HEALTH EDUCATION STANDARDS
Texas Health Education Standards Alignment
Lessonbee learning experiences align with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Health Education, connecting real-life, skill-building learning with state curriculum requirements.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Health Education
The standards below represent the current Texas Health Education TEKS reflected in Lessonbee’s validated curriculum alignment. The Texas standards are organized across six strands: physical health and hygiene; mental health and wellness; healthy eating and physical activity; injury and violence prevention and safety; alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs; and reproductive and sexual health.
Grade 6
| Standard | Topic Area & Standard | Standard Description | Aligned Lesson |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.A | Mental Health and Wellness · Risk and Protective Factors | Identify and discuss how adolescent brain development influences emotions, decision making, and logic. | Trauma and Sleep Disorders |
| 6.A | Mental Health and Wellness · Identifying and Managing Mental Health and Wellness Concerns | Examine the outcomes of healthy and unhealthy methods for managing challenges related to long-term health conditions of self and others. | Trauma and Sleep Disorders |
| 6.D | Mental Health and Wellness · Identifying and Managing Mental Health and Wellness Concerns | Describe healthy and unhealthy self-management strategies for stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, loss, and grief. | Trauma and Sleep Disorders |
| 6.G | Mental Health and Wellness · Identifying and Managing Mental Health and Wellness Concerns | Explain the role of a healthy self-concept in avoiding self-harming behaviors that can occur when someone is struggling to manage overwhelming emotions. | Trauma and Sleep Disorders |
Grade 7-8
Physical Health and Hygiene
| Standard | Topic Area & Standard | Standard Description | Aligned Lesson(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.A | Physical Health and Hygiene · Body Systems | Describe the relationships among the body systems. | How the Body Works |
| 2.A | Physical Health and Hygiene · Personal Health and Hygiene | List specific resources or facilities where members of the community can obtain medical care. | How the Body Works |
| 2.B | Physical Health and Hygiene · Personal Health and Hygiene | Explain ways to use health information to help self and others, including seizure awareness, diabetes education, and response plans such as first aid or cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). | Making Healthy Choices |
| 2.C | Physical Health and Hygiene · Personal Health and Hygiene | Identify barriers related to solving health problems and ways to overcome barriers. | How the Body Works |
| 2.D | Physical Health and Hygiene · Personal Health and Hygiene | Explain the course, signs, symptoms, and treatments of vector-borne illnesses such as Lyme disease or West Nile Virus. | How the Body Works |
Mental Health and Wellness
| Standard | Topic Area & Standard | Standard Description | Aligned Lesson(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.B | Mental Health and Wellness · Social and Emotional Health | Analyze the relationship between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and demonstrate healthy techniques for managing reactions in times of emotional stress. | What is Mental Health?; Trauma and Sleep Disorders |
| 3.C | Mental Health and Wellness · Social and Emotional Health | Evaluate the importance of social groups and peer influences and explain how they can affect individual mental health and wellness. | What is Mental Health?; Managing Stress and Building Resilience; Mental and Emotional Disorders |
| 3.D | Mental Health and Wellness · Social and Emotional Health | Demonstrate perspective-taking and communication skills for building and maintaining healthy relationships and determining when and how to end unhealthy relationships. | Communicating and Respecting Boundaries; Teen Dating Violence and Conflict Resolution |
| 3.E | Mental Health and Wellness · Social and Emotional Health | Analyze similarities and differences between one’s own and others’ perspectives. | Communicating and Respecting Boundaries; Teen Dating Violence and Conflict Resolution; Managing Stress and Building Resilience; Trauma and Sleep Disorders |
| 4.A | Mental Health and Wellness · Developing a Healthy Self-Concept | Describe how internal and external factors influence self-esteem. | What is Mental Health?; Mental and Emotional Disorders |
