Communication And Goals

Summary

Students practice verbal and nonverbal communication, active listening, and using I-statements to express thoughts, feelings, wants, and needs, including in decision-making situations. The chapter closes with setting a personal health goal, judging whether help is needed, and identifying health topics that matter most.

Concepts Covered

1. Verbal Communication
2. Nonverbal Communication
3. Active Listening
4. Communication In Decision-Making
5. I-Statement
6. Personal Health Goal
7. Determining Need For Assistance
8. Examining Health-Supporting Practices
9. Identifying Relevant Health Topics

Prerequisites

This chapter builds on the foundational ideas about health in Chapter 1: Foundations Of Health, the coping and who-to-talk-to concepts from Chapter 7: Mental And Emotional Health, and the physical activity concepts from Chapter 3: Wellness And Activity.

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Using Your Words (and More Than Words)

Hi, friend! Every idea, feeling, and need a person has only helps them — and helps others — once it gets communicated clearly. This chapter is about talking, listening, and body language, and it ends with something exciting: setting a real health goal of your own. Let's think it through together.

Teacher Notes: How to Introduce This Chapter

This is the final chapter of the Grade 3 book, and it shifts from understanding health topics to practicing skills students will use for the rest of their lives: communicating clearly, listening well, and setting goals. Model each communication skill out loud before asking students to try it — Grade 3 students learn these behaviors best through demonstration and guided practice, not description alone. The closing goal-setting sections are meant to be done collaboratively, with the teacher or a trusted adult helping the student pick something realistic and small.

Verbal Communication

Every day, students share thoughts, feelings, wants, and needs with the people around them. The words a person chooses, and how those words are said, make a big difference in whether the message is understood.

Verbal communication means using spoken or written words to share thoughts, feelings, wants, and needs with another person. It includes not just what is said, but how it is said — the tone of voice, the volume, and the speed of speaking all shape how a message lands.

A student using strong verbal communication:

• Uses clear, specific words instead of vague ones ("I don't understand the third math problem" instead of just "This is hard")
• Speaks in a calm, steady voice, even when a feeling is strong
• Waits for a good moment to speak, rather than interrupting
• Says thoughts, feelings, wants, and needs directly, instead of hinting

Big Idea

Clear words help other people understand exactly what's going on inside a person's head — and that's the first step to getting help, working things out, or sharing good news.

Words are only part of the story, though. The very next section explores the messages people send without saying a single word.

Nonverbal Communication

Long before a person finishes a sentence, their face, posture, and hands are already sending a message.

Nonverbal communication means sharing thoughts and feelings through facial expressions, body language, gestures, eye contact, and posture, without using words at all. Nonverbal messages can support spoken words, or they can accidentally contradict them — like saying "I'm fine" while frowning and crossing arms.

Diagram: Match the Body Language

Match the Body Language MicroSim

Type: microsim sim-id: match-the-body-language
Library: p5.js
Status: Specified

Bloom Taxonomy: Remember (L1) Bloom Taxonomy Verb: identify, recognize, name

Learning objective: Students identify the feeling behind common nonverbal cues by matching simple cartoon body-language poses to the feeling they most likely show.

Canvas layout: Left side (350px) shows one large cartoon figure at a time in a clear pose (arms crossed and frowning, shoulders slumped and looking down, wide smile with open arms, tense shoulders with clenched fists). Right side (250px) shows four feeling-word buttons (e.g., "Frustrated," "Sad," "Happy," "Angry") plus a feedback box.

Interactive controls: Click a feeling-word button to answer; "Next Pose" and "Reset" buttons.

Default parameters: Starts on pose 1 of 6 prepared poses, presented in random order each reset.

Behavior: Clicking a feeling reveals whether it matches the pose and a one-sentence explanation of the specific cue (e.g., "Crossed arms and a frown often mean someone feels frustrated or closed off.").

Instructional Rationale: Remember-level objective calling for straightforward recognition, so simple matching with immediate feedback is appropriate — no timer or scoring pressure.

