Healthy Choices Start

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Overview

Lesson Title: Introduction to Healthy Choices
Unit Title: Healthy Choices, Happy Lives
Year Level: Year 1
Duration: 45 minutes
Class Size: 25 students
Curriculum Area: Australian Curriculum – Health and Physical Education (Foundation – Year 2)
Strand: Personal, Social and Community Health
Content Description:

• ACPPS003: Identify personal strengths.
• ACPPS004: Practise personal and social skills to interact with and include others.
• ACPPS006: Identify actions that promote health, safety and wellbeing.

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Lesson Intent

Learning Intentions

By the end of this lesson, students will:

• Understand what a ‘healthy choice’ means.
• Be able to identify key areas of health: food, movement, sleep, and emotions.
• Discuss how healthy choices help us feel happy and strong.

Success Criteria

Students will:

• Share examples of healthy and unhealthy choices in group discussions.
• Participate in a whole-class interactive sorting activity.
• Contribute to a class poster about healthy choices.

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Resources Needed

• A3 cards with pictures of healthy and unhealthy choices (food, activities, emotions, hygiene),
• Butcher’s paper and markers,
• Large printed outline of a smiling body (for class poster),
• Sticky notes (25),
• Circle floor spots for movement activity,
• Whiteboard and markers.

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Lesson Sequence

1. Welcome and Warm-Up (5 minutes)

Activity: ‘Wiggle and Giggle’

• Purpose: Energy reset and connection.
• All students stand in a circle on floor spots and follow a quick, silly routine (wiggle your nose, giggle 3 times, shake off negative energy).
• Discuss: “How do you feel after that?” (Students use 1-word answers like “happy”, “bouncy”.)

2. Tuning In (10 minutes)

Discussion: What Does Being Healthy Mean?

• Teacher poses the question: “What do you think ‘being healthy’ means?”
• Encourage student responses and record key terms on the board (e.g., 'strong’, ‘fruit’, ‘playing', ‘sleep’, ‘smiles’).
• Prompting Questions:
  • “Can we be healthy in more than one way?”
  • “Can being healthy make us feel happy?”
• Teacher introduces the four areas of health for the unit:
  1. Healthy Body (food, exercise)
  2. Healthy Mind (emotions, feeling safe)
  3. Healthy Relationships (friends, family)
  4. Healthy Habits (sleep, hygiene)

3. Exploring the Concept (15 minutes)

Game: Healthy or Not? – Group Sorting

• Students are split into 5 small groups.
• Each group receives a bag of picture cards showing different actions (e.g. brushing teeth, eating lollies, playing outside, sitting for hours, sharing a toy, yelling, washing hands, refusing to sleep).
• Task: Sort into two piles – “Healthy Choice” or “Not a Healthy Choice”.
• After 7 minutes, students walk around to check the other groups’ piles silently.
• Class regroups and teacher facilitates a group reflection:
  • “Was it tricky to decide sometimes?”
  • “Can something fun be unhealthy if we do too much of it?”

4. Making Connections (10 minutes)

Activity: Build Our Healthy Body

• Introduce the class poster: A large smiling outline body labelled “Our Healthy Self”.
• Each student writes or draws one healthy choice on a sticky note.
• One by one, students place their sticky on the appropriate part of the body (e.g. eating an apple = stomach, hugging a friend = heart, running = legs).
• This becomes an ongoing visual anchor for the unit.

5. Reflect and Share (5 minutes)

Wrap-Up Reflection

• Circle time – each student shares their “healthy superpower” from the day (e.g. “My healthy superpower today is drinking water!”).
• Optional “Healthy Hero Clap” to celebrate all contributions (1-2-3-Healthy!).

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Assessment (Formative)

• Observation: Participation in group discussions and the sorting activity.
• Student Reflections: Contribution to the class body poster.
• Teacher Checklist: Engagement level, verbal contributions, understanding of 'healthy vs unhealthy'.

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Differentiation and Inclusion

• Visual cues and simplified picture cards support EAL or less verbal students.
• Group roles (e.g. “card picker”, “decision maker”) in sorting activity help students with limited motor function or social confidence feel included.
• Use of positive reinforcement and praise to support behavioural needs.

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Extension Opportunities

• Students can take “Healthy Detective” cards home to identify one healthy choice they made after school and report back in the next class.
• Begin assembling a personal “Healthy Choices” journal over the next lessons.

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Teacher Reflection Prompts

• Were students able to articulate what it means to be healthy?
• Did the sorting task uncover any misconceptions?
• Were all students engaged and participating equitably?
• What could be changed to deepen their understanding next time?

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Notes for Next Lesson

Prepare for Lesson 2: “Fantastic Food Fuel” – focused on identifying everyday foods and sometimes foods, and why food matters for energy and mood.

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This creative, interactive, and inclusive lesson provides a warm start to the unit ‘Healthy Choices, Happy Lives’, immersing students in hands-on exploration of what it means to be healthy — physically, emotionally, and socially. Aligned to the Australian Curriculum and delivered through age-appropriate activities, this lesson ensures that students begin their journey empowered and excited to make informed, healthy choices.