Grade 8 Health Colorado standards Standards

Physical and Personal Wellness

Demonstrate the ability to make healthy food choices in a variety of settings.

Develop strategies for making healthier food and beverage choices in a variety of settings such as eating out, at home, with friends, or at school.

Describe the influences that impact healthy food choices.

Describe the physical, emotional, mental, and social benefits of sexual abstinence, and develop strategies to resist pressures to become sexually active.

Demonstrate the ability to anticipate and minimize exposure to situations that pose a risk to sexual health.

Demonstrate verbal and nonverbal ways to refuse pressure to engage in unwanted verbal, physical, and sexual activity and advances.

Define sexual consent and explain why individuals have the right to refuse sexual contact.

Seek support to be sexually abstinent.

Develop personal standards for dating situations.

Analyze how certain behaviors place one at greater risk for HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and unintended pregnancy.

Explain the benefits and effectiveness of abstinence in preventing HIV, STDs, and unintended pregnancy.

Explain the benefits and effectiveness and potential side effects of contraceptives in reducing the risk of HIV, other STDs, and unintended pregnancy.

Describe the risk relationship between using alcohol and other drugs and sexual activity.

Demonstrate peer resistance skills and personal boundary behavior.

Examine how healthy relationships can impact one’s risk for avoiding STDs.

Describe the signs and symptoms of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

Describe the signs, symptoms, and transmission of common STDs, including HIV, HPV, and chlamydia.

Explain that some STDs are asymptomatic.

Summarize which STDs can be cured, prevented by vaccine, and be treated.

Promote and enhance health through disease prevention.

Explain contributing factors to health status.

Analyze the relationship among poor eating habits, inactivity, tobacco and alcohol use, and health status.

Explain the body’s response to disuse and other stressors.

Explain how the immune system functions to prevent and combat disease.

Describe the potential health consequences of popular fads or trends.

Social and Emotional Wellness

Access valid and reliable school and community resources to help with mental and emotional health concerns.

Explain that why getting help for mental and emotional health problems is appropriate and sometimes necessary.

Understand that stereotypes exist about mental and emotional problems, and those stereotypes can influence a person’s desire to seek help.

Explain when it is necessary and how to seek help for mental and emotional health problems: such as depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicidal ideations, and mood, eating, and sleep disorders.

Determine valid and reliable mental and emotional health resources.

Analyze internal and external factors that influence mental and emotional health.

Analyze how culture, media, and others influence personal feelings and behaviors.

Describe how personal and family values and feelings influence choices.

Describe strategies to minimize negative influences on mental and emotional health.

Analyze internal factors that contribute to mental and emotional health.

Identify the factors that could negatively influence a person’s well-being with regard to depression, suicide, and/or self-harm.

Identify internal and external influences on one’s body image.

Describe the signs, symptoms, and consequences of common eating disorders.

Prevention and Risk Management

Analyze influences that impact individuals’ use or non-use of marijuana, illegal drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

Analyze potential risks and protective factors (e.g., personal, family, and peer) that could impact drug use (marijuana, illegal drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol, and tobacco).

Determine situations that could lead to the drug use (marijuana, illegal drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol, and tobacco).

Describe how mental and emotional health and life circumstances can affect the use of marijuana, illegal drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

Determine current cultural and societal drug trends and how they could potentially influence adolescent use or non-use.

Access valid sources of information about use of marijuana, illegal drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

Analyze the validity of information, products, and services related to the use of marijuana, illegal drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol, and tobacco.

Analyze the accuracy of images of use of marijuana, illegal drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol, and tobacco conveyed in the media, including advertisements.

Demonstrate decision-making skills to be drug free (marijuana, illegal drugs, abuse of prescription drugs, alcohol, and tobacco).

Use a decision-making process to avoid using drugs in a variety of situations (marijuana, illegal drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol, and tobacco).

Analyze choices about using marijuana, illegal drugs, prescription drugs, alcohol, and tobacco and how these choices can affect friends and family.

Develop personal plans to be and drug free.

Analyze the factors that influence violent and nonviolent behavior.

Identify media and cultural messages that could lead to different types of violence, including relational and sexual violence.

Examine the presence of violence in the media and its possible effects on violent behavior.

Describe how one’s beliefs, values, and familial and peer relationships could promote relational violence.

Identify verbal and nonverbal communication that constitutes sexual harassment.

Recognize behaviors that are perceived as sexually coercive, and behaviors that are crimes.

Explain why and how rape and sexual assault should be reported to a parent or trusted adult and appropriate legal authorities.

Formulate a plan to advocate for healthy, violence-free, respectful relationships for one’s self and community.

Determine who (adults) to report potentially unsafe behaviors/situations to both inside and outside of school.

Demonstrate ways to advocate for a positive, respectful school and community environment that supports pro-social behavior.

Use nutritional evidence to describe a healthy diet and an unhealthy diet.

Analyze and describe the relationship among healthy eating, physical activity, and chronic diseases such as obesity, heart disease, cancer, type-2 diabetes, hypertension, and osteoporosis.

Describe the importance of eating a variety of foods to balance nutrient and caloric needs.

Explain the effects of disordered eating and eating disorders on healthy growth and development.

Analyze the relationship between eating behavior and metabolism.