Healthy Habits and a Bonus Post–Tick Tock, Taylor

Healthy Habits

By Rebecca Weber

Health and Your Body Series

Capstone/Pebble Plus

ISBN # 9781429666114

Nonfiction

Grades PreK-2

"Our bodies need things every day to stay healthy. The right food, enough sleep, and exercise are all important. How can you be healthy today?"

Healthy Habits, a book for early readers, sets a positive, cheerful tone while explaining in simple language the basics of good health. The first section gives general suggestions for maintaining healthy habits without coming off as preachy. It addresses food, hygiene, teeth, exercise in the form of play, drinking water, healthy snacks, and the value of sleep. The book ends with a few interesting, general facts, and includes a glossary, read more section, internet sites, and an index.

This information is important to the preschool ages and young children in the early grades. The information seems like it should be common knowledge, but many children don't know or can't articulate these facts, and this book provides the information on a level they can understand and learn. The bold, bright photographs of kids having fun doing the suggested activities supports the text and gives context clues to early readers.

This book would make a wonderful introduction to good health and habits for children in the first few weeks of school and a valuable reminder throughout the year. It would be useful for a health unit and a good introduction to all forms of hygiene, an important part of the early grades with its sneezing, colds, and close contact among the children. The readability of the text can empower the students and get the message across as they read the words themselves. And best of all, it's a fun book.

Activity

Using words or pictures, have each student make a healthy habits chart. Put the chapter titles across the top and the days of the week down the side. Each day as you journal or have a warm-up activity, ask the students to put a symbol (or checkmark) in each column that they have done. Keep it private, but use the chart to make the children more aware of healthy habits. You may want to include other actions the kids think of.

This site has charts about healthy habits.

Here are some sample lessons relating to healthy habits.

This site has additional educator tips for  healthy habits.

This site has worksheets relating to staying healthy.

National Science Standards: Growth and development of organisms.

Book provided by Capstone Press.

This is Random Acts of Publicity Week and here's my choice:

TICK TOCK, TAYLOR

By Anastasia Suen

All-Star Cheerleaders (Book #1) Tick Tock, Taylor

Chapter Book

Will Taylor be able to do the moves fast enough to help Glitter take first place? Teammate Sophia doesn't think so, but readers of this first-ever series for young readers about competitive cheerleading will cheer, "Big D Elite, Can't Be Beat!"

Each book in the All-Star Cheerleaders series will follow one member of the Glitter squad as they practice, compete, make new friends, learn new moves and most of all … have fun!

This is the first book in the series by Anastasia Suen and should interest any early reader who is ready for chapter books!