As you prepare to teach this lesson, you may find it helpful to review the Teacher Resource called "Sleep Barriers Background" which explains why/how caffeine and screen time are so disruptive to sleep. You don't have to share this with your students - it's just background to make teaching the lesson easier for you.

This lesson includes an authentic nonfiction text—a compilation of information based on articles that appeared in Pediatrics (the research journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics) and Sleep (a research journal by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society). The handout includes the article and text-based questions for students to answer. The handout can be printed for each student – or projected onto a whiteboard for classroom discussion.

Have you shown your class the Interactive Presentation yet? If not, start there. If you taught the Interactive Presentation on a different day, then remind students of these key concepts:

• At this age, your body needs 10 to 11 hours of sleep every night.
• Caffeine and screen time are the two biggest reasons that kids don’t get enough sleep.
• Getting enough sleep helps your body grow, helps it recover from daily activity, is important for learning and memory, and allows healing from recovery and illness.

Group students in twos or threes and distribute copies of the article and questions. Have the groups read the article together and answer the questions that follow. Monitor the groups’ progress and support them with questions like these:

• Where does the text say that?
• What details in the text support your answer?
• Can you quote a fact in the text that supports your idea?

Bring the whole class together and invite students to share their responses.

• 1. How much screen time does the average 8- to 18-year-old get each day? 7 hours
• 2. Name three kinds of activities or devices that are considered screen time: Computer, TV, game systems, cell phones.
• 3. List at least four facts that researchers have learned about screen time:
• The more screen time, the less someone sleeps
• Kids who have lots of screen time get lower grades
• Screen time is linked to being overweight
• Computers interfere with sleep as much as TV does
• Computers and TVs in bedrooms interfere with sleep
• Violent children’s programs cause sleep problems
• Screen time after 7 pm causes sleep problems
• 4. According to researchers, what is the total number of screen-time hours kids should be allowed to have each day? 2 hours
• 5. What happens to the brain during screen time? Screen time excites the brain, making you less sleepy.

After the reading, lead students using the following discussion questions:

• What do you think about limiting screen time?
• How much time per day do you spend plugged into a TV, computer, video game or cell phone?
• Have you noticed any sleep problems?
• Have you noticed any difficulties in school that might be related to the amount of screen time you have?

After discussion, have students work in small groups to come up with strategies to reduce their screen time. Then gather students and invite them to share their best suggestions for limiting screen time.