Category: 4 C’s

Paper Towel Art & Child Development Mini-Lesson

The Paper Towel Art & Child Development Mini-Lesson is a great little activity to use as a beginning of the year or end of the year when you need a little something to fill in those odd days! This is a hand-on activity that can be used with middle or high school students with connections to child development or it can be done with littles where the older students are helping and observing what is actually taking place developmentally. Either way it is a very engaging, fun activity to do with students of all ages!

Food Safety & Sanitation

After talking with Angela Koster-Sorenson about her interactive food safety activities at a recent conference in Minnesota, I was excited to feature her! In this Food Safety & Sanitation unit, students learn the need for proper safety and sanitation practices in food preparation, food service and food storage to prevent food contamination, bacterial growth and illness in a variety of ways. Read on to learn more.

43 Minute Lab Series: Hash Brown Patty Pizza

After noticing continuous requests for lab suggestions that are doable in 43 minute class periods, I’ve decided to do a recurring series, featuring recipes that can
be completed from beginning to end in a 43 minute time frame. In some cases, longer recipes will broken into two day labs. When possible, I will include my pre-lab review questions that pertain specifically to the recipe. This helps to ensure that students are reading the recipe. It also allows me time to show any videos that may demonstrate the product or specific techniques. So, without further ado, I present the 43 Minute Lab Series: Hash Brown Patty Pizza!

Problem Based Learning: Gaming on a Budget

Many students are gamers, which simply means they enjoy playing games. However, I want to focus on video gaming as that is the type that many of our teens play on a regular, if not daily, basis…sometimes for hours on end. I created this Problem Based Learning: Gaming on a Budget assignment to help students see the costs involved. Many don’t realize the amount of money that is wrapped up in the hobby, so this is an eye-opening, real life, relevant financial case study that puts students in the role of the shopper. Read on to learn more!

Sheet Pan Meals

I don’t know about you, but I love quick and easy meals for a variety of reasons! With that being said, I thought that a lesson and lab on Sheet Pan Meals was a great topic to add to a culinary class. This activity has students exploring the concept of sheet pan meals, their pros and cons, formulas for putting them together and then creating one for their group to vote on and then prepare in the lab.

Bullying: Ideas for Teaching

Bullies have been around forever…there seems to be at least one in every class! So, if you find yourself in need of resources to teach about bullying, then check out the “Bullying: Ideas for Teaching” to help you pull together a quick lesson or more in depth unit on the subject. As always, if you have additional ideas that you’re willing to share, please send them to me via website email or Facebook messaging and I’ll add them to the list.

Project: Fit Kids

t’s March and that means it is time to celebrate and focus on Nutrition!  Project: Fit Kids is a project I created for my Child Development class where students pretended that the director of “Tiny Tots” preschool has asked them to develop an interactive program on healthy eating and exercise for young children (ages 3-5). Continue reading to learn more.

Tarsia Puzzles: Sewing Tools

A few years ago I created a couple of tarsia puzzles for use in helping students learn basic cooking tools and measuring abbreviations and equivalents. I had always meant to create more puzzles. Well, I finally got a new Tarsia Puzzles: Sewing Tools created! Be sure to check it out along with the additional sewing resources available.  Please let me know if you have ideas for additional tarsia puzzles and I’ll see what I can do.

Create Your Own Aioli & Wrap

I love a good aioli sauce especially in a wrap or on a burger!  Because of this, I was inspired to do a Create Your Own Aioli & Wrap mini-lesson and lab. Before students enter the lab to create their own sauce and wrap, they must learn more about aioli. Continue reading to see how this is done!

Engaging Ways to Teach Sewing Pattern Symbols

Engaging Ways to Teach Sewing Pattern Symbols shows you how you can teach sewing pattern symbols in a variety of hands-on, engaging ways. Every class is different!  I’ve found, in my experience, that sometimes you need options for teaching as an activity that works well in one class may not work successfully in another. So check out the options below and choose one or more to try with your students when teaching about pattern symbols.