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Course Description — Kindergarten

This is the Kindergarten section of the Health Education intelligent textbook. It is one of 8 parallel grade-band sections (see the site-wide Course Description); each band has its own concept list, learning graph, chapters, quizzes, MicroSims, and infographics at a matching reading level. Source: 2025 Minnesota K-12 Health Academic Standards, Commissioner Approved (see references.md). Benchmark codes below (e.g. 0.1.1.1) are <grade>.<strand>.<anchor>.<seq> and are included so the learning graph can trace each concept back to its source standard.

Reading Level & Cognitive Demand

Pre-reader / read-aloud. Benchmarks at this band are almost entirely identify, recognize, name — single concrete facts or single trusted actions, not multi-step reasoning. Content should be read-aloud friendly, image-led, and avoid multi-clause sentences.

Audience

Kindergarten students (age ~5-6) and their teachers. No independent reading of body text is assumed — content is designed to be read aloud or delivered through narrated MicroSims and picture-led infographics.

Prerequisites

None. This is the entry point of the K-12 sequence.

Bridging Concepts for Students New to This Band

Not applicable — Kindergarten is the entry point of the collection. Any student, regardless of prior schooling, can start here.

Topics

Food and Nutrition

  • Foods in each food group, connected to personal/community/cultural traditions (0.1.1.1)
  • The main food groups (0.1.1.2)
  • Keeping the body hydrated; recognizing hunger signals (0.1.1.3)
  • Recognizing when food is no longer safe to eat (0.1.1.4)

Human Growth and Development

  • Families come in a variety of structures (0.2.1.1)

Mental and Emotional Health

  • Naming one's own feelings (0.3.1.1)
  • Situations that cause strong/uncomfortable feelings; asking a trusted adult for help (0.3.1.2)
  • Naming/labeling emotions; recognizing prolonged sadness, worry, or upset (0.3.1.3)
  • Showing kindness; identifying kind/unkind behavior, including actions that make others feel included or left out (0.3.1.4)

Personal Health and Wellness

  • Daily personal-care practices that stop germs spreading (handwashing, covering coughs), including cultural/community practices (0.4.1.1)
  • Being active every day; moving the body feels good and keeps you healthy (0.4.1.2)

Personal Safety and Violence Prevention

  • Healthy ways technology can help you learn and play safely (0.5.1.1)
  • Rules and safe behaviors (including community/cultural traditions) prevent injuries at home, school, and in the community (0.5.1.2)
  • Safe places to go in various emergencies at school (0.5.1.3)
  • Correct names for all body parts (0.5.1.4)

Skill Standards (applied across the topics above)

  • Positive and negative influences on personal health practices/behaviors (0.7.2.1)
  • Trusted adults at home, school, and in the community to ask for help (0.7.3.1)
  • Recognizing when a health-related decision is needed (0.7.5.1)
  • A personal health-related goal and supporting practices/behaviors (0.7.7.1)
  • Personal health needs, wants, and desires (0.7.8.1)

Key Vocabulary

food group, hydrated, hunger signal, family structure, feelings/emotions, trusted adult, kind/unkind, germs, handwashing, physical activity, body parts, emergency, safe place, personal health goal

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes below are grouped by Bloom's Taxonomy level and traced to their source benchmark codes. Kindergarten benchmarks are concentrated in Remember and Understand by design — this is a pre-reader, read-aloud band.

1. Remember

By the end of Kindergarten, the student will be able to:

  1. Name the main food groups (0.1.1.2).
  2. Recall foods that belong to each food group and connect them to personal, family, or cultural traditions (0.1.1.1).
  3. Recall signs of hunger and how to stay hydrated (0.1.1.3).
  4. Recall that food can become unsafe to eat (0.1.1.4).
  5. Recall that families come in a variety of structures (0.2.1.1).
  6. Name their own feelings (0.3.1.1).
  7. Recall situations that may cause strong or uncomfortable feelings (0.3.1.2).
  8. Name and label different emotions (0.3.1.3).
  9. Recall daily personal-care actions such as handwashing and covering coughs (0.4.1.1).
  10. Name healthy, safe uses of technology (0.5.1.1).
  11. Recall safe places to go during a school emergency (0.5.1.3).
  12. Recall the correct names for all body parts (0.5.1.4).
  13. Name trusted adults at home, school, and in the community (0.7.3.1).
  14. Recall personal health needs, wants, and desires (0.7.8.1).

2. Understand

  1. Explain how to ask a trusted adult for help with a strong or uncomfortable feeling (0.3.1.2).
  2. Explain the difference between kind and unkind behavior, including actions that make others feel included or left out (0.3.1.4).
  3. Explain why daily movement helps the body feel good and stay healthy (0.4.1.2).
  4. Explain how rules and safe behaviors — including those rooted in community and cultural traditions — prevent injuries at home, school, and in the community (0.5.1.2).
  5. Explain when a health-related decision is needed (0.7.5.1).

3. Apply

  1. Practice daily personal-care habits such as handwashing and covering coughs (0.4.1.1).
  2. Practice kind behavior toward classmates during play (0.3.1.4).
  3. Practice using technology in a healthy, safe way during learning and play (0.5.1.1).
  4. Role-play asking a trusted adult for help in an uncomfortable or unsafe situation (0.3.1.2, 0.7.3.1).

4. Analyze

  1. Distinguish a positive influence on personal health from a negative one (0.7.2.1).
  2. Distinguish kind behavior from unkind behavior in a given scenario (0.3.1.4).
  3. Distinguish safe food from food that is no longer safe to eat (0.1.1.4).
  4. Distinguish a safe technology situation from an unsafe one (0.5.1.1).

5. Evaluate

MDE's Kindergarten benchmarks do not include an evaluative comparison/judgment task — this is a deliberate developmental choice in the standards, not a gap in this description. Evaluative reasoning (comparing options, weighing evidence) begins at Grade 2-3 (see those bands' course descriptions). Content generators should not force an evaluate-level MicroSim or quiz question at this band.

6. Create

  1. State one personal health-related goal (e.g., "I will wash my hands before eating") (0.7.7.1).