Action Schools! BC Resources

This learning experience enables students to examine and evaluate their food choices and food-related behaviour; make decisions about their food choices and justify those choices; challenge opinions and positions and take action.

The Healthy Eating Overview is designed to provide teachers with the background information required to support the delivery of Action Schools! BC instructional examples, activities and extension activities.

Being aware of the presence and amount of sodium contained in various foods is a critical step to making informed food choices. Students will continue to gain an understanding of which foods to limit in terms of sodium content, and set personal sodium-reduction goals.

Students will analyze some of the foods they regularly eat and determine whether they have a little or a lot of sodium.

This instructional example is designed to engage students to learn about yoga as a means to increase knowledge about movements, with the overall goal of building healthy muscles and a healthy self, which helps enhance their mental well-being.

Students will develop a greater understanding of the drinks they choose, and will create individual goals to improve their choices.

Students will learn to recognize that by eating a variety of coloured vegetables and fruit, they will receive a variety of nutrients that their bodies need to grow, learn, and play.

Elastic jump rope is a game enjoyed around the world also known as Chinese jump rope, elastics or skip tape. It is a great activity for building strength, endurance, and strong bones. Can be done indoors or outdoors.

This extension activity is used in the Know Your Nutrients Activity.

This instructional example is designed to encourage students to learn more about vegetables and fruits through a Show and Tell: Sharing and Tasting classroom event prepared by their parents.

Students will visit a farm to learn about how vegetables and fruit are grown locally.

A fun stations activity utilizing Hopscotch, Skipping, Bounce at the Bell jumps and more!

Students will learn about making healthier choices when eating fast food and how healthy eating fuels the body so they can grow, learn, and be active. The lesson will focus on strategies to decrease high sodium choices.

This placemat depicts Fruit and Vegetable serving sizes for Canada's Food Guide. This placemat is in French.

By looking at a variety of drinks as “runners in a race”, students will begin to develop an understanding of which drinks provide their bodies with the best fuel to help them grow, go, and win the race. The drinks that are the slow runners should be limited or avoided.

This activity provides a dynamic 10 stretch sequence that can be done anywhere.

Skipping rope builds strong bones, develops muscle endurance, promotes healthy hearts, and increases coordination.

Vegetables and fruit can be categorized into five colour groups – Green,Yellow/Orange, Blue/Purple, Red, and White/Brown – each providing different health benefits.

This activity will engage students in thinking about sugary drinks, enabling them to make more informed decisions about the drinks they consume.

Stretching keeps the body relaxed and flexible, reduces injury, and increases range of motion.

This instructional example is designed to engage Grade 1 students in learning the connection between healthy eating and physical activity.

This activity will increase awareness of vegetables and fruit grown in British Columbia as well as the benefits of eating locally grown in terms of the economy, the environment, and freshness.

Short movement breaks energize and activate the body and develop the brain. Actions accompanied by music help to develop coordination, rhythm, sequencing and listening skills.

Skipping rope builds strong bones, develops muscle endurance, promotes healthy hearts, and increases coordination.

Yoga is a system of total body movements that incorporate stretching and poses with breath, relaxation and imagery. Yoga develops body awareness and improves flexibility, strength, balance and mental focus. Participating in yoga often has a calming effect.

This activity will enhance awareness of the ways in which marketing can affect food choices. Students will produce creative ads to encourage their peers and families to eat at least six Food Guide Servings of vegetables and fruit each day.

A fun way to complete a variety of actions on 100's day!

Games involving sticks and targets, as well as hoops and poles, were popular with First Peoples groups from the northern boreal region of Canada. These traditional games can be easily modified for implementation at school.

Tai chi is an ancient martial art, now practised worldwide for its health benefits. Many people practise the art of tai chi as a way of developing good posture and promoting skeletal and muscular health, as well as focusing and calming the mind.

Healthy eating includes eating foods from each of the four food groups every day. A good place to start is learning what the four food groups are and what foods fit into each group, this instructional example will help achieve this.

Students explore the concept of a balanced life and the important role that physical activity plays in leading a balanced life. Linked with the Tai Chi activity for Grade 5.

Display in your classroom to highlight a variety of colourful fruit and vegetables!

