Teachers and school staff may decide to use one or all of the activities included in this lesson plan in their classrooms. Some activities are standalone, while others are linked and build on concepts progressively. The teaching time and curriculum learning expectations are outlined below to assist in the selection of activities.
Note that most of the activities are cross-curricular and can be used to satisfy more than one curriculum expectation. The following quick reference guides lists each activity according to:
- quick summary of the activity;
- which subject(s) the activity could be delivered under, based on the Ontario curriculum expectations;
- the estimated time required to facilitate it in a classroom, and;
- whether or not the activity can be linked progressively with other activities.
| Lesson 1: Health and poverty | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activity | Summary | Curriculum expectations | Length | Link to other activities |
| Brainstorming session on health | Activity about what makes us healthy and the meaning of health. | Health and physical education and language | 15–20 minutes | Reflections from Brainstorming session on health |
| Personal health practices and social support networks | Activity about the importance of our actions and relationships. | Health and physical education, arts, and language | 30 minutes a day for two days | This is a standalone activity. |
| A story about health | Activity to introduce new vocabulary words through a story about a child and his life. | Health and physical education and language | 10–15 minutes a day for three days | This is a standalone activity. |
| Introducing poverty | Activity includes reading a book about “tight times” and having a discussion with the children. | Health and physical education and language | 30 minutes a day for five days | This is a standalone activity. |
| Reflections from Brainstorming session on health | Activity to allow students to reflect on their awareness and understanding about the factors that influence health has changed over time. | Health and physical education and language | 15–20 minutes | Brainstorming session on health |
| Lesson 2: The social determinants of health and health equity | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activity | Summary | Curriculum expectations | Length | Link to other activities |
| Shoe activity to introduce equity | Activity to introduce equity and to explain the difference between equity and equality. | Health and physical education and language | 15–20 minutes | Reinforces the Soccer game: Introducing equity activity |
| Soccer game: Introducing equity | Activity to explain the difference between equity and equality. | Health and physical education, language, and arts | 15–20 minutes | Reinforces the Shoe activity to introduce equity |
| Puzzle activity on health equity action | Activity to help symbolize how we can all play a role and that our actions impact others. | Health and physical education, arts, and language | 60 minutes for two days | Let your voice be heard! |
| Lesson 3: Health equity in action | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activity | Summary | Curriculum expectations | Length | Link to other activities |
| Let your voice be heard! | Activity includes reading a book about a homeless person and having a discussion with the children. | Health and physical education, language, and social studies | 30 minutes a day for five days | Puzzle activity on health equity action |
Lesson 1: Health and poverty
This activity is appropriate for late primary, junior, and intermediate students.
For primary, the activity can be modified by having a group discussion around what does it mean to be healthy. Then the teacher can continue to record student ideas as to what helps to make us healthy or do the sticky note activity with the students, and they can draw and/or write their responses.
Curriculum expectations
Health and physical education and language
Health—D1; Language—B1, B2, C1, C2, C3, D1
Time required for activity: 15–20 minutes.
Teacher instructions
Post the word “Health” in the middle of a wall/blackboard/whiteboard.
Distribute one square sticky note to each student.
Ask students the following question (question can be written/posted on the wall if needed):
- What are some things/people that help us be healthy?
Take a few examples from the group.
Then ask students to write/draw their own answers on the sticky note. Have them write their name or initials on the corner of the note so they know it is theirs. When finished ask students to stick their note to the wall around the word “Health”.
Orally review student responses with the class.
Optional: organize responses into the main themes or categories during the review (e.g. doctor, hospital, nutrition, physical activity, home). On the board, create headings corresponding to the main themes or categories.
Optional: ask students if there is anything missing, or if they think any of these responses or themes have more or less influence on their health.
Keep sticky notes from this lesson for the Reflections from Brainstorming session on health activity.
Curriculum expectations
Health and physical education, arts, and language
Health—A1, D1, D2, D3; Arts—D2; Language—B1, B2, B3, D1
Time required for activity: 30 minutes a day for two days (suggestion to do actions one day, then relationships on another day).
