Although some school systems want to wait until children are older before discussing topics such as drugs, some students are exposed to drugs by the time they are 12 and 13 -- in other words, by the time they are in seventh grade. Create a visual health project that focuses on teaching kids about the negative effects of drugs, including risks to the body, brain and psychology. For this project, each student should choose one drug and show the effects of usage after different time periods -- say, after one year and after five years. At the end of the lesson, host a forum with recovering addicts.
Depression, suicide and mental issues are a common part of seventh-grade curricula. At this age, students must deal with identity issues, which can lead to actions that affect their mental and physical health. Create a project that emphasizes ways to deal with negative emotions. For example: The University of Texas at Dallas suggests journaling as a way to deal with depression. Your health class could create journals to use when they need to record their emotions, thoughts and feelings. After using these journals every day for a week, instruct the students to talk or write about the influence of journaling on their daily lives. (Don't force students to share information from their journals.)
Create a health project on stream and water health and how unhealthy water can hurt the body, based on a project performed by Kawananakoa Middle School in Hawaii. To do this, buy a water testing kit from the Internet or a local science store. Carefully collect water samples from the local water supply; wear gloves in order to not taint the samples. Test the water according to the kit's directions. After testing the water, discuss the different chemicals found in drinking water that could affect the human body.
In middle school, students begin to make health choices that affect their future, especially with regard to nutrition. Explain the new food pyramid from MyPyramid, which focuses less on numbers of servings and more on the ratio of one food group to another. Create a project in which each student records her food intake for a week and finds one way to improve her diet during the following week. For example, a student who drinks soda each morning might replace this with a glass of water and an apple. At the end of the two-week period, instruct students to write a paragraph about any health improvements that they notice about their change in diet.