Tis the Season for Child Development - 10 Holiday Activities

In follow up to my Holiday Career Planning post last week I thought I would share some fun child development activities to help bring in the New Year. 

Here are 10 ideas of how to incorporate the season into your lessons while keeping the focus on Child Development.

1.   Winter Wonderland!  Host a winter party with snacks, preschool activities, and a few fun games.  Ask students to bring a gently used or new toy to donate to a local charity or host a hat/glove drive.  What to do at the party?

·   Decorate Cookies – Let the students take a few to share.  In the past, the foods teachers baked the cookies and my students iced them. 

·   Allow students to bring in snacks or purchase simple snacks such as a cheese and fruit tray, pre-made Chex mix, holiday cookies, etc.

·   Craft.  Students love to craft.  Let them make a personalized ornament or a candy cane out of a pipe cleaner and beads.  There are plenty of ideas on Pinterest!

·   Sponsor a few games such as Jingle Bell Toss, Christmas bow relay, or Candy Cane fishing in addition to a lot of other ideas on Pinterest. You can modify these games to be challenging by asking the students to use their opposite hand or feet to complete the task.  This will help students understand how these games foster growth, can be challenging for kids, and how easily a preschooler may become frustrated with an activity. 

·   Play Christmas Bingo, again plenty of free downloads on Pinterest.

   

    2. Holiday Decorating!  Let students make ornaments for the class tree.  There are a lot of great ideas on Pinterest.   Have students complete the task with their opposite hand our 2 fingers on each hand taped together.  For this activity focus on fine motor skills and how challenging and frustrating they can be for toddlers and preschoolers to develop.

 

3.  Holiday Shopping!  Have students create a shopping list for a toddler, preschooler, and or school-aged kid.  The student must identify age-appropriate toys and explain how they would benefit the child’s growth.   If your time is limited and you don’t have time to complete the project consider using it as a bell ringer each day.  Put a picture of the “hot” toys of the year up on the board or projector.  Start class by talking about if the toy encourages physical, emotional, social, moral, or cognitive growth?  The benefit of the toy versus the cost?  Any potential harm to a child’s physical, emotional, social, moral, or cognitive development?

    Download a free worksheet - Click Here!

    4. Secret Santa.  Team up with a Kindergarten or First grade class.  Have elementary students write a letter to Santa and your Child Development students can be the “Santa” that responds.  This activity will help your students focus on vocabulary that is appropriate to this age group and their language skills. 

5. Stockings hung by the Chimney.  Print stockings to color and decorate the room.  Explain the importance of coloring and all the benefits before starting class.  (color awareness, improve fine motor skills for writing, special awareness, improves eye/hand coordination, stress relief, self-expression, etc.)

  

   

 6. Catch me if you can! Read ‘The Gingerbread Man’ story to your students and reinforce the importance of reading to children.  Then explain how to build, support, and improve active comprehension strategies.  Allow the students to work in small groups to determine a way they would help support cognitive growth and reading comprehension.  Examples may be to build gingerbread houses out of graham crackers, make a trap to catch the gingerbread man, rewrite the story, etc.  Once students find/create an activity allow each group to lead the class in these activities. 

7. Holiday Memories.  Ask students to share memories from their childhood by answering the following questions.  This would also be a great small group activity using the colored jumbo sticks in the Formative Assessment Tool Kit.

          Click on the image to download and print!

8.  Around the World with the Holidays!  Have students write  a  children’s book focused on educating American children  about the holiday season in another country.  You could also focus on the different religions and how they celebrate. 

   

9. What do the theorist have to say about Santa?  Have students respond to the prompt below, their responses should be from the perspective of a child development theorist.  Students can either pick or draw.  Theorist could include Piaget, Skinner, Vygotsky, Erickson, Gardner, and/or Freud. 

Click the image to purchase this activity from 
Teaching Success with FCS.

    10. Holiday Wish List.  Have students list 10 things parents could do with their children during the holiday season to give them the greatest gift, nurturing their growth and development. 