The Personal health practices and social support networks student worksheet is available as a PDF document.
Note: The following activity covers sensitive material and may trigger strong emotions from students. Teachers should be aware of this and provide additional support to any students who may have a difficult time hearing, watching, or participating in some of the material discussed and presented.
Information for teachers
Begin the activity by stating our actions and our relationships keep us healthy especially when we are upset.
We do things to calm down when we’re upset, mad, or sad. We all need people in our lives who care about us, who support our needs, and help us feel good about ourselves. We also all need people in our lives to talk to. These supports can help make us feel happy, safe, and satisfied.
Teacher instructions
Have students brainstorm about the importance of our actions and our relationships. The teacher can start by providing definitions for each concept and then asking students to provide examples based on their experiences.
Personal health practices (Our Actions) include things that you can do when you are feeling stressed, upset, or overwhelmed with something.
- What do you do to calm down when you’re upset/mad/sad?
Examples of personal health practices:
- Listen to music.
- Go for a walk, run or some other form of physical activity.
- Talk to someone about what is going on (family, friends).
- Write in a journal.
- Read a book.
Social support networks (Relationships) are people in your life that help, support, and care about you. They are people that you can turn to and rely on at different times in your life. Social support networks include people from your family, home, school, neighbourhood, or community. They can be people that you see daily, or people that you see less often.
- Who takes care of you?
- Who do you talk to?
Examples of the types of things we might rely on our social support networks for:
- To listen to you when you need to talk to someone.
- To support you when you are faced with a stressful situation.
- To help you solve a problem.
- To help you get things done, go places, learn new things.
- To make you feel cared for.
- To help you to achieve your personal goals.
Examples of who might be included in our social support networks:
- Family, friends, friend’s parents.
- Teachers, school staff, coaches.
- Cultural, spiritual, or religious mentors.
Provide students with a blank copy of the Personal health practices and social support networks student worksheet (PDF). Ask students to fill in the model based on their life. The students can draw or write their responses. Remind students that these will look different for everyone. Teachers can refer to the definitions and discussion points above to guide students. Encourage students to add as many examples as they can think of in both sections of the model.
Additional prompts that may help students with personal health practices include asking students to draw/write down things that they do to:
- Feel happy or to cheer up.
- Help relax or relieve frustration.
Additional prompts that may help students with social support networks include asking students to write down different people they:
- Turn to for support in their family or household.
- Rely on for support in the broader community, including school or other places they go to for things like clubs, sports, learning, and entertainment, etc.
After students complete their worksheets, ask them to cut apart the model along the dotted lines as indicated. Ask students to reflect on how their health and well-being would be impacted if they were not able to access either their personal health practices (inner ring) or their social support networks (outer ring). Ask students which one they would choose if they could only select one. Teacher to conclude by reinforcing that we need both our personal health practices and strong social support networks to enhance our health and resilience.
Curriculum expectations
Health and physical education and language
Health—D.1; Language—B1, B2, C1, C2, C3
Time required for activity: 10–15 minutes each day spread over a minimum of three days.
Jason’s story is available as a PDF document.
Teacher instructions
We recommend this activity be completed over a period of time (a minimum of three days) as a shared reading piece. The text should be displayed over this time in a place the students can see.
Day 1
Introduce and define new vocabulary for students.
Read Jason’s story to the class. It can also be displayed on a white board or flip chart paper. Read the text again and have students “chime-in” by reading and defining the vocabulary words throughout the story.
Vocabulary:
- Afford: to have enough money to do something or to buy something.
- Infection: when someone gets sick from germs.
- Jagged: not straight.
- Junkyard: a place that takes all the garbage and other things we throw away.
- Run down: not new; broken down.
- Supervise: to watch someone.
- Unemployed: not having a job.
Day 2
Review the vocabulary words with the class.
Reread Jason’s story. The students may join in on the reading.