Implementation notes: Use p5.js with simple flat cartoon figures, no realistic faces. Keep the tone neutral; note that body language is a clue, not a certainty, since people can feel one way and look another.

Because nonverbal cues can be misread, it helps to notice both a person's words and their body language together, rather than relying on just one.

Helpful Tip

If someone's words and body language don't match, it's okay to gently ask, "Are you really okay?" Checking in shows you're paying attention to more than just words.

Sending clear messages, verbal and nonverbal, is only half of communication. The other half is just as important: truly hearing what someone else is sending back.

Active Listening

Good communication is a two-way street. A student can speak clearly and read body language well, and still miss the point if they aren't truly listening.

Active listening means fully paying attention to a speaker — with eyes, body, and mind — instead of just waiting for a turn to talk. Active listening includes making eye contact, nodding, staying quiet while the other person speaks, and checking understanding by repeating back what was heard.

Here is a comparison of active listening and its opposite:

Active Listening Looks Like	Not Listening Looks Like
Facing the speaker and making eye contact	Looking at a screen or elsewhere
Waiting for a pause before responding	Interrupting mid-sentence
Nodding or saying "I hear you"	Staring blankly or looking bored
Asking a follow-up question	Changing the subject right away
Repeating back the main idea to check	Assuming you already know what they'll say

Diagram: Active Listening Checklist Builder

Active Listening Checklist Builder MicroSim

Type: microsim sim-id: active-listening-checklist-builder
Library: p5.js
Status: Specified

Bloom Taxonomy: Apply (L3) Bloom Taxonomy Verb: demonstrate, practice, apply

Learning objective: Students demonstrate active listening behaviors by selecting the actions an active listener would take during a short animated conversation scenario.

Canvas layout: Top (150px) shows a simple two-character comic-style scene with a speech bubble describing what one character is saying (e.g., "I'm nervous about my soccer game tomorrow"). Middle (250px) shows six behavior-choice cards a listener could do (e.g., "Look at my phone," "Make eye contact," "Interrupt to talk about myself," "Nod and say 'that makes sense'," "Change the subject," "Ask 'What are you nervous about?'"). Bottom (100px) is a feedback panel.

Interactive controls: Click each card to mark it "Active Listening" or "Not Listening"; "Check My Answers" and "Next Scenario" buttons.

Default parameters: Starts on scenario 1 of 4 prepared conversation scenarios.

Data Visibility Requirements: After clicking "Check My Answers," each card reveals a check mark or an X plus a one-sentence reason (e.g., "Interrupting takes the focus away from the speaker's feelings.").

Instructional Rationale: Apply-level objective requiring students to practice choosing correct behaviors in a realistic scenario, so scenario-based selection with explanatory feedback is appropriate.

Implementation notes: Use p5.js with simple flat character illustrations. Keep scenarios everyday and low-stakes (sports, school, friendship), not emotionally heavy.

Verbal communication, nonverbal communication, and active listening work together as a full toolkit — and that toolkit becomes especially useful in a specific kind of moment: making a decision.

Communication In Decision-Making

Many decisions involve more than one person — choosing a group project topic, deciding what game to play at recess, or figuring out a plan with a family member. Communication skills make those moments go much more smoothly.

Communication in decision-making means using verbal communication, nonverbal communication, and active listening together to share opinions, hear other people's opinions, and reach a decision that works for everyone involved. This might mean explaining a preference clearly, listening to someone else's reason, and being willing to compromise.

A simple process for communicating well during a group decision:

1. Say what you think or want, clearly and calmly
2. Actively listen to what others think or want
3. Notice everyone's nonverbal cues (excited? unsure? frustrated?)
4. Look for an option that respects as many people's needs as possible
5. Agree on a decision together, or ask a trusted adult to help if the group is stuck

Big Idea

Good decision-making with others isn't about who talks the loudest — it's about everyone getting a real turn to speak and be heard.

