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.
Recently I had a student who was hired to babysit young elementary aged children ask me for suggestions of activities she could do with children. She wanted something that was fun, engaging, and would pique their curiosity. We talked about a lot of options that included arts, crafts, cooking and games. Finally after further discussion and investigation, I suggested science related activities that revolved around crafts.
There is nothing like teaching a lesson on most child birth related topics when you’ve never experienced it yourself. Awkward, fish out of water type experience. To make matters worse, I had about six pregnant girls and some teen dads starring back at me. I felt like every question made me blush. No matter how much knowledge I had, teenagers have an innate ability to ask just the right questions to make you squirm. However, since I finally joined the “mommy club” last year, I now can confidently share a lesson on breast feeding without feeling like a sham. Enjoy!
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.
Critical thinking and problem solving skills are definitely needed for today’s teens to prepare for the real world and life The rest of the storyon their own or with their future families. What better way to prepare them than to provide them with a real life scenario that needs to be solved. In this activity students are introduced to a problem and must work together as a group to figure out and creatively write and present the “rest of the story”,as the late Paul Harvey would say on his radio broadcasts. The beauty of this activity is that you can create a scenario that needs solved using any crisis type topic. I used childhood obesity, but you can use other important topics such as bullying, eating disorders, teen pregnancy, financial debt, finding quality day care, divorce, dating violence, aging and more. So let the scenarios begin!
Adults work hard to find time to play while play comes naturally to children. Through play children learn to function asPlay- unique individuals and discover what is in the world around them. Play is often considered “children’s work” because it’s what they do all day. As children play, they interact with objects in their world. They also respond to the actions of others. Doing and thinking become related, and even though children may not be aware, learning is taking place. These lessons and activities have students investigating more about the value and importance of play in a child’s development.
