Category: Life Skills

Desserts in a Jar: Lab Ideas

Who would have thought that the age old canning jar would be perfect for dessert food labs! When choosing recipes for labs I try to select recipes so students get a nice sample to taste, but leave very little, if any leftovers. Not only does this cut down on waste, money spent on ingredients, but it also forces students to practice portion control and eliminates arguing over who gets the extras.

Recycled Sweater Challenge

Lately I’ve seen a lot of really innovative projects made out of old sweaters, especially on Pinterest. This got me thinking about what a great project this would be for my students to practice the concept of recycling or repurposing materials. So I visited my local thrift store and lucky for me they had a clearance rack of clothing, much of it old wool sweaters. I gathered as many as I could find into my cart and headed for the check out. The possibilities that could be made with all of these sweaters were endless! I couldn’t wait to challenge my students and see how creative they could be and teach them to recycle/repurpose as well as teach basic sewing skills at the same time.

Project Brainstorm: Let us help you! This month’s topic is Laundry

We are going to pose a topic and ask you to “help us help you” by just sharing one thing you did whether it be an activity, a video clip, infographic, reading, TPT product, etc. when teaching that topic. We believe everyone will win in the end as you’ll have a new lesson or at least a lot of new ideas and resources to pull from. Check back often as this page will be updated as resources come in.

Project Brainstorm: Let us help you! This month’s topic is Stress

We are going to pose a topic and ask you to “help us help you” by just sharing one thing you did whether it be an activity, a video clip, infographic, reading, TPT product, etc. when teaching that topic. We believe everyone will win in the end as you’ll have a new lesson or at least a lot of new ideas and resources to pull from.

Social Media: Helpful or Harmful?

What do sharpie marker designs on fabric swatches and social media posts have in common? Can your social media profiles impact your future employment? This was an object lesson activity and question I posed to my new Careers class talking about employment and interviews. As with many topics, there are always two sides, positives and negatives, and this topic was no different. Needless to say it led to some very interesting discussion. This lesson explores both sides of the topic in more detail, challenging students to explore and evaluate their own social media activity and how it might potentially impact their future opportunities.

Parenting Styles

Diana Baumrind, a developmental psychologist, is known for her research on parenting styles. Parenting styles represent approaches to how parents manage their children’s behavior, which in turn influences their development. This lesson explores the four different approaches and used clips from television and movies to test students’ understanding of them.

Lesson Ideas: Consequences of Teenage Intimacy

As the result of last month’s “Project Brainstorm” activity, Cheryl, a veteran Family and Consumer Science Teacher from Ohio submitted a whole bunch of activities and resources that she uses with her students. We thought they deserve special attention, so take a look and see if there are any ideas you might want to use with your students.

Shark Tank Assignment

Are you totally in love with Abc’s Shark Tank? Chances are your students are! What I love about Shark Tank and The Profit are that students get a real glimpse into entrepreneurship and get a chance to see what is possible. Many times young teens are pitching their business ideas on the show and it is inspiring. Being confident, clearly conveying an idea, defending one’s position, and business savvy are all life skills that can be learned through this show with intentional viewing.

Project Brainstrom: Let us help you! This month’s topic is Teen Pregnancy

We are going to pose a topic and ask you to “help us help you” by just sharing one thing you did whether it be an activity, a video clip, infographic, reading, etc. when teaching that topic. We believe everyone will win in the end as you’ll have a new lesson or at least a lot of new ideas and resources to pull from. Check back often as this page will be updated as resources come in.

The Mini-Book Project

Every once in awhile I find myself without technology access due to school wide testing and I need an alternate assignment. This was how the mini-book project came to be. You could consider this an interactive foldable where students must use class notes and resources to complete. The beauty of these is that they can be used with any age group and can be as simple or as elaborate as you want them to be. Below you will find a few ideas on how mini-books can be used with FACS related topics.