Part 1

Preschool Level: Fitness and Nutrition

Students will learn about basic fitness and nutrition facts to promote healthy lifestyles at a
young age. Students will learn about the food pyramid and how to choose healthy foods over
unhealthy options. Basic exercises that can be done easily and everyday will be taught to
students.

STAGE 1- STANDARDS/GOALS
After the unit, students should be able to understand that fitness and nutrition are important
for a healthy lifestyle. Students should have a better understanding of the different food
groups and basic everyday exercises.

Content Standard(s)

Generalizations about what students should know and be able to do.

Content Standards Primary Expected Performances

Students should be able to understand the Students will be able to identify good vs bad
importance of living a healthy lifestyle foods and an active lifestyle vs being inactive.
through fitness and nutrition.

Students should be able to demonstrate a Students will be able to name the different
variety of everyday exercises. exercises.

Students should be able to identify foods Students will be able to identify foods and the
from different food groups and correctly food pyramid.
group food items in each category.

Students should be able to apply what they Students can do the exercises on their own and
have learned to their everyday lives. identify foods when at home.
 Enduring Understandings
Insights learned from exploring
generalizations via the essential questions
(Students will understand THAT…)
K-12 enduring understandings are those
understandings that should be developed
over time, they are not expected to be
mastered over one unit or one year.
Essential Questions
How can learning about fitness and nutrition
be beneficial for children at a preschool level?
How can children use what they learn in this
unit in their everyday lives?

Overarching Enduring Understandings: Students will understand that their decisions to

Unit Specific Enduring Understanding
have a healthy lifestyle can impact their entire
life.
Students will understand that there are
different food groups and exercises that can
help you be healthy.

Knowledge and Skills

What students are expected to know and be able to do

Knowledge
The students will know the importance of a healthy lifestyle
The students will know the importance of eating healthy.
The students will know the importance of staying active.

Skills
The students will be able to identify different foods from different food groups.
The students will be able to demonstrate different basic exercises.
The students will be able to practice exercises and healthy eating at home.
Part 2

I chose these ideas for the planning pyramid for this unit for a variety of reasons. I believe
that fitness and nutrition is an important concept to teach children from a young age so that it can
help to promote a healthy lifestyle throughout their lives. “The incidence of overweight among
preschoolers (children aged two to five) increased from 7.2% to 13.9% between the late 1970s and
the early 2000s and has been particularly elevated for low-income children” (Korenman, Abner,
Kaestner, Gordon, 2013). Obesity has increased in the US over the years, especially among young
children. Teaching about fitness and nutrition at a young age can help children to make the right
decisions when it comes to the food that they eat as they get older and encourages them to maintain
an active lifestyle. According to the Journal of Early Childhood Research, a study was done to test
garden-based lessons in low income areas to promote nutrition and health lifestyles. “The
implementation of a garden-based intervention such as PLANT Gardens shows a lot of promise as
a means of promoting preference and intake of F&Vs, especially in a population of Head Start
preschoolers that is traditionally underserved” (Sharma, Hedberg, Skala, Chuang, Lewis, 2015).
This study has shown that nutrition lessons can be implemented in schools and will have a positive
effect on students.

Some students will know:

 A few different fruits in the fruit group
 A few different vegetables in the vegetable group
 Examples of foods that are not good for you, i.e. cake, cookies, soda, etc.
 Your body needs different kinds of foods to be healthy

Most students will be able to know:

 There are different groups of food that do different things for your body
 Poor nutrition and lack of fitness can have negative effects on your body
 Eating fruits and vegetables can be beneficial to your health

All students will be able to know:

 Nutrition involves eating healthy foods to help them grow strong
 Fitness is being in good physical condition and doing exercises to help our bodies be strong
 How to do different exercises that can be done every day at home
 Fitness and nutrition are important to understand to live a healthy life
 References

Korenman, S., Abner, K. S., Kaestner, R., & Gordon, R. A. (2013). The Child and Adult Care
Food Program and the nutrition of preschoolers. Early childhood research quarterly,
28(2), 325-336.

Sharma, S. V., Hedberg, A. M., Skala, K. A., Chuang, R. J., & Lewis, T. (2015). Feasibility and
acceptability of a gardening-based nutrition education program in preschoolers from low-
income, minority populations. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 13(1), 93-110.