Planet Health Book (Copyright 2001, 552 pages)

Planet Health: An Interdisciplinary Curriculum for Teaching Middle School Nutrition and Physical Activity helps teachers tackle a growing problem among adolescents: Not enough physical activity, too much TV, and poor eating habits. The innovative curriculum was developed by the Harvard School of Public Health and implemented in field trials by teachers and kids. Four simple health themes were integrated into physical education, language arts, math, science, and social studies classes in keeping with Massachusetts curriculum standards. The results were exciting: Planet Health was instrumental in reducing obesity and television viewing time and increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables. The authors - including nationally recognized experts in children's nutrition and physical activity- designed these fully integrated, interdisciplinary materials to fit easily into any existing curriculum, no matter how packed your day is. The academic lessons encourage active, inquiry-based learning, emphasize literacy across the curriculum, and address national learning standards. The physical education lessons are designed to convey the Planet Health message without detracting from important physical activity time. Teachers in every subject will give this fun, flexible, and comprehensive curriculum an enthusiastic thumbs-up. It includes: 63 ready-to-use lesson plans, including 30 five-minute microunits, 4 at-a-glance charts that list lessons by subject and theme, Power Down, a two-week campaign to reduce television viewing time, which you can launch in the classroom or school-wide, FitCheck, a self-assessment tool to help students track and improve their activity levels, and plenty of reproducible worksheets. In today's world of computer games and potato chips, kids need special knowledge, skills, and guidance to make healthy choices. With Planet Health, teachers now have a proven method to inform adolescents and inspire them to develop strong health and wellness habits that last a lifetime. About the Author Jill Carter, MA, MEd, is a project director for the Harvard Prevention Research Center on Nutrition and Physical Activity. From 1996 to 1997 she was the curriculum development coordinator for the School-Based Wellness Initiative in the department of health and social behavior at the Harvard School of Public Health. Carter's years of experience as a high school and middle school science teacher provided her with the experience to design a curriculum that enc