Timetoast.com is an easy to use and free web technology that allows your students to create interactive timelines for historical data, life events, stories and research projects. There are many opportunities to use it in the Family and Consumer Science classroom.
Tag: High School
Energy Bar Comparison
With the plethora of sports enhancing food items available, how does one know what to choose? Student athletes often use performance enhancing food products and often don’t know what they are really eating. This lesson helps students think critically about what performance enhancing products contain and their true nutritional value.
Creativity & Play The Dr. Seuss Way
As soon as my students see the cans of Play-doh sitting out they get excited! Common questions are “Is that for us?” or “Do we get to play with that today?” And why not? As a child I enjoyed creating things out of Play-doh and still do today. Play-doh is fun and creative! I also enjoy Dr. Seuss books for the same reason. So why not combine the two? When we teach our students about children and the importance of literacy and play, I think it’s only fair to include the importance of creativity and imagination. This interactive lesson strives to connect the areas of development with creative play in a way that, I hope, would honor Dr. Seuss!
Promoting Whole Foods
When it comes to my food, I like to keep it REAL! Growing up real foods came from the garden and fruit trees we grew, harvested and preserved. Real muffins, cookies, and desserts were made from the eggs we gathered daily from our backyard chickens and real meats came from the wild game my father hunted and fished for. Home cooked meals were prepared by my mother and were made with real foods with ingredients I actually knew and could pronounce. Sadly, the majority of my students don’t know what it means to eat real. All they know is the pre-packaged, easy to make foods known as processed. This lesson explains the differences between the whole, real foods I know and the processed foods they know and hopefully gives them “food for thought” when it comes to making REAL changes in their eating habits.
Spaghetti Squash: Best Kept Secret
Looking for a guilt free, low calorie, alternative to pasta that will surprise your taste-buds? Look no more! Spaghetti squash is one of those best kept secrets that needs to be shared! Not only is it easy to prepare, but versatile too. So what are you waiting for? Swap out that pasta for spaghetti squash and encourage your students and their families to try experiment and try something NEW.
Crazy for Crepes
Thinking about some new ideas for middle school labs got me to thinking about a lab I did early in my teaching career when I taught a foreign foods cooking class. At the time we were studying French cuisine and the lab was making homemade CREPES. Initially I was intimidated by crepes because they looked too difficult and fancy, but after working through some demonstrations with my students I found they really were a lot easier to prepare than they looked! Crepes are basically really thin, delicate pancakes filled with a sweet or savory filling. Since I know teenagers love desserts and chocolate is a favorite filling, I thought I would explore a recipe that would combine the two popular ingredients along with fruit and work a creative crepe lab back into the curriculum.
Assessments in a Bag
This idea came about because I was looking for an alternate way to assess my students about their knowledge of a particular unit or topic besides administering a test. Instead, I developed a partner or small group interactive, cooperative based…
Impact of Technology on the Family
It’s been said that the only thing that is constant in life is “change”. Our world is constantly changing and families are not insulated from the changes that occur in the society in which they live. One thing that seems…
Homemade Hotdog Buns
School is wrapping up and I’m sure if you’re like most of us you have several end of the year class or faculty picnics to attend. Chances are, hot dogs and hamburgers will be served at these events. Ever thought about having your culinary students make homemade buns for these events? What a great way to get a lesson sponsored!
Technology & Toddlers Activity
It’s hard to escape the children’s toy lesson without addressing the prevalence of Apps for Smart phones and tablets as the new toys for toddlers. Give it just a couple of years and this lesson will be obsolete as the students you’ll be teaching grew up playing more with Apps than physical toys and they will have no idea why that may be a problem. Regardless of your bias, we need to teach tomorrow’s child care workers & parents how to evaluate Apps that are good for children from the ones that are fluff.