Pantry Purge Cake and Recent Recipes

Recipe #174 - Hot and Spicy Sausage Dip from SweetLittleBlueBird:  I apologize for the lack of picture of this, I had one last-minute chance to take a picture before it got taken away to be served at a pot-luck, but trust me, this is WAY more delicious than it looks.  This sausage dip is everything you love about sausage balls, in a cheesy, creamy dip form.  I made this for a school event.  I made it the night before, then re-heated it in the crock pot the next day before our meeting. It was gone before I even got a chance to have any, but I had a feeling that would happen and I snuck some the night before. Yummy yummy!

Recipe #175 - Martha Stewart's Macaroni and Cheese from food52: I don't have a picture of this dish. I made it for a Memorial Day barbeque, and it was pretty good, but not absolutely spectacular. I have to say the bread on top was different, but definitely added an extra crunchy aspect to the mac and cheese that people seemed to like, but it didn't re-heat very well.


Recipe #176 - Double Crunch Honey Garlic Chicken from rockrecipes:  I'm working on cleaning out our massive stock of food before I go and buy more, and this recipe was chosen because it was made with everything we already had in the house.  It was pretty easy (not as easy as my usual meal of a bowl of pasta) and absolutely delicious! Fiance liked the chicken alone without the sauce, so I had extra sauce left over. I had chicken nuggets the
 next day and it was just as good!




Recipe #177 - Easy Addicting Corn from BudgetSavvyDiva: This corn was yummy, but I prefer just plain 'ol corn on the cob. Worth a try... it's easy and a use of that bag of corn in your packed freezer!

Recipe #178 - Chicken with Feta Cheese Sauce from Garnishwithlemon: If there is one food I love more than anything it is feta cheese. Okay, not really, but I love feta cheese a lot... and this recipe was delicious! It was a chicken with a creamy, delicious feta cheese sauce. I had tons of sauce leftover even though I used a ton, so I'm putting it on pasta tonight to make a different kind of mac and cheese. Yum!


Recipe #179 - Pantry Purge Cake: This is my masterpiece.  As I said, I'm working hard to clean out the pantry, and I had a box of cake mix and some chocolate frosting in there.  Now, it just seemed to boring to make a simple cake, so I made an extreme pantry purge cake.

First, I made the box cake in two 9" rounds.

Next, I melted a bunch of chocolate chips and peanut butter together to make this deliciousness:

Then I added some powdered sugar to make a true frosting.

I added that mix to the top of one layer, really thick, and cooled it in the refrigerator.  It turned into a delicious fudge-like substance.


Next, I mixed some peanut butter in with the container of frosting to add some bulk and flavor to it. I then covered the two layers in the store-bought frosting mix.

Finally, I finished it off with piped frosting and melted peanut butter drizzle.  What a work of art!




Now... the taste.  The cake was SO dry, it was a horrible mix! Everything else (MY creations) were delicious though!

American Flag Shorts - DIY!

Did I mention it's summer? I don't think I did. Well, it's summer... and that nice, relaxing time that I've been looking forward to for 9 months very quickly turned into boredom and loneliness.  What do teachers do over the summer pre-family?

Well, I may have a gap for a few more years, but I am happy to fill that gap with crafts. I finally have time to do all those silly things that I saw on pinterest and never got around to.  Not only do I love doing it, but it gives me a focus during my empty days.

Are you rolling your eyes and saying 'Poor Baby' yet?

So, I saw these adorable American Flag Shorts on pinterest from tumblr, and I knew just how easy they would be to make... so I did!

First thing I did was start with some white shorts.

Then, I cut out a star shape on cardstock with the cricut, and I traced the stars on the left pocket in regular, ballpoint pen.

I also drew lines on the right pocket using a ruler.

Then, I painted.  Just plain 'ol fabric paint and a paintbrush.  It took a little patience to paint all around those star shapes, but overall the whole project took about 30 minutes and they are my new favorite shorts!!!