    

What activities do you facilitate in your classroom with your child development students around the holidays?

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Child Development Planning Guide

I love writing curriculum, read my profile!  Designing, linking, assessing, and planning are all words that excite me.  The journey for me is like a large puzzle.  Before I design lessons I always have a guide that focuses on the standards I'm aiming for my students to master.  

The guide is driven by state/national standards along with community needs.  The contruction of a guide begins with printing and cutting the standards into strips and laying them out on a large table.  This process allows me to arrange them into "like" learning groups.  These groups then morph into units.  Once I have units with standards I start to look at the topics or major themes within each unit for lesson ideas.  The question I frequently ask myself during this process is what 2 or 3 standards may be grouped together for a lesson or are relevant to each other?  It is from here that my planning guide is created.  A future post will cover more about how I then design student learning objectives, lessons and assessments using the planning guide, follow me to receive updates!

Below is a copy of my Child Development Planning Guide.  Please note that this guide is based on a full years curriculum, if you opt to use this guide for a semester class you will need to modify.  You can purchase lesson's I have designed for this course by clicking the links on the document.  

Click the image to download your copy!

How do you create your planning guides?

Great Deal! How can you use these Tumbling Tower's in your Classroom?

Check out this great deal!  Tonight while shopping I came across these small “Tumbling Tower” games at Dollar Tree!  I instantly began thinking how these would be an awesome addition to the Formative AssessmentTool Kit to be played in small groups.  This game is versatile and can be used in the classroom to engage students in a variety of ways.

1. Review Game. Number the pieces 1-20, create 20 review questions and play!

2. Get to Know Activity. Number the pieces 1-20, use the 20 Questions about You then game on to learn about each other!

3. Vocabulary.  Label the pieces with vocabulary terms or kitchen equipment!

4. True/False.  Write facts about the topic, only pieces that relate count.

5. Want a fun lab?  Add an ingredient to each piece, you get to cook with all the ingredients that you are able to successfully pull out of the tower.

How could you use these in your classroom?

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Mr. Holland's Opus Movie Guide FREE Download Today Only

New Release, Free Download Today (12/6) Only!

Expired

Mr. Holland's Opus is a 1995 film focused on a musician and composer who decides to embark on a career change into teaching.  The PG-rated movie is  2 1/2 hours full of career planning advice and inspiration.  This movie guide download focuses on the career planning aspects of the story presented in the film.  The guide has 10 reflective questions to get your students thinking about their own work values, interest, and passion when career planning!

Did you miss the free download?  Don't worry you can still purchase the movie guide at my Teaching Success FCS Etsy Store.

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Bee Movie, Career Planning & Popcorn

I’m not sure if the screenwriters knew it but when they produced the ‘Bee Movie’ they created a great tool for educators who teach a career planning course.  This movie is loaded with ‘teachable moments’ and several life lessons.  If you have not viewed it grab the DVD, some popcorn, and download this FREE movie guide.

Click here to download a free copy!


Do you want your students to focus on career influences?  

Purchase the study guide below at my Etsy shop – Teaching Success FCS.  The study guide includes 4 questions. Students are asked to write extended response reflecting on career influences both in the movie and relation in their own lives. 

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Let’s talk about you and me, let’s talk about all the contraceptives and babies!

Do you teach contraceptives as part of your curriculum?  How do you approach the topic?  I wanted a lesson that was more than a PowerPoint with pictures and my monotone lecture. I wanted to answer the student’s questions but didn’t know what questions they had.  I wanted the students to be the learner and myself the facilitator, but I didn’t want a research project was disengaging. I went to the “drawing board” several times and dug deep to think of how to design a lesson that was interactive.

Using a variety of teaching strategies I was finally satisfied with a lesson that met my needs and needs of my students.   The Contraceptives – Family Planning lesson is focused on student-driven questions that are asked and presented discreetly.  The lesson includes formative assessments, learning content, student research, a review game, and response activities for re-teaching. This lesson is a nice little package complete with a bow just in time for the holidays when you are looking for something to engage your students.   

