Grade 4 · Health Education
Quarter 3 · Week 2 · TEKS
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This lesson for Grade 4 Health Education focuses on identifying and explaining risk and protective factors related to healthy eating and physical activity. Students will learn how physical activity helps prevent obesity, heart disease, and diabetes, differentiate between healthy and unhealthy eating habits, and practice refusal skills to handle unhealthy eating situations. The lesson aligns with TEKS standards TEKS.HEALTH.4.09A and TEKS.HEALTH.4.09B and includes direct teaching, guided practice, and reflection activities.
Students should understand basic concepts of health such as what it means to be healthy, and have some familiarity with common foods and physical activities.
Physical activity means moving your body in ways that make your heart beat faster and your muscles work. When you are active regularly, it helps your body stay strong and healthy. Being physically active can help prevent obesity, which means having too much body fat. It also lowers the chance of getting heart disease, which affects the heart, and diabetes, which affects how your body uses sugar. Physical activity helps your body use energy well and keeps your heart and blood vessels healthy.
Healthy eating habits include choosing foods that give your body nutrients like vitamins, minerals, and energy. Examples are fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and drinking water. Unhealthy eating habits include eating too much sugar, fat, or salt, and choosing foods like candy, soda, or fried snacks often. Eating unhealthy foods too much can lead to health problems like obesity and heart disease. It is important to know the difference so you can make good choices.
Sometimes friends, family, or others may offer you unhealthy foods or encourage eating in ways that are not good for your health. Refusal skills help you say no politely but firmly. For example, you can say, "No thank you, I want to eat something healthy," or "I’m not hungry right now." Practicing these skills helps you make healthy choices even when it’s hard. It is important to respect your own health and feel confident in your choices.
Role-playing is acting out situations where you might need to refuse unhealthy foods. This helps you practice what to say and how to say it. For example, one student can pretend to offer candy, and another can practice saying no and explaining why they choose healthy foods. This builds confidence and prepares students for real-life situations.
Some students may think that being active only means playing sports, but physical activity can include walking, dancing, or playing outside. Others might believe that refusing food is rude, but it is okay to say no to foods that are not healthy for you. Clarifying these ideas helps students make better choices.
A student is offered a cookie by a friend but wants to eat a healthy snack instead. What could the student say to refuse the cookie politely?
The student can use refusal skills by saying something like, "No thank you, I want to eat something healthy," which shows respect and a clear choice for health.
"No thank you, I want to eat something healthy."
Ask students to share their favorite physical activities and favorite foods. Write them on the board and discuss which are healthy and which might not be as healthy.
Students share their favorite activities and foods with the class.
This activity helps students connect their own experiences to the lesson topic and prepares them to think about healthy and unhealthy choices.
Show pictures of different foods and ask students to sort them into healthy and unhealthy groups. Then discuss why each food fits into each group.
Students work in pairs or small groups to sort food pictures and explain their choices.
Sorting foods helps students practice identifying healthy and unhealthy eating habits and understand the reasons behind their choices.
Explain how physical activity helps prevent obesity, heart disease, and diabetes by keeping the body strong and using energy well. Describe healthy and unhealthy eating habits and introduce refusal skills with examples.
Listen and take notes or draw pictures showing the connection between activity, health, and food choices.
Direct teaching clarifies the connection between physical activity and disease prevention, and the importance of healthy eating and refusal skills.
Lead role-play activities where students practice refusal skills in different eating situations using scenario cards.
Students act out scenarios, practicing saying no to unhealthy foods and explaining their choices.
Role-playing gives students a safe way to practice refusal skills and build confidence to make healthy choices in real life.
Ask students to explain how physical activity helps prevent disease, list healthy and unhealthy eating habits, and demonstrate refusal skills through a short role-play or written reflection.
Students share their explanations, list foods, and perform refusal skill demonstrations.
This assessment checks students’ understanding of the lesson objectives and their ability to apply refusal skills.
Students work in pairs or small groups to sort food pictures and explain their choices.
How does physical activity help prevent obesity?
Physical activity helps burn calories and keeps the body from storing too much fat, which prevents obesity.
Give an example of a healthy eating habit.
Eating fruits and vegetables every day is a healthy eating habit.
What is a refusal skill you can use when offered unhealthy food?
You can say, "No thank you, I want to eat something healthy."
Provide visual aids like pictures of healthy and unhealthy foods. Use simple refusal phrases and practice them multiple times. Pair students for role-play so they can support each other.
Use clear, simple language and repeat key vocabulary. Show pictures and gestures to explain healthy and unhealthy foods. Model refusal skills slowly and clearly for students to imitate.
Challenge students to explain the science behind how physical activity prevents diseases. Encourage students to create their own refusal scenarios and role-plays. Have students research and present on different types of physical activities and their benefits.
Encourage students to talk with their family about healthy eating and physical activity habits. Ask them to practice refusal skills at home when offered unhealthy foods and share their experiences in class.
In this lesson, students learned how physical activity helps prevent diseases like obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. They identified healthy and unhealthy eating habits and practiced refusal skills to say no to unhealthy foods. These skills help students make choices that protect their health and well-being.
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