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Mrs. Amanda Gates
Mrs. Amanda Gates
My name is Amanda Gates (Escue) and I will be the new Family and Consumer Science teacher! I was born and raised in Marion and graduated from MHS in 2013. While in high school, my passion for education was ignited through the Child Care program. I was President of Child Care and truly enjoyed that opportunity. The experiences that I had at MHS prepared me for my career in education. I am an alum of SIUE where I graduated in 2018. After graduation, I moved with my husband to Wisconsin where I have been teaching for the past four years. After having our daughter Tallie, we realized we wanted to raise her closer to my family in Marion. Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat! I know with my experience working side by side with Mrs. Walker as well as my own professional experience, we will have nothing but success.
I look forward to this upcoming school year!
Welcome!
Welcome!
My name is Rani Walker-Gross, and from 2011 to 2022, I served as the Family Consumer Science teacher at Marion High School. I served as the Early Childhood Education lab director at Kiddie City and taught Child Development, Adult Living, and Parenting for a decade. I graduated from Marion High School in 2003 and followed my passion for education at Southern Illinois University. In 2007 I completed a degree in Workforce Education, with endorsements in culinary arts, interior design, fashion merchandising, and education. I completed my Master's in Educational Leadership from Eastern Illinois University in 2021. In February of 2022, I stepped down from the position. Walker-Gross and her mom Linda Walker have combined to lead the program at MHS for the past 40 years, mentoring generations of young children and high schoolers alike. Walker-Gross conducted her last spring graduation last week at the school and will head to Marion Junior High as an assistant principal.
Family and Consumer Sciences Courses offered by
Family and Consumer Sciences Courses offered by
MHS
MHS
Email: rwalker@marionunit2.org
Child Development- 10th-12th grade, one semester (prerequisite to Child Care)
Child Care One/Two- 11th-12th grade, 1st and 2nd hour, dual credit 4 to 7 hours, ECE level one teacher certification
Parenting- 11th-12th grade, one semester
Adult Living- 11th-12th grade, one semester
Join Google Classroom for
Join Google Classroom for
Weekly Schedules and Assignments
Weekly Schedules and Assignments
R. Walker- Child Development Department- Curriculum Maps
Child Development- Old Format / Updated Format
Child Care I and II- Child Care 1 Old Format, Child Care 2 Old Format, District Map-ECE 155, ECE 160, ECE 161, ECE Level One Credential
Parenting- Old Format/ Updated Format
Adult Living- Old Format / Updated Format
Kiddie City:Find us on Facebook
Mrs. Linda Walker, Child Care Director 1975 to 2011, Jaxon Walker, Mrs. Rani Walker- Gross, Child Care director 2011- 2022
Semester Exam Policies
All students will complete a semester exam, taken during the schedule exam time for all FCS courses:Child Development
Parenting
Adult Living
All Child and Daycare Services (Child Care) students will complete a portfolio in alignment with John A. Logan College.
What is Kiddie City/Child Care? The preschool session for Kiddie City is Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 8:10 to 9:45 at Marion High School. The day will feature a theme and carry throughout the school day. Activities include calendar, art, activities (science, home-living, music, or puzzles), snack, alphabet, games, lessons, and finger-plays. Kiddie City is staffed by the Marion High School junior and senior students. We are non for a profit center. There are three sessions designed to prepare children for school readiness. The first session begins the second week in September through the first week of December for children ages three to five.
In this session, we will begin preparation for tasks and skills utilized in Pre-K or Kindergarten. The second session starts once school returns in January through the end of February. This session introduces the school and prepares children for learning concepts, rules, and routines. The third session is for children ages four to five, and this session prepares children for Kindergarten. We will practice identifying colors, shapes, numbers, science, reading, history, and practicing for the Kindergarten entrance assessment. The $30.00 fee per session covers supplies for art and snack. If you are interested in enrolling your child, please call 618-993-8196. Technology updates are included in the curriculum, and children receive one-on-one attention from a large staff of caring for young women and men who desire to work with children in various professions. John A. Logan recognizes the program as a high-quality college-level program. Students receive three hours of college credit for their first year on staff and four for the second year.
Child Care I and II- This Junior-Senior class prepares individuals for their career and future through hands-on experiences and the wonder and excitement of working with children. Each day the student is learning the importance of professionalism, accountability, and responsibility through a fun and fast-paced curriculum that brings the textbook to life as a staff member of the laboratory school. Designed to help prepare individuals for a career in early childhood education or various areas working with children, including pediatrics, social workers, guidance councilors, and speech and language development specialists. The course offers practical techniques to guide children through various daily experiences in safe and educational ways. Hands-on activities, including shadowing local elementary educators, daycare providers, and Marion High Schools' private education system, Kiddie City prepares students for their professional careers. The course provides college credit and a college prep portfolio to those completing the course. Also, staff will receive an honor cord for each year of service recognized by the ECE national association with an Early Childhood Education Level One Teaching Certificate. Prerequisite: Child Development with acceptable grade and attendance record. John A. Logan 3-4 Hours College Credit per year.
FCSC Child Care
Members of the Child Care staff are also included in a competition based club called Family and Consumer Science Club. In addition to the competition, the club also sponsors a "Parents Night Out" and fun bonding events such as Homecoming and Holiday Parties.
