Category: FCS Teachers

Book Study

Does your school or state require you to do a Danielson Framework project as part of your evaluation? Or are you required to participate in a professional learning community? If you can answer “yes” to either of those questions, you may be interested in leading a book study around the book titled, “The Secret History of Home Economics” by Danielle Dreilinger like Ellen Bolton and Sue Kinney did with members of the PAFACS organization. Read on to see how this was accomplished.

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The Wild Unicorn Game

So excited to share “The Wild Unicorn Game” created by the talented Tisha Richmond! Tisha is a Student Engagement & PD Specialist and Canvas Coordinator and former FACS teacher from Oregon. You may be familiar with her blog, podcast and book titled, “Make Learning Magical” (affiliate link) which offer a variety of engaging teaching and gamification activities! Read on to find out more about how to play “The Wild Unicorn Game!”

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Towering Block ZONK Review Game

There’s an App in the iTunes store called the “Zonk Review Game”. It looked like a fun, interactive game. Unfortunately, there was a small fee to purchase which made it a “no go” for me as my school district doesn’t pay for Apps. I started asking myself how I could adapt this game using games I already had…and guess what? I figured out that I could use my towering block games as a substitute for the digital game. The beauty of this adaptation is that it’s still interactive, still competitive and easy to create and use. And if that wasn’t enough…this activity gets bonus points because I can reuse it over and over again in any content area. Read on to find out how you too can adapt and create this game for your own classroom review games.

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Mindful Eating: A Talking Point Lesson & Activity

Talking point lessons may just become a reoccurring series!  I love when I stumble upon a topic that is both interesting and engaging, but doesn’t require a lot of time and effort. These types of lessons are great for sub plans, unexpected assemblies, early dismissals or weather delays that can wreak havoc on keeping classes on the same timeline. Many districts are requiring teachers to present their students with e-lessons on snow days.  What better way to do this than with a talking points lesson that you can cater and adapt to your needs!  This lesson and activity revolve around “mindful eating” because most of us often do the opposite!  So, learn more about how you and your students can become more mindful of your eating! On a side note, if you have a topic that might lend itself well to a talking points lesson and/or activity, please let me know in the comment section below and I’ll see what I can do!

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FCS Related Careers Game

To help boost exposure and interest in FCS related careers, I developed this interactive game to help students explore careers and related careers within our field. This is an interactive, small group activity that can be very competitive and fun, especially for junior high level students! All you need are some dice, a game board and optional electronic devices.  This is a great activity to do when you need to fill a day before school breaks, between units or changing class rotations!

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First Aid Injury Scenarios: Flipgrid Style

If you teach a unit on handling childhood injuries, this lesson is a must for you to try! After learning about Flipgrid through a teacher in-service, Diane Senkoski, a sixth grade FACS teacher from Pennsylvania,  created a super engaging lesson for students of all ages, using the free app. Even if you are not a 1:1 school or have access to technology, the lesson can be easily adapted for live performances!  So, what are you waiting for…set up your free Fligprid account and get started!

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Spotlight on a FACS Blog: Kayla Pins

Sometimes the non-school related blogs I follow do a blog hopping where they share other people’s blogs. I thought that would be a great idea to do this with Family & Consumer Science teachers who write their own blogs. The featured blog in this post belongs to Kayla Pins, a Health and Family & Consumer Sciences teacher, who hails from Iowa and teaches grades 7-12 at Cascade Jr.-Sr. High School. I email interviewed Kayla some questions about her blog…so read on to learn more and see some of the impressive lessons she has to offer!

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Reading List for the FACS Classroom

Many schools are encouraging their students to read beyond the English class. This can easily be done in the FACS classroom as there are so many great books that can be incorporated into the various content areas of family consumer sciences. Below you will find a compiled list of books recommended by content area. If you have any additional “reads” that you use in your FACS classroom that should be included, please add them in the comment section below.

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Community Service Ideas for the FACS Classroom

Once upon a time in my school we had what were called “Activity Periods” that altered the normal school schedule for one day a week, allowing students to join clubs that met during that period. Another teacher and I ran what we called “The Give Back Club” which was basically a club where we did community service projects that “gave back” to the community. Those activity periods gave way to more class time due to state testing long ago, but I still like to involve my students in community service projects throughout the year, depending on the topics, lessons and units we are covering. Below are a variety of easy, inexpensive projects that students can create to help give back to their communities. If you have any other suggestions, please let me know in the comment section below.

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Measuring Abbreviations & Equivalencies Reinforcement Activities

I’ve had several requests for ideas on how to teach common measuring abbreviation and equivalency basics so I thought I’d throw my ideas into the ring. Recently, I discovered this review game called Grudgeball which is a fun and fiercely competitive game and I knew I had to try it with my students. Combined with other ideas I use, I found it to be a very successful way to reinforce students’ measuring abbreviation and equivalency knowledge and the quiz scores proved it! Certainly,others have some awesome, interactive ways to teach this topic so I encourage you to share with us so we all can benefit from them in the comment section below.

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