Yoga is a system of total body movements that incorporate stretching and poses with breath, relaxation and imagery. Yoga develops body awareness and improves flexibility, strength, balance and mental focus. Participating in yoga often has a calming effect.

This placemat depicts Fruit and Vegetable serving sizes for Canada's Food Guide.

In this resource, the lessons and activities are designed to teach students about the development of positive body image and self-esteem, along with messages that serve to help prevent disordered eating.

When we take a brain break, it refreshes our thinking and helps us discover another solution to a problem or see a situation through a different lens.

Food preferences can be affected when they are associated with rewards or praise. Using unhealthy food as a reward sends mixed messages to students. Encourage positive behaviours with these alternatives to food rewards.

This chart is used in the Tasting Parties Extension Activity.

This activity focuses on building strong bones through jumping. A simple, quick activity that can be done anywhere and easily integrated into the school day.

This extension activity is used in the What is a Vegetable or Fruit? and the 5 a Day the Colour Way activities.

Students will report how much caffeine is in drinks, and consider the effects of caffeine on their body.

Use bean bags, scarves and paper balls to provide a safe yet powerful brain builder. These activities develop agility, hand-eye coordination, and the ability of the eyes to track and focus.

Perform active routines to music and get a workout in and around a chair while developing fundamental movements! Chair aerobics is fun and great for student leaders.

The benefits of being physically active are numerous.

Students will begin to track the drink choices they make, thus increasing awareness of their own beverage consumption.

Elastic jump rope is a great activity for building strength, endurance, and strong bones. Can be done indoors or outdoors.

This activity introduces students to vegetables and fruit. They will become familiar with different vegetables and fruit through exposure and creativity.

Playground and tag games are highly active, easy to modify and students can initiate them on their own after learning some basics. Playground and tag games help build fundamental movement skills and social skills such as cooperation, conflict resolution, and fair play.

Students will identify and critically analyse the nutrition information commonly displayed on labels for energy drinks and pop, along with the marketing techniques used by companies to sell these products.

In this hands-on supermarket tour, students will learn about the wide variety of vegetables and fruit available to consumers, the different forms they can take and where to find them in the grocery store.

Tai chi is an ancient martial art, now practised worldwide for its health benefits. Many people practise the art of tai chi as a way of developing good posture and promoting skeletal and muscular health, as well as focusing and calming the mind.

Muscle strength, endurance and flexibility enhance functional ability and support life-long active living. Additionally, stretching increases range of motion, contributes to muscle development, and can help prevent injuries.

Play First Lunch is a change in the traditional scheduling order of lunchtime and playtime – students go out to play first and then eat lunch.

This activity provides students with hands-on experience measuring real vegetables and fruit.

This instructional example is designed to engage Grade 3 students to explore their "still-moment" behaviours (e.g., moving less and sitting more in one setting).

This booklist highlights a set of resources available to K-7 educators in both English and French.

This strategy is designed to provide students with the ability to critically analyze messages so they can make informed decisions.

Perform active routines to music and get a workout in and around a chair while developing fundamental movements!

Hand gripping exercises are a simple and effective way to improve grip strength, reduce playground injuries and build strength for activities using objects such as bats, racquets, or sticks.

Dance contributes to the development of body awareness, coordination, creative expression, and cooperation and extensive fundamental movements. Vigorous dances provide hearts, muscles, and bones a workout too.

Short movement breaks energize and activate the body and develop the brain. Actions accompanied by music help to develop coordination, rhythm, sequencing and listening skills.

This instructional example is designed to engage kindergarten students to be physically active through music, which will incorporate mathematical concepts (e.g., counting numbers of movement/step).

This instructional strategy promotes daily physical activity by providing students with an opportunity to practice goal-setting by setting and working towards a personal physical activity level goal through the Action Schools! BC Sneaker Club.

These worksheets are needed for the Goal Setting Instructional Activity.

Students will enjoy following the festive pumpkin from seed to table.

This instructional example is designed for teachers to engage Grade 2 students to learn more about how the heart works and ways to keep their hearts healthy.

These activities promote the development of hand-eye co-ordination, and the ability of the eyes to track and focus. Throwing and catching from left hand to right hand, and left hand to right hand, also enhances cross-lateral brain activity.

