Every so often I will write a sponsored post. I allow companies who have products or services that I think would be helpful to you as readers advertise through a sponsored post. COPE24 is a parenting curriculum that is unique in that it is not a typical lecture style DVD but rather a DVD with realistic scenarios that parents deal with that are open ended allowing for plenty of discussion opportunities. What I like is that there is no commentary in the DVD’s but rather the students have to come up with the solutions– exchanging the normal passive ways students receive this information to active participation in solving these real life problems. The scenario based problem solving is effective as students will tend to recall even years from now when they are parents a specific scenario and the way to handle it. There are enough statistics and a variety of “solutions” for each scenario in the instructor’s manual that it is easy to instruct students and correct any errors in their solutions. COPE24′s instruction style is one that I personally like for high school students who think they know everything. It allows for the student to give their solutions first then correct any errors they may have.

The program

• DVD broken up into the following sections:
  • Crying Baby (preventing shaking)
  • Co-Sleeping/Bed Sharing
  • Bedtime
  • Potty Training
  • Negative Parenting
  • Homework
  • Dress/Clothing
  • Report Card
  • Sexual Abuse
• Worksheets: require scenario summaries, scenario modifications and problem solving.
• Instructor’s Manual – Filled with easy to read and follow instructions, statistics, and additional resources for each section

Samples

• Scenario: Bedtime
• Sample Video Clips

How to fit COPE24 into your curriculum

• Child Development classes: COPE24′s sections on the crying baby , co-sleeping, bedtime, tantrums, and potty training, can all be valuable for your students to go through. Even though this is technically a parenting program if your students are going to work in a day care or your school’s preschool program they will most likely run into similar situations and they will need to know how to constructively handle these problems.
• Life Skills: Student/Parent Focus. Want to talk with your middle or high school students about their parents and the everyday stressors they face as an adolescent? COPE24 sections on Homework, Dress/Clothing, Report Cards, and Sexual abuse that most teens can easily identify with. These video clips can help facilitate discussion and help teens see the situations from their parent’s point of view. They promote empathy and discussions can help students work through their frustrations that they may not realize are common to most teens. Teaching parenting can be tough because you’ll most likely be painting all too familiar pictures of students’ home lives. It is important to stress that this is not a time to judge their parents but rather to make a commitment that the dysfunction or bad parenting stops with them. They can make a choice to parent differently, learn the skills they need, and have healthier kids.
• Life Skills: Parenting Focus. Since this program can easily be split into bite size portions I would strongly recommend some sections to be taught to high school life skills courses. From my experience, there tends to be more female students who voluntarily sign up for child development courses therefore if you can teach some basic parenting in a life skills course where you may get a few more male students it would be beneficial. Imagine how many young men we could help become better fathers if they had some simple training before they left high school!

Testimonials

Yesterday, Ms. Rene Howitt from www.cope24.com came to our school and spoke to all of my classes and she did an excellent job! Rene founded COPE24 as an outgrowth of her experience and frustration with the Social Services system. Her message hits home with teens, she presents the reality of parenting, she does not sugar coat or glamorize what it is like to be a parent at any age, but especially shows teens how hard the road will be when they decide early on to accept the responsibility of becoming a parent. I decided to have Rene speak to ALL of my classes, not just those relating to parenting, because as she puts it, “almost all of you will become a parent at som e point in your life.” This was a great supplement to the curriculum that I am using and can be woven in at multiple points to show students doses of reality and what behaviors are to be expected at different stages of parenting. I highly recommend this program and inviting her as a speaker at your school. COPE24 is relatively new and based in Missouri. As such, Missouri schools have the opportunity to have Rene speak with our students. I would imagine that this program will be expanding rapidly and it will b ecome increasingly difficult to get her booked to speak. Her approach is genuine, she speaks from the heart and with her experience, kids listen and know she is not just “talking” but telling the truth.
Marina Scheiner | FACS, Smith-Cotton High School

“Can you image the impact this program, with the inclusions of a 2-week curriculum, will have in reducing incidents of poor parenting among our families in Missouri as well as the United States? We may never know the impact COPE24 will have on changing behavior, but it is the risk and fortattitude that makes it a worthwhile endeavor.”
- Cheryl E. LeFon | Supervisor, Family & Consumer Sciences Education

How to Purchase

• Purchase the COPE24 Parenting Program Instructor’s Manual & DVD
• Purchase the book, Whose Best Interest
  • Read the First Chapter

Background

• COPE24 is a non-profit 501(c)(3) status organization that was founded by Rene Howitt. Rene has spoken in over 120 Missouri, Illinois and Kansas middle schools, high schools, and universities totaling nearly 10,000 students. Their stories of abuse, neglect, foster care and lack of permanency in their lives led to the founding of COPE24 | Changing Our Parenting Experience. COPE24 believes that the way to break the cycle of abuse for the sake of future generations of children is through educating and providing our youth with a coping skill set that may not have previously modeled to them.
• List of Schools that current use the COPE24 program.

