Resource Store
To purchase Planet Health, Second Edition, visit its product page.
To purchase Eat Well & Keep Moving, Second Edition, visit its product page.
To find detailed descriptions of other products offered by Human Kinetics, visit the Resource Store.
Contact Your Sales Rep
Contact your K-12 sales representative today for a price quote on Planet Health. SPECIAL PRICING is available for bulk purchases.
How to contact us:
USA—
Phone 217-351-5076
Fax: 217-351-2674
Human Kinetics
P.O. Box 5076
Champaign, IL 61825-5076
Use the table to contact the Human Kinetics K-12 sales representative for your state:
| Byron Clark | ext. 2423 | ByronC@hkusa.com |
|---|---|---|
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Fax: 519-971-9797
Contact Mike Bates, e-mail MikeB@hkcanada.com.
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FAQs
Is Planet Health a dieting program?
No! Planet Health teaches children how to make room in their lives for healthy eating and regular physical activity and helps them limit screen time. Planet Health promotes good health and prevents excessive weight gain for all youth. It is not a treatment program for youth who are already overweight. You’ll find that although the teacher resources talk about preventing excess weight, weight is not a focus of the lessons themselves. Instead, we focus on promoting good health.
Will Planet Health encourage students to diet or to become excessively concerned about their weight?
No! We understand that many parents and teachers are concerned that learning about preventing excessive weight gain may cause youth to become overly concerned about their weight and possibly adopt unhealthy weight-control behaviors. Because of this, we actually studied the issue when we created the curriculum. We have published evidence that Planet Health prevents disordered eating behaviors among girls. (We did not have enough evidence to evaluate the question among boys.)
Reference: Austin, S.B., E. Field, J. Wiecha, K.E. Peterson, and S. Gortmaker. The impact of a school-based obesity prevention trial on disordered weight-control behaviors in early adolescent girls. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 2005 Mar; 159(3):225-229.
Does Planet Health actually work?
Yes! We’ve published studies in some of the nation’s top scientific journals showing that, compared to control groups, Planet Health offers these benefits:
- It prevents obesity in girls.
- It reduces television viewing in girls and boys.
- It increases fruit and vegetable consumption in girls.
- It prevents disordered eating behaviors in girls.
- It’s highly rated by teachers who use it. Subject teachers feel quite confident teaching the health-related content.
If I teach Planet Health, won’t I lose valuable class time that I need to use to address our academic curriculum?
Time spent teaching Planet Health actually contributes to major subject skills and competencies. The repetition of themes in various classes is a key component of the curriculum’s approach. Perhaps most important for major subject teachers, Planet Health addresses Massachusetts curriculum frameworks in language arts, math, science, and social studies. This means that your Planet Health lessons fit into your existing curriculum; the curriculum isn’t something you need to teach in addition to your current lessons.
I don’t really want to do the whole thing. Can I just try one or two lessons?
Yes! The curriculum’s effectiveness depends, of course, on how much of it is taught. However, it always makes sense to try something out on a small scale before committing to a big change. We encourage schools and individual teachers to try out a lesson or two and then think about broader, more coordinated implementation.
I’m not a nutrition or physical activity expert. How could I be expected to teach this?
Hundreds of subject teachers have become Planet Health teachers. Training is available through our Web-based slide presentation or an accredited online course hosted by Framingham State College in Massachusetts. In addition, schools sometimes arrange to have face-to-face training by contacting the Harvard Prevention Research Center.
Obviously, it’s important to give your students accurate information. In each lesson we’ve provided background information sections on health promotion that teachers can rely on.
I’m overweight myself and I feel funny trying to be an example to kids. Can I be an effective teacher of Planet Health?
Absolutely. Planet Health is not a dieting program. It is a health promotion program. Many people struggle with diet and physical activity—and incorporating healthy behaviors is a lifetime commitment. Many teachers have found that their own weight status has been an asset in teaching the material, because they can learn alongside their students, gain students’ trust with their honesty and experience, and start to make healthy changes in their own lives.
Why should I teach this stuff if our food service program won’t provide the kind of diet I’m promoting?
You raise a good question. Many teachers have found that teaching Planet Health raised their awareness that youth often have limited access to healthy food, including within the school building, but just as often in the community and even at home. Some schools have chosen to implement Planet Health alongside broader policy initiatives that affect school food service. Remember, changing policies and systems takes time, and food service directors across the country are starting to make visible changes to foods offered in school cafeterias. When thinking about school food service issues, start by looking at your district’s school wellness policy and by assessing the foods offered throughout the school day both inside and outside of the cafeteria.
How can I learn how to implement Planet Health?
Learn more about the curriculum through this Web site. Then, plan to get trained in using it. Training is available through a Web-based slide presentation or an accredited online course hosted by Framingham State College in Massachusetts. In addition, schools sometimes arrange face-to-face training by contacting the Harvard Prevention Research Center.
Are other curricula like Planet Health available for younger or older children?
For fourth- and fifth-graders, we recommend Eat Well & Keep Moving, the “sibling” curriculum to Planet Health. The cognitive approach of Planet Health is geared to young adolescents, but some of the more challenging lessons can be used in the lower grades in high school.
I have so much to do. How could I add this to it all?
Planet Health is designed so that each teacher makes a manageable contribution to implementing the whole curriculum. Each classroom teacher is expected to teach only 2 or 3 lessons per school year. Physical education teachers teach 10 or more microunits each year, which are short lessons that can fit into a physical education class without displacing other material. When a whole team of teachers coordinates implementation, children can be exposed to the entire curriculum over the sixth- to eighth-grade years.
I’m watching my own weight—could my own weight concerns affect how I teach Planet Health material?
Yes. It’s great to be aware of this possibility. Remember, Planet Health is not a dieting curriculum. Teachers need to avoid using it to discuss dieting in general or to discuss their own weight-loss diets in particular. With this curriculum of healthy choices, all teachers can adopt a “we’re all in this together” approach. For some, this approach has strengthened their connections with their students, making it easier to teach subject content.
What are the keys to successful implementation?
Teamwork, training, commitment, and coordination.
