Flour+Babies+Project

toc Mrs. Dugan's Child Development and Relationships Class Flour Babies Project

= Welcome to Parenthood! = You are now the mother or father of at least one 5 pound bundle of joy…OK it’s flour, but it represents a "young life" that is entrusted to you in this brief hands-on experiment involving parenting. So what do you do now?

= Step 1-Making a baby = That is always the first step, and making the baby is probably the easy part of any parent’s assignment. Wrap your newborn carefully in duct tape and then cut to fit your grocery bag over the duct taped infant. When you are finished you can use scotch tape to smooth over any rough edges that your baby might have. You will have until tomorrow to give your baby a face, an outfit and a name. Then, in class, your picture will be taken by the official baby photographer and posted in the Psychology class folder on the school server. **//PLEASE DO NOT BE DISTASTEFUL AND IMMATURE IN YOUR APPROACH TO PERSONALIZING YOUR BABY!//**

=Step 2- Caring for the baby= As with any new parent you will have lots of questions about what to do and what not to do with your baby. As you probably know the most important thing you can give your baby is love. But how do you do that? The baby has to feel a personal connection with you…..needs to hear your voice, needs to hear you talk to him/her, needs to be read to, needs to be sung to, needs to be held, needs to be rocked, and lots, lots, more!

Most parents try to keep track of what the baby is doing so they can see changes and ask questions of the pediatrician. YOU MUST ALSO KEEP A DAILY JOURNAL OF ACTIVITIES INVLOVING THE BABY. Since the baby won’t do a lot in the first few weeks of life other than eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, and demand attention, most of your journal will involve your behavior, not that of your son/daughter. But make no mistake what you are doing (or not doing) is critical to their emotional, social, and psychological development. Failure to complete basic tasks you are given and to take satisfactory care of your baby may result in them becoming sick, unhappy, or even worse. Take your job very seriously!

To help you keep track of what is going on each day you MUST complete this chart and record a **//lengthy and specific//** diary entry of your observations, reactions, questions, etc. EVERY DAY of the exercise.

This will need to be **typed up** and submitted at the conclusion of the project (see syllabus).

=DAY WAKE UP TIME ACTIVITIES DURING THE DAY* BED TIME= = =
 * Sleep Timetable Eating Timetable Diaper Timetable

Journal Entry:

=Step 3- Making a Schedule for Your Baby= One of the most important things you can do is to create a schedule that works for you and for your baby. You will need to check your academic schedule for the week and build a Better Baby Schedule which includes:

1. When your baby will **nap** ( in your arms at least one during the day and at least one in the evening), 2. When your baby will **eat** (generally babies are hungry twice a day and once at night)…one feeding can occur during your lunch period…..the other must be fit in sometime before or after so that the baby doesn’t go longer than 5.5 hours without eating, 3. When your baby will get a **diaper change** (it must happen at least twice a day and twice in the evening), 4. When your baby will be **read, talked** to, and **played** with…optional but recommended! 5. And finally, when your baby will **learn**…..use homemade flashcards similar to the ones you saw on the Heredity/Environment videotape.

=A copy of this schedule MUST be turned in with the journal and point tally sheet!=

KEEP IN MIND THAT DESPITE THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE CREATED A SCHEDULE THINGS MAY (and probably will) GO WRONG…….ADJUST AND BE FLEXIBLE!

=Final Instructions= While this experiment needs to take place during the school day and in the evening when you go home…it is not designed to interfere with your learning and performance in other classes. NSCDS faculty will be alerted to what is going on and while I will ask that you be able to bring your baby to VIRTUALLY ALL classes/activities (chorus, Town Meeting, Community Gathering, sports practice, etc.) you do not have the right to prevent teaching and learning from taking place. For example you can’t bring your baby into a class and place it squarely on your desk and invite distraction…..**be sensible, be smart, and be selective** about what you do and when you do it! Teachers have the right to ask you to suspend the BETTER BABY experiment during their class and YOU MUST COMPLY IF THAT REQUEST IS MADE. If that throws off your schedule you will simply have to make up the time elsewhere and record the changes in your journal.


 * The one exception to this is that you will not be able to bring the baby to MEX!**

=When in doubt do some research……for basic Q and A on your baby try [|http://www.pampers.com]= = = = = = = = = = = =Step 4-Making the Grade!= Parenting can be a competitive process, especially when you are trying to make a Better Baby! The number one criterion for fostering and nurturing a Better Baby is to make the necessary sacrifices for the good of your child.

Your grade on this project comes from how extensive and complete your journal is and how many BETTER BABY PONITS you can rack up during the activity.

Below is a list of available BETTER BABY points you can earn. The lucky 3 parents in each class who earn the most points will be given extra credit!

Feeding- 1 point for each when holding the baby and pretending 3 points for each when you use a baby bottle of your own making and using it to feed

Napping- 1 point for holding your baby while it naps for 15 minutes 3 points for rocking and singing to your baby while it naps for 15 minutes

Diapering- 1 point for pretending to change the babies diaper at the prescribed time 5 points for actually making a diaper your baby can wear and 3 points for changing it at the prescribed times

Playing- 1 point for simulated play with your baby 3 points for reading and talking to the baby 5 points for combining reading, talking, and some other form of stimulation

Learning- 1 point for a period of asking questions and encouraging responses with the baby 3 points (per session) for making flash cards and trying to teach the baby what they are

YOU SHOULD STRONGLY CONSIDER INCLUDING PICTURES OF YOURSELF DOING ACTIVITIES WITH YOUR BABY IN YOUR JOURNAL OR OTHER THINGS YOU COME UP WITH YOURSELF!

=**Step 5- Documenting the Experience**= Once your journal is completed and you have your schedule and the photos (the ones I take will be in the Psychology class folder) it is time to blend them together in a 60-90 second Photostory. Here is where you will speak honestly about what you thought of the project, what you observed about other people and what you may have learned.

You will have a couple of class days to work on the project.

Assemble - Arrange the images, text, interview, and narration segments into a rough, but coherent narrative
These tutorials and handout is available courtesy of David Jakes ([|www.jakesonline.org])

Paper Tutorial - [|How to Use PhotoStory]

[|A Collection of Blank Slides to use for Titles]


 * Flash Tutorials**


 * CONTEXT**: The simple digital story that I am making in the screencast tutorials is about coming home from an stay of five years in the Southern United States. Being from Chicago, I missed many things that I took for granted. The story is in the format of the MasterCard priceless commercials.
 * [|Tutorial 1]** | Beginning the digital storytelling process, corresponds to pages 1-2 of the tutorial handout.
 * [|Tutorial 2]** | Removing black borders from images, corresponds to page 3 of the tutorial handout.
 * [|Tutorial 3]** | Adding text to a title slide or image, corresponds to page 4 of the tutorial handout.
 * [|Tutorial 4]** | Adding your voice narration.
 * [|Tutorial 5]** | Customizing motion with Pans
 * [|Tutorial 6]** | Customizing motion with Zooms
 * [|Tutorial 7]** | Fine tuning motion in your digital story
 * [|Tutorial 8]** | Adding transitions
 * [|Tutorial 9]** | Adding background music-mp3's
 * [|Tutorial 10]** | Adding background music-onboard music
 * [|Tutorial 11]** | Finishing Your Digital Story

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 * Minimum points to be achieved: 75 points in 5 SCHOOL DAYS AND 1 WEEKEND**
 * Journal will count for 25 points maximum**
 * Film Project of your baby experience- 25**
 * Total point value: 100 points**