Intro to Parenting

I'm big on short group activities this year - it gets them up and moving, gives them a chance to chat, and offers a jumpstart/refresher/review to whatever topic we're covering.

In Child Development, we have a short unit on "Parental Readiness" - the primary objective of course being to convince them that they are NOT ready to have children at their age. To intro this topic, I divided them into five random groups, and sent each group to a kitchen with this sheet:

In the box labeled #1, they had to choose (as a group) what they thought would be the most difficult job to have. Then they had to fill in the boxes in the column below box #1 to the best of their ability with what they already know.

All groups had to finish column #1 before anyone was told what column #2 was for.

When all had finished column #1, they were told to write "Parent" in box #2, then repeat the exercise for that column.

It was not long at all before they realized how difficulty the job of "parent" must be, leading to some great discussion. Also, a terrific springboard for that day's lesson. Score!










Here are the filled out forms for your entertainment:

I'll definitely be doing this one again!

Ironing Board Cover Tutorial

I do love fun ironing board covers, as you can see from the ones I made at a former school. At that school, I had a lot of floor space, so I had three full-size ironing boards. At my current school there was only one ironing board in the room, I assume because there is so little floor space. However, there is a good amount of counter space, so I figured counter top models were better than everyone waiting for one board. Naturally, they needed fun covers.

If you're looking for a tutorial with finished seams and overall 4-H quality, this is not that tutorial. But if you are looking for something simple, quick, with imperfections no one will notice, this is for you!

Supplies: Countertop Ironing Board (under $7 at WalMart) and 1/2 yard of fabric.

Cut around half of the ironing board leaving a width of about 3 inches.

Remove board, fold fabric in half, then cut around to make fabric symmetrical.

Iron approximately 1" in all the way around the piece. I left the raw edges - who is going to look underneath the ironing board?

Sew around the fabric, leaving an opening on the flat, short end to string your twine through the casing. I chose to use a zigzag stitch to overlap the raw edge.

Tape one end of a twine roll, then spear with a safety pin. Use pin to guide the twine through the casing.

Place ironing board on top of the fabric, pull twine, and tie.

All done!

The process is a little easier when you don't have a "helper" scampering about, but it does make things more interesting!

Post-It Comments

Here's something I've been doing this year to get the kids to read a few different news articles linking current events to the topic we were studying in class.

I print out a few short news articles (generally one for every three students in the class), blow up the font to make it easy for a group of three or four to read at the same time, then staple the article to the top of a piece of cut down poster board. I spread them around the room, leaving a small stack of Post-It Notes in each station.

When it comes time for the activity, I randomly divide the class into groups (in this particular instance I had them draw colored Easter eggs out of a jar; the kids were grouped by the color they drew), then send them to their stations with something to write with.

I tell them to take a couple of minutes to read the article, then write a comment on or question about the article on a Post-It, initial it, and stick it to the poster board underneath the article. We have a brief discussion on what a "good" comment looks like before starting.

When they finish the first article, I have the groups rotate stations. We repeat until they have a chance to read all of the articles.

Here's an example. Our topic is homelessness, and the article is "Hawaii Rep. Tome Brower Takes A Sledgehammer (Literally) To Homelessness Problem" from November 2013 (this article made me want to take a sledgehammer to something, so I was interested to hear what the kids would say). Note: due to benchmark testing I was missing several kids this day, otherwise I would have used a larger board.

The comments:

Why not use a safer and kinder approach?

This is just crazy.

Why can’t they use the shopping carts and how does he identify them?

People may feel threatened easily.

Why does he destroy the carts?

Why can’t the homeless have the shopping carts?

Why does he use a sledgehammer?

What a great guy!

Destroying people’s transportation that are homeless is rude.

He needs to give them something else after he destroys them.

Hawaii people need more sledgehammers.

Go Rambo Go!

Obviously not all followed our guidelines for good comment-writing (hence why I required initials), but there were both good thoughts and good questions. 

I've used this a few times this year in different classes, and I've really liked it. It gives the kids a chance to voice their opinions or ask questions in a safe way, without drawing too much attention to themselves. It gives me a chance to see how their thought processes work, as well as assess their background knowledge. As they go around reading, they naturally discuss what they're reading with each other.

Best of all, by keeping the articles short and keeping the kids moving, I've found that the kids do actually read what I put in front of them - amazing!

Currently February 2014!

The first day of a new month - that means Currently with Farley!

Listening - How well I know the "Skyrim" soundtrack : ).

Loving - Wow, January went FAST! That means we're inching toward spring, which means a reprieve from this epic winter; come on, Punxsutawney Phil!

Thinking - My content test for the Reading Specialist certification (and degree) is this coming Saturday, and is the last thing I need to do to officially complete that master's. Woot woot!

Wanting - One of my best friends just had her first baby on January 16th, and he is of course absolutely adorable! So far I've only seen the pictures though, because she's a little over an hour away and the weather will just not let up for travel!

Needing - We have yet to reclaim any sense of normalcy since returning from Christmas Break. The first week back was a three-day due to weather; the second was Homecoming; the third was a four-day due to MLK, Jr Day; last week we had two "polar day" cancellations; this week doesn't look promising; AAARRRRGHHH! The kids have been nuts, and who can blame them?

Truths/Lie - I did give up Pepsi for about 13 1/2 months. I do love Pepsi! I have no interest in any other soft drink, though in a pinch I may occasionally have a root beer. I'm happy to report that since returning to my Pepsi ways I've not been overindulging.

As for the FACS classes, I only took one FACS class in high school, it was only one semester, and it was "eh." Weird for a FACS teacher, huh? It wasn't until college that I discovered that passion!

And yes, there are TWO John Philip Sousa awards on our home piano - one is mine, one is my husband's. Back when we taught at the same high school we would go to the graduation party of that school's JPS winner from that year so that we could have a photo taken of all three of us holding our JPS awards.

Here's to a new month! Let's make it a great one!