Physical & Health Education Lesson Plan

Title of Lesson Physical Changes During Puberty 2 Grade Level 4

Lesson
Subject Physical and Health Education 75 minutes
Duration/timing

Understand: Big
Idea(s)/Essential Question(s)
Know & Do: Content &
Curricular Competencies
Learning intention/Lesson
Objective
Key Question Set
Assessment
Adaptations/Modifications
 Understanding ourselves and the various aspects of health helps us develop a balanced lifestyle
 Content:
o Physical, emotional, and social changes that occur during puberty, including those
involving sexuality and sexual identity
 Physical changes: how students’ physical bodies might change over the course of
puberty
 Curricular Competencies:
o Explore and describe strategies for managing physical, emotional, and social changes during
puberty
o Describe factors that positively influence mental well-being and self-identity
 I can recognize and describe physical changes that occur during puberty
 I can use dictionary words when describing physical body parts
 I can identify ways to take care of my changing body parts
 How do different body parts change over the course of puberty?
 What are some ways you can take care of your changing body parts during puberty?
 Assessment FOR learning: KWL graphic organizer, observations, anecdotal records, class dialogue
 Assessment AS learning: temperature check, question box submission
 Multimodal presentation: Physical puberty hygiene kit or Google slides presentation of images of
hygiene kit, Amaze video
 Learners are able to represent learning in a variety of ways: oral, physical (voting with fingers), writing
 Question box offers learners an opportunity to extend their curiosities in an anonymous and safe way
 Physical & Health Education Lesson Plan
Materials  Projector & screen
 Whiteboard & markers
 Puberty Hygiene kit
 Google Slides Presentation
 Question Box
 Index cards
 Pencils
 KWL graphic organizer
 Sticky notes (if creating/adding to wonder wall)

Activity Outline
Estimated
Elements of the lesson Teacher & students
Time
Pre-lesson 5 minutes Breathing Exercise
Engage students in guided breathing exercise, such as:
 Belly breathing: breathing in through the nose and down into the belly, inflating and
deflating the belly like a balloon.
 Box breathing: breathe in for a count of four, hold for a count of four, breathe out for
a count of four, hold for a count of four, repeat.

Community Agreement
Engage students in review of previously co-created “Community Agreement” which is to
create an environment of trust, safety and comfort. The agreement will be written on the
board and then documented by the teacher for future use/reference, as the agreement will be
revisited at the start of each lesson.

Student ideas for Community agreement might include:

 Respect each other
 It’s okay to pass
 Questions are welcome
 Physical & Health Education Lesson Plan
 Use correct terms for body parts
 Listen when others are speaking
 Classroom discussions are confidential
 It’s okay to have fun

Another framework for Community Agreement could be GROUND rules:

 G: Giggling is okay but laughing at others is not
 R: Respect for myself and others is important
 O: Option to pass on answering questions is available to all
 U: Use dictionary words when describing the body
 N: No question is a silly question!
 D: Do use, "Someone I know…" instead of the person's name

Temperature Check Temperature check (self-assessment):

 Students can engage in a self-assessment of how they are feeling talking about
2 minutes puberty. They can hold their fist to their chest and use their fingers (1-5) to represent
how they are feeling: 1 = nervous/not excited, 5 = curious/very excited. Emotional
descriptors can be changed depending on class.

APK (Activate Prior APK

Knowledge)  Create a class KWL (Know, Wonder, Learned) on the board. Brainstorm ideas of what
10 minutes
they know about taking care of body parts during puberty, and what they wonder.
Students can record ideas on their own KWL graphic organizer.
Hook Amaze Video: Taking Care of Your Body During Puberty
5 minutes  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00BYyDr8Xdg
 Video reviews terms: Body odor, sweat glands, oil glands, hormones, genitals, acne