Sharing an opinion clearly during a decision works best with one particular sentence pattern, which is exactly what the next section teaches.

I-Statement

Sometimes a person needs to share a feeling or a need in a moment that already feels a little tense — like when a friend borrowed something without asking, or a sibling turned off a TV show mid-episode. The words chosen in that moment matter enormously.

An I-statement is a way of expressing a thought, feeling, want, or need that starts with "I" and focuses on the speaker's own experience, rather than blaming or accusing the other person. A typical pattern is: "I feel [feeling] when [situation happens], because [reason]. Could you [request]?" I-statements tend to keep conversations calm, because they describe an experience instead of attacking a person.

Here is a comparison of blaming statements and I-statements:

Blaming Statement (Y0u-Statement)	I-Statement
"You always take my stuff without asking!"	"I feel frustrated when my things are borrowed without asking. Could you ask me first next time?"
"You never listen to me!"	"I feel unheard when I'm interrupted. Could I finish my thought?"
"You ruined the game!"	"I feel disappointed that the game ended early. Can we plan a rule for next time?"

Diagram: I-Statement Builder

I-Statement Builder MicroSim

Type: microsim sim-id: i-statement-builder
Library: p5.js
Status: Specified

Bloom Taxonomy: Apply (L3) Bloom Taxonomy Verb: use, construct, practice

Learning objective: Students practice constructing I-statements by assembling a feeling, a situation, and a request from a scenario prompt using the "I feel ___ when , because . Could you ___?" frame.

Canvas layout: Top (100px) shows a short scenario prompt (e.g., "Your friend keeps interrupting you at lunch"). Middle (300px) shows four fill-in-the-blank dropdown menus matching the I-statement frame, each pre-populated with a few word/phrase choices, one clearly best. Bottom (100px) shows the assembled sentence building live as choices are made, plus a "Check My Statement" button.

Interactive controls: Four dropdown selectors; "Check My Statement," "Next Scenario," and "Reset" buttons.

Default parameters: Starts on scenario 1 of 5 prepared everyday scenarios (borrowing without asking, interrupting, excluding from a game, teasing about a mistake, not listening).

Data Visibility Requirements: As each dropdown is filled, the growing sentence appears in a speech bubble in real time so students see the full I-statement take shape. Clicking "Check My Statement" reveals whether the choice keeps the statement calm and focused on feelings rather than blame, with a one-sentence explanation.

Instructional Rationale: Apply-level objective requiring learners to construct a correctly formed sentence, so guided assembly with a visible live sentence supports practice better than passive multiple choice alone.

Implementation notes: Use p5.js. Keep every scenario a mild, everyday friend/family conflict — nothing involving unsafe situations, which belong in the Personal Safety chapters instead.

Starting with "I feel..." instead of "You always..." is a small change that makes a big difference in how a conversation goes.

With verbal communication, nonverbal communication, active listening, decision-making, and I-statements all in place, this chapter now turns to something these skills make possible: setting and reaching a personal health goal.

Personal Health Goal

Everything communicated clearly — a feeling, a need, a decision — can also be aimed at something bigger: a goal a student sets for their own health.

A personal health goal is a specific, health-related behavior a student chooses to work on, such as drinking more water, going to bed earlier, or trying a new fruit or vegetable each week. A strong personal health goal is specific (naming exactly what will change), realistic (something the student can actually do), and personal (chosen because it matters to that student, not just assigned by someone else).

Examples of well-formed personal health goals:

• "I will drink a full glass of water with breakfast, lunch, and dinner this week."
• "I will go to bed 15 minutes earlier on school nights."
• "I will practice one deep-breathing coping strategy when I feel frustrated."
• "I will try one new vegetable at dinner this week."

Diagram: My Health Goal Planner

My Health Goal Planner MicroSim

Type: microsim sim-id: my-health-goal-planner
Library: p5.js
Status: Specified

Bloom Taxonomy: Analyze (L4) Bloom Taxonomy Verb: examine, organize, distinguish

Learning objective: Students examine candidate goal statements and distinguish specific, realistic, personal goals from vague or unrealistic ones, then build their own goal statement.

