Teaching Tool - Healthy Relationships (Grade 6)
These resources teach students about the importance of developing healthy relationships. Students will learn how building confidence can lay the foundation for relationships. Students will learn how to make informed decisions that show respect for themselves and others.
Learning goals
- I will explain how to build confidence for healthy relationships
- I will gain an understanding of physical, social and emotional changes that happen during adolescence and how they affect developing healthy relationships
- I will identify the qualities of healthy and unhealthy relationships
- I will develop critical thinking skills to make informed decisions that show respect for myself and others to build healthier relationships
- I will emphasize the importance of consent and its role in healthy relationships
Core knowledge content
Core knowledge content provides the teacher with the background information needed to prepare and teach this health class.
Ontario curriculum expectations
Grades 1-8: Health and Physical Education (2019)
- D2.5 describe how they can build confidence and lay a foundation for healthy relationships by understanding the physical, social and emotional changes that occur during adolescence. This specific expectation is also connected to the social-emotional learning expectations A1.1 Emotions, 1.4 Relationships and 1.5 Self.
- D2.6 make informed decisions that show respect for themselves and others and an understanding of the concept of consent to help build healthier relationships using a variety of social-emotional learning skills. This specific expectation is also connected to the social-emotional learning expectations A1.1 Emotions, 1.4 Relationships, 1.5 Self and 1.6 Thinking.
Learning activities
Healthy relationships presentation
This presentation teaches students the concept of consent. It teaches the importance of making informed decisions in relationships that show respect.
Healthy relationships scenarios
Using different scenarios, students will work together to decide how to respond if they were in a certain situation. The class will then talk about how to make healthy choices for each scenario.
Healthy relationships scenarios
Using different scenarios, students will work together to decide how to respond if they were in a certain situation. The class will then talk about how to make healthy choices for each scenario.
- Healthy relationships scenarios instructions
- Healthy relationships scenarios cards
- Healthy relationships scenarios answer key
I.D.E.A.L activity
For this activity, students will apply the I.D.E.A.L model to scenarios. They will make informed and appropriate decisions to respond to situations.
Snowball activity
For this activity, students will write one healthy and one unhealthy quality of a relationship on separate pieces of paper. Students will then throw their papers toward the front of the class. Teachers will read the papers aloud and discuss what qualities make a relationship healthy or unhealthy.
Supplementary resources
- Always changing and growing up (Ontario Physical and Health Education Association): This resource teaches pre-teens in grades 7 and 8 about the transition between childhood and adolescence and the beginning stages of puberty.
- Be smart, strong and safe activity booklet (Canadian Centre for Child Protection): This activity book helps students understand healthy and unhealthy behaviours, how to set boundaries and how to talk to a safe adult when something makes them feel uncomfortable. When children learn what behaviours are unhealthy, understand how to set boundaries and can identify when someone has broken a boundary, it lessens their vulnerability to victimization and raises their personal safety.
- Building confidence and healthy relationships during adolescence (Ontario Physical and Health Education Association): In this lesson, students will use self-awareness skills to understand the physical, social and emotional changes that they experience during adolescence. They will learn how this knowledge helps them build their confidence and have healthy relationships.
- Building healthy relationships (Ontario Physical and Health Education Association): In this lesson, students will learn to use self-awareness and critical thinking skills to make informed decisions that demonstrate respect for themselves and others and apply their understanding of consent to build healthier relationships. Students will also learn to use self-awareness skills to understand the physical, social and emotional changes that we experience during adolescence. They will learn how this knowledge helps build confidence and establish healthy relationships.
- Four pillars (Ontario Physical and Health Education Association): This activity involves a discussion around the four pillars of safe space (respect, listen, understand and communicate) to define some core values and beliefs with the students.
- How do you know when you're ready? (Everybody Curious): In this video, the students will discover that readiness can mean different things for different people.
- Making choices in healthy relationships (Ontario Physical and Health Education Association): This lesson will help students learn to use self-awareness and critical thinking skills to make informed decisions that demonstrate respect for themselves and others. They will also learn to apply their relationship and self-awareness skills and their understanding of consent to build healthier relationships.
- Relationships (Everybody Curious): In this video, experts Nadine and Eva talk about relationships and respectful ways to handle rejection, break-ups and tough conversation.
- Relationship game (Sexual Health Options Resources Education Centre): This activity helps students recognize qualities in other people that can be positive or negative. Based on the characteristics or qualities, students decide if they would like to date the person, get to know them better, be their friend or none of the above. The group may have a friendly and constructive debate to open their minds to new ideas and feelings.
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