Essential Health Skills for Middle School is a complete educational package for teaching skills-based health education in the classroom. This second edition features core health topics such as nutrition, physical activity, and mental health plus cutting-edge health topics, such as vaping, opioid addiction, body positivity, self-compassion, social media, mindfulness, and digital citizenship. The abundance of skills-based activities and assessments in Essential Health Skills for Middle School provides flexibility for teaching health and wellness in a relatable, skills-driven way. Students will have multiple opportunities to practice and develop the skills they need to make healthy choices now and throughout their lives.

In addition to core health topics such as nutrition, physical activity, and mental health, this text also includes information about social health and healthy relationships. Content and skills align to the National Health Education Standards.

Each chapter contains skills-based activities that align to the health skill areas in the National Health Education Standards. These activities were created by experts and award-winning health education teachers. Health and wellness content focuses on the skills students can use to make healthy decisions and promote health for themselves and others. Up-to-date terminology and topics make Essential Health Skills for Middle School the most current text available, with reliable health information about tobacco and vaping, medication abuse, online safety, self-care, and body compassion. With the educational package, teachers also receive access to regular content updates written by the expert authors. Key Terms with definitions appear at the beginning of each lesson to provide a base of information for student learning. In addition, the Glossary includes all key terms with their definitions in both English and Spanish. Extensive supplements include customizable lesson plans for each lesson and chapter review, teacher-directed activities with handouts, vocabulary activities, reading guides, parent/trusted adult engagement assignments, review activities for differentiation, performance assessments, workbook activities, animations, and videos.