Health Education Program ©
for
Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Prevention Project

 

 

Dear Educator,

The KMHC Health Education Program for KSDPP was designed to teach elementary school children about the prevention of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM). This program serves as a basis for health education; it is easy to expand and to incorporate other health topics such as safety and smoking.

The key components of the program are: Diabetes and Lifestyle, Nutrition, Fitness and Understanding the Human Body. There are 10 lessons, designed to be delivered in any order, they are designed to complement each other, we recommend that aspects of each component be incorporated at every opportunity. You may also choose to deliver the lessons in a fragmented fashion; each part of a lesson has a clear introduction and closure, allowing you to divide each lesson into several shorter lessons.

By the time students have completed the health education program, they should attain the following global objectives:

Understanding the Human Body
• To know the basic structure and functioning of the body.

Diabetes and Lifestyle
• To name two controllable risk factors for Diabetes.
• To name two uncontrollable risk factors for Diabetes.
• To describe Diabetes & Heart Disease in their own words.
• To state five lifestyle behaviors that help prevent Diabetes & Heart Disease.

Fitness
• To differentiate between the three elements that contributes to physical fitness and to state three examples of each: aerobic, muscle strengthening and flexibility.
• To state five advantages of being physically fit.
• To explain the terms frequency, duration and intensity as they relate to exercise (how often, how long, and how hard).
• To understand the role of exercise in the prevention of diabetes and hear disease.

Nutrition
• To suggest menus for balanced meals and healthy snacks.
• To describe the benefits of healthy eating.
• To identify factors that influence eating habits.
• To identify healthy food choices by analyzing package labels.
• To understand and accept a variety of shapes & sizes of healthy bodies.

In order for students to fully benefit from this program, it is essential to meet all of the objectives for each lesson. The actual method of delivery should be adapted to your own school, classroom and teaching style. Naturally, additional activities will enrich the students’ learning experience.

Every effort was made to make the lessons teacher-friendly and easy to deliver; there are many supportive teaching materials included with the program. Instructions for producing additional materials are also supplied. We highly recommend that schools choosing to introduce this health education program assemble a resource box providing teachers with all of the materials required to teach the lessons.

The lessons are designed to be culturally relevant to the Mohawk community of Kahnawake. Some aspects of the lessons including traditional foods, names, common expressions and practices should be adapted to ensure cultural relevance in your won community.

You will notice that there are small icons beside each group of objectives in the lessons. There icons help you to quickly identify the theme for that group of objectives.

Understanding the Human Body –
Diabetes and Lifestyle –
Fitness –

We recommend that you emphasize moderation and realistic expectations throughout the program; neither physical activity nor nutrition should be taken to any obsessive extreme. It is also important to maintain a positive message so as to leave the students with a feeling of empowerment, that there is something they can do to prevent diabetes. With these ideas in mind the authors developed the following list of terms to use in the classroom.

Recommended Terms
“Carry extra weight” or “more than is healthy”
“Healthy weight”
“The way you eat”
“Energy from food”

Not Recommended Terms
“Fat” or “obese” (person)
“Skinny” (person)
“Diet”
“Calories”

We believe that this health education program will help your students acquire the knowledge and skills to make informed decisions regarding their own health. This will lead to healthier practices and can help to prevent the onset of NIDDM. We are sure that you and your students will enjoy and benefit from the learning experiences provided in this health education program.

Sample Lesson:

Diabetes, Lifestyle & Fitness
Grade 1 Lesson 1 of 5

"Taking a Look at Our Bodies"

Vocabulary:
Diabetes
Disease
Prevention

Objectives
Students will be able to:
• Become familiar with the word ‘diabetes’.
• Define the word ‘disease’.
• Define the word ‘prevention’.
• Demonstrate all the external body parts. (30 min.)

Materials
• Diabetes Fact Sheet
• Examples of Prevention
• 4 feet long sheets of paper (not supplied)
• Markers (not supplied)
• Body Parts Checklist

Evaluation
Students will share their knowledge of diseases that go away and of prevention activities.

Closure
The disease, diabetes, can be prevented. We will learn later on how this can be done. We need to first learn about the body and how it works.

Introduction
For the next few lessons we are going to learn about our bodies. We are going to look at our outside parts, and we are also going to look at some of our inside parts. We will find out how some of these parts work, where they are in the body and what they are called. We will also see what these parts look like.

Objectives
1. Demonstrate all the external body parts. (30 min.)

Activity
Divide the class into 3 groups. Give each group 1 body outline. Ask one group to draw in all the external body parts of a girl (female), another group to draw in all the external body parts of a boy (male), and the third group to draw in all external body parts of the back of the body.
Collect all the sheets and review answers with class to ensure that all body parts are present. ‘Body Parts Checklist’ (Appendix 1.1.2) Draw in any missing parts.

Evaluation
Students are able to draw the external body parts.

Closure
Do you see how amazing our bodies are? If we were to count every single part of our bodies including our eyelashes, hairs on head etc… who knows how long we would take? We have demonstrated all of the outside (external) parts. Do we only have outside (external) parts? (no) Next time we’ll look at some of the inside (internal) parts of the body.

Appendix 1.1.1

Diabetes Fact Sheet

• Diabetes is a disease
• A lot of people right here in Kahnawake have diabetes just like a lot of Native people elsewhere.
• People who have diabetes have a lot of extra sugar in their blood.
• Once someone gets diabetes, they have it for the rest of their lives. It does not go away.
• A person who has diabetes can also develop serious problems with some parts of their body. For example, they can end up having heart attacks.
• The good news is that diabetes can be prevented by eating properly and by participating in regular fun exercise.

© Community Health Unit - Kateri Memorial Hospital Centre