In need of more stations to accommodate her large class, Megan Piechowski of Centennial High School, Circle Pines, Minnesota developed additional activities with new topics to use with the newborn care lesson. The new topics are in keeping with the original lesson which includes the use of technology via QR Codes. Many thanks to Megan for graciously sharing her newly created materials!
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.
When teaching about environmental birth defects, I like to address a 100% preventable, but 100% irreversible birth defect known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). Students learn about FASD by participating in a variety of interactive activities.
Sometimes a teacher needs a variety of lessons and activities to choose from relating to the topics taught in the curriculum for different reasons. Sometimes, it’s because you just want to freshen up your plans or because the amount of time you have to teach something changes. Sometimes, it’s because new resources become available that you “just have to implement”. Sometimes, it’s because you need variety due to the personalities and dynamics of a class. Regardless of the reason, I thought I would share a new little project that I created and did with my Child Development students based on the child abuse topic: shaken baby syndrome.
Lately there’s been a lot of commercials and public service announcements about gender stereotypes. Any teacher wanting to incorporate this topic into their curriculum would most likely want to choose the best ideas and pull together their own version of a lesson. With that in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to pull together a variety of resources I’ve found that I thought we be great to use when teaching about this topic. However, if you have a unique way of teaching this topic or just a great activity or project, I’d love for you to share it at Kim@familyconsumersciences.com
While I teach lessons on birth defects early in the year when talking about pregnancy, I like to spend more time at the end of the year in a special topics unit teaching about special needs children. This is one of those areas that I love to teach and students really need to be more aware and understanding about because they never know if this will be something that will affect them as future parents or with a family member or something they will need to know because of job or career interests in day care, education or even therapy.
Since child development is based on the theories developed by the expert psychologists and their research, I like to give Child.Dev.Theoristsmy students an overview of them. Later on in the year, as I go over specific concepts like intellectual or social development, my students at least have a knowledgeable base of this information from which they can build upon. This interactive lesson has students putting their writing, oral presentation skills and creativity to work right away! As always, you can make this lesson your own by pre-selecting the theorists and resources as well as deciding if this is to be an individual or partner assignment. How will you teach about the theorists?
Many middle school Family and Consumer Science courses contain at least one unit in babysitting. Babysitting can be a challenge to teach as the standard is the Red Cross’s course. Here are some helpful resources for teaching baby sitting to your students.
Ever want to see what other teachers around the country are using for their curriculum? Here is a very short list of Child Development curriculum. Please feel free to leave a message below or send your school or state’s curriculum guides to
feedback@familyconsumersciences.com to be sponsored on this page. I know it is helpful to reference what others are doing to benchmark top programs.
Are you looking for a way to learn or review the changes that take place during pregnancy in a creative, concise way? Hashtag.ReviewIf so, this #HashTag pregnancy review/activity is just for you! Tap into the power of social media (Twitter & Facebook) and use #hashtags. Students can summarize or review what they learn about the changes taking place during pregnancy in short, creative phrases. It’s fun to watch and listen as students create their #Hashtag phrases. They also love sharing their creations aloud and by writing them on the SMARTBOARD the next day. This activity will naturally get you coming up with fun, clever hashtag phrases to keep them on task (your students will think you are so COOL and current)!