Lead discussion about the story and ask the students the following questions:
- Why was Jason not healthy?
- What parts of Jason’s environment (where he lived and played) made him not healthy?
Day 3
Reread Jason’s story. The students can read with the teacher. Or reread the text, with one group reading the questions, and the other group reading the responses.
Lead discussion.
- Does everyone have the same chance to be healthy? Why/why not?
Curriculum expectations
Health and physical education and language
Health—D1, D2, D3; Language—B1, B2, B3, C1, C2, C3
Time required for activity: 30 minutes a day for five days.
Required resources
Book: Tight Times by Barbara Shook Hazen
A child would love to have a dog for a pet but their parents keep saying no because of “tight times”. On the day that the father loses his job, the child finds a cat and wants to keep it.
Background information for teachers
As you share this book, be aware of how some students may react. Some students in your class may have caregivers that are unemployed. Students may have less access to food. Be prepared for students to comment on others in the class.
| Learning goals | Students will learn about: • Paying attention to how people are acting, to identify how they are feeling. • Making choices that affect our health and wellbeing. |
| Success criteria | Teachers should work with their students to create success criteria appropriate for the class. Possible criteria for this lesson plan include the following: • I use clues from the text to make a picture in my mind. • I use clues from the text and my own ideas to make a guess about what might happen. • I use clues from the text and what I already know to understand how characters are feeling. • I show that I understand how my choices in life can affect my health. |
| Step A: Minds on | Day 1 Before Reading: Ask students to identify a partner for this activity. Looking at the cover, ask students to discuss with their partner about what they notice. Give the students time to discuss, then ask the following questions: • What do you notice about the character? • How do you think that they are feeling? Why? • What do you think the title means? After some discussion, explain to the students that “tight times” means not having enough money to buy things that you want and things that you might need, such as fresh fruit, new clothes, money for swimming lessons, etc. Do a picture walk of the book without reading the text. |
| Step B: Working on it | Day 2 Reading the book. First introduce vocabulary words of trade, funny, fixed, radiator, saucer. These are tier 2 words. Provide the students with pictures to support their knowledge of the word as well as a synonym. Trade—give and take, funny—strange, fixed—made, radiator—heater, saucer—dish. As you read the book, ask the students to give a quiet thumbs up when they hear one of the vocabulary words. Day 3 Ask, “What were the important events in the story?” Reread the book, drawing attention to the different vocabulary. Ask the students to repeat aloud with you the 5 vocabulary focus words from Day 2. Day 4 Reread the story. Have students put up their thumbs when they hear one of the focus vocabulary words. Focus on the page where the family is making the “sandwich hug”. Ask students to think about what each character is feeling and why. A suggestion is to project the picture to make it bigger. Ask three students to come up to the front to “step into the book”. Each student will pretend to be that character. Each character will then say what they are thinking and feeling. Another suggestion is that the class can be divided into groups of three and to do the exercise in small groups. |
| Step C: Consolidation | Day 5 Ask the students to brainstorm everything that someone would need to be able to have a cat as a pet. This can be done first with a turn and talk partner. Ideas can then be shared as a whole group. Next, ask students to talk about why having a cat is a good thing. Finally, ask the students if it was a good idea for the family to keep the cat. Why/why not? This can take place through a discussion and/or for later primary students, they can respond through writing. |
| Final thoughts | This lesson plan is meant to be a foundation for what can be done with this book. Teachers are encouraged to makes changes according to the needs of their students. |
| Ideas for extension / Modifications | Be aware of the needs of the students/families in your school and community. • Encourage students to share how they are feeling when they come in the morning. • Encourage students to help in their school community and local community, such as food drives, clothing drives, donating used books, etc. |
Curriculum expectations
Health and physical education and language
Health—D1; Language—B1, B2, C1, C2, C3, D1
Time required for activity: 15–20 minutes.
The Reflections from Brainstorming session on health activity allows students to reflect on how their awareness and understanding about the factors that influence health have changed over time. We recommend this activity to be used at the end of Lesson 1: Health and poverty, or after additional activities have been implemented rather than using it immediately following the Brainstorming session on health activity.
