Back to School BBQ

It's hard to believe that summer is coming to an end.  I had a fun, busy summer, and am sort of, kind of, a little... ready to start thinking about school.  It's always hard to give up lazy days spent relaxing on my front porch, and getting to spend lots of time with my darling granddaughters.  But, the calendar tells me that it's time to get back into school mode ~ ready or not!

But, here's a fun Blog Hop that will make the transition a little easier. 

 

In this blog hop you will find resources and recipes!  I can't wait to see what everyone has to offer.  It is just like a big picnic.

My first offering is a link to my newest product ~ Serving Up CVC Words.  Kinders & Firsties can always use lots of practice with CVC words, so in the spirit of this hop I created a fun food themed set of activities.  There are four different activities, each with differentiated worksheets for additional practice.  Want to try it for FREE?  Click HERE for a sample.

 

 

 

 

 

And, now for the food!  We try to eat yummy, healthy foods (we eat lots of fruit, veggies & salad), and I like to find new items to add to our list of yumminess.  I found this recipe for Quinoa & Rice Bites on Pinterest & we LOVE it!  I've actually made it twice in the past ten days.  (See pin HERE.)  The first time I made them I used a regular size muffin pan.  When I made them this week I used a mini muffin pan.  I liked them better small because they were crispier.  These would make a great alternative to tator tots.  Quinoa is has lots of protein & is very filling.  Little tots lovers would have fun dunking them into ketchup or their favorite dip.  I think leftovers would be good in my lunchbox with hummus.  YUM!

 

My delicious dinner ~ Free Range chicken (raised by next door neighbor 4-H member), roasted eggplant, zucchini, and candy onions from the farmers' market, blueberries picked at a local farm, and
Quinoa & Rice Bites.  I was soooo excited to eat this meal!  (Yes, it was delicious!)

Fresh veggies from the Farmers' Market & fresh basil from my herb garden.

 

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 1/2 cup black rice (I used a mix of rice)
• Cooking spray, for the muffin pan
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup finely chopped Vidalia onions
• 1 cup dairy-free shredded mozzarella cheese (I used real cheese)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped finely
• 1/3 cup grape tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 chives, chopped finely, for garnish
• 2 cups homemade tomato sauce, for serving* (We ate ours without sauce)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cook the quinoa and rice according to package directions. Coat a muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the cooked quinoa and rice with the remaining ingredients, except the chives and pasta sauce, and mix well to combine. Transfer the quinoa and rice mixture to the muffin pan. Using a tablespoon, fill each muffin cup to the top, then using a spatula, press down on the mixture to create a flat surface.

Bake until golden brown, for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for 15 minutes. Using a teaspoon, gently remove the rice and quinoa snacks from the muffin cups. Transfer to a serving platter, garnish with the chives, and serve with the tomato sauce on the side.

 

 

 

Now, hop over to Kelly and Kim's Kindergarten Kreations to see what's cooking!

Flip Flop Blog Hop

Yay!  Summer is almost here!  But, there are enough days of school left to think about adding some new activities to your classroom.  I'm so excited to join a group of amazing bloggers & TpT sellers in this fun Flip Flop Blog Hop!  For this blog hop we were paired with another teacher, traded products, and got to use them in our classrooms.  I was lucky to be paired up with Maja Austin of Kooky Kinders.  I was doubly lucky that she uses the same reading series that I do, and the product that she sent me was a fun sight word review game! 

Maja shared her Fishy Scrambled Sight Word Match game.  Click HERE to purchase.

This set included cute fish bowl & colorful fish cards.  The bowls had mixed up sight words ~ the fish had the sight words.  The object was, of course, to match the scrambled words to the correct fish.
I found that this set was great for differentiation with my small groups.  Some of my kiddo were able to figure out the words just by looking at them, others used magnetic letters to help them to figure out what their words were.

As a twist on the game, some of my Kinders selected a fish card & found the matching scrambled word.  Also included (not pictured) are some record sheets that help to extend the learning.  The words included are the sight words from the Wonders reading series, but even if you don't use Wonders, it is a great addition to your literacy stations!  I highly recommend it!  :-)

I was inspired by Maja's cute fish product to create a little fish freebie for you.  My little cuties have been working very diligently on reading CVCe words, so I created a little memory game to share.  Get it HERE. 

And, now hop over to Teach Two Reach 2nd Grade Happenings to see another fabulous product in action!

Spring Clean Up Blog Hop

I am very excited to be a part of this fun blog hop!  I try to keep my classroom neat & organized.  It really is a lot of work keeping things neat when you have eighteen busy little kiddos hanging around all day!  I have created spaces for my literacy activities that are kid friendly ~ and are usually pretty organized at the end of the day.  Here are some pictures of the different areas in my room where literacy takes place.

This is our Writing Station.  It features a round table & lots of writing activities and words.  The tree on the left was inspired by Rocket Writes a Story ~ Rocket collects words & displays them on a bush.  We post words that aren't on the word wall or easily spelled.  Other words are collected on chart paper & on book rings that are stored in a bin.  The basket on the table holds pencils, erasers, crayons, glue sticks, scissors,  highlighters, and a stapler for the kids to use when they write.

