6th Grade:
Sixth grade focuses on Child Development, one of the four strands of Family and Consumer Sciences. Students will learn about how children grow and learn and how to work with them. In the textile lab, students create a felt puppet that coordinates with a children’s picture book. In the kitchen, students will learn how to safely use kitchen equipment, measure ingredients accurately, and follow a recipe to make healthy snacks.
Activities include:
- Learning about developmental stages
- Hand-stitching a button
- Designing and sewing a hand puppet
- Reading to children and learning the importance of literacy
- Cooking child-friendly snacks
7th Grade:
Students will learn about financial literacy, consumerism, and the working world through presentations in cooperation with Junior Achievement guest speakers. Volunteers will share their real-world experience on careers, budgeting, credit and debit cards, and insurance. Through collaboration with STEM, students will design chocolate bar molds and pour the chocolate in FCS class. They will also learn how to read and understand nutrition labels. In textiles, students will learn sewing machine skills through the creation of a stuffed toy.
Activities include:
- Reading and interpreting nutrition labels
- Hearing from community volunteers through Junior Achievement
- Creating a sock-based stuffed animal
- Pouring and assembling chocolate bars
8th Grade:
Eighth graders will create projects and explore many areas of FCS: textiles, cooking and nutrition, child development, communication, and consumerism. During class, students will look deeper into each child development stage and investigate how children learn and play. They will review and build upon hand and machine sewing skills and construct several projects. Students will cook recipes using the six main nutrients and learn what each nutrient does in our bodies. This knowledge will help them make lifelong healthy choices. Students will learn the importance of budgeting time and collaborating with others throughout the course.
Activities include:
- Communication investigations
- Budgeting through shopping for baby supplies and groceries
- Sewing projects, including a backpack, coasters, pillow, busy book, and rattle
- Infographics on nutrition and child development
- Cooking with safe kitchen practices