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Teacher: Mark Housel who teaches at Bordentown Public Schools in Bordentown, NJ. Mark Housel can be contacted at Hous14@aol.com.
Name of Best Practice: Quest for the Broken Heart
Rationale/Purpose of Event: To teach students ways to keep their heart healthy.
Suggested Grade Level: K-12
Materials Needed: Paper, markers, envelopes for clues, lamination machine.
Quest for the Broken Heart
I usually do the "Quest for the Broken Heart" in
February, which is Heart Smart Month. I started by making a
huge heart (approx. 3' x 3'). I put a heart healthy
message on the heart (e.g., "Take care of your heart and it will
take care of you"). I then cut it into 5 pieces. On
the back of each piece, there is information on a way to
keep the heart healthy. For example the back of one of
the pieces says:
Once the 5 ideas are put on the back of each piece of
the heart, the entire heart is laminated. Now each
piece is put in a different part of the school. I am a
traveling health teacher, so I begin each Quest at the
students classroom. There I give them Clue #1.
Answer is: Exercise at the gym. So we go to the gym to find the first piece
of the heart and Clue #2.
Their answer - eat healthy
foods in the cafeteria. So we visit the cafeteria to
find our next piece of the heart.
Other heart smart
concepts that are on the Quest talk about the
dangers of smoking, saying NO to drugs, and getting plenty
of rest. Besides the gym and the cafeteria, we
visited our nurses office, the all purpose room and the
music room. Some of the activities I had them do along
the way was exercise, get a talk from the school
nurse, learn how to take a pulse, and check heart rate.
All in a 40 minute period.
At the end of the Quest,
we return to their class where I always hide the last
piece of the heart. We talk about what we learned on
the Quest. Then the students put the heart back
together again to get their heart smart message.
It is important to exercise to keep your heart healthy. Exercising 30 minutes
every day of the week is recommended. Biking,
jogging, walking, roller blading, swimming, and playing
basketball are just a few activities that are good for your
heart.
Galloping, hopping, skipping, jumping, we do this here to keep
our hearts pumping.
When staying heart smart, this will help a BUNCH. We do THIS
HERE, when we eat our lunch.
(Any Practice receiving 5 Votes earns Blue Ribbon Status on PEC)
Posted on PEC: 10/9/2001 and has received 59 votes.
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