| 4.B | Mental Health and Wellness · Developing a Healthy Self-Concept | Identify and develop strategies for setting long-term personal goals. | What is Mental Health? |
| 4.C | Mental Health and Wellness · Developing a Healthy Self-Concept | Create and discuss personal life goals that one wishes to achieve and consider the financial impact of graduating from high school, having a full-time job, and waiting until marriage if one plans to have children. | What is Mental Health? |
| 4.D | Mental Health and Wellness · Developing a Healthy Self-Concept | Identify decision-making skills that promote individual, family, and community mental health. | What is Mental Health?; Managing Stress and Building Resilience; Trauma and Sleep Disorders |
| 5.A | Mental Health and Wellness · Risk and Protective Factors | Explain how adolescent brain development influences cognitive processing, emotions, and decision making. | Managing Stress and Building Resilience; Trauma and Sleep Disorders |
| 5.B | Mental Health and Wellness · Risk and Protective Factors | Identify and describe how environmental influences such as air, water, or noise can affect an individual’s mental health. | Managing Stress and Building Resilience; Trauma and Sleep Disorders |
| 5.C | Mental Health and Wellness · Risk and Protective Factors | Discuss the influence of childhood trauma and how to recognize, process, and overcome negative events. | Mental and Emotional Disorders; Trauma and Sleep Disorders |
| 6.A | Mental Health and Wellness · Identifying and Managing Mental Health and Wellness Concerns | Describe methods to support others who have long-term physical health conditions. | Mental and Emotional Disorders |
| 6.B | Mental Health and Wellness · Identifying and Managing Mental Health and Wellness Concerns | Examine ways to influence peers positively and promote resiliency in others in stressful situations. | What is Mental Health? |
| 6.C | Mental Health and Wellness · Identifying and Managing Mental Health and Wellness Concerns | Differentiate between healthy and unhealthy self-management strategies for stress, anxiety, depression, trauma, loss, and grief. | Managing Stress and Building Resilience; Trauma and Sleep Disorders |
| 6.D | Mental Health and Wellness · Identifying and Managing Mental Health and Wellness Concerns | Describe the consequences of disordered eating and eating disorders such as bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating disorder and the importance of seeking help from a parent or another trusted adult for oneself or others related to disordered eating. | Mental and Emotional Disorders |
| 6.E | Mental Health and Wellness · Identifying and Managing Mental Health and Wellness Concerns | Discuss suicide risk and protective factors identified by the CDC and the importance of telling a parent or another trusted adult if warning signs are observed in self or others. | Mental and Emotional Disorders |
| 6.F | Mental Health and Wellness · Identifying and Managing Mental Health and Wellness Concerns | Research and discuss protective factors and healthy self-management strategies to avoid self-harming behaviors. | Mental and Emotional Disorders |
| 6.G | Mental Health and Wellness · Identifying and Managing Mental Health and Wellness Concerns | Examine how the use of suicide prevention resources can reduce the likelihood of suicide. | Mental and Emotional Disorders |
Healthy Eating and Physical Activity
| Standard | Topic Area & Standard | Standard Description | Aligned Lesson(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7.A | Healthy Eating and Physical Activity · Food and Beverage Daily Recommendations | Analyze food labels and menus to determine the nutritional value of foods and make healthy decisions about daily caloric intake. | Caring for Your Body |
| 7.B | Healthy Eating and Physical Activity · Food and Beverage Daily Recommendations | Develop a personal dietary plan. | Caring for Your Body |
| 7.C | Healthy Eating and Physical Activity · Food and Beverage Daily Recommendations | Identify and practice strategies for choosing healthy foods and beverages in diverse social environments, including at home, at school, and while dining out. | Making Healthy Choices |
| 8.A | Healthy Eating and Physical Activity · Physical Activity | Explain the relationships between nutrition, physical activity, quality of life, and disease in terms of their mental, physical, and social benefits. | Caring for Your Body |
| 8.B | Healthy Eating and Physical Activity · Physical Activity | Identify how to balance caloric intake and physical activity. | Making Healthy Choices |
| 8.C | Healthy Eating and Physical Activity · Physical Activity | Apply the CDC guidelines for daily physical activity to develop a physical fitness plan using appropriate technology. | Caring for Your Body |