 I'm ready for summer, are you!?

Baby Month Onesies

Tiny nose, 10 fingers, 10 toes, puffy cheeks and bright red lips... it's baby time again!!

Another friend had a baby recently, and even through my startling realization that I'm in the age group where this is normal, I was still able to put together a baby gift and ship it her way.

I decided to make the month-by-month Onesies that I've not only seen on pinterest, but I've seen quite a few facebook pictures of different variations of month-by-month pictures. I thought this was a really cute way of doing it.

Just as a warning to all my beloved family and friends, when it comes time for my baby, you WILL be getting a monthly pregnancy picture, as well as a monthly report on the baby's likes, dislikes, height, weight, and stages.  I don't care that you don't care and I don't care that my 2-month-old probably likes the same things that every other baby likes.

Anyways, I really liked the idea of this, and at first I was going to just make them with the Cricut and iron-on vinyl, but they only carried 3 colors of iron-on vinyl at Michaels, and none of those colors were ones that I wanted.  Yes, I could have ordered it online, but then I wouldn't have the instant gratification that I so desire.

Plan B.  Fabric.  My new plan was to just buy heat-bond, cut out different numbers in different colors and patterns of scrap fabric, and iron them on.  Well, The first month worked like a charm, then I just could not get the Cricut to cut any other fabric.  It might not have been sticky enough (it would have taken an extra 30 minutes to re-stick it, thus, no instant gratification.  I'm not sure what the problem was, but the only fabric that would cut was the first one I tried.

Plan C. Use all the same fabric and pretend it looks as cute as the picture in my mind.

So, first thing I did was cut a rectangle of fabric and iron it flat, then I cut the heat-bond down to the same size and ironed it on the back.  Then, I stuck it on the cricut mat, set my cricut to the highest pressure and depth and lowest speed, and cut out the numbers and words.  Then, I was able to iron them right onto the onesies.

At the end, I decided to add some cute polka-dots to all the shirts to make them a little cuter.

Of course, I couldn't leave the gift there. I had to make some Personalized Baby Bottles inspired by Etsy.  It's amazing all the different things a machine and some vinyl can do!

Week 38 & 39 - Beach/ Summer

For the last two weeks of school, we talked about Summer and the Beach.

We read the books, "Spot Goes to the Beach", "Bonnie on the Beach", "Moe the Dog in Tropical Paradise", "Baby Beluga", "One Hot Summer Day" "Tar Beach" "When You Go to Kindergarten" and "How I Spent My Summer Vacation".

Of course, since it was the last few days of school, and many of them were half-days, we were focused mainly on getting data notebooks finished, cleaning the classroom, and doing gifts for the end of the year, so we it was a more relaxed environment with less structured activities, but there were a few things we did.

Our learning goal was to tell ways to stay safe in the sun and water this summer, so we talked a lot about using sunscreen, wearing clothes and hats and sunglasses in the sun, and staying next to adults in the water.

We did an 'Animal Action' game where the kids had to pretend to be different animals at the beach - they always love this game!

We also did an Alphabet Beach Ball, where I wrote the letters of the Alphabet all over a beach ball and we did different activities with it.
First, we sat in a circle and passed the ball around to each other, saying the alphabet together. Next, we kept passing the ball around in a circle, but only the person who had the ball could say the next letter.  Finally, we rolled the ball to one another, using each others' names. When the person picked up the ball, they had to identify and name the letter that was under their hand. The kids had a lot of fun with this, and it was amazing how many activities we could do with a simple ball!

For art projects, we did a Paper Plate Seashell from Localfunforkids, and we also did Gluey Sand Castles from Shareandremember.

They also sorted shells and listened to the ocean.

We had a water day, where we spent the day out with the hose and water toys. It really ended up being a mud day, but the kids had fun!
At the end of the water day, the kids all ate my favorite... Sand Cake!!!

We took our End of Year Pictures, and I printed their first day of school, 100th day of school, and last day of school pictures out and we put them together in a homemade frame. Adorable!