Have Rene Howitt speak at your school

• If you are looking to reach students on the important topics of child abuse/neglect, and parental coping skills, but want a forum that can reach a bigger audience at one time COPE24 founder, Rene Howitt is available to speak. During the past three school years Rene Howitt has spoken to over 13,000 students from middle schools all the way up to universities. She has traveled to over 150 schools in Missouri, Illinois and Kansas.

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A list of great activities, lessons, and resources to do in your preschool classroom.

Food Projects

• English Muffin Pizzas
• Ants on a Log
• Patriotic Strawberries

Homemade Toys

• Homemade Bubbles (Word)
• Homemade Chalk (Word)
• Homemade Play Dough (Word)
• Homemade Slime
• Homemade Crayons
• Homemade Chalk

Preschool Lessons

• Edible color wheel
• Bubble Wrap Prints

• LITERACY: ABC Activities

• LITERACY: Books and Story Telling

• LITERACY: Dr. Seuss

• LITERACY: Story Stretchers

• Math & Science
• Taste

• Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills: Preschool
• Classroom Music for Little Mozarts — Curriculum Book & CD, Bk 3: 10 Sequential Lessons for Ages 4-6, Book & 2 CDs
• Early Literacy in Action: The Language-Focused Curriculum for Preschool

• Teaching and Learning in Preschool – Using Individually Appropriate Practices in Early Childhood Literacy Instruction

• A Survival Guide for the Preschool Teacher
• Free Coloring Pages

Stuff for the Big Kids

• Preschool Observation
• How to Teach Children
• Weekly Lesson Plan Form

Child Development Lab Handoutbooks

• Bedford High Child Development Lab handbook (PDF)
• Plum Senior High Child Development Lab handbook (PDF)

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Time Frame: 1 block

Objective

• Identify the 8 stages of development and evaluate people to determine their stages of development.
  

Materials

• Understanding and Assessing Trauma in Children and Adolescents: Measures, Methods, and Youth in Context
• Mature beyond Their Years: The Impact of Cancer on Adolescent Development
• Psychosocial Development During Adolescence: Progress in Developmental Contextualism

Instruction

• Psychosocial development theory lecture featuring the work of Erik Erikson via PowerPoint.
• Good YouTube video for the intimacy part of the lecture:

• Journal Entry: Reflect on your life and the different stages of development. Describe they stage you are currently in as well as success and failures from previous stages that might effect who you are today. Give examples that justify your success/failure for each stage.

Extensions

• If you have a preschool or birth- 3 program have your students identify the stage of development of each of the children.

Attachments

• Psychosocial Stages of Development (PowerPoint)

Closure

• What is a theory?
• What are the eight stages of psychosocial development?
• Which stage are you in right now?
• What is the definition of intimacy?

Websites

• Erik Erikson Overview

Similar Lessons

• Erikson and Disabilities
• Development Theorists

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How do babies grow and develop? We were all there once and of course there are several theories on how we develop socially, emotionally, and cognitively.  This lesson is a intro type lesson to the general concept of theorists and child development theory.

Time Frame: 1 block

Objective

• Identify theorist’s names and stages of growth and human development.
  

Set

• Ask your class to find a partner and give them a timed five minutes to come up with a list of the stages they think people go through from birth to death. Bring it on in and have a class discussion of what they thought the stages of development were. Point out any gaps in ages or stages that you notice.
  

Materials

• Finger puppet stage
• Construction paper, scissors, tape, glue sticks, markets
• The Development of Children

Instruction

• Child Development Theory PowerPoint lecture. If you need a refresher the Child Development Institute has some good quick articles to read.

Activities

• Students will create a finger puppet 2-5 minute skit demonstrating one  of the stages of development from one of the theories discussed in class.
• To add a degree of technology you can make this a more extensive project and have students film their finger puppet skit using their cell phones or video cameras. Videos are a great addition to child development e-portfolios.

• Don’t have time for a whole puppet show? Have students find YouTube videos demonstrating one of Erikson’s stages of development. Then have the class watch the different clips in order of development.