This poster supports the Head-to-Toe Stretch learning activities.

Stretching keeps the body relaxed and flexible, reduces injury, and increases range of motion.

This instructional example is designed to invite Grade 5 students to use the SMART goal-setting framework, applied to juggling, to practice setting and achieving physical activity goals, which aims to help increase students' mental well-being.

Dance contributes to the development of body awareness, coordination, creative expression, and cooperation and extensive fundamental movements. Vigorous dances provide hearts, muscles, and bones a workout too.

This lessons uses Biodot Skin Thermometers^TM or smartphone apps (e.g., Stress Check) as a hook to engage students in self-awareness and self-monitoring relaxation/stress levels.

Students will visit a local pumpkin patch to see pumpkins growing in the field.

BrainDance reinforces fundamental developmental movement patterns and the related neural connections. Performing movements regularly improves efficiency of movement, clarity of thinking, and rejuvenates energy.

Increasing students’ exposure to a variety of vegetables and fruit is essential in enhancing their preference for vegetables and fruit. Tasting parties and activities provide students with the opportunity to prepare and taste a variety of vegetables and fruit.

Students will use a journal to track the food or drink marketing they see for one day from a variety of sources.

Revamp school fundraising activities to support healthy living messages and provide more opportunities for more children to make healthy choices more often.

Celebrations give schools the chance to reinforce classroom food and nutrition lessons. With a few easy changes, most food and drinks can support the health and learning of students and expose them to a variety of new types of food and flavours.

Students will learn to determine and report how much sugar is in various drinks using nutrition labels on food packages.

Students will develop their understanding of which drinks provide their bodies with the best fuel.

This poster supports the Bounce at the Bell Learning Activities.

This activity reinforces Canada’s Food Guide tips for choosing foods from the Vegetables and Fruit food group, and helps students to understand the importance of eating a variety of vegetables and fruit to help them get all the nutrients they need.

Playground and tag games are highly active, easy to modify and students can initiate them on their own after learning some basics. Playground and tag games help build fundamental movement skills and social skills such as cooperation, conflict resolution, and fair play.

Every school can have a Playground Circuit, unique to its playground. Circuits have students running, skipping, hopping, jumping, weaving, and sidestepping around the playground area as well as over, under, around, through, on and off the adventure playground structure.

This instructional example engages students in identifying and creating healthy food choices for snacking in a variety of settings.

This instructional example is designed to teach Grade 4 students about an interactive screening tool which will help them learn effective ways to reduce sodium (salt) intake and set personal sodium-reduction goals for a healthy heart.

Stretching increases joint range of motion and blood flow to the brain, contributes to muscle development, and decreases risk of injury. Stretching provides an opportunity to practise breathing and relaxing that can decrease stress and enhance body and self- awareness.

This activity will examine vegetables and fruit from different cultures and will encourage students to explore family food traditions.

Every school can have a Playground Circuit, unique to its playground. Circuits have students running, skipping, hopping, jumping, weaving, and sidestepping around the playground area as well as over, under, around, through, on and off the adventure playground structure.

This instructional example works with the Dance Activity to help support educators promote healthy hearts.

Students will work together to create a classroom display showing the sodium content of a variety of common foods, and will develop an understanding of the lower sodium food alternatives to choose from.

This poster supports the Brain Dance Learning Activity.

This is a customizable version of the Letter to Parents used in the Food Customs Instructional Example.

Many children and adults consume unhealthy levels of sodium on a regular basis (sodium is found in salt). Awareness of excessive sodium in some of the foods we eat is an important step in enabling students to make informed and healthier decisions around what they eat.

Flow through the steps slowly with emphasis on precise movement, proper alignment, calm breathing in and out, keeping head up and eyes focused and soft.

We eat different plant parts, including roots, stems, seeds, and leaves. What we commonly call a vegetable may actually be the fruit of a plant!

Every school can have a Playground Games Stations. Little equipment is required.

This instructional example is designed to engage Grade 5 students to learn more about BC grown vegetables and fruits, and to discover how to develop a healthy mind through healthy eating.

Drinks are a common snack choice. Learn how to understand nutrition labels to figure out the amount of sugar contained in various drinks.

Students will learn that the number and size of servings they drink affects the amount of sugar they consume.