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Health for Grades 3-5

Grade 4 · Christian · NGSS/CCSS-aligned

This is a semester of health for a 4th grader, taught by you, 50 minutes a day, 5 days a week. It's not about grades or gym class — it's about your kid learning to think of their own body as something they run and take care of. They'll figure out why food, sleep, and movement matter (not for looks, but for what those things actually do inside them), how germs spread and why washing hands matters even when no one's watching, the safety rules for fire, streets, bikes, being online, and medicine, and finally how to name feelings, calm down, and be a decent friend when things get hard. Nothing here touches weight, appearance, or sex — it stays squarely in "how do I take care of this body and these relationships" territory.

What your child will learn

The whole year, in plain English. Tap any unit to see every skill inside, nothing is hidden.

Fuel, Rest, and Play: How Your Body Workspeek inside ▸

This unit is about teaching your child that food, sleep, and movement aren't about how they look — they're fuel and maintenance for a body that's growing and playing. Every food, sleep, or movement choice gets tied to a specific job: energy, growth, focus, or repair. You'll use their actual daily routine as the material the whole time.

  1. Food as fuel that provides energy or supports growth

    Students sort food and drink pictures into 'gives me energy now' and 'helps me grow' bins with at least 5 of 6 correct.

  2. Body signals: hungry, full, tired, energetic

    Given a short scenario, students identify which body signal (hungry, full, tired, energetic) the character is feeling.

  3. Balanced eating across a full day, not one meal

    Students explain why a one-day meal plan needs foods from more than one group, using energy and growth as reasons.

  4. Sleep needs at this age and their effect on mood and focus

    Students state the recommended sleep-hour range for a 9-10 year old and name one effect of too little sleep on mood or focus.

  5. Individual variation in food and sleep needs among same-age children

    Given two same-age children with different stated sleep or food needs, students infer a reason both could still be fine.

  6. Movement and active play as a daily body need, not limited to recess

    Students compare a day with recess-only movement to a day with varied active play and predict which supports growth better and why.

  7. A personal one-day plan combining food, movement, and sleep

    Students build a one-day plan (drawn or written) showing meals, movement, and sleep matched to their own routine.

  8. The specific function each fuel/rest/movement choice supports

    Students explain, for each part of their one-day plan, what specific body function it supports (energy, focus, growth, or repair).

  9. Recognizing that individual and context-based variation can make a non-standard-looking schedule still meet fuel/rest/movement needs

    Given an unfamiliar daily schedule for a child in a different climate or activity level whose plan does NOT look like a standard fuel/rest/movement checklist (extra rest breaks, no separate movement block), students judge whether the plan still meets fuel, rest, and movement needs, using function, not the standard three-category checklist, as the test, and explain why an amount that differs from the class norm can still be fine.

Germs, Hygiene, and Staying Wellpeek inside ▸

This is where your child learns germs are living things too small to see, that they travel by hands, air, and surfaces, and that habits like handwashing and covering coughs stop that spread — even with nobody watching. They'll also learn to recognize feeling sick and to tell a trusted adult, and connect rest and fluids back to what Unit 1 taught about rest.

  1. Germs as microscopic living things

    Explain that germs are living things too small to see with the naked eye.

  2. The three germ-spread pathways: hands, air, surfaces

    Classify a given scenario (sneeze, doorknob, shared cup, cough) by which pathway germs used to spread: hands, air, or surface.

  3. The causal link between an unwitnessed hygiene habit and prevented illness in someone else

    Explain why a habit performed with no one watching still stops germ spread.

  4. The 4-step handwashing routine

    Execute the 4-step handwashing routine (wet, soap, scrub 20 seconds, rinse/dry) in correct order.

  5. The cough-covering routine

    Execute the cough/sneeze-covering routine (elbow or tissue, dispose, wash hands) correctly.

  6. The decision rule for choosing handwashing vs. cough-covering based on the situation

    Compare a scenario requiring handwashing to one requiring cough-covering and identify which routine and why.

  7. Recognizing physical signs of sickness in a novel context

    Infer, from a description of symptoms in an unfamiliar setting (a school field trip, a sleepover), whether a character is showing signs of being sick.

  8. Trusted adult as a role, not a fixed individual

    Explain why telling a trusted adult about feeling sick applies to any adult in that role, not one specific person.

  9. Rest and fluids as recovery supports for a sick body

    Summarize how rest and fluids help a sick body recover, connecting to Unit 1's rest concept.

  10. The ordered steps of a hygiene routine and the germ-level effect of each step

    Sequence a 4-step hygiene routine and explain in one sentence what happens to germs at each step.

Staying Safe: Home, Street, Bike, and Onlinepeek inside ▸

Four safety rule sets — fire, street/bike, online, and medicine — all running on the same mechanism: tell a trusted adult immediately, even if it seems small or you think you'll get in trouble. Your child practices applying each domain's specific rules to new scenarios, and practices naming a backup adult when the first choice isn't around.

