6th Grade Health Topical Areas
6th Grade Health Topical Areas
Area #1: Understanding Your Health and Wellness
Understanding health and wellness
Relationship between healthy behavior and personal health
Importance of physical, social, and emotional health
Ways to care for your physical, social, and emotional health
Peer impact on decision-making in positive and negative ways
Area #2: Developing Good Personal Hygiene
Proper body care
Importance of good, healthy hygiene
Relationship between healthcare and personal health
Relationship between healthy behaviors and personal health
Area #3: Being Mentally and Emotionally Healthy
Stress management strategies
How personal attributes and resiliency promote mental health
Ways to care for your emotional and mental health
Professionals who can support emotional and mental health
Making sense of your own emotions
Area #4: Nutrition
Influence of culture, health status, age, and access to healthy foods on healthy eating habits
Skills and healthy behaviors to support adolescents in losing, gaining or maintaining healthy weights
Assessment of one’s own nutritional health
Ways to improve health and performance
Foods impact on overall health
Area #5: Physical Fitness
Short and long-term impacts of regular physical activity
Recognize that individuals have varying levels of physical abilities and ways to include all in physical activities
Primary principles of training (FITT)
Technology to support physical fitness
Individual fitness plan
Predicting how factors such as health status, body composition, interests, habits, healthy eating, anabolic steroids, and lifestyle impact fitness and health.
Area #6: Alcohol, Drugs, and Tobacco
Negative effects of alcohol, drugs, and tobacco on the body
Rules, laws and policies regarding the use of alcohol, drugs and tobacco
The impact of peers and social setting on positive and negative outcomes of alcohol, drug, and tobacco use
7th Grade Health Topical Areas
Area 1: Personal and Mental Health (Part 1)
4 aspects of health and the impact on wellness
Appropriate health care and connection to overall health
Preventative health care’s impact on health
The impact of genetics, family history, personal health practices, and environment on personal health
Difference between health and wellness
Area 2: Personal and Mental Health (Part 2)
Making sense of thoughts and feelings
Emotional intelligence
Stress management and resiliency
Mental and emotional health
Identity, values and beliefs
Stress management strategies
Self-image versus self-esteem
Area 3: Social and Sexual Health
Healthy relationships with family, friends, and dating partners
Good communication skills for healthy relationships both verbally/nonverbally and in-person/digitally
Conflict resolution
Coping strategies to deal with crisis, traumatic events and change
Importance of relationships for physical, emotional and social health
Functions of the family
Differences between friendships, romantic, and sexual relationships
Area 4: Personal Growth and Development
Intellectual, emotional and social events in various stages of life
Chemical, physical, and hormonal changes of puberty
Primary and secondary sex characteristics of puberty
Male versus female reproductive systems (anatomy)
Physical changes of males and females during puberty
Importance of caring for reproductive systems (routine health procedures such as breast self examination and testicular examination)
Area 5: Pregnancy and Parenting
Intellectual, emotional, and social development in each stage of life
Prenatal development from fertilization to birth
The signs and symptoms of pregnancy
Prenatal practices for healthy pregnancy
Area 6: Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs
Drug abuse and the impact on life
Effects of drug abuse on society
Mental, social, and emotional consequences of drug use and/or alcohol use
Hazardous health impacts of drinking, smoking or doing drugs
Decision-making regarding drug use and nonuse
Moderate drinking, heavy drinking and binge drinking
Role of alcohol in accidents and violence
The connection between alcohol use and a use disorder
Types of nicotine products
Effects of nicotine on the body
Health risks of vaping
Mental, social, and legal consequences of vaping
Hazardous effects of marijuana on the body
Area 7: Dependency. Substance Disorder, and Treatment
The impact of drug abuse on society and people’s lives
Factors that influence young people’s beliefs about alcohol, tobacco and other drug use
Ways to prevent alcohol, drug, and tobacco use
Treatments for alcohol, drug and tobacco use disorders
Services available to help individuals with alcohol, drug, and tobacco use disorders
Area 8: Health Conditions, Diseases and Medicines
The impact of various types of pollution on the environment
The influence of the environment on health
Federal and State laws the protect the environment
Strategies to conserve energy and natural resources to promote greener living
Air pollution and water pollution
Chemicals that are harmful to the environment
Area 9: Nutrition
Food’s effect on overall health
The impact of personal lifestyle, habits, environment and heredity factors on growth and development
Benefits and risks of nutritional choices
8th Grade Health Topical Areas
Unit 1: Personal Growth and Development
Changes that occur during female and male puberty and adolescence
Gender identity versus gender expression
Mental abilities changes during adolescence
Major categories of adolescent risk behavior
Social and emotional changes during adolescence
Additional responsibilities to prepare for adulthood
Peer pressure and impact on opinions and attitudes
Benefits of sexual abstinence and birth control
Facts about various contraceptive methods
Comparison of various beliefs regarding sexuality, gender identity, sexual orientation, and gender equity
Unit 2: Nutrition
Healthy eating
Health problems and poor eating relationship
Foods, food groups and nutritional values
Planning a balanced diet
Unit 3: Medicines and Drugs
Risks and consequences involved with drugs, their use and abuse
Applying knowledge and skills to making healthy decision regarding drug use
Signs and stages of addiction
How one becomes addicted to drugs
Drugs’ effect on the body and brain
Factors that influence drugs’ effects
Effects of using illegal drugs
Ways to deal with pressures surrounding illegal drug use
Impact of addiction on the family, self and society
Unit 4: Emotional Health
The effects of stress on the body
Ways to handle stress
Stress management plans
Stages of grief
Healthy ways to grieve
Stress and stressors
Warning signs of stress
Myths and perceptions surrounding death and dying
Healthcare support of people experiencing grief
Unit 5: Social and Sexual Health
Impact of values on relationships
The impact of personal lifestyle habits and genetics on sexual development
Way pregnancy, childbirth and parenting change a person’s life
Development of independence, self-identity, and personal value during adolescence
Establishing boundaries and rules
Parts of male and female reproductive system
Stages and signs of various STI (sexually transmitted infections)
Relationship between risky behaviors and STIs
Abstinence to prevent pregnancy and STIs (100% effective)
Unit 6: Community Health Services and Support
How to avoid and reduce health risks
Influences on behaviors and decision-making
Assertive communication skills for a healthy lifestyle
Different ways cultures have responded to individuals with disabilities and provided inclusive settings
Effect of mental illness on overall well being
Determining degree of risk of intentional or unintentional injury to self or others
Building interpersonal communication strategies
Determine when an adult or professional intervention may be necessary
Resources, programs, and organizations that promote health
Impact of mental illness on physical, social and emotional well being
Unit 7: Preventing and Responding to Violence/Personal Safety
Warning signs of unhealthy relationships, abusive relationships, and dating violence
The impact of technology/social media on relationships and individuals
Cyberbullying, bullying, harassment, hazing
Strategies for bullying prevention
Types of abuse
Effects of child abuse/reporting child abuse
Cycle of abuse
Strategies for preventing abuse
School violence prevention
Ways to help prevent violence
Unit 8: Sexually Transmitted Infections and AIDS/HIV
Strategies to prevent teens from being in a situation that will lead to spread of an STI
Permanent health risks of STI transmission
Causes, symptoms and treatments of various STIs
Community resources to help with testing and treatment of STIs
Common methods used to diagnose and treat common diseases and health conditions in young adults such as hepatitis, STIs, HIV/AIDS, breast cancer, HPV, testicular cancer
Local, state and national efforts to prevent and control disease and health conditions
Use of refusal, assertiveness skills, and negotiation when responding to peer pressure, disagreements or conflicts