Healthy Environment: Arthur Weighs In

Environmental Health, , ,
  • General:
  • Description:
    • In this episode, Arthur is the lead in a school play and his character is supposed to wear a suit. He had worn dress pants for a wedding earlier in the year but when he went to try them on, the button pops off. Arthur goes shopping looking for new pants but the store clerk who helps him, directs him toward the “husky” section. He realizes he may have put on some weight. The next day at recess he, Buster and Brains are playing soccer and running through their lines and Arthur is very out of shape. Buster suggests he goes on a diet and then Brains reads a book that says that kids shouldn’t go on a diet,they should focus on exercising. The next day Arthur talks to his teacher about how he doesn’t fit in his pants and Mr. Ratburn tells Arthur that he was in a similar boat when was young and that he just had to find a way to exercise (ping pong was his choice) and he lost the extra weight. The next day Mr. Ratburn brings pedometers to class for each of the students so they can compare number of steps. At the end of the episode, after exercising more and with help from DW, making healthier eating choices, Arthur fits into his pants and does an amazing job in the school play.
  • Core Integration: 
    • I would integrate this into a math class (if I had the materials) by giving each of my students a pedometer just like Mr. Ratburn did. Then I would have each student write down all of the activities that they do in the day into a chart. I would send them off for the day with an assignment that requires them to write down the number of total steps they had taken after each activity. (So, when they start their afternoon they will be at zero. After playing on the playground after school they would write their total steps, maybe around 400. When they go home they have to walk the dog they would write down their total steps (playground + dog) so maybe they would be up to 1300. Say their next activity is soccer practice, they would write down their total steps after soccer practice etc etc until they come back to class the next day.) My assignment to integrate math would be for each student to use subtraction to figure out how many steps each activity took. Once they complete this they could then use multiplication to figure out how many steps they would take for an entire week if they had to walk the dog 3 times that week and they had soccer practice twice etc. The students could also figure out the fractions equated to each of their activities to understand the fraction of steps that walking the dog was out of the whole day. Then at the end, students could compare their number of steps to other kids in the class. It is very important that it’s not a competition and that all students are treated respectfully and feel safe in this environment knowing that everyone comes from a different background and home life. Students in the fifth grade can be all shapes and sizes and everyone could always use a lesson on healthy living so it’s important that no students feel singled out.
  • Standards: 
    • Physical Education: Standard 4: Students will exhibit responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others.
      1. Receiving and Providing Feedback
        1. Provide encouragement and feedback to peers without teacher prompting. PE4.3.5

      NHES 2: Analyzing Influence: Students will analyse the influence of family, peers, culture, media, technology, and other factors on health behaviors.

      1. S2.5.1: Identify relevant influences of culture on safety and injury prevention practices and behaviors.
      2. S2.5.2: Identify relevant influences of peers on safety and injury prevention practices and behaviors.
      3. S2.5.4-7: Describe how relevant influences of family and culture, school and community, media and technology and peers affect personal safety and injury prevention practices and behaviors.

      NHES 6: Goal Setting: Students will demonstrate the ability to use goal-setting skills to enhance health.

      1. S6.5.3 Identify resources that can help achieve a goal to improve or maintain positive mental and emotional health.

      NHES 8: Advocacy: Students will demonstrate  the ability to advocate for personal, family, and community health.

    • Math Standards:Number and Operations in Base Ten
      • Perform operations with multi-digit whole numbers and with decimals to hundredths

      Understand the place value system.

      1. Recognize that in a multi-digit number, a digit in one place represents 10 times as much as it represents in the place to its right and 1/10 of what it represents in the place to its left

      Apply and extend previous understandings of multiplication and division to multiply and divide fractions

      1. Add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators (including mixed numbers) by replacing given fractions with equivalent fractions in such a way as to produce an equivalent sum or difference of fractions with like denominators

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