  1. The get-low-and-go fire escape rule

    State the two-part rule for a home fire: get low and go, then get outside and stay outside.

  2. A home escape plan with two exit routes

    Identify the family's two ways out of a room on a drawn home floor plan.

  3. The stop-look-listen street crossing rule

    Apply the stop-look-listen rule to a street-crossing scenario not shown in instruction.

  4. Bike safety equipment and road-position rules

    List the three required pieces of bike safety gear and behavior: helmet, visibility, and riding with traffic direction.

  5. The three-step response to an uncomfortable online moment, as stated and modeled

    Recall the three steps to do when an online moment feels uncomfortable: stop responding, do not delete the evidence, tell a trusted adult right away.

  6. The difference between a normal and an uncomfortable online interaction

    Distinguish an uncomfortable online moment from a normal online moment using three example chat scenarios.

  7. The trusted-adult-only rule for medicine

    Explain why medicine is only ever given by a trusted adult, never self-served or shared with a friend.

  8. Backup selection within the trusted-adult role across danger types

    Identify a trusted adult for a new danger scenario when the student's first-choice adult is unavailable.

  9. The shared tell-a-trusted-adult step across four danger domains

    Compare the fire, street/bike, online, and medicine rules to identify the one action common to all four.

  10. Category features that mark a scenario as fire, street/bike, online, or medicine-related

    Classify eight scenario cards into the correct danger domain (fire, street/bike, online, medicine).

Feelings, Calming Down, and Being a Good Friendpeek inside ▸

This unit treats feelings as information, calming down as something you can actually practice, and friendship as specific repeatable actions rather than a feeling. Your child names feelings, matches them to calming strategies (pulling rest, movement, and trusted-adult straight from Units 1 and 3), then practices listening, including others, apologizing with a real change in behavior, and saying no while staying a friend.

  1. Specific feeling vocabulary words matched to scenario cues

    Student names a specific feeling word (e.g., frustrated, lonely, nervous) that matches a short scenario, choosing from a word bank.

  2. The relationship between a feeling's type/intensity and a matching calming strategy

    Student matches a feeling to an appropriate calming strategy (breathing, movement, rest, or telling a trusted adult) across a new scenario not used in instruction.

  3. The link between naming a feeling and choosing a calmer next action

    Student explains why naming a feeling out loud can change what a person does next, using a specific example.

  4. The difference between telling (someone could be hurt or needs help) and tattling (minor, no harm, seeking trouble for someone), using the modeled example set itself

    Student sorts the exact contrasting example pairs modeled in class (e.g., 'she took the blue crayon' vs. 'he won't stop pushing me') into telling or tattling, using the same wording used during instruction.

  5. The difference between telling (someone could be hurt or needs help) and tattling (minor, no harm, seeking trouble for someone), applied beyond the modeled examples

    Student distinguishes 'telling a trusted adult' about a friend problem from 'tattling,' applying the rule to new, unseen example pairs.

  6. Listening and including behaviors as concrete, repeatable friend actions

    Student demonstrates listening and including as specific friend actions during a structured partner role-play.

  7. Repair actions that specify a changed future behavior in response to a particular conflict

    Student writes a repair action for a friend-conflict scenario that names a specific behavior change, not a generic apology word.

  8. The distinction between refusing an unsafe or unkind request and ending a friendship

    Student identifies when saying no to a friend's request is still consistent with being a good friend, given a scenario involving peer pressure.

  9. The combined application of feeling identification, strategy matching, and repair reasoning within one novel scenario

    Student applies feeling-naming, calming-strategy selection, and repair-action reasoning together to an unfamiliar multi-part scenario involving both an internal feeling and a friend conflict.

From the parent guide

This is a semester of health for a 4th grader, taught by you, 50 minutes a day, 5 days a week. It's not about grades or gym class — it's about your kid learning to think of their own body as something they run and take care of. They'll figure out why food, sleep, and movement matter (not for looks, but for what those things actually do inside them), how germs spread and why washing hands matters even when no one's watching, the safety rules for fire, streets, bikes, being online, and medicine, and finally how to name feelings, calm down, and be a decent friend when things get hard. Nothing here touches weight, appearance, or sex — it stays squarely in "how do I take care of this body and these relationships" territory.

Unit 1 · what to expect

This unit is about teaching your child that food, sleep, and movement aren't about how they look — they're fuel and maintenance for a body that's growing and playing. Every food, sleep, or movement choice gets tied to a specific job: energy, growth, focus, or repair. You'll use their actual daily routine as the material the whole time.

The full guide covers all 4 units: where kids get stuck, what to say, and how to tell it's working. Included with the course.

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Health for Grades 3-5, Grade 4 Homeschool Curriculum