| 9.A | Healthy Eating and Physical Activity · Nutrition and Physical Activity Literacy | Develop and examine progress of short- and long-term goals toward achieving appropriate levels of physical activity, improving personal physical fitness level, and making healthy personal food choices. | Caring for Your Body |
| 9.B | Healthy Eating and Physical Activity · Nutrition and Physical Activity Literacy | Explain how media influences buying decisions regarding physical fitness equipment or nutritional products. | Making Healthy Choices |
| 10.A | Healthy Eating and Physical Activity · Risk and Protective Factors | Analyze the impact of moderate physical activity and healthy dietary practices in the prevention of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. | Caring for Your Body |
| 10.B | Healthy Eating and Physical Activity · Risk and Protective Factors | Analyze risk factors that may lead to the development of chronic conditions and formulate strategies to reduce the likelihood of developing chronic conditions. | Making Healthy Choices; How the Body Works |
| 10.C | Healthy Eating and Physical Activity · Risk and Protective Factors | Identify community and digital resources that can assist in developing healthy eating and physical activity behaviors. | Making Healthy Choices |
| 10.D | Healthy Eating and Physical Activity · Risk and Protective Factors | Investigate and compare the nutritional differences between preparing and serving fresh or minimally processed food and serving commercially prepared or highly processed foods. | Caring for Your Body |
Injury and Violence Prevention and Safety
| Standard | Topic Area & Standard | Standard Description | Aligned Lesson(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11.A | Injury and Violence Prevention and Safety · Safety Skills and Unintentional Injury | Demonstrate basic first-aid procedures, including CPR and the choking rescue. | Violence Prevention and Safety |
| 12.A | Injury and Violence Prevention and Safety · Healthy Home, School, and Community Climate | Analyze strategies for and the benefits of avoiding violence, gangs, weapons, and human trafficking. | Violence Prevention and Safety; Child Trafficking Awareness and Prevention |
| 12.B | Injury and Violence Prevention and Safety · Healthy Home, School, and Community Climate | Define safe haven and identify designated safe haven locations in the community. | Child Trafficking Awareness and Prevention |
| 12.C | Injury and Violence Prevention and Safety · Healthy Home, School, and Community Climate | Evaluate the dangers associated with a variety of weapons. | Violence Prevention and Safety |
| 12.D | Injury and Violence Prevention and Safety · Healthy Home, School, and Community Climate | Evaluate the importance of complying with rules prohibiting possession of and the improper use of weapons. | Violence Prevention and Safety |
| 12.E | Injury and Violence Prevention and Safety · Healthy Home, School, and Community Climate | Create a personal safety plan. | Child Trafficking Awareness and Prevention |
| 13.A | Injury and Violence Prevention and Safety · Digital Citizenship and Media | Develop strategies to resist inappropriate digital and online communication such as social media posts, sending and receiving photos, sexting, and pornography. | Cyberbullying and Identity Protection |
| 13.B | Injury and Violence Prevention and Safety · Digital Citizenship and Media | Discuss and analyze the consequences resulting from inappropriate digital and online communication such as social media posts, sending and receiving photos, sexting, and pornography. | Cyberbullying and Identity Protection; Child Trafficking Awareness and Prevention |
| 13.C | Injury and Violence Prevention and Safety · Digital Citizenship and Media | Evaluate strategies and techniques for identity protection in digital and online environments. | Cyberbullying and Identity Protection |
| 13.D | Injury and Violence Prevention and Safety · Digital Citizenship and Media | Identify how technology is used to recruit or manipulate potential victims of sex trafficking. | Child Trafficking Awareness and Prevention |
| 13.E | Injury and Violence Prevention and Safety · Digital Citizenship and Media | Research the current legal consequences of cyberbullying and inappropriate digital and online communication. | Cyberbullying and Identity Protection |
| 14.A | Injury and Violence Prevention and Safety · Interpersonal Violence | Identify forms of family violence, including physical, mental, and emotional violence. | Violence Prevention and Safety |