Canvas layout: Left side (350px) shows five example goal cards to sort into two bins: "Strong Goal" and "Needs Work" (e.g., "Be healthier" vs. "Drink a glass of water with lunch each day"). Right side (250px) holds a simple goal-builder form: a text input for "My goal is..." plus three checkboxes the student self-checks — "Specific," "Realistic," "Matters to me."

Interactive controls: Drag or click to sort cards; text input field; three checkboxes; "Save My Goal" button.

Data Visibility Requirements: Sorting a card reveals a one-sentence reason it is strong or needs work (e.g., "'Be healthier' doesn't say exactly what will change."). After typing a goal and checking all three boxes, "Save My Goal" displays the finished goal statement in a printable-looking card.

Instructional Rationale: Analyze-level objective requiring students to examine goal statements against criteria, so a sort-then-build design lets students apply the criteria to examples before applying them to their own goal.

Implementation notes: Use p5.js and a real HTML text input for the goal so it is easy to read and edit. This MicroSim is intended for guided, individual student use with a teacher or family member nearby to help, consistent with K-3 practice.

Choosing a goal is an exciting first step — but not every goal can be reached alone, which is exactly what the next section helps a student figure out.

Determining Need For Assistance

Some goals are easy to work on independently, like remembering to drink more water. Others go much better with someone else's help, like changing a bedtime routine that depends on the whole family's schedule.

Determining need for assistance means thinking honestly about a personal health goal and deciding whether it can be reached alone, or whether it would go better with help or collaboration from a parent, teacher, coach, or other trusted adult. Recognizing when help is useful is not a weakness — it is a smart, realistic part of goal-setting.

Questions a student can ask to figure this out:

• Does reaching this goal depend on someone else's schedule or decisions (like bedtime or meals)?
• Would it help to have someone check in and remind me?
• Is there a part of this goal I don't know how to do yet?
• Would celebrating progress with someone else keep me motivated?

If the answer to any of these is "yes," asking for assistance is a great next step.

Quick Check for Read-Aloud Time — Click to expand

Ask the class: "If a student's goal is to go to bed 15 minutes earlier, who might they need help from, and why?" Then reveal: "A parent or guardian, because bedtime often depends on the whole family's evening routine — asking for their help makes the goal much more realistic."

With a goal chosen and a clear sense of whether help is needed, the last two sections zoom back out to the bigger picture of health-supporting practices and topics.

Examining Health-Supporting Practices

A single goal is a great start, but it helps to first take a wider look at all the everyday practices that support health, before narrowing in on just one.

Examining health-supporting practices means looking closely at the everyday behaviors that support a person's physical, mental, and emotional health, in order to notice which practices are already going well and which ones might need attention. This connects nearly every topic from this entire book — food choices, physical activity, sleep, safety habits, communication, and coping skills all count as health-supporting practices.

Diagram: Health Practices Self-Check

Health Practices Self-Check MicroSim

Type: microsim sim-id: health-practices-self-check
Library: p5.js
Status: Specified

Bloom Taxonomy: Analyze (L4) Bloom Taxonomy Verb: examine, organize, compare

Learning objective: Students examine a set of everyday health-supporting practices across multiple health categories and identify which ones they already do well and which they might want to improve.

Canvas layout: A grid of eight practice cards spanning categories from across the book (Eating balanced meals, Staying active, Getting enough sleep, Washing hands, Using safety gear, Talking about feelings, Being kind to others, Following family safety plans). Each card has a simple three-option selector: "Going Well," "Could Improve," "Not Sure."

Interactive controls: Click a rating on each card; a "See My Summary" button.

Data Visibility Requirements: After all eight cards are rated, "See My Summary" displays a simple non-graded summary such as "You marked 5 practices as Going Well and 2 as Could Improve," and highlights the "Could Improve" cards as candidates for a personal health goal.

