Family and Consumer Sciences Course Curriculum

Students are given the incredible opportunity to experience twenty weeks of Family and Consumer Science (FACS) as 6th graders and ten weeks as 7th graders. Additionally, they are also encouraged to participate in an 8th grade FACS Exploratory Elective.

6th Grade- Two Quarters

6th grade Family and Consumer Science is a 20-week course that typically meets every day for all 6th grade students and covers the topics of textiles and apparel, nutrition, and foundational culinary skills.

During our Nutrition and Culinary Cycle students will learn the basics of measuring, knife handling, recipe literacy, food and kitchen safety, related culinary vocabulary and techniques, small and large appliance use and kitchen math and equivalents. In addition, transferable workplace skills including communication, teamwork, decision making and collaboration are practiced to strengthen interpersonal relationships and provide CTE hands-on experiences.  We will emphasize healthful food choices through the dietary guidelines provided by the USDA MyPlate and how to read and interpret food labels to build healthful meal choices. Instruction will also be provided regarding cultural foods and celebrating culinary traditions. 

During our Textile Management Cycle, students will learn careers in the textile industry and basic sewing skills by making their own hand-sewn sewing project. Reading directions, problem-solving, and many engaging in transferable-workplace skills will be utilized in a way that will be new to most students. The expected benefits will be much more than just their finished product; more importantly, they will experience the creation and construction process. Students will also receive instruction regarding clothing care, including repairing seams, sewing buttons, reading garment labels, laundering and stain removal. 

During our Sustainability Cycle, students will explore ways to manage resources in their environment that reduce damage and pave the way for future generations including ways to reduce their carbon footprint, reducing food waste, and upcycling. 

7th Grade- One Quarter

7th Grade FACS is a 10-week course that typically meets every day for all 7th grade students. Students will have the opportunity to learn skills that can be applied to everyday life enabling their independence, ability to make positive choices, learn to work well with others, manage resources, and keep themselves and others safe and healthy. 

During our Culinary Cycle, students will revisit the basic culinary skills introduced in 6th grade and will progress to more advanced understandings, vocabulary, skills and techniques. For example, in addition to reviewing measuring, students will learn the scientific functions of the ingredients, and will explore aspects of food science through advanced multi-step recipes and techniques, including baking with yeast and using air and steam as leavening agents. In addition, stove top cooking will be introduced.  Building upon 6th grade, transferable workplace skills including communication, teamwork, decision making and collaboration are practiced to strengthen interpersonal relationships and provide CTE hands-on experiences. 

During our Career and Budgeting Cycle, students will complete a Holland-Code interest profiler and create a research-based project to explore a career that matches their interests and skills. They will use a format of their choice to create a project that displays their research and learning. In the budgeting unit students will explore needs and wants, then use their “salary” to allocate lines of spending for the necessities for independent living and discover if their desired lifestyle is attainable.

During our Textile Management Cycle, students will practice using the sewing machine to make a useful project that could be marketed and sold for a profit.  Reading directions, problem-solving, and many engaging in transferable-workplace skills will be utilized. The expected benefits will be much more than just their finished product; more importantly, they will experience the creation and construction process. 

8th Grade Elective- One Semester 

Exploring FACS 8 is a year-long elective course meeting every other day for 8th grade students. Students will have the opportunity to build upon skills they have learned in FACS 6 and FACS 7 that they will apply to a variety of long-term projects in this class. Its focus is to create community connections through volunteer and service-based activities, to learn to work positively and collaboratively with others in competition-style business projects, manage personal and environmental resources in the sewing lab, and keep themselves and others safe and healthy when demonstrating culinary skills.