Attachments

• Child Development Theory (PowerPoint)

Closure

• What stage of Erikson’s development are you in? Why do you think so?
• What stage are your grandparents and parents in? Why do you think there are differences between people’s parent’s in the class?

Websites

• Child Development Media

Similar Lessons

• Intellectual Development (Piaget)
• Erikson & Disabilities
• Developmental Theorists
  

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Time Frame: 1.5 blocks

Objective

• Given a lecture on prenatal development, students will describe development during each of the stages of prenatal development.

1. Students will identify and describe the stages of prenatal development: zygote/ovum, embryo, and fetus.

2. Discuss various types of development that occur during the three trimesters of pregnancy.

3. Students will list symptoms or signs of pregnancy.

Set

• Watch first 7 minutes of the Miracle of life DVD or similar YouTube Video.

 

Materials

Instruction

• Powerpoint lecture
• For fetal development notes click here

• Handout “A Month at a Time Chart”- for students to complete during the lecture.

• Story time- share your birth story by reading them your “where I started” sample book

Activities

• Have students tell their story of where they started by using the directions and rubric titled “Where I started Booklet”

Closure

• What is the first stage of development of a baby?
• What tube carries the mom’s nutrients to the embryo?
• What is the purpose of the placenta?
• Why is important not to drink during pregnancy especially the early weeks? What part of the new baby is being formed during this time?

Evaluation

• “Where I started” Booklet
• Quiz three stages of prenatal development

Attachments

• Stages of Fetal Development (PowerPoint)
• “Where I Started” Directions and Rubric (Word)
• Stages of Prenatal Development PPT Quiz (PowerPoint)
• A Month at a Time Chart (PDF)

Websites

• Critical Periods of Fetal Development- Pictures

Similar Lessons

• Prenatal Development

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Objective

• List the sequential events in the childbirth process. Evaluate the pros and cons of different delivery methods.

Set

• Show a few labor and delivery cartoons or share labor and delivery stories
  

Materials

Instruction

• PowerPoint lecture
• Have students take notes

Activities

• Show a delivery video clip
• Journal: Which method of delivery do you feel the most comfortable with? Why?

Closure

• What types of delivery are available?
• What are some complications that one may encounter in child birth?
• What is an epidural?
  

Attachments

• Labor & Delivery (PPT)

Similar Lessons

• Labor & Delivery
• Labor & Delivery Choices & Complications
  

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An increase in technology means more choices for childbearing and technological feats that have been miraculous. However, this technology also brings with it a whole bunch of controversy from different groups. Help your students evaluate, take a position on, and make arguments for and against different sides of the baby technology controversy.
Objective

• Determine the ethical, moral, and societal consequences of different technological advances in the area of human reproduction.

Set

• Read the article from The Oprah Winfrey Show, “Wombs for Rent” and/or discuss the very public story of Alexis Stewart (Martha Stewart’s daughter) on her struggle with fertility treatments and her daughter born via a gestational carrier.  Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban have a similar story here.

Materials

• Facilitate a class discussion creating a venn diagram on the board of the positives and negatives in the circles of technology as it relates to fertility, and child birth. The area in the middle where the circles over lap is the grey area where things are not necessarily right or wrong, black or white positives or negatives. When the class is done discussing look at the length of the lists. What does this tell them about this topic?

Activities

• Find an article on one of the following topics and write a summary of the article. You can even make this a challenge by making it a timed writing assignment. Afterward, sit in a circle and have each student give the high lights of their articles.
• List of articles for students to read and present on:
  • Should Insurance Pay for Fertility Treatments?
  • Cloning is Cloning
  • Biotech Executives Call Anti Cloning Bills Anti Business
  • Cloning and Stem Cell Study
  • The Politics of Cloning
  • Meet the Twiblings
  • Promise of Stem Cell Research
  • Fertility Drugs Concern Experts
  • Women Waiting Longer to Have Babies
  • International Couples using US Surrogates

Closure

• What is the best way to solve a complex problem? How should you chose a side to be on? What do you think the future holds for reproductive technology?
  

Assessment

• Class Discussion Rubric
• Self assessment in class journal: if your or your partner were infertile would you be willing to consider the idea of fertility treatments, and/or hiring a gestational carrier? Why or why not? What other options might you look into first? How do you expect your family and friends to react to your answer of the first question? Would they support your decision or disagree? Explain.
  