Introduction of Concepts 30 minutes Puberty Hygiene Kit

 Introduce puberty hygiene kit to students. This can either be a physical hygiene kit you
assemble and bring to class, or a Google Slides/Powerpoint presentation which is has
pictures of hygiene kit items.
 Students can begin by guessing what items might be in the hygiene kit. Then you can
introduce the hygiene items one by one. Engage students in open conversation about
Physical & Health Education Lesson Plan
their function, what body parts they are used for, and any questions they have. Items
can include, but not limited to:
o Deodorant: Bodies with vulvas and bodies with penises
o Pad/tampon/menstrual cup/menstrual underwear: bodies with vulvas
 Offer students explanation of how each product works, and remind
them that they have options if/when they start menstruating
o Athletic support cup: Bodies with penises
o Bra: Bodies with vulvas
o Razor: Bodies with vulvas and bodies with penises
 Remind students that shaving is an optional activity, and that they
have the choice whether to shave, and which body parts to shave, or
not
o Face wash: Bodies with vulvas and bodies with penises
o Shampoo/soap: Bodies with vulvas and bodies with penises
o Toothbrush/paste: Bodies with vulvas and bodies with penises

Daily Hygiene Activities

 Engage students in brainstorming session about what hygiene activities they can
choose to participate in everyday to take care of their bodies. Ideas were presented in
the Amaze video, which include:
o Shower regularly with shampoo and soap
o Wear deodorant if you want to reduce underarm smell
o Wear clean clothes, socks and underwear
o Wash your face
 Remind students that they may or may not experience acne
throughout puberty, and if they do, it’s their choice if they want to
treat it with acne cream or not
o Brush teeth at least 2x a day
o Shave
 Remind students that shaving is an optional activity, and that they
 Physical & Health Education Lesson Plan
have the choice whether to shave, and which body parts to shave, or
not
o Get enough sleep every night
o Find fun ways to get physical activity
o Drink plenty of water throughout the day
o Choose healthy, nourishing foods

Complete “L” section of KWL

 Collect ideas generated during discussions to add to class L section of KWL

Activation of Concepts Introduce A Day in the Life of a Pre-Teen project

 Students will create a fictional preteen character and provide a description of their
identity (sex assigned at birth and gender identity), a brief diary/timeline of their daily
activities and a visual representation of their character. This project can include 3
parts of their character’s hygiene routine, 3 activities they engage in throughout the
day (social, familial, academic or extra-curricular), and 3 different feelings they
10 minutes experience during the day. Students will demonstrate that they can identify some of
the emotional, physical and social changes that occur during puberty. This project
could be represented through writing and drawing about their character, creating a
comic strip, creating a PowerPoint presentation, creating a video, through oral
storytelling, through skits, or other ideas they might have. Students will be given time
to work on their project in class. Teacher and students can engage in co-creation of
expectations, deadlines and rubric.

Closing Activity 15 minutes Review Question Box questions from previous lesson
Review questions anonymously from the previous lesson’s question box. Questions can be
rewritten on a piece of paper to ensure anonymity. Offer clear, honest responses to a handful
of questions (not every question needs to be answered). This process of question and answer
normalizes the question asking process.

Review question box activity

 Physical & Health Education Lesson Plan
 Review that it is very normal for people to have a lot of questions when talking about
puberty.
 The question box is your opportunity to ask any questions you have about puberty,
feelings, sex or sexuality
 Each student receives an identical card, will write a question on it, but will not write
their name (this is so it remains anonymous)
 Each student will then fold it and put it in the box
 Teacher will read each of the questions after school
 During the next lesson, teacher will read some questions and offer answers/engage
students in dialogue
 If students are struggling to develop a question, they can complete the following
sentence: "Learning about puberty makes me feel ____”

Guidelines for Question Box

 The Question Box will only be opened by the teacher.
 If you don't know how to spell a word, then sound it out or guess.
 Do not put your names on your slips of paper.
 Feel free to change your handwriting if you are concerned that the teacher will
recognize it.
 Do not use people's names in questions.

Teacher Reflections: what

went well, what didn’t, and
how might I improve the
lesson
Physical & Health Education Lesson Plan