Summer is Almost Here!

It has been a WHILE since I last posted--- things get so busy at school! I can't believe that it is already time for summer break! Time flies by so fast these days. Here's a list of highlights from this semester:

Life Skills-- Students in life skills completed sewing projects that included designing and sewing their own monsters. We wrapped up the school year with a few cooking labs which included making a giant chocolate chip cookie, omelets, and homemade pizza.

Foods-- Students in Foods class completed food labs using chicken, beef, and beverages. Recipes included homemade tea, smoothies, chicken fajitas, and pizza.

Child Development-- Students in child development started the semester off with the RealCare babies. These babies are computer-simulated to give students a real-life experience in child care. Students took the babies home for two nights and had them for one school day and were responsible for all aspects of child care. Needless to say, the RealCare babies are definitely an eye-opening project! We wrapped up the year with different stages of development for toddlers and preschoolers.

Culinary-- Culinary students have been hard at work this semester as well. Some of their labs included cupcake decorating, homemade bread, cinnamon rolls, homemade rolls, and pretzels.

8th Grade Enrichment-- These students studied about hygiene, choosing appropriate clothing, and how to properly care for their clothing-- laundry, stain removal, etc. They also completed a few lessons about nutrition when dining out at fast food restaurants.

This has been a great first year for me at HCHS and I am looking forwards to another great year! Hopefully I will be better about blog updates starting in August!

Catching Up!

It has been a VERY busy couple of weeks in my world. The Miss HCHS Pageant was held Friday, October 26. All seventeen of the contestants were absolutely gorgeous and worked hard to make the pageant a great show. Our "Ladies of Fall" theme was gorgeous as well and I want to thank my FCCLA officers and FCS students for helping me put everything together. Also, thanks to my fabulous teacher co-workers and administrators who were a huge support during the pageant process. I truly love working at HCHS because of the great people I work with!
Miss Audrey Jenkins was crowned Miss HCHS 2012. Third Runner-Up was Taylor Sanderson, Second Runner-Up was Melody Russell, and First Runner-Up was Cayce Brockwell. Miss Congeniality, which was voted on by the contestants, was Franki Richey. Below are some photos of our contestants and queen. 

Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before we know it. FCCLA is planning some Christmas season activities, including putting together gift boxes through the Operation Christmas Child charity.
Here's an update on what's been going on in my world at school:

• Life Skills: We have just wrapped up two units on career exploration and workplace skills. Students completed career research presentations, worked on writing cover letters, and have looked at different types of resumes. Sewing is up next!

• Child Development: These students just finished the chapter on Prenatal Development and we are moving on to the Pregnancy chapter. Students are participating in the "Empathy Belly" simulation, in which they wear the "belly" for an entire school day to simulate what it feels like to be a pregnant teenager.
• Foods and Nutrition: We just finished the food safety chapter and will be moving into the food preparation chapter this week. Lots of cooking to come from this class very soon!
• Culinary: Last week we looked at different menu designs and formats. Students will continue to put together a restaurant menu according to the different styles and restaurant cusines.
• Life Skills Enrichment (8th grade): This week we will look at consumerism and advertisements that are aimed at teenagers. We will study different advertising strategies that companies use to get consumers to buy their products. 

In other great news, HCHS has been ranked SECOND in the state in the College and Career Readiness category! Our teachers and students are really doing some great things! I know there are more great things to come very soon from our students.

Thanks so much for stopping by to read about what's going on in my world!

Happy Fall Break!

Happy Early Fall Break! I do love teaching, but I think we are all excited for a week off!

Before Fall Break begins, we will have the annual FFA/FCCLA hayride to Columbus Park. HCHS has been having this hayride since WAY before I was a student and  I went every year! Loading up on a trailer with some hay bales is a great way to welcome the new fall season and kick off Fall Break. Plus we will be having some great food when we get to the park.

We have some great Miss HCHS Pageant contestants that are ready to represent their organizations. Things will start to roll pretty quickly after fall break, so stay tuned for updates. Save the date for October 26 and come see our beautiful contestants!

Happy Fall Break!

What's Going On...

I can't believe that the first nine weeks of this school year is almost over! Time has flown by! There has been a lot of great things happening in my classes this week.

• Life Skills classes have been sharpening up those banking skills and have been learning how to write checks, fill out a checkbook register, balance a checkbook, and fill out a deposit slip. Even though we have the luxury of technology to keep our bank accounts balanced these days, it is always a great habit to practice.
• Foods and Nutrition has been learning about the importance of water and phytochemicals to our bodies. Coming up next will be the food preparation and cooking skills chapters, which means WE WILL BE COOKING VERY SOON!
• Child Development students wrapped up the parental guidance chapter and will begin to study about conception, genetics, and prenatal development of babies next week. 
• Culinary just completed a test over basic cooking methods and will begin to practice knife skills next week. 
• Life Skills Enrichment has been learning about healthy eating with the choosemyplate.gov website. MyPlate is the USDA's new approach to healthy eating and has great resources, such as a meal tracker. Students tracked their meals for two days to take a look at how many calories they were eating and saw which food groups their meals were coming from. 

FCCLA held it's second meeting of the school year today. We had a great turnout for attendance and I am expecting a lot of great projects and activities from our FCCLA members this year. 
The Miss HCHS Pageant will be held Friday, October 26 in the HCHS gym. We will have more information available as things begin to come together. The theme this year will be a "Fall Season" theme complete with classy pumpkins, mums, and beautiful fall colors.

Once again, thanks for stopping by and checking out my blog! I am truly enjoying teaching the students at HCHS!

Welcome to my Blog!

Hello everyone! This is my first blog post and my first time to create a blog, so hopefully I will get better using this new technology! : ) Thanks so much for stopping by to view my blog.

A little about me...
I am a 2004 graduate of Hickman County High School and attended Murray State University. I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Education, with an area in Family and Consumer Science Education. This is my fifth year of teaching and I have taught at Murray High School and Reidland High School. I am getting married on March 30, 2013, so wedding planning is keeping me busy! I enjoy reading, shopping, wedding planning, and spending time with my family and friends. 

As a graduate of Hickman County High School, I can't tell you how blessed I am to have the opportunity to teach these students and to work with such a great faculty. HCHS is truly a great place to be and I am so glad to be back! Our students are top-notch and strive to be the best every day.

I hope you check back often to see what's going on in my "Happy Home Ec" world!

By the way, please save the date for the Miss HCHS Pageant, Friday, October 26, 2012 in the HCHS gym. More details will follow as we get closer to time!