As mentioned in the Brainstorming session on health activity, primary students can respond with pictures and/or words.
Teacher instructions
Hand students back their sticky note from the Brainstorming session on health activity.
Ask students to review their sticky note answer(s) to What things/people that help us to be healthy? from the Brainstorming session on health activity.
Ask students to think about one thing that affects health that they didn’t know or think of before today’s class or since starting the activities in this lesson plan.
Provide students with a new sticky note (ideally on a different coloured paper) and ask them to write/draw their answer on the new sticky note.
Ask students to repost both of their sticky notes (e.g. answers from both activities) on the wall.
Review with the class responses from the Brainstorming session on health activity and compare them with the second set of responses from the Reflections from Brainstorming session on health activity. Discuss the key differences and learnings since the beginning of the class (or a previous class) between both activities.
Identify with the class any new categories (if applicable) that emerge from the responses around what factors influence health.
Lesson 2: The social determinants of health and health equity
Curriculum expectations
Health and physical education and language
Health—A1, D1, D2 D3; Language—B1, C2
Time required for activity: 15–20 minutes.
Note: Both the Shoe activity to introduce equity and Soccer game: Introducing equity activities can be used individually or together to introduce the concept of equity.
You will need two mismatched pairs of shoes of different sizes and types for this activity.
Teacher instructions
Show two shoes of different sizes to the students.
Ask students to imagine themselves wearing this pair of shoes.
Ask students:
- How would you feel wearing this pair of shoes?
- Are they the correct size?
- Do you fit in these shoes?
- What is wrong with these shoes (e.g. size, type, colour)?
Everything was done fairly. You all have two shoes, one for your right foot and one for your left.
Very few students would actually be happy wearing mismatched pairs of shoes that do not fit.
Teacher response: You want the shoes that are best suited for each of your needs individually? Not just any shoe I find.
Students generally agree. Point out that their goal was to treat all students equally.
Explain to students the difference between equity and equality.
- Equality means everyone gets exactly the same treatment (e.g. two shoes without regard to individual differences like larger or smaller feet, whether the shoes are designed for walking, running, or weather).
- Equity means that everyone gets the treatment required to produce the same quality of outcome (e.g. shoes that fit their individual needs).
Optional: Select two people with different sized feet and discuss how one person needs a larger shoe than the other person. Make the analogy to how some people may need different resources or supports than others to have the same opportunity. Conclude by saying that it matters that we all have the right shoe for us based on our needs.
Source: Life: The Ongoing Education. The Difference Between ‘Equity’ and ‘Equality’. (2008). Retrieved from http://laradavid.blogspot.com/2008/07/difference-between-equity-and-equality.html
Curriculum expectations
Health and physical education, language, and arts
Health—A1, D1, D2, D3; Language—A2, B1, C1, C2, C3, D1; Visual Arts—D2
Time required for activity: 20–30 minutes.
Note: Both the Shoe activity to introduce equity and Soccer game: Introducing equity activities can be used individually or together to introduce the concept of equity.
The Soccer game: Introducing equity worksheet and answer sheet are available as a PDF document.
Teacher instructions
Display the Soccer game: Introducing equity images on the white board or circulate a print copy of it.
This lesson is about equity vs equality (inequity). For primary students, you can use the terms fair and unfair.
Ask students the following:
First image
- What do you see in the first image?
- What do you think of when you see this image?
- How does this image make you feel?
Each child was given a box to stand on to watch the soccer game = treated equally. It is assumed that as a box has been provided to everyone, they all have equal opportunity to watch the soccer game comfortably.
Teacher with student input, records a description in language that the students understand (e.g. unfair).
- Everyone is treated the same. Not everyone can watch the game because some people are tall, and some are short. It isn’t fair.
- Equality means that everyone is treated the same no matter if they succeed or not in watching the soccer game.
Second image
- What do you see in the second image?
- What do you think of when you see this image?
