Curriculum to Enhance Health

Read for Health, a project funded by the MetLife Foundation, focuses on educating American adolescents and their parents about how nutrition and physical activity can enhance health. More than 30 percent of the calories in an average child’s diet come from sweets, soft drinks, salty snacks, and fast food; yet young adolescents have some power over the choices they make with food and physical activity.

The centerpiece of the project is a standards-based curriculum for grades 6–8 with lessons that encourage youth to assess their own eating habits and physical activity patterns as well as to develop and maintain a healthy lifestyle. These lessons can be incorporated into classes in English language arts, science, social studies, and health education/family and consumer science.

Also under development are interactive, bilingual (English and Spanish) materials for parents of young adolescents, and an implementation guide for school leaders.