For end-of-year gifts, each of the kids got a memory bucket filled with summer goodies, and they got to sign each others' buckets, and I wrote messages that they dictated to each other.

For the assistants and SLP, the kids helped me make these adorable Class Plates inspired by a picture on flickr.  I took all of their thumbprints (they got to choose the color), and when they dried I wrote their name and decorated it to look like the student. I also added a nice quote to each plate. I had to make one for myself, too of course!

 

 

 

Overall, it was a very successful year, and I look forward to doing it all again next year!

Week 37 - Mothers & Fathers' Day

Week 37 was the week following Mother's Day, so I decided to devote the whole week to Mothers and Fathers, that way we could work on Mother's Day gifts, as well as get Father's Day gifts ready to send home for June.

On Monday and Tuesday, we focused only on mothers.

I read the books, "Our Mom," "Just Me and my Mom," "Are You My Mother?" and "My Monster Mama Loves Me So". 

We played the games 'Mother May I?' and 'Mommy Says' (Simon says).

The kids made Flower Mother's Day Cards that said "My love for you grows and grows" and opened up into a big flower coming out of a pot (this was inspired by pinterest).

For a Mother's Day gift, we made Mommy Coasters inspired by my genious roommate. I bought 16cent tiles at Lowe's, glued felt to the back, and had the kids decorate them with Sharpies.  Then, *when they were dry* (made that mistake at first), I put mod podge over the top to seal them in.  Cute, cheap, and easy!

I also interviewed each of the students for a Mommy Questionnaire, which I made myself. In this questionnaire, I asked the kids different questions about their mom, and wrote down their answers, no matter how silly it sounded or even if it didn't make sense.  Some of the questions I asked were, "What's your mom's favorite color?" "How old is your mom?" "What's your mom's favorite thing to do?".  Then I had the kids draw a picture of their mom, and I glued them side by side on a large piece of construction paper.
We did the same thing for our fathers later in the week so they didn't feel left out!


On Wednesday, we talked about both moms and dads, and we read the books "Moms and Dads," "Tell Me Again", and "With My Mom and Dad".

On Thursday and Friday, we focused on dads.  We read the books "Knuffle Bunny," "Dad," and "My Dad's Job".

For a Father's Day Card, we did a 'Hooked on Daddy' Fish Handprint Card from in-the-corner.

For a Father's Day gift, we made 'I love you to pieces' frames (from pinterest) by gluing puzzle pieces to picture frames and putting the kids' pictures in them. The pieces lasted a whole 2 hours before they started falling off the frame, so I know to use something besides Elmer's and hot glue next year!

The kids also got to play in Shaving Cream to commemorate their daddies!!!

 

Week 35 - Transportation

On the last week of April/first week of May, we focused on transportation and things that move. 

We started off the week on Monday with a transportation anchor chart, making a list (using pictures) of all the things the students could think of that help them get around.   We also read the books “Wheels Go Round” and “Hot Rod Hamster” to talk more about cars.

For our movement activity, we played ‘Red light/green light’ and sang the song ‘Where is red light?’ (which is just like ‘where is thumbkin’ but you use red light/ yellow light/ green light instead of the name of the finger, and hold up that color circle when you say it).

For the art activity, the students did a Transportation Collage by coloring and cutting out the different ways to get around and gluing them on their very own poster. 

They also did a ‘What’s Missing’ memory game, where the teacher put up 5 different types of transportation, took one away, and asked what was missing.

At the end of the day, we read “My Race Car.”

On Tuesday we focused on buses.  We read “The Wheels on the Bus” and “Cars and Trucks”, then of course we had to do a fine motor (finger play) of ‘The Wheels on the Bus’, as well as a gross motor version walking/crawling/jumping around the classroom.  One interesting version of the song that I did was that I would substitute in a child’s name, and they had to do something on the bus (e.g.: The Brandon on the bus goes… wah wah wah… etc). 