Hours of Experience
Hours of Experience
Kiddie City Teacher: 178 Hours
Grade School Assistant: 30 Hours
Early Childhood Education Level One Certified: 9 Modules
College Courses: 66 Hours (7 Credits)
ECE 151: Health, Safety, and Nutrition
ECE 160: Child Development
ECE 161: Child Development Lab Observation and Teaching
"Experience the excitement of making a difference in a child's life while enhancing your education with Child Care"
"Experience the excitement of making a difference in a child's life while enhancing your education with Child Care"
FCSC CLUB
The courses offer practical techniques to guide children through a variety of daily experiences in safe and educational ways. Hands-on activities including shadowing local elementary educators, daycare providers, and Marion High Schools private education system, Kiddie City. This Junior-Senior dual credit class prepares students for their career and future through hands-on experiences and introduces students to the wonder and excitement of working with children.
Additional Classroom Courses
Additional Classroom Courses
384 CHILD DEVELOPMENT- (.5 credit; one semester) 10,11,12 (*9th/Freshmen by instructor approval)
Course ID: 19052A001 Prerequisite course for Child Care I/ Kiddie City
The course is current, comprehensive, and motivating designed to maximize students' interest and learn about child development, parenting, and childcare. This course offers students information about children's development, effective parenting or caregiver techniques (Real Care Baby), and a fun and exciting classroom environment. Chapters also cover pregnancy prevention, teen pregnancy, prenatal development, and delivery. Child Development addresses the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors associated with supporting and promoting optimal growth and development of infants and children. The focus is on research-based nurturing and parenting practices and skills, including brain development research, supporting children's positive development. Students will explore opportunities in human services and education-related careers.
Semester Class: Sophomore/Junior/Senior (*9th/Freshmen by instructor approval)
381 PARENTING - (.5 credit; one semester) 11, 12 Course ID: 22204A001
The course is designed to help teens strengthen the families they live in now and build healthy families for the future. Throughout the chapters, special features extend the content and offer an opportunity for thought, discussion, and action through readings, self-assessment, and hands-on activities. Students can discuss the complex topics of relationships, partner selection, relationship skills, marriage development, and skills to navigate relationships, social pressures, and make wise decisions. Course content includes the following: managing and organizing parenting by applying decision -making and goal-setting skills; using the basic principles of the parenting process; practicing health and safety standards as related to parenting; providing experiences that encourage parents and children to maximize resources; encouraging human relations skills in children/adolescents; community resource agencies and services; and evaluating the impact on parenting of family and career changes.
Semester Class: Junior/Senior
383 ADULT LIVING - (.5 credit; one semester) 11,12 Course ID: 19251A001
Adult Living utilizes a comprehensive text to help students meet the challenges of their daily lives with confidence. Students will learn the necessary information and practical skills related to interpersonal and family relationships, career preparation, life management, healthy living, foods and nutrition, and housing. This course aims to help our youth learn skills to help them be successful in life. Much of our lives take place outside of the textbook, and this course helps prepare the individual for the real tasks we need to complete daily. Applying for a job, finding an apartment (the hidden costs of an apartment), how to go grocery shopping thoughtfully and cost-effectively, navigating the workplace professionalism, and communication skills. The class will include outside classroom experience in the community during the classroom hour, including Kroger, housing sites, Marion Law Enforcement, and guest speakers from the fields. Many Junior-Senior students live in a "social" world; however, they lack social skills, techniques, and tack in face-to-face encounters with adults, work, and relationships. This course offers the students a fun way to learn the facts of life and develop the tools to succeed in their life choices. The course includes various project-based experiences and service-learning opportunities to gain knowledge and expertise in understanding and applying management skills, considering diverse social, economic, technological, environmental, and cultural characteristics of individuals and families.
Semester Class: Junior/Senior
Section 618.com Most Valuable Teacher Award, 2020
“Tag-A-Teacher” Appreciation Awards by Klein Orthodontics, 2020
Teacher Leadership Awards
Teacher Leadership Awards
This week’s Orthopaedic Center of Southern Illinois MVT–Most Valuable Teacher Award goes to Mrs. Rani Walker, a Family Consumer Science teacher at Marion High School.
In addition to teaching childcare, child development, adult living and parenting classes, Mrs. Walker is also the director of the Early Childhood Education Lab and Kiddie City. To be able to continue their direct work with young children during the pandemic, Walker and her students have had to make many adjustments to their daily protocols.
Mrs. Walker is quite familiar with Kiddie City. Her mom, Linda, started the program and ran it for more than three decades. Rani was part of the program as a preschooler, helped in the program as a high schooler, and took over the program in 2011 when her mom retired.
Normally Kiddie City has 30 or more preschoolers and 40 high school students. To keep numbers down, they’ve taken only half the normal preschoolers this semester. The high school students are divided into two groups–with one group staying to help at Kiddie City, while the second group visits other schools in the district to work with kids in different age groups.
Students that complete the program receive seven hours of college credit through John A. Logan. They are CPR certified, and receive a level one early childhood education teaching certificate along with a portfolio if they choose to go into teacher education.
As student Gabriella Cox told us in her nomination, “While being in this whole pandemic, our Child Care teachers feared not having Kiddie City. Mrs. Walker-Gross spent long exhausting hours pulling strings to give us the best in-person learning. Not only does she run child care, she has many valuable classes like parenting, adult living and child development. I truly believe Mrs. Walker-Gross is one of the best and most valuable teachers at Marion High School.”
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