- How did this image make you feel?
Each child was considered uniquely and given supports based on their individual needs to participate in watching the soccer game = treated equitably. They were given different supports (boxes of different heights) based on their unique needs to give them an equal opportunity to watch the soccer game together.
Teacher with student input, records a description in language that the students understand (e.g. fair).
- Everyone can watch the soccer game. If the person is shorter, they can reach over the fence with the box. It is fair now.
- Equity means that everyone gets what they need to succeed.
Third image
- What do you see in the third image?
- What do you think of when you see this image?
- How did this image make you feel?
Each child can see the soccer game without additional supports. The fence was removed, and the boxes are no longer needed. This image illustrates the concept of justice and accessibility.
Teacher with student input, records a description in language that the students understand (e.g. justice).
- Everyone can watch the soccer game because the fence was removed, and the boxes are no longer needed to watch the soccer game together.
- The causes of inequities were addressed, and the systemic barrier has been removed (removal of the fence).
Ask the students:
- Is there a time that you could think of when you needed help to do something, and you did not receive it? What would have helped you?
Display the Soccer game: Introducing equity images with descriptions (answer sheet) at the conclusion of the discussion for their reference. (The aim of equity is to make sure that everyone has access to equal results and benefits.)
Curriculum expectations
Health and physical education, arts, and language
Health—D1, D2, D3; Arts—D1; Language—B1, B2, B3, C1, C2, C3, D1
Time required for activity: 2 classes of 60 minutes.
The student package (including instructions and puzzle pieces) is available as a PDF document.
Teacher instructions
Distribute the student instructions and worksheets to students.
Introduce the activity to students:
- The Puzzle activity is meant to be a creative extension from the previous class discussion or brainstorming activity. Puzzle pieces are used to symbolize how we can all play a role and that our actions impact others. We all have the power to influence society to ensure everyone has a chance to be healthy.
- Goal of the activity is for students to brainstorm actions or simple activities that they can take to make a difference in their community. As we talked about earlier, some people need more supports than others.
Students are asked to draw or decorate their ideas on their empty puzzle pieces as follows:
- First puzzle piece: students will write or illustrate one thing they can do now to make a difference in their community.
- Second puzzle piece: students will write or illustrate one thing they can do next month to make a difference in their community.
- Brainstorming can be done together as a class or in smaller groups to plan on what and how to illustrate their ideas.
After the students complete their puzzle piece, they can present their ideas and drawings to the rest of the class and connect their puzzle piece with those of their classmates. The idea is to connect all the pieces together to display the class’s ideas (e.g. on a wall or bulletin board and take a picture) as one completed puzzle.
Emphasize the idea that connecting the puzzle pieces is meant to symbolize how everyone must work together to build a strong community.
If possible, designate two different areas in the classroom or school for the different puzzle pieces (e.g. what can be done now, next month) for other students and teachers to view. You will need two different areas.
Brainstorming notes for the teacher’s class discussion
First puzzle piece: One thing you can do now to make a difference in our community.
Possible examples:
- Find something at home to donate (e.g. clean out your closets, books, toys).
- Tell your parents and family about what you learned today.
- Ask your parents or guardians if you can volunteer as a family or do something else to help out in your community.
- Help a neighbour.
- Talk to somebody at school who you think is being left out.
Second puzzle piece: One thing you can do next month to make a difference in our community.
Possible examples:
- Find out more about organizations in the community doing great work.
- Get a group together to clean up your local park or field.
- Find an organization where you can volunteer as a family.
- Join a group that helps out in the community, for example, a faith-based group or a youth group.
- If you get an allowance or chore money, try donating it to an organization that you like.
Wrap up the discussion with possible reflection questions
- Of the ideas you came up with, which ones would be easier to do?
- Which ones would work better than others?
Lesson 3: Health equity in action
Curriculum expectations
Health and physical education, language and social studies
Health—D1, D2, D3; Language—B1, B2, B3, C1, C2, C3; Social Studies—A1 (Grade 1)
Time required for activity: 30 minutes a day for five days.
