Pillow Case Creations

In FACS today we started working on our pillow case project. It was cool to see the fun prints and designs on the materials the students brought. I demonstrated how to use the rotary cutters, and some of the students did a really good job using them. I only have two in the classroom though, so it might take a while for everyone to get cut out. I had several students start sewing their trim to the hem portion of their pillow case though.

If you look closely at the pics, you might notice some pretty crazy hair styles. Today is crazy hair day- part of spirit week. My students got really into it! It was fun to see what walked into class this morning!

Color in Fashion

Today in Fashion I introduced the color wheel. It was fun to listen to the students chat and gossip while they worked on their portfolio assignment of painting a color wheel. Students were only given the primary colors so they had to mix paint in order to get the other 9 color on the color wheel. I had a great time observing them work together to complete their work. This Fashion class is awesome! The girls are always on task and seem to really enjoy learning the basics of fashion.

Cookies Foods Lab

Today we made cookies for our lab. Each kitchen made a different kind of cookie, so everyone got to taste 7 different cookies. My 1st period class was a little slow in the baking process, but the cookies turned out okay. My 4th period did really well. There is, of course, a drawback to being the last foods class of the day- If the other classes didn't measure right, then the final class doesn't have all the ingredients it needs! One lab group only had about 1/3 of the oats it needed! The cookies were really gooey, but the flavor was still good. I am really enjoying the foods classes- I hope the students do to!

Clothing Lab Here We Come!

My FACS classes were introduced to the clothing lab today. Each student picked out their sewing machine unit and their supply storage cubby. The storage cubbies are tiny, but they should be adequate for the projects we are will be doing in there. We are going to start with making a pillowcase, then we will move on to an apron (which students will wear once we get to the foods unit), and we will conclude the clothing unit with a project of their own choice. I showed the student the cool embroidery machine we have and I think it got them excited to personalize some of their projects.

It was fun to see the students compete to see who could thread the sewing machine the fastest. The students caught on to the process of threading the sewing machine really quickly- I was impressed. Some of the students have to share their unit with another student, due to the lack a complete lab (or too many students in one class... take your pick :-)). Again, I was impressed with their willingness to share and work together. Way to go guys!

First Test in Foods

Well, we had our first formal assessment in Foods on Tuesday. Since then, I have been assessing the information (studying the results), and I have come to the conclusion that we need to review some of the basics from the unit once again. There were two parts to the test- a scanton portion made up of true/false and matching questions, and a written portion made up of fill in the blank and calculate the recipe questions. Students averaged about 85% on the scantron portion and about 70% on the written portion. Scores were not as high as I would have liked. SO... we will be practicing some more basic recipe conversions, equivalents, and abbreviations tomorrow. I have to apologize to the parents out there, because I forgot to send out a reminder e-mail about giving the test- having Monday off as a holiday helped me lose my brain! I will be more on top of it in the future.