Your Body, Your Best Friend

Emily Bimbashi

Tier 1

Lesson Plan

Your Body, Your Best Friend

Students will be able to identify and explain the negative impacts eating disorders have on the body, mind, and life, and recognize the importance of self-care and seeking help.

Understanding the serious consequences of eating disorders is vital for 5th graders to develop a healthy body image, make informed choices about their well-being, and know how to support themselves or peers.

Audience

5th Grade

Time

45 minutes

Approach

Interactive discussion, visual aids, and reflective activities.

Materials

Your Body, Your Best Friend Slide Deck, - Warm-Up: My Body's Superpowers, - Discussion Guide: What's Really Happening?, and - Cool-Down: One Healthy Choice

Prep

Review Materials and Prepare

15 minutes

Review the Your Body, Your Best Friend Lesson Plan, Your Body, Your Best Friend Slide Deck, Warm-Up: My Body's Superpowers, Discussion Guide: What's Really Happening?, and Cool-Down: One Healthy Choice. Ensure projector and computer are working. Gather any optional materials like markers or chart paper for discussion points.

Step 1

Warm-Up: My Body's Superpowers

5 minutes

Begin with the Warm-Up: My Body's Superpowers activity. Ask students to think about one amazing thing their body can do and share it with a partner or the class. This helps set a positive tone and focus on body appreciation.

Step 2

Introduction: Our Amazing Bodies

5 minutes

Use the Your Body, Your Best Friend Slide Deck (Slides 1-2) to introduce the lesson. Emphasize that our bodies are incredible and deserve care. Briefly define what an eating disorder is in simple, age-appropriate terms, focusing on it being a serious illness, not a choice.

Step 3

Understanding the Impact: Body, Mind, Life

20 minutes

Guide students through the Your Body, Your Best Friend Slide Deck (Slides 3-6) to explain the negative impacts of eating disorders on the body, mind, and daily life. Use the Discussion Guide: What's Really Happening? to facilitate small group discussions or a whole-class conversation, encouraging students to share their understanding and ask questions. Focus on age-appropriate examples without being overly graphic.

Step 4

Promoting Healthy Habits and Seeking Help

10 minutes

Transition to the importance of healthy habits and self-care using the Your Body, Your Best Friend Slide Deck (Slides 7-8). Discuss strategies for positive self-talk, listening to their bodies, and eating balanced meals. Emphasize that seeking help from trusted adults (parents, teachers, counselors) is a sign of strength, not weakness, if they or someone they know is struggling.

Step 5

Cool-Down: One Healthy Choice

5 minutes

Conclude the lesson with the Cool-Down: One Healthy Choice activity. Ask students to write down one healthy choice they can make for their body or mind this week. Collect these as an exit ticket.

0 educators
use Lenny to create lessons.

No credit card needed

Slide Deck

Your Body, Your Best Friend

Let's celebrate our amazing bodies!

Welcome students and start with the warm-up activity, allowing them to share. This slide sets a positive tone about appreciating their bodies.

What's an Eating Disorder?

Your body is amazing!
Sometimes, people struggle with how they feel about their bodies and food.
An eating disorder is a serious illness, not a choice.
It affects how people think about food, eating, and their body shape/weight.

Briefly introduce the topic. Emphasize that bodies come in all shapes and sizes and are wonderful. Introduce that sometimes people struggle with how they see their bodies and food, leading to something called an eating disorder. Explain it's a serious illness, not a choice.

Impact on Your Body

Eating disorders can hurt your body in many ways:

Not enough energy to play or learn
Feeling tired all the time
Getting sick often
Slowed growth
Damage to important organs like the heart and brain
Bones can become weak

Explain the physical impacts. Keep language simple and focus on general health. Avoid graphic details. Emphasize that bodies need fuel to grow, play, and learn.

Impact on Your Mind

Eating disorders can also affect how you think and feel:

Feeling sad, worried, or angry often
Trouble concentrating in school
Thinking about food and weight all the time
Feeling bad about yourself
Isolating from friends and family

Discuss the mental and emotional impacts. Focus on feelings and thoughts that are difficult to manage. Connect it to how they feel when they are worried or sad about something else.

Impact on Your Life

When your body and mind are struggling, it affects everything:

Not wanting to hang out with friends
Missing out on fun activities
Difficulty doing well in school
Family worries

Talk about how it affects daily life. This can be more relatable for 5th graders as it involves things they do every day.

It Affects Everything!

Eating disorders are serious illnesses that impact your whole self: your body, your mind, and your life. They can make it hard to be healthy, happy, and enjoy daily activities.

Summarize the impacts. Reiterate that these are serious and highlight the importance of recognizing them.

How Can We Be Healthy?

Focus on positive self-care:

Eat a variety of healthy foods that make you feel good
Move your body in ways you enjoy
Get enough sleep
Practice positive self-talk (be kind to yourself!)
Talk to a trusted adult if you or a friend are struggling. Adults can help!

Shift to positive actions. Empower students with simple, actionable steps they can take. Emphasize talking to trusted adults.

You Are More Than Your Body!

Your worth is not determined by your size or shape.
Be kind to yourself and others.
Take care of your amazing body and mind!

End with a positive message and prepare for the cool-down. Reinforce the idea of self-worth beyond appearance.

Warm Up

My Body's Superpowers

Think about all the amazing things your body can do! It helps you run, jump, think, laugh, and so much more.

Take a moment to think of one superpower your body has. It could be something like:

Running fast
Drawing amazing pictures
Helping you learn new things
Giving great hugs

Write down your body's superpower and be ready to share with a partner or the class.

My body's superpower is:

Discussion

What's Really Happening?

Discuss the following questions in small groups or as a class:

We talked about how eating disorders can affect your body. Can you name one way an eating disorder might make someone's body feel not so good?
How might an eating disorder make someone feel in their mind? Think about their emotions and thoughts.
If someone is struggling with an eating disorder, how might it change what they do or how they act in their daily life? (For example, with friends or at school.)
Why do you think it's important to understand that eating disorders are serious illnesses, and not something someone chooses?
If you or a friend were worried about eating or body image, who is a trusted adult you could talk to? Why is it important to talk to someone?

Cool Down

One Healthy Choice

Today we learned about the importance of taking care of our bodies and minds.

On the lines below, write down one healthy choice you can make for your body or mind this week. It could be big or small!

Some ideas:

Trying a new healthy food
Playing outside for 30 minutes
Telling yourself something kind in the mirror
Getting an extra hour of sleep
Talking to a friend about something that's on your mind

My healthy choice for this week is: