The Parsippany-Troy Hills School District is committed to preparing our students for the Twenty-First Century through a progressive, sequential and comprehensive school health curriculum. Our comprehensive school health curriculum offers age-appropriate and culturally sensitive curricula, helping students develop the knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviors to adopt a health-enhancing lifestyle.
The curriculum is student-centered, focusing on how one grows and develops from conception to death. Also covered are affirmative action issues from sexual harassment to physical abuse to date rape. Topics relating to family life and human sexuality are age-appropriate and reviewed by the Teaching & Learning Committee of the Board of Education.
The health curriculum is in compliance with the New Jersey Department of Education’s mandates. The following is a brief synopsis of the Health Education/Family Life content for grade clusters. If further clarification is needed, please call the building principal or the Supervisor of Health and Physical Education. In addition, a complete course of study may be accessed on the district website.
Permission slips are sent home weeks prior to the Family Life presentation, but you may notify the school in writing at any time if you wish for your child to be excused from any or part of the Family Life Program. If your child is excused he/she will be given an alternative health project to complete as a substitute for the Family Life unit. It is assumed that you approve of your child’s participation in the Family Life curriculum if the administration does not hear from you.
Grades 1-2: All dimensions of wellness(physical, social, emotional, and intellectual) – growth and development – nutrition – stress management – avoiding diseases –injury prevention – safety skills and practices – using 911 – body systems – five senses – alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs with strategies to develop refusal skills – substance abuse prevention – conflict resolution – relationships (What is a family? Differences in families / respecting each other as members of a family / appropriate ways to demonstrate affection) – physical and mental abuse – stages of development from conception to death.
Grades 3-5: Personal health – all dimensions of wellness (physical, emotional and social) – goal setting – safety and simple first aid procedures – effects of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs – addiction and treatment – body systems – various forms of abuse (verbal, emotional, sexual, and physical) – stress management –conflict resolution – family structures (rights privileges) – puberty education – hormone changes and puberty.
Grades 4-5: Family Life presentation - Human sexuality (taught by the school nurse) - no references provided for sexual activity, only growth and development changes for males and females. Boys and girls are separated - viewing " Always Changing " gender specific version, (4th grade) and "Always Changing" Co-ed version (5th grade).
Grade 6: Adolescent skills – nutrition –disease prevention – social, emotional, and intellectual changes during various life stages – development of health goals – effects of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs – effects of the use of inhalants –decision-making skills – resistance skills – conflict management –legal consequences of drug abuse and misuse – medicine and drug use(dependency and treatment resources) – adolescence and puberty education – HIV/AIDS prevention – fire prevention.
Grade 7: Adolescent skills – stress management– peer pressure/decision-making/resistance skills – relationships(dating, marriage, aspects of love, divorce) – communication skills –reproductive system – endocrine system – puberty and adolescence –STI’s – teen sexuality – effects of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs –taking medicines (symptoms of dependency, treatment resources,addiction) – HIV/AIDS prevention – First Aid.
Grade 8: Personal wellness – influences affecting wellness – life skills for communication – adolescence – conflict management – chemical health – short- and long-term effects of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs – legal issues – social interactions(peer pressure, resistance skills, coping skills) – treatment facilities – disease prevention (hepatitis, STI’s, HIV, AIDS) –reproductive systems – conception – pregnancy and childbirth –contraception-abstinence – sexual orientation.
Grade 9: Personal wellness – weight control/eating disorders – drug education (drug abuse, harmful effects, treatment programs, legal issues) – effects of stimulants, depressants,hallucinogens, anabolic steroids and inhalants – non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular disease and cancer) – human sexuality(reproductive system, methods of contraception) – abstinence – sexually transmitted diseases – violence issues (sexual assault, dating concerns) – elements of depression and suicide awareness
Grade 10: Driver education (theory, injury prevention, safety, alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs and the law)..
Grade 11: Dimensions of emotional health –mental illness – consumer health – sexuality and human development –reproductive health – communication skills – over-the-counter and prescription drug use and abuse – abstinence – relationships – sexually transmitted diseases – parenthood/parenting skills.
Grade 12: Human sexuality – gender roles in society – childbirth – marriage – parenthood – breast self-examination and testicular self-examination – pregnancy – expressions of sexual behavior – rape – death – loss – grief and bereavement –HIV/AIDS/STI’s.
Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 18A: 35-4.7, any child whose parent or guardian presents to the school a signed statement that any part of instruction in Health, Family Life Education or Sex Education is in conflict with his conscience or sincerely-held moral or religious beliefs shall be excused from this portion of the course.
Mr. Michael DiSanto
Coordinating Supervisor of K-12 Physical Education and Health
(862) 702-2756