Attachments

• Points Of View (Word)

Similar Lessons

• Lesson 10: Babies and Technology

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Lesson Plans

• Families (Word)
• Healthy Pregnancy (Word)
• How Brain Connections Influence Cognitive Development (Word)
• Infant Emotions (Word)
• Toy Evaluation (Word)

• Child Literacy (PDF) “Students will identify three reasons why it is important for adults to read to children.”
• World Hunger (PDF) “Students will research the causes and effects of world hunger on children.”
• Empowered Barbie

PowerPoint

• Birth Order Effects (PPT)
• Attachments (PPT)

Worksheets & Handouts

• Exploring Birth Order (Word)
• Children’s Toys Lesson Plan & Worksheet (Word)
• Dealing with Stress Issues in Children (Word)
• Children’s Stress Outline (Word)
• Children’s Stress Wordsearch (Word)
• Friends- Frog Books (Word)
• GOING ON A BEAR HUNT (Word)
• How to Create Book for Children (Word)
• Infant Emotions (Word)
• Story Telling Evaluation Sheets (Word)
• Story Telling Lesson Plan (Word)
• Story Telling Round Table Discussion Title Page (Word)
• Storytelling Bear Books (Word)
• Storytelling for Children (Word)
• Storytelling Snow Books (Word)
• Storytelling Tips (Word)
• Storytelling Two Little Bugs (Word)
• The Mitten Story (Word)
• What do Emotions Look Like (Word)

Tests & Quizzes

• Heredity Quiz (Word)
• Prenatal Development Test (Word)
• Genetic Birth Defects Test (Word)
• Newborn Care Test (Word)

Links

• Parenting Software: Real-life software simulations, interactive games and activities that teach everyday parenting skills

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Objective

• Given class notes, and student presentations, the student will be able to identify birth defects that are inherited.

Set

• Give students a birth defects Pre-Quiz to see how much they already know

Materials

• Projector Cart
• Computers

Background for Teachers

• Character Education Principle- Caring

Instruction

• Assign students groups to create a PowerPoint report on one birth defect.
• Give students time to prepare reports (1-2 days).

Activities

• Students will present their PowerPoint presentations for the class.

• Have students fill out birth defect blank chart as students present their reports.

Extensions

• Invite a guest speaker or parent of a student with a genetic birth defect to speak to the class

Closure

• Which genetic disorders are most common in males?
• Which genetic disorders have cures?
• What is Down syndrome? What are some of the reasons it’s caused?

Assessment

• Student Presentations
• Birth Defects Test
• Genetic Birth Defects Quiz: Pg 51  The Developing Child Student Workbook

Attachments

• Birth Defects PreQuiz
• Genetic Birth Defects Research PowerPoint & Presentation Directions
• Genetic Birth Defects Presentation Rubric
• Birth Defects Test

Websites

• Genetic Birth Defect List

Works Cited

• Developing Child, The (11th Edition)

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Time Frame:  2 classes

Objective

• Given class notes, the student will be able to identify birth defects that are preventable and the causes of babies born prematurely.

Set

• Journal Entry: “Help me I’m Pregnant”
• Show students how tiny a preemie baby is by weighting common household one to two pound items on a scale.

Materials

• Computers
• Color Printer
• Scale

Background for Teachers

• Multicultural Connections – Every ethnicity has different statistics on prevalence of preventable birth defects. Students will target their pamphlets to certain people groups depending on the birth defect.

• Character Education Principle - Compassion

Instruction

• Review the difference between environmental and genetic birth defects.
• Explain the pamphlet project. Assign Partners.

Activities

• Working in pairs Students will prepare a pamphlet advocating actions that pregnant moms can take to prevent birth defects. Students will use the pamphlet direction sheet for requirements.
• Students will present their pamphlets to the class. The class will take notes on each presentation by filling in the birth defects chart.

Extensions

• Have students write a research paper on a preventable birth defect
• Have a guest speaker from the March of Dimes come and speak to the class

Closure

• What should you avoid when you’re pregnant?
• How does alcohol affect a developing baby?
• How can STD’s affect newborns?
• What is the difference between genetic and environmental birth defects?

Assessment

• Birth Defects Test

Attachments

• Help me I’m Pregnant Journal Entry
• Environmentally Caused Birth Defects Pamphlet
• Birth Defects Blank Chart
• Birth Defects Test

Websites

• Preventable Birth Defects

• Center for Disease control & Prevention – search for specific defect in search bar

• March of Dimes -on the left under “your healthy pregnancy” click birth defects

• Pictures of some birth defects

• University of Kansas -will give you birth defect’s support group/organization’s page.

Related Lesson Plans

• Lesson Plan on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

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