Category: Life Skills

Money Talks Bulletin Board & Ice Breaker Activity

As a teacher, you have a lot on your plate! Why not let your students help you create bulletin boards as they also get acquainted with you, your class and their peers? The “Money Talks Bulletin Board & Ice Breaker Activity” will help you get your personal finance class or unit started, keep students engaged and help them learn more about each other and in the process you will learn more about their financial habits and backgrounds! It’s a WIN, WIN, WIN for everyone!

What’s in Your Cart? A Receipt Analysis Activity

No two grocery carts are the same! Everyone has different food preferences based on a variety of food influences. You can tell alot about a person’s food habits and dietary lifestyles based on what you see in their cart. In this What’s in Your Cart? A Receipt Analysis Activity students infer, analyze, reflect and make connections to MyPlate and create meal plans all from the grocery cart receipts! The beauty of this activity is that you can choose to do only certain parts or you can assign the entirety to students.

Get to Know You Action Figure Activity

I know it’s only July, and it’s summer break, but I want to share a beginning of the year, Get to Know You Action Figure Activity with you. This activity will help you not only ease back into the school year, but help you get to know your students more quickly and give you an instant bulletin board to boot! It also is a fun way to use AI in a creative, meaningful way….check it out!

Marshmallows: Mini-Lesson & Lab

I don’t know if this happens to you, but it happens to me quite frequently. Let me explain…I can go for a long time never seeing anything about a specific topic and then all of a sudden it’s everywhere!  This happened with homemade marshmallows. All of a sudden, I’m seeing videos, blog posts, social media feeds, etc. about homemade marshmallows everywhere. Maybe it was my sign to create this Marshmallows: Mini-Lesson & Lab for you to use with your students!

Project ABC for ANY Topic

Sometimes you need a generic project that can be used as an individual student assignment when class sizes are small or a group project when class sizes are large. This is where Project ABC for ANY Topic comes in! Regardless of the topic you are teaching, this activity can be used as a review of materials or as an assessment of materials in ANY course, with any topic! It even includes a version that can be turned into a bulletin board or wall display afterwards.

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!

Cards of Kindness

When is the last time you received a thank you card…an actual card? So many people want to say thank you via an email or text. On the one hand, it’s great they are acknowledging the thought, words or actions that prompted it, but on the other, it’s so nice to receive that actual card, especially if they took the time to write it or better yet, make it! Cards of Kindness explores whether thank you notes still matter before students learn how to write a thank you note and then actually construct one from a variety of recyclable items!

Old-Fashion Habits–Worth It or Not?

Recently, I ran across an article talking about the revival of old habits and it got me thinking about how these habits would impact family life, consumerism and the environment today. After thinking about it for awhile, I thought it might make for an interesting lesson for students to explore and learn more about. Thus, the lesson Old- Fashion Habits–Worth It or Not? was born!

Make Your Own Series: Flavored Finishing Salts

It’s been awhile since I shared a post in this series. So, in this Make Your Own Series, I’ll be sharing products that can easily be made from scratch, using common ingredients. Today I’m sharing…Make Your Own Series: Flavored Finishing Salts. Introduce your students to different types of salts, their characteristics and uses before creating their own finishing salts and experimenting with them in the lab.

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!