Author Archives: lmhefte

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Advocacy Through Art Article!

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Screen Shot 2015-10-30 at 11.47.02 AMHey 7th Grade Parents and Students!

Just wanted to share with you an article Amy Smith, one of the other Health teachers here at SAS, wrote for Scholastic online magazine about our cross curricular Advocacy Through Art project we recently completed.
Check it out!  It’s pretty awesome our students hard work is being shared and showcased all around the world:) Ask your child about their Advocacy topic and have them show you their Public Service Announcement (PSA). Great work 7th Graders!
 You’re awesome!!   Click the link below and enjoy!
Have a great weekend and Happy Halloween!!!!
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Sleepy Time!

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We all know that sleep is important, but how important is it and how much do we actually need?  What are the distractions that keep us from getting the rest we need at night?

Recent studies have shown that 1/3 of teens are sleep deprived getting around 7 hours a sleep a night when you actually need 9 hours of sleep a night to function at your highest potential during the day!!!  You may say to yourself, “Oh I’m definitely one of the 2/3 of teens who are getting enough sleep” but  how many of you can say you consistently get 9 hours of sleep on a normal night???   Hmmm…  That’s what I thought!

And we all know one of the major culprits of teens not getting enough sleep at night.  What do you think it might be??  Yep, you’re right, technology.  Check out the articles, “Really? Using a Computer Before Bed Can Disrupt Sleep” and Screen Time Before Bedtime you’ll learn more about how using tech before bed can lead to you getting less zzzzz’s.

A recent article in the Atlantic entitled, Sleep Deprivation Makes Us look Sad and Unattractive, talks about why sleep is called beauty sleep!  When you get sleep you not only feel better and more energetic, but you look more attractive!  

And kids, did you know that getting enough sleep at night can help you maintain a healthy weight?  The New York Times article Lost Sleep can Add to Weight Gain gives you more insight on just how sleep can help your body.

Once you’ve read all the articles and taken notes, chose one of the benefits of sleep that you find most interesting or maybe it’s something you want to make sure you remember and create a sleep advocacy poster.  You may have to do a little more research on this specific sleep benefit to ensure your poster is filled with accurate, up to date information.

Here’s the rubric so you know exactly what to include:

Sleep Rubric F2014

Other Resources used in Health Class that could be helpful to your research:

Brain Pop: Tim and Moby talk about sleep.

Articles:

Building Better Athletes with Sleep

“Really? Using a Computer Before Bed Can Disrupt Sleep”

Screen Time Before Bedtime

Sleep Deprivation Makes Us look Sad and Unattractive

Lost Sleep can Add to Weight Gain

Sleep for Success

TED Talks:

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Great Articles to Find information About Technology and its Affects on Teens

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Interesting article just came out a couple weeks ago from CNN about kids and teens and altering the outdated screen time recommendations.  Check out the link to read the article and watch some informative videos.

Pediatricians to “tweek” Outdated Screen Time Recommendations for Kids

Another great site to get current and valid information about technology and its affects on teens is from TeenBeing website.

A new documentary coming out called, “Being 13” is making big news in the States.  Check out this article called “Why Some Thirteen Year Olds Check their phone 100 Times a Day” where you will find great facts about social media and how it affects every day teens. #beingthirteen

Another study happening in New York called “Being 12: The Year Everything Changes”.  It’s full of pictures, images, and some videos about this crucial year in children’s lives.

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Infographic Project!

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Infographics are used quite a bit in reporting health news, as they’re a visually appealing way to get facts and statistics out to the community.

Here are some samples…

Infographic: Meditation in Schools Across America

Infographic: 15 Scientifically Proven Ways to be Happier

Today you’re going to create your own and demonstrate advocacy by taking your posters to a whole new level.

Project- Tech Balance Infographics

Standard 2- Analyzing the influence of technology on personal & family health.

Your task: pick one of the topics that we’ve been discussing during our technology balance unit, gather some research, and create an infographic to get your point across.

Here are some possible topics…

-Digital footprint

-Tech balance/ face-to-face communication

-impact of social media

-Digital Citizenship

-Time management/tech distractions

-The benefits of video games

-Mindfulness in a connected world

Pick a topic that interests you or another one of your choice, do some great research, and find at least four facts or statistics to include in your infographic to back up your topic.

Then use one of these easy to follow infographic programs and get started…

Easel.ly

Piktochart

Canva

Happy creating!

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8th Grade Family Values!

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Hey guys.  When finishing up your family values project, remember to include the following:

  1. List your family’s top 5 character strengths
  2. Write a paragraph on the origin of your family’s values (where did these values stem from?)
  3. Write a paragraph giving some examples of how your family uses their top values on a regular basis
  4. Write a paragraph on the connections between your family values and your own character strengths.  Or if you don’t see connections, explain why you think this is so.

Can’t wait to learn more about your family and the values to strive to live by every day!

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7th Graders: Advocacy Through Art PSAs-Make Em’ Believe!!!!

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PSA Research:

Reflect on the three PSA’s we just watched. Then answer the following questions with your partner in your journal.

  1. What made this PSA effective?
  2. What was the focus?
  3. What was the approach (humor, scare-tactics, thoughtful, inspiring?)
  4. Who was the intended audience?

Now focus on your advocacy cause. Answer the following questions.

  1. What are some of your fierce wonderings about your issue (list at least 5)?
  2. What will be the focus of your PSA (include facts and figures)?
  3. What will be your approach?
  4. Who is your intended audience?

Now get started! Create an outline of your PSA script and then share it with me before you get started!

Here are the PSA’s if you need to watch them again:

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aN7lt0CYwHg

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You Are About to Enter…THE BLUE ZONES!!!!!!