Required resources
Book: Lily and the Paper Man by Rebecca Upjohn
Walking with her mother on the way home from school one day, Lily runs straight into a scary man selling papers on the street. Lily is afraid of the man, but when the weather turns cold, she starts to see the Paper Man differently—she sees his bare toes through the holes in his boots and his thin shirt through the holes in his coat. How does the Paper Man stay warm? Lily comes up with a plan…
Background information for teachers
As you share this book, be aware of how some students may react. Some students in your class may have shoes with holes and jackets that aren’t very warm. Be prepared for students to comment on the clothes of others in the class.
| Learning goals | Students will learn about: • All people are worthy of respect, regardless of their roles, relationships, and responsibilities. • Paying attention to how people are acting, to identify how they are feeling. |
| Success criteria | Teachers should work with their students to create success criteria appropriate for the class. Possible criteria for this lesson plan include the following: • I use clues from the text to make a picture in my mind. • I use clues from the text and my own ideas to make a guess about what might happen. • I use clues from the text and what I already know to understand how characters are feeling. • I show that I understand that all people deserve respect by how I treat others. • I can think of ways to help other people and then I do help them. |
| Step A: Minds on | Day 1 Before Reading: Looking at the cover, ask students what they notice. Then have the students turn and talk with a partner. After the turn and talk ask some of the following questions: • Who do you think Lily is? • Who is the Paper Man? • What is a Paper Man? • What do you notice about the weather and how each are dressed? • How do you think the girl is feeling and why? Do a picture walk through the book paying particular attention to the facial expressions of Lily. |
| Step B: Working on it | Day 2 Read the book. Introduce vocabulary words of mumbles, clutching, whiz, fades. These are tier two words. Provide the students with pictures to support their knowledge of the word as well as tier one words. Mumbles—talk quietly, Clutching—hold tight, Whiz—fast, Fades—go away. As you read the book, be sure to act out other vocabulary words such as growls, raggedy, higgledy-piggledy, thrusts, peeks, wheezy, clings. Ask students to join you with the actions. Day 3 Ask, what were the important events in the story? Reread the book drawing attention to the different vocabulary. Ask the students to chime in with you on the four vocabulary focus words. Also, as you read the story, have the students act out the other highlighted vocabulary words. Draw attention to the page where Lily first meets the Paper Man. • How is Lily feeling? • How do you know? • What do you do when you feel …? Draw attention to when Lily meets the Paper Man the second time. • How is Lily feeling? • How do you know? • Why did Lily shiver? Ask students to turn and talk with their partner about these questions. Introduce the word Empathy. Day 4 Reread the story. Have students put up their thumbs when they hear one of the focus vocabulary words. Continue to act out the other words. Ask the following questions for the students to talk about with a partner: • Why did Lily try to smile when the Paper Man had her favourite quilt? • What does lump in her throat mean? Have you ever felt like that? • What does the author want me to think about? Review what Empathy means. |
| Step C: Consolidation | Day 5 Ask students, what did Lily do to help the Paper Man and why did she do that? Ask students to think about what they can do to help someone that they know. You may need to give a few examples, such as a friend at recess not having someone to play with, helping do chores at home, or helping others in the community that need food or clothing. Have students turn and talk with their talk partner. Students can record—I will show Empathy by …—in their daily writing or on a separate writing paper with the action that they will follow through with along with a picture. Make one yourself and guide students to make a commitment that is achievable. |
| Final thoughts | Empathy is when you try to feel what the other person is feeling. The next step is to help that person if they need help. Revisit the students’ commitments. Have they followed through? Why/why not? Encourage students to think about how they can help others every day. |
| Ideas for extension / Modifications | Be aware of the needs of the students/families in your school and community. • Encourage students to share how they are feeling when they come to class in the morning. • Encourage students to help in their school community and local community, such as food drives, clothing drives, etc. • As a class write a letter to the principal or the student council president about something that the class/school could do |