Summer

Ah, sweet summer. It is almost the middle of August and summer has flown by. However, what a blast - I enjoyed lots of fun things and fun people!



For this post I wanted to mention something that is a definite FAVORITE of mine right now!



two words: hungry girl



I have a very good friend who might be the most resourceful person I know. She always sends me great stuff through email! So she introduced us...by us, I mean me and hungry girl.



So, Lisa Lillen, also known as hungry girl has a great thing going. I bought the cookbook, pictured below and everything is awesome!

I have used some of these recipes for the modules in my classroom, and I have made some at home. I encourage you to get this cookbook and explore. I also encourage you to go to the Hungry Girl website and sign up for the daily emails - great information and even a recipe or two! Of course you can also follow her on Facebook or Twitter!

End of the Year...TA DA!

The last day of school. It brings mixed emotions - but mainly lots of joy...finally I will see some sunshine before June is OVER! Our last day (with students) was June 19 - it seemed like forever.

Anyway, my colleague (Kim) mentioned to me that the kids would enjoy making ice cream sandwiches - of course she was right! Kim had an "ice cream sandwich maker" that she bought in the spring at a Pampered Chef party. Side note- we were bummed to find out that Pampered Chef no longer makes this nifty item. So if you have seen it or something similar, I would like to know where! The students really enjoyed using this to make their ice cream sandwiches. Simple, but sweet! Kim graciously allowed for the students to use hers if they wanted.

We needed an educational part to this ice cream sandwich making fiasco. So I came up with "The Nutritional Facts of an Ice Cream Sandwich" Talk about cross-curriculum! The students used their math skills to count the calories of the ice cream and the cookies. Take a look at the website where I post the documents for the worksheet.

In our school system we were fortunate enough to get Promethean Boards this year, so I have the flip chart that you will need for this lesson - just email me! If you don't have a Promethean Board, I will gladly put it into a powerpoint - just email me!

A Resourceful Idea

At the beginning of last school year (08-09), I went to a training session by a fellow teacher. Our school system has adopted the module classroom (the program is called "Growing up Ready") from Paxton-Patterson for all 7th grade FACS classes. The teacher who held the training helped those of us who were new, get used to the program. Anyway, along with the training she passed along all of her great ideas for other units too!

In my classroom I implemented her idea of an "Apron Measuring Project" - basic idea: Each student comes up with a rough draft (on paper) of an apron design that includes various abbreviations, measuring tools, and equivalents. GREAT IDEA - especially when students are working on the modules and the different groups finish their module at different points...the answer was always "work on your apron!" FYI, we ordered the aprons from www.bestbuyuniforms.com and they are a great deal!

However, this year I have decided to cut costs so I took that original idea, changed and expanded on it and came up with...THE KITCHEN CALENDAR. Check it out on the documents website! If you have questions, email me!

The Resourceful World Wide Web

Lots of GREAT links here! I will be adding to this post a lot! Websites I come across that might help in the classroom or enhance the FACS curriculum, will be listed here.

The website that you might want to jump over to often while reading the blog is:
http://sites.google.com/site/facsideas/

I have created this site so that I can attach documents that I reference in the blog. Worksheets, lesson plans, Power Points, maybe even some Flipcharts - if I can figure that out...all things that I have created and used can be found at this site. So bookmark it (along with the blog)!

List of websites:

Discount School Supply - www.discountschoolsupply.com
*I order a ton of classroom supplies from this site - the paper I used for the poster projects and the cartoon recipe project. Along with lots of craft supplies that the students use!

Just the Beginning

I feel as though my 7th graders walk through my door (eager for 90 minutes of FACS) with loaded questions..."What are we doing today?"..."Are we cooking today?"..."Are we actually going to sew today?"

My immediate thoughts are, "Are they expecting me to say that we are doing nothing?"..."Are they just THAT eager?"..."HELLO! It is on the board!"..."Do you really think we cook/sew EVERY class?"

Here comes the REAL answer - "The agenda is on the board for a fun filled class. Right now focus on getting your class binder and begin working on the "Bell Ringer." Shifting their focus.

So what does it mean to have a FUN-FILLED class? Of course there are a ton of activities out there that go right along with the Family and Consumer Science curriculum, but how can I use them or get the most out of each activity? How can I use activities to create structure in the classroom? Well, here is a blog that will track the life of a FACS teacher - as well as some give you some GREAT ideas for the classroom!