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Part 1: First go to the Blue Zone Slide Show to see what Blue Zones are all about!!!!!

Hey all you 6th graders! So you just learned about the Wellness Wheel and the four main areas of our health: Physical, Social, Emotional and Mental. You also learned that you are at your best when these four areas are at healthy balance. But sometimes knowing actually HOW to maintain balance in these four areas can be tricky!

This is where you come in. We need your help. I know you just saw the slideshows and pictures of people living in BLUE ZONES. It’s crazy! People can’t stop talking about these places and we heard people who live in Blue Zones are special for some reason but we have yet to find out why. For some reason, I think the information we learn about blue zones could help us in some way. So let’s find out more about these BLUE ZONES!!!!

Begin your travels to the Blue Zones by clicking this link: Blue Zones Project-Word

You can go to any website, watch any video on Blue Zones, but make sure you copy and paste the URL’s of all the websites you use in on your note taking sheet.

Enjoy the ride!

Next Steps:

PART 2: Setting your Goals

  1. Find someone who has the opposite character strengths as you to team up with (this way you can learn from each other!)
  2. Write four SMART goals, one for each side of your Wellness Wheel – physical, mental, emotional and social. Make sure your goal is action-based, not circumstance-based. If you’re having a hard time finding goals, remember what we learned from the Blue Zones, and set some based on the strengths you’d like to improve.
  3. Type them on the bottom of your Blue Zones research questions.
  4. Check your goals with your partner to make sure they’re SMART ones.
  5. Check your goals with me for final approval and any tweaking.
  6. Print!!

Part 3: The Podcast Interview

1. Write a script with your partner. You need to make sure you include all four of your goals, as well as which side of the Wellness Wheel they’re covering. Don’t forget to make your podcast entertaining and to let your individual strengths shine through!

2. Record your podcast. Using whichever voice recording program you feel most comfortable with, record your interview. It shouldn’t be more than five minutes long in total.

Here are some programs you could possibly use!

  • Podomatic (free download by clicking on this link)
  • Voice Candy (free download by clicking on this link)
  • Quicktime Player (on your computer)
  • Garageband (on computer)

3. Export to a sound file and put it in my inbox on the server.

Good luck and have fun!!

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Flood Day Lessons: 6th, 7th and 8th

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6th Grade
Hey 6th graders,
I hope you were able to use our floody day of to your advantage and get a few extra hours of sleep:)
For today’s lesson, you need to take the character strengths survey from Via Strengths. It will take about 20 minutes or so.
Click here to take the quiz.
Once you’ve gotten to the page, you’ll need to register an account or is you have taken this survey before, try to remember your login to take the survey again. Sometimes our strengths shift!
You are going to take the Strengths Survey for Youth.
If you don’t have an account and are setting up a new one, you might have trouble getting started. You don’t need to fill in the demographics section, just click “I’m taking this quiz for myself”. If it’s still giving you trouble, you might need to put in a different birth year so it looks like you are over 13.
After you get the results, please download them and save them onto your computer, as we’ll be discussing them next class.
Then, write the following journal reflection…
Reflect on your top VIA strengths. Do you think they are an accurate representation of who you are? Are there any you disagree with? Can you think of specific times you have demonstrated your top strengths?
Just do your journal on your laptop or a separate sheet of paper and bring it in to stick in your classroom journal.
7th GRADE
Hey 7th graders!
Sorry about the floody day schedule! Hopefully you were able to use it to your advantage and get a few extra hours of sleep
For today’s lesson, we’ll be learning more about goal setting and advocacy. You’re going to be reading about Jilly Dos Santos, a high school student who was able to bring about a big change at her school by using the right tools for advocacy- and goal setting!
Click the link below to read the article about her.
Then write the following journal reflection…
What was Jilly’s goal? How was it a SMART (specific, measurable, adjustable, realistic, and timely) one? What can we learn from her example?
Just do your reflection on your laptop or on a separate sheet of paper and bring it in so you can stick it in your classroom journal at school.
Let me know if you have any questions!  leah.hefte@saschina.org
8th GRADE
Hey 8th graders!
When you’re hanging out at home today, please take some time to work on your Character Strength Project.  Remember this is the project where you are looking at one of your top three character strengths and really thinking about how you embody this character strength, how you use this strength on a regular basis and the importance of the strength in your life.
If you are having a hard time thinking about how you embody this character strength, ask your family!!!  I’m sure they can think of multiple ways describing how you embody this strength.  They know you best!
Here are the requirements of your project:
  • You can use any medium to display your top strength.  Ex: video, animation, podcast, poster with picture, pictures, etc.  GET INNOVATIVE!
  • Somehow, someway in your project you need to state
    • how you embody this character strength
    • how you use this strength on a regular basis
    • the importance of the strength in your life.
We will have one more class day (Thursday, August 26) to work on this project and then the presentations will be the following class on Monday, August 30.
If you have any questions, please send me an email:  leah.hefte@saschina.org
Have a great floody day off!!
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Seniors! Tips and Tools for Senior Year and Ever After…

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Hey seniors!!!!

You have heard senior year can be stressful… but it doesn’t have to be! Learn strategies and coping skills you can use during the college application season and throughout your college years as well.

Here’s what today’s going to look like:

1. STRESSORS!  

2.  Stress Prevention…Ahhh

  • What do you do to deal?

3. Meditative practice

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4. Positive Communication and Skits

  • Remember…reaching out to others is a great way to lessen and prevent stress
  • Interactive Skits

5. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES!!!!

Have a fabulous SENIOR YEAR!