                                                         

Close-ups of the Writing Station.  The orange bins sit on top of the Manipulative Center's storage cabinet.  They hold various writing activities.  The yellow inset shows our Write the Room materials.  The other pictures show what is on the counter behind the table.  More bins & stackable paper trays hold lots of choices for writing practice. 

Our classroom library is in a prominent place of the room.  I like for books to be the centerpiece of our day.

I use little tubs to store my "I Can Read It" type books, my leveled readers are in the green & yellow bins on the cart.  Our colorful book bins are arranged on top of the shelves.  I put numbered labels on them rather than student names.  This way I don't have to relabel them each year.

The back of this cabinet is seen in the library.  I was so excited to get it last year to hold my Word Work activities.  My Kinders are able to grab a tub, and take it to their seat.  More Word Work activities are in the baskets (from Target's Dollar Spot) on top of the cabinet. 

 More Word Work area!  I like to provide my students with lots opportunities to work with words.  Baskets, bins, tubs, and little buckets from the Dollar Spot help to keep everything organized.

I keep a binder & clipboard at my half circle table to keep track of my Strategy Groups & student data.  

Get a copy of the planning pages HERE. 

 Tools for my Strategy Groups are kept within reach at my table.

 I created this colorful storage unit for my letter cards by covering the drawers of a tool bench organizer with washi tape.  Now I can easily get the letters I need ~ and easily put them away!

I hope you enjoyed your tour of my Literacy Spots!

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Now, hop over to Smack Dab in the Middle for some more ideas! 

May Second Five for Friday

Hello Five for Friday fans ~ I'm back!  It's been a few weeks since I last joined the linky fun, and I'm glad to be back with Doodle Bugs for this fun linky party.  :-)

                                

This week just flew by!  We worked so hard and had so much fun.  I'm starting to get a little sad that the school year is coming to an end ~ only 24 more days left!  My little cuties have come so far since the beginning of the year, and have made such an imprint on my heart.  It is going to be hard to let them go.  But, I am overjoyed at the progress they have made!  Here is a peek at the fun we had this week.

 

 

 

Baking with the principal.  This week our feature story was Bread Comes to Life ~ a book about how to make bread.  I was reading this book to my kids when my principal came in with the dreaded iPad.  She stayed (and evaluated me) while we had fun with this book.  Happily, I was given a good review.  She also evaluated one of my teaching partners while she read this book to her kiddos.  I guess hearing this book two times provided inspiration to her inner baker.  She asked us if we would like her to pay a visit to talk about baking bread with a bread machine.  She is a very good baker, so of course we jumped at the chance to have her give a guest lesson!  Here are some pictures of our baking fun.  Our classroom smelled so good all day as the bread machine worked its magic! 

 

 

Penny Necklaces.  We worked with money all week long.  To celebrate the fact that they can identify coins, we made these cute star necklaces adorned with a real penny.  It was so cute how excited the kids were to get a real penny! 

Writing!  I am blown away by the writing that my little cuties are doing!  I have never had such wonderful writing ~ and such excited writers as I have this year.  I want to do the Happy Dance every day when I see how excited my kiddos are to write & read the wonderful pieces they write!

A little Shameless Promotion...  Hop over to my Facebook page for this month's Freebie!

Sale!  Need I say more???  My store will be 20% + off.  Please visit, shop, and follow.

I am also excited to be a part of the Spring Clean-Up Blog Hop!  Check back on the fourth to see my post.

And, finally... here's my May Currently!

 

 

Have a great weekend!

  

Springing into Science Blog Hop

I am excited to be a part of this fun Science themed blog hop.  As a busy kindergarten teacher, I find that I don't have a lot of time to devote to all things Science. Literacy & math take up lots of time.  But, our Kinder kids recently had the opportunity to participate in a special presentation by our county Soil and Water Conservation department.  My Kinders got to be Soil Scientists for an afternoon!

 Our guest presenter, Mrs. Benson, taught us about the types of soil in our area.

 Each student was given a "soil" sample made from kitchen ingredients such as cornmeal, cocoa, and flour.  After observing the samples with their eyes, ears (shaking the containers), and noses, the kiddos got to feel their samples.  Mrs. Benson gave the kids words to describe their "soil."  Rough, smooth, powdery, etc.  Some samples included cinnamon ~ which smelled much better than real dirt!

 Before adding a spoonful of water, the Kinders were instructed to give a practice stir in the air.  Mrs. Benson explained that soil scientists add water when studying soil.  The samples really did mimic different soil types ~ the cornmeal was like sand, and the cocoa/flour mix really looked like real mud!

After stirring their little pots of "dirt," the kids had fun trying to make mud balls.

I plan to schedule this presentation with my future Kinders.  What a great, hands-on way to learn about our Earth & be scientist for the day!

Thanks for visiting!  Check out my post about our recent Science Fair project, and enter to win $20.00 worth of items of your choice in my TpT store. 



 

 Hop over to Sweet Integrations for the next stop on the Springing into Science Blog hop!

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