Purchase this lesson through my Etsy Shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/TeachingSuccessFCS.  

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Promote FCS! Get your Students Talking!

What Class?  Get your Students Talking about FCS!

The student body should be consistently reminded of their opportunities in FCS, and your current students are your best marketing tool.  Waiting until 8th-grade orientation or scheduling is too late to deploy your marketing plan, begin now, make sure your students are consistently dominating the conversation at their lunch table with guess what we did today in FCS.  Find lessons and activities that are engaging and unique, be sure students are creating and taking products from your classroom, and most of all build relationships.  Students sign up for courses because they like the teacher or are told they will like the teacher! 

Below are some ideas to get your students talking about your courses ….

•    Don’t be a party pooper!  Host Halloween, winter, Valentines and spring parties for your students.  These can have a preschool focus to also be standard driven.

•    Talk about labor & delivery?  My students loved to make diaper babies (search diaper baby on Pinterest) and they were always a big hit among the students!  After delivering the baby they got to make a diaper baby and complete a birth certificate.

•    Oh boy, it’s a girl!  Let your students plan a baby shower and donate all the ‘gifts’ to a local charity.

•    Crafts are always fun!  Find crafts for the students to make.  Always let them make 2, 1 to take and 1 to share!

•    Paint the picture.  Have student's finger paint posters to promote your child development course or use sidewalk chalk outside.   

•    Change for Change. Have student’s research different organizations that benefit kids.  Allow them to decide on an organization to sponsor then collect a baby bottle full of change from their peers to make a class donation.  Example organizations may include March of Dimes, Ronald McDonald House, or any other cause for children.

•    Dine with a Friend.  Have students prepare a lunch and invite a friend to come eat with them in the foods lab.  You could also have students prepare continental breakfast items and invite a friend to join them before school for a breakfast reception to learn more about the class

•    Free Samples. Do you demonstrate?  Stand in the hall between classes offering free samples. 

•    Authentic audience, Authentic food!  Catering for different groups in the school is always a great way to promote your foods courses.  Offer to make up some treats for the student council meeting or drama club!  These are items students can prepare in class and can be picked up by a sponsor after school.

•    Feed the Hungry!  Partner with your food pantry, to collect food items. Then have students organize the donations into healthy meal bags.  Using their skills they would need to analyze the food labels to make a complete meal.  If an item or group is missing students could add a suggestion card to the bag.   

•    Wash, Rinse, Dry!  Have students teach proper handwashing to younger students, especially this time of year when germs are being shared in abundance.

•    Fight BAC!  Have students use safety and sanitation best practices to make small commercials that could be shared before announcements or at the end.  “Brought to you by Ms. Robinson’s foods class”

•    Cooking Camp. Sponsor an afterschool club that meets 1 day after school each week for a month or longer.  Ask for volunteers to stay and cook simple recipes with the kids.  It’s a great gateway to building interest.

•    Chinese takeout tonight?  Teach your students to eat with chopsticks, this is a fun skill activity for Fridays or the last 5 minutes of class.

•    Look at the swan……its beautiful!  Let students practice napkin folding.  This is a great activity for groups that finish early or a fun Friday activity.

•    Employment Event.  Have students organize and invite local businesses who employee high school students to participate in a career fair during lunch.  This is a great spring activity as employers and students look for summer jobs.

•    Business Brunch.  Partner with a local restaurant to host your students for a professional brunch and invite local businesses professional to talk with your students about employability skills.  A great networking opportunity and lesson!

•    Host Game Day Friday!  Let students play a career focused game such as Life, Career Jenga, Career Taboo, Career Headbanz, Careers Pictionary, Speak out – Workplace Phrases, and Careers - Name 5.  You can find modified versions of these games on the internet or create them based on your topic or need in the classroom.  Have several available allowing students to choose.  Serve up some popcorn and call it Game Day Friday!

