Category: Family

Healthy & Positive T-Shirt Messages

by K.Graybill • August 10, 2018 • 0 Comments

What I love about this assignment is that it can be adapted to almost any topic that you want students to walk away with messages promoting positive thoughts, actions, and attitudes! I initially created this to use when teaching about healthy dating relationships and after using it thought of umpteen other lessons that I could use it with. So let me give you some background and suggestions for implementing this and then let your students have at it as they develop their own original slogans, messages and images about whatever topic you assign. This is also a great template to use when running a design contest or for club t-shirts or fundraisers!

Family Dinner Matters

by K.Graybill • July 27, 2018 • 0 Comments

One tradition that my family practiced as I was growing up was eating family dinner together regularly! I have wonderful memories of that dinner table; the fun and laughter as well as difficult conversations that ensued between my sisters and parents. This important tradition continued while raising our own children! How my husband and I will miss this daily routine as we rapidly approach the empty nest stage of our lives. Below you will find a lesson that promotes eating together as a family and the benefits along with a variety of engaging activities and projects that can be implemented in the FACS classroom. Hopefully, students will carry this concept to their home life so it becomes a recurring practice and a potential tradition with both their present and future families!

Coping Skills Toolbox

by K.Graybill • June 22, 2018 • 1 Comment

If you teach about crisis or mental illness, then this culminating activity shared by Michelle Overman, a FACS teacher from Greenville Central High School, Indiana, is one for your “tool belt”. Below you will find a variety of activities that Michelle uses when teaching this topic to her Human Development class with some additional ones that I’ve added.

Young Children & Screens

by K.Graybill • June 8, 2018 • 0 Comments

Several months ago a Texas FACS teacher, sent me a message suggesting that I create a lesson on this topic. I loved the idea and immediately had ideas swirling in my head. However, before sharing, I wanted to try it out with my own child development students to make sure everything went as I envisioned. Thankfully, The lesson and activities went according to plan and students had a lot to say about this topic and some great discussions ensued! If you have suggestions for future lesson and/or activities, send me a message and I’ll take a look!

Families Throughout the Decades–Magazine Project

by K.Graybill • June 1, 2018 • 0 Comments

Reading through some magazine publications such as Reminisce and Good Old Days gave me the idea for this project. Call me strange, but I love studying and learning about families throughout time. So, I thought it might be interesting for students to see how the family has evolved and changed throughout the decades. While television gives us a glimpse into this via movies, documentaries and television shows, I thought creating a magazine would give them a chance to actually research history and practice their writing skills as they put together an issue focusing on the family during a specific decade. Not only does it help their writing skills, but this project is great for developing collaboration, communication and creativity skills as students complete this as a group! Students think it’s pretty interesting to see all of the changes that have taken place with the family as they compare and contrast one decade to another! Who knows, maybe your students will find this aspect of history pretty interesting too!

Stress & Coloring: Good Idea? Bad Idea?

by K.Graybill • May 4, 2018 • 3 Comments

Students love to doodle! Children love to color! Adult coloring books are everywhere! The theory behind this phenomenon is that it is a way to relax and decompress, in addition to being a creative outlet. So, is this really a good way to deal with stress or just a trendy way to promote a product? This lesson focuses on stress, and has students investigating this theory by researching and application before deciding whether it’s a good idea or a bad idea!

Age Appropriate Toys– Activity

by K.Graybill • April 6, 2018 • 6 Comments

What child doesn’t like playing with toys? When my children were young, they received a lot of toys from family and friends. Some of those toys were appropriate and safe for their age and abilities and others were too advanced and were put back for a later time. To some people, toys are toys and safety, age and ability play no part in their selection. I like to provide my students with an overview of the types of toys recommended for each age and stage of a child’s early years. After discussing some criteria to keep in mind, the best way to evaluate or analyze a toy for age appropriateness is to actually play with them. So, the toy stations go up and the big kids “play” and utilize their resources to help them determine the toy’s age/stage and justify their answer. This is always a fun activity as students see and explore new toys they’ve never had or played with, along with reminiscing about those they did play with, as youngsters! No toys? No worries as I’ve included an alternate activity to accomplish the same thing!

COPE24 Parenting Program (sponsored post)

by K.Graybill • March 9, 2018 • 0 Comments

With Abuse and Other Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) on the Rise, St. Louis-based COPE24 Launches Curriculum to Teach High School Students Vital Skills to Help Prevent Future Traumas and to Strengthen the American Family.

You Be the Dietician–Breakfast Foods

by K.Graybill • March 2, 2018 • 1 Comment

Do you teach an Advanced Foods and Nutrition class? Looking for a rigorous assignment for students who have a strong understanding of the nutrients? You are in luck as Nikki Heflin, a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher of Indiana shares this breakfast lesson, several lab ideas and concluding assessment, placing students in the role of the dietician. Check out her lesson below!

Pop-Up Family Structures

by K.Graybill • February 23, 2018 • 2 Comments

I’m finding that my students do better when they have a good balance of “hands-on” activities mixed with technology. So, in this feature you will find my version of a “pop-up” style activity that revolves around the family structures. Students work in small groups to complete a “pop-up” of their assigned family structure, incorporating additional information. The “pop-ups” are then displayed and students participate in a gallery walk to learn more about each of the unique family structures. See below for more details!

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