| 14.B | Injury and Violence Prevention and Safety · Interpersonal Violence | Describe the serious effects of bullying, cyberbullying, or harassment such as suicidal ideation and other effects on the individual. | Cyberbullying and Identity Protection |
| 14.C | Injury and Violence Prevention and Safety · Interpersonal Violence | Explain the responsibility to report bullying behavior, including cyberbullying. | Cyberbullying and Identity Protection |
| 14.D | Injury and Violence Prevention and Safety · Interpersonal Violence | Describe the seriousness of various forms of bullying such as harassment. | Cyberbullying and Identity Protection |
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs
| Standard | Topic Area & Standard | Standard Description | Aligned Lesson(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15.A | Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs · Use, Misuse, and Physiological Effects | Differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate use of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, including combining drugs, and the outcomes of each. | How Drugs Affect the Body |
| 15.B | Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs · Use, Misuse, and Physiological Effects | Identify and describe the categories of prescription drugs and their proper uses. | How Drugs Affect the Body |
| 15.C | Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs · Use, Misuse, and Physiological Effects | Identify and explain the importance of each component of an over-the-counter drug warning label. | How Drugs Affect the Body |
| 15.D | Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs · Use, Misuse, and Physiological Effects | Describe how substance misuse and addiction to alcohol, tobacco, vaping products, drugs, and other substances, including prescription drugs, affect the body systems and brain. | How Vaping Affects the Body; The Risks of Alcohol Abuse |
| 16.A | Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs · Short- and Long-Term Impacts | Analyze and explain the short- and long-term health consequences of addiction to alcohol and tobacco and prescription and over-the-counter drug misuse and substance use disorders. | The Risks of Alcohol Abuse |
| 16.B | Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs · Short- and Long-Term Impacts | Analyze the importance of alternative activities to drug and substance use and misuse on mental and social health. | How Vaping Affects the Body; How Drugs Affect the Body |
| 16.C | Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs · Short- and Long-Term Impacts | Analyze the legal consequences of the use and misuse of alcohol; tobacco; drugs, including prescription drugs; and other substances. | The Risks of Alcohol Abuse |
| 17.A | Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs · Treatment | Identify and describe treatment options for substance abuse and addiction. | How Vaping Affects the Body; The Risks of Alcohol Abuse |
| 17.B | Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs · Treatment | Identify signs and symptoms of alcohol; tobacco; drugs, including prescription drugs; and other substance use and misuse such as using medicine prescribed for someone else or for reasons other than intended. | The Risks of Alcohol Abuse |
| 17.C | Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs · Treatment | Identify at least one example of who, when, where, and how to get help related to the use and misuse of alcohol; tobacco; drugs, including prescription drugs; and other substances. | How Vaping Affects the Body; The Risks of Alcohol Abuse |
| 18.A | Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs · Risk and Protective Factors | Examine the effects and role of peer influence on decision making and problem solving regarding the use and misuse of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs. | How Vaping Affects the Body; The Dangers of Tobacco and Nicotine; The Risks of Alcohol Abuse |
| 18.B | Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs · Risk and Protective Factors | Examine physical and social influences on alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use behaviors. | The Dangers of Tobacco and Nicotine |
| 18.C | Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs · Risk and Protective Factors | Differentiate among the relationships of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and other substances and the roles these substances play in unsafe situations such as drinking and driving. | The Risks of Alcohol Abuse |
| 18.D | Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs · Risk and Protective Factors | Identify support systems and describe ways to report the suspected abuse of drugs to a parent, school administrator, teacher, or another trusted adult. | How Drugs Affect the Body |