Sign up to receive future post……upcoming post includes topics such as contraceptives, sexually transmitted diseases, child development holiday ideas, and additional FCS recruiting ideas.  For great lessons that will get your students talking about FCS visit my Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/TeachingSuccessFCS!

What activities/lessons get your students talking about FCS?

CYBER MONDAY - My Career Plan Activity **SPECIAL**

Don’t miss this awesome deal, just for Cyber Monday! The ‘My Career Plan’ activity is a great comprehensive packet to help students work through the career development process.  In the classroom, I distributed this packet to my students at the start of the course.  This minimized the handouts I had to pass out and collect as we worked through the planning process.  An included formative assessment allows students to track their career planning growth.  This is a great tool for students who do not find the process important.  Best of all the download includes a culminating career fair project to showcase their future career choice.  AND you don’t only get this activity but you also receive a copy of the ‘Who’s Career Is It?’ problem-solving activity FREE!

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Enjoy the holidays and let me do the planning!

Celebrating the Holidays with Career Planning!

Want to add a little holiday cheer to your careers course?  This busy time of year can be hard for everyone to stay focused both students and teachers.  Try these small activities to help keep everyone in the spirit of learning, while keeping the focus on career planning!

Deck the room with education!  Using paint markers let students decorate ornaments with their college choice logo.  These are a great way to add cheer to your classroom or promote your class!

What’s on your career wish list?  In a season of so many wants, ask students to think about their wish list for their future career.  What do they want from their career, what do they wish for?  Is it flexibility or a large yearly bonus?  Download this free holiday printable wish list worksheet by clicking the image.

Now hiring Elves!  I hear there are plenty of jobs in the North this time of year.  Working on job applications? Search for Reindeer or Elf applications on the internet.  Print and have your students apply for a position on the holiday team.  Fun prizes can be given to those who are offered positions such as a cheap elf hat or Rudolph's blinking nose.

Frosty is hiring!  He needs an assistant to help with marketing.  Have students dress the snowman for his/her professional job interview.  Using the free download below print copies of the snowman and allow students to prepare the snowman for his/her big day.

You may also use the download to have students dress the snowman appropriately for their career.  Display the students work to brighten up these winter days.   

What activities do you do this time of year to have fun and continue the career planning season?

Formative Assessment Tool Kit easily Engages & Assesses Student Learning!

Does the word formative assessment bring you anxiety?  Is it just another task you are being asked to do in addition to your multiple preps you have each day, the countless grading, and all the ‘extra’ duties you are responsible for in your building?  In my experience working with educators, these are often the barriers that prevent many educators from implementing formative assessments into their daily lessons. 

Knowing how useful formative assessments can be to student learning I began to ponder how I could support educators to bring these tools to their classroom.  Remembering time is the barrier I knew the tool I created needed to be easily accessible, require little prep time and be universal in design.   It needed to be something a teacher could use during their instruction and not just at the end, when the moment to learn may have passed. I had been there!  I taught a great lesson, I asked students to demonstrate their learning through homework, collected it, graded it, all to realize they didn’t learn.  This data was too late – several days had passed and we were moving on, where would I find the time to reteach?  It was these moments that inspired me to create the formative assessment tool kit.

The tool kit uses a variety of pre-prepared materials to quickly implement formative assessments at ANY time into ANY lesson.  Need a pre-assessment?  Use true/false questions from your text with the myth or fact flags to start your lesson.  Presenting a topic and see students losing interest?  Have the students grab turn and talk cards.  These cards include 5 questions that can be used for any topic.  No time to prep for a class? Ask students to read an article and use the foil stars to mark their reading.  Having the tool kits available allows freedom to quickly choose a variety of activities to easily engage and quickly assess student learning.  This immediate data allows for quick intervention and increased student learning.

I’m now excited to share this awesome tool kit with other educators! Visit my Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/TeachingSuccessFCS to purchase an instant digital download that includes a complete supply list to assemble your formative assessment tool kit, printable’s such as the turn and talk cards, and over 50 easy ideas of how to incorporate these tools into the classroom.