Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term v5 - Grade 1

Lesson Video

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Performance objectives

• Name five main parts of your body.
• Explain why it is important to keep your body clean.
• Show the five steps for washing your hands.
• Sort foods into 'Healthy' and 'Sometimes' groups.
• Name a healthy food you enjoy eating.

Lesson summary

Overview This lesson introduces Grade 1 learners to the fundamental concept of healthy living, focusing on personal hygiene and healthy food choices. In the South African context, understanding these principles from a young age is crucial for lifelong well-being. It empowers children to take ownership of their health, reducing the spread of common illnesses like colds, flu, and diarrhea in classrooms and communities. By learning about healthy local foods, such as morogo, mielies, and seasonal fruits, learners connect healthy eating habits to their own environment and culture.

Lesson notes

Our Wonderful Bodies Our body is like our own special house that we live in every day. We must take good care of it so we can run, play, learn, and grow big and strong. Our bodies have many different parts that work together like a team.

Main Body Parts: Head: This is at the very top. It holds our amazing brain, which helps us think. On our head, we have: Eyes: To see the beautiful world.

Ears: To hear our teacher, music, and our friends.

Nose: To smell yummy food and pretty flowers.

Mouth: To talk, sing, and eat. Inside our mouth, we have teeth to chew our food.

Arms and Hands: We have two arms. At the end of our arms are our hands. We use our hands to write, draw, wave, and hold things.

Legs and Feet: We have two legs. At the bottom of our legs are our feet. We use our legs and feet to walk, run, jump, and kick a ball.

Tummy (Torso): This is the middle part of our body. It connects everything and holds important parts inside that help us use the food we eat for energy. Keeping Clean to Stay Healthy (Hygiene) To keep our bodies healthy, we must keep them clean. Why? Because there are tiny, invisible things called germs (amagciwane or kieme) all around us. We can't see them, but if they get into our bodies, they can make us sick with a cough, a cold, or a runny tummy. Washing our bodies with soap and water is the best way to fight these germs.

Three Important Ways to Stay Clean: Washing Hands: This is our super-power against germs!

When to wash: Always wash your hands before you eat, after you use the toilet, after you play outside, and after coughing or sneezing.

How to wash (The 5 Steps): Wet: Use clean water to get your hands wet.

Soap: Put soap on your hands.

Scrub: Rub your hands together to make lots of bubbles. Scrub the front, the back, between your fingers, and under your nails. Do this for 20 seconds. You can sing the "Happy Birthday" song twice slowly to know how long.

Rinse: Wash all the soap and bubbles off with clean water.

Dry: Dry your hands well with a clean towel or in the air.

Brushing Teeth: We need to brush our teeth to get rid of food bits and fight 'sugar bugs' (plaque) that can make holes (cavities) in our teeth. Brush in the morning after you wake up and at night before you go to sleep. This keeps your smile bright and your breath fresh!

Bathing: We play and run all day, which makes us sweaty and dirty. Washing our whole body with soap and water every day washes away the dirt and germs, keeping our skin healthy. Healthy Foods for Strong Bodies Food gives our bodies energy, just like petrol gives a car energy to go. Some foods are very good for us and help us grow, while others are not so good if we eat them too much.

We can think of foods in groups: Go Foods (For Energy): These foods give you energy to run and play. Examples common in South Africa are pap, bread, rice, and potatoes.

Grow Foods (To Get Strong): These foods help your body grow bigger and make your muscles and bones strong. Examples are milk, eggs, beans, chicken, and fish.

Glow Foods (To Fight Sickness): These are fruits and vegetables. They are full of vitamins that help your skin glow, your eyes see well, and your body fight off germs. Examples are oranges, bananas, apples, carrots, tomatoes, and morogo (spinach). 'Sometimes' Foods: Foods like sweets, chips, fizzy drinks, and cake are delicious, but they have a lot of sugar and are not very healthy. They are treats that we should only eat sometimes, not every day. Too much sugar is bad for our teeth and doesn't give our bodies the good energy we need to learn and play. Guided Practice (With Solutions)

Question 1: The Body Part Song (Activity) The teacher sings the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" with the learners.

Task: Learners must touch the correct body part as it is mentioned in the song. The teacher should start slowly and then get faster to make it fun. Solution and

Commentary: Solution: The learner correctly touches their head, then shoulders, then knees, then feet in time with the song. They also point to their eyes, ears, mouth, and nose when those parts are sung.

Commentary: This kinaesthetic activity helps learners to physically connect the name of the body part with its location on their own body. Repetition through song is an excellent memory aid for this age group. The teacher can observe who is confident and who needs more help.

Question 2: Handwashing Picture Puzzle The teacher gives learners four picture cards showing the steps of handwashing in a jumbled order: [Scrubbing with soap], [Drying hands], [Wetting hands with water], [Rinsing hands].

Task: Place the pictures in the correct order to show how to wash your hands properly. Solution and

Commentary: Solution: The correct order of the pictures is: [Wetting hands with water] [Scrubbing with soap] [Rinsing hands] [Drying hands]

Commentary: This activity assesses the learner's understanding of a process or sequence. Using pictures helps learners who may struggle with reading.