Instructional Rationale: Analyze-level objective requiring students to organize and compare their own practices across categories, so a self-rating grid with a reflective summary is appropriate — this is a private reflection tool, not a scored quiz.

Implementation notes: Use p5.js. Keep the tone entirely non-judgmental; there is no "wrong" self-rating. This tool works well paired directly with the My Health Goal Planner MicroSim above.

Every Practice Counts

Nobody has every single health practice perfectly figured out, and that's completely normal. Noticing one small thing to work on is already a big win.

Looking across all these practices naturally raises one more question: out of everything covered in this book, which topics matter most to a student right now?

Identifying Relevant Health Topics

Not every health topic feels equally important to every student at every moment — and that's expected. Part of taking charge of one's own health is noticing which topics feel most relevant right now.

Identifying relevant health topics means recognizing which health topics feel most meaningful or useful to a student and the people around them at this point in their life, so that attention and effort can be focused where they matter most. A topic that feels very relevant to one student, like managing nervousness before a big event, might feel less urgent to another student focused on building a new sleep routine.

Diagram: What Matters Most to Me Right Now

What Matters Most to Me Right Now MicroSim

Type: microsim sim-id: what-matters-most-right-now
Library: vis-network
Status: Specified

Bloom Taxonomy: Evaluate (L5) Bloom Taxonomy Verb: prioritize, judge, justify

Learning objective: Students prioritize which health topics from across the book feel most personally relevant right now and justify their choice in a short reflection.

Purpose: Give students a concrete way to connect the whole book's topics back to their own life and choose where to focus next, tying together every strand covered this year.

Layout: A radial node map with "Me" in the center and eight surrounding topic nodes drawn from the book's strands — Food Choices, Growth and Changing Bodies, Feelings and Coping, Physical Activity, Safety Habits, Friendships and Respect, Communication Skills, Personal Health Goals.

Interactive features: Drag any topic node closer to "Me" to mark it as more relevant right now, or farther away to mark it as less relevant currently. Clicking a node reveals a one-sentence reminder of what that topic covers. A "Save My Top Choice" button lets the student type a short reason their closest topic matters most right now.

Visual styling: Warm, friendly palette matching earlier chapter diagrams; simple circular icons, no realistic depictions of people.

Implementation: vis-network with draggable nodes and a simple text-reflection field; responsive layout for narrower screens.

Quick Check for Read-Aloud Time — Click to expand

Ask the class: "Why might two students pick different 'most relevant' health topics, even though they read the same book?" Then reveal: "Every student's life, body, and feelings are a little different, so the topics that matter most right now can be different too — and that's perfectly normal."

You Finished the Whole Grade 3 Book!

What an incredible journey, friend! You've explored the foundations of health, safety, wellness, food, relationships, growing bodies, feelings, and now communication and goals. You've grown so much as a healthy, caring person this year. Healthy choices, happy you!

Wrap-Up for Teachers

By chapter's end, most Grade 3 students should demonstrate verbal and nonverbal communication skills, including in decision-making situations (3.7.4.1), express thoughts, feelings, wants, and needs using I-statements with support (3.7.4.2), identify a personal health-related behavior to set a goal and determine whether assistance is needed (3.7.6.1), examine practices and behaviors that support health and wellbeing (3.7.7.1), and identify health topics relevant and meaningful to themselves and others (3.7.8.1). The MicroSims progress from Remember-level recognition (body language matching) through Apply-level practice (active listening, I-statements) to Analyze-level examination (goal quality, health-practice self-check) and Evaluate-level prioritization (relevant topics), matching Grade 3's introduction of genuine evaluative benchmarks. The goal-setting MicroSims are designed for guided, individual use with a teacher or family member nearby, consistent with this band's teacher-as-primary-audience approach. As the closing chapter of the Grade 3 book, consider pairing this chapter with a brief family take-home reflection on the student's chosen personal health goal.