American Heart Month Lesson Plan: 1st Grade

February is American Heart Month. Kids should be learning just as much about ways for keeping their heart fit earlier than their required 9^th grade health class. I've come up with a few ideas to let first graders associate Valentine's Day with a lesson plan about keeping their heart healthy.

If you have a calendar, write February = Valentines Day = Heart Month. Kids are most likely to remember things that they see everyday.

1. In the morning before your kids get to class cut out long sheets of paper. The sheets of paper I would recommend would be the ones that are used on bulletin boards. Have enough sheets of paper where each group can pick a person to trace. Have black and white coloring sheets of lungs, hearts, ribs, stomachs and kidneys. After they have traced their person have an adult cut them out. While you, or an assistant is cutting out their traced figures have them color in the coloring sheets. They can later glue them onto the body. After you have glued them have the kids name them. Have fun with this project (use yarn for hair, wires for glasses, etc.)
2. Explain the food pyramid, and show them what good foods are needed to help their heart! Show them that at the top of the food pyramid are bad foods for your heart. Tell them by eating healthy foods their heart stays happy. Stress that a healthy heart is a happy heart.
3. Make valentines day cards with healthy hearts. Have sheets of pink and red construction paper so that they can make Valentines Day cards with healthy happy hearts. When they go home to their parent they not only give them a Valentine's card, but they also say that they are giving them a healthy happy heart.
4. Find a short movie that explains healthy eating. A movie like this should have a food pyramid. Make sure you stress that they need to stay healthy.
5. While they are watching the movie prepare foods that are in each type of the food pyramid. Put it on a plate or napkin for each child to have. Find a black and white coloring sheet of the food pyramid and tell them to put the correct foods in the right pyramid slots. Afterwards they can eat it, or color on the coloring pyramid sheet.
6. One thing that I did with my first graders was shirt making. I had the drawing press-on sheets. They used the crayons that were for short making, and they all drew hearts with a message to their parents. I later ironed them onto white shirts for Valentines Day, and on the back I wrote," Valentines Day = Heart Month." They had a lot of fun with this activity.

I hope that I gave you some good ideas for a lesson plan on how you can inform your first graders about American Heart Month in February.