| 19.A | Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs · Prevention | Develop and apply strategies, including demonstrating refusal skills, for avoiding alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs in various scenarios. | The Dangers of Tobacco and Nicotine; The Risks of Alcohol Abuse |
Reproductive and Sexual Health
| Standard | Topic Area & Standard | Standard Description | Aligned Lesson(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20.A | Reproductive and Sexual Health · Healthy Relationships | Compare and contrast the difference between friendship, infatuation, dating/romantic relationships, and marriage. | Pregnancy Prevention and Risk Reduction Strategies |
| 20.B | Reproductive and Sexual Health · Healthy Relationships | Explain how friendships provide a foundation for healthy dating/romantic relationships. | Pregnancy Prevention and Risk Reduction Strategies |
| 20.C | Reproductive and Sexual Health · Healthy Relationships | Describe healthy ways to express friendship, affection, and love. | Communicating and Respecting Boundaries |
| 20.D | Reproductive and Sexual Health · Healthy Relationships | Describe appropriate and effective methods of communicating emotions in healthy dating/romantic relationships and marriage. | Communicating and Respecting Boundaries; Teen Dating Violence and Conflict Resolution |
| 20.E | Reproductive and Sexual Health · Healthy Relationships | Evaluate the importance of mutual respect, trust, support, honesty, commitment, and reliability in healthy dating/romantic relationships and marriage. | Pregnancy Prevention and Risk Reduction Strategies; Communicating and Respecting Boundaries; Teen Dating Violence and Conflict Resolution |
| 20.F | Reproductive and Sexual Health · Healthy Relationships | Describe behaviors in dating/romantic relationships that enhance dignity and respect. | Communicating and Respecting Boundaries |
| 20.G | Reproductive and Sexual Health · Healthy Relationships | Describe the benefits of healthy marriages, including companionship and social, emotional, financial, and health benefits. | Pregnancy Prevention and Risk Reduction Strategies |
| 21.C | Reproductive and Sexual Health · Personal Safety, Limits, and Boundaries | Define dating violence and the characteristics of unhealthy or harmful relationships, including anger, controlling behavior, jealousy, manipulation, and isolation. | Consent and Abuse of Power |
| 21.D | Reproductive and Sexual Health · Personal Safety, Limits, and Boundaries | Identify protective strategies for avoiding unsafe situations that heighten the risk of sexual harassment, sexual abuse, sexual assault, sex trafficking, and teen dating violence. | Consent and Abuse of Power |
| 21.E | Reproductive and Sexual Health · Personal Safety, Limits, and Boundaries | Explain the importance of reporting to a parent or another trusted adult sexual harassment, sexual abuse, sexual assault, sex trafficking, and dating violence involving self or others. | Consent and Abuse of Power |
| 21.F | Reproductive and Sexual Health · Personal Safety, Limits, and Boundaries | Describe how a healthy sense of self and making decisions regarding setting and respecting personal boundaries promote healthy dating/romantic relationships. | Communicating and Respecting Boundaries |
| 22.A | Reproductive and Sexual Health · Anatomy, Puberty, Reproduction, and Pregnancy | Compare and contrast the physical, hormonal, and emotional changes in males and females that occur during puberty and adolescence. | How the Body Works |
| 22.B | Reproductive and Sexual Health · Anatomy, Puberty, Reproduction, and Pregnancy | Identify how the process of fertilization occurs between a man and a woman through sexual intercourse. | Pregnancy Prevention and Risk Reduction Strategies |
| 23.A | Reproductive and Sexual Health · Sexual Risk | Explain how teen pregnancy is a possible outcome of sexual activity. | Reproductive Health and Responsibility |
| 23.D | Reproductive and Sexual Health · Sexual Risk | Describe various modes of transmission of STDs/STIs. | STD Review |
| 23.K | Reproductive and Sexual Health · Sexual Risk | Analyze the importance of abstinence as the preferred choice of behavior in relationship to all sexual activity for unmarried persons of school age. | Pregnancy Prevention and Risk Reduction Strategies |
View the Official Texas Health Education Content Standards
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Health Education
Texas Education Agency, 19 TAC Chapter 115
Middle School Health Education TEKS
Grade 6 (§115.26) and Grades 7–8 (§115.27)