

This slideshow gives a quick overview of the project:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Project Description

Students explore healthy living over the course of 6 weeks. They learn about exercise— how to move their bodies and create dynamic workout routines for their peers. They learn about nutrition—where food comes from, design simple meal plans, and finally prepare a balanced dish with their family. Social-emotional health is an important aspect of healthy living, so in this PBL students learn about the value of cooperation, communication, and healthy quality time with family.

Plan for Monitoring

Assessing as projects progress is essential to a successful PBL. It helps students by giving them the information to reflect on their own learning, and it helps teachers by gathering data to improve instruction. It’s a win-win! In this project, I will do weekly assessments.

I decided to go with a single-point rubric because of the the age of my ELL kindergarten students. They can’t even read yet, and I think simplicity will help them focus on key goals and expectations. Single point rubrics also allow for more room for feedback. As Jennifer Gonzalez writes in her blog, “Because teachers must specify key problem areas and notable areas of excellence for that particular student, rather than choosing from a list of generic descriptions.” I focused on assessing 21st Century Skills and reward a growth mindset.

Week 1: I will be assessing if they understand the core content and concepts through check-ins and watching each individual’s class participation.

Week 2: I will be assessing if students understand the project and if they are collaborating well through team-check ins to ask about their project plan. 

Week 3: I will be evaluating their work with a rubric. 

Healthy Bodies: Exercise Rubric
Areas for Improvement	Criteria	Proof of Exceeding Standards
	Participation: Comes to class prepared with ideas. Completes tasks on time. Physically moves for exercises.
	Collaboration: Helps solve problems and manage conflicts in groups. Gives, receives and uses feedback to others in a polite and positive manner.
	Creativity: Comes up with ideas in movements and delivery of exercise routine.
	Grasp of material: Safe and effective exercise movements.  Directs class using clear instructions learned in class.

Week 4: I will be assessing if they understand the core content and concepts through check-ins and watching each individual’s class participation and completion of worksheets.

Week 5: I will be assessing if students understand the project and if they are communicating and collaborating well with their parents through team-check ins to ask about their project plan. 

Week 6: I will be evaluating their work with a rubric.

Healthy Bodies: Food Rubric
Areas for Improvement	Criteria	Proof of Exceeding Standards
	Problem Solving: Student tries to see the world around them and make decisions based on the available data, i.e. ingredients that are already available in their home to create a dish.
	Media Literacy: Student takes photos or videos and documents their experience. Student is able to upload and present media.
	Presentation: Student presents their experience to the class in a clear and descriptive manner. Students answer all guiding questions.
	Social and Cultural Skills: Student gives peers positive, polite comments. Shows patience, kindness, and cross-cultural understanding.