One of my favorite “issue” topics to teach about is food waste. Too much of our hard earned dollars are spent on food and feeding our families for it to end up in the garbage! If you teach about food waste and are looking for some new, engaging ways to teach the concept to your students, I encourage you to check out this “New Ways to Teach About Food Waste” post.
One of the best ways I’ve ever taught about plating and presentation to middle schoolers revolved around premade snack foods: aka Twinkies and Yodels! This Make It Fancy Lesson & Lab is an instant hit with students and it’s really an easy low-prep lab for teachers to implement as well! Need something quick and easy, give this two day lesson and lab a try…you won’t regret it!
It was so much fun collaborating with Darci Friberg, a Missouri FCS teacher, on this NEAT=NON-EXERCISE ACTIVITY THERMOGENESIS lesson! I can’t encourage peer collaboration enough as each person brings so much to the table in the way of ideas and perspectives! I truly believe that we are better together. This lesson would be a great addition to a Food & Nutrition class, Health & Wellness class or even as part of a FCS Comprehensive class as it’s a topic we can all relate to even if you’ve never heard of it! Keep reading to learn more about this concept and let me know if you want to collaborate!
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. In addition, 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: Puppy Chow!
My students would always tell me that bacon makes everything better and I agree! There’s just something about bacon that amps up the flavor of
whatever it is paired with! I created this Bacon Lesson & Labs to help students learn more about bacon; where it comes from, cooking techniques, seasonings and even some fun, tasty labs!
Garnishing is defined as embellishing something. In this project, it pertains to food! In this project: Garnishing: Student Led Demonstration, students compile
the information on garnishing a specific food in a presentation and teach and/or demo the technique that can be used with the class! This project can then be shared with students via Google Classroom, keeping entire presentations together. Since students orally share, they can be graded as presented, making life easier at the end of the day!
One way to get students talking is to throw out a contentious topic because there are bound to be differing views! I’ve taken some topics that I feel fit this category
for both food and child development/parenting classes. FCS HOT Topics: Good Idea or Bad Idea has students looking at each topic and researching in more detail the good and bad components of it before sharing with the class. Not only is this an engaging assignment because it includes collaboration, communication and critical thinking, but it could be done weekly or quarterly and is tied to a writing assessment for those of you who need to include writing as part of your curriculum. The lists below obviously do not include every topic, but if you have a great topic that you believe should be included, please let me know by adding it to the comments.
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. In addition, 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: Individual Fruit Pizzas!
In my opinion, two heads are always better than one! When Arlene DeJoy-Meckes of Twins & Teaching reached out about collaborating on an activity for plant
based diets, I was excited to collaborate! The Plant-Based Rummy Card Game is a free resource reinforcement activity and assessment that can be used when teaching about plant-based diets. Read on to see what we developed!
Looking to add some culture into your school or program? I see a lot of teachers requesting ideas on this very topic all over social media. Food Culture Fridays is a way to not only add some culture by way of different foods to your school and student body, but it’s a great way to connect your students to the cafeteria staff, who often go unnoticed. Read on to learn more about how you can expose your students to some delicious and diverse foods every month!