For our art project, the kids did a School Bus Collage.  I pre-cut school buses and windows, and the kids glued them on to a paper to make a bus, added a background, and glued pictures of kids’ faces out of magazines in the windows.

They also played the Parking Lot Recognition game that I made last year.  I drew a parking lot on a posterboard and laminated it.  Then I wrote in different things in every parking spot, and to play the kids would have to drive their car (matchbox car) to the spot you told them.  Last year, I used sight words in each of the boxes.  This year, I did letters, numbers, and shapes.

On Wednesday we focused on trains.  We read “Chugga Chugga Choo Choo” and “The Train Ride” during circle time.  For our song and movement, we sang ‘I’ve been working on the railroad’.  Of course, we had to watch ‘Thomas the Train,’ and while they watched the movie, we pulled them one at a time to make a Name Train from funinprek.

On Thursday, our focus was airplanes.  My assistant let me borrow the cutest little book she had called “The Little Red Plane”, and we read how the pilot got the plane ready by checking the gauges, filling the tank, and making sure everyone was seated. 

For our movement activity, we played the stop sign game, where the kids were given something to do (hop, jump, crawl, dance, etc) and had to stop when I put up the stop sign.  It’s kind of like freeze dance.

For art, the students made Paper Airplane Mobiles inspired by etsy.  I taught each student how to make a paper airplane, then we made 4 planes together and hung them up on large popsicle sticks from the ceiling.

Finally, on Friday, our focus was boats.  We read “Richard Scarry’s Great Steamboat Mystery” and sang ‘Row Row Row Your Boat’.  The kids made a Popsicle Stick Boat from Pequeocio.

Week 36 - Mexico and Cinco de Mayo

The week of Cinco de Mayo was another one of my favorite weeks in Pre-K all year.  We celebrated Cinco de Mayo on Monday, May 5^th, then continued talking about Mexico all week. 

 

Throughout the week we read some Mexico books that we got from the library, but most of them were to high-leveled for the kids, and we just had to look through the pictures and talk about what we saw.  We learned the numbers in Spanish up to 10, and practiced them by singing ’10 in a Bed’ with Spanish numbers, as well as counting on the calendar in Spanish each day.  I was shocked at how quickly some of the students picked up on learning the numbers.

Each morning, we also sang a Cinco de Mayo song from PreschoolExpress. 

 On Monday, we focused on pinatas, as that was a great way to celebrate the holiday.  We read the story ‘Pancho’s Pinata’, then of course did our own piñata (which we had made the week before using paper mache).  I wish I had pictures of the kids breaking the piñata open (with a wrapping paper tube), but I was the one holding it up and trying not to get hit!!

For snack, we ate chips and salsa and pretended to be in a cantina.

The kids got to make their very own Mini Pinatas from ADayofWonders.  To do this, we put small candies inside two Dixie cups taped together, put a string on top, then decorated the outside by gluing squares of tissue paper to it.  They turned out really cute!!

We also did a Mexican Flag Color sorting activity, and when they were done sorting they got the ‘Seal of Approval’, which was the Mexican seal to glue on top.

On Tuesday, we pretended to be Mexican jumping beans as we jumped around the room to Mexican music. 

For art, the kids all decorated their own Serapes by gluing together parts of a person to a piece of construction paper, then gluing designs on the construction paper to make a beautiful poncho.

On Wednesday, the kids watched the Disney movie ‘The Three Cabelleros’, which I was bummed I didn’t get to see because I had a training that day.  While they were watching the movie, they painted their plates for the next day’s activities.

On Thursday, our focus was on Sombreros.  We danced to the ‘Mexican Hat Dance’, and the kids made their very own Mini Sombreros by gluing a yellow cup to a painted yellow plate, and adding pompoms and string to hold it on. 

 

As a learning activity, we did Sombrero Bean Counting, which was an activity I made for them.  They each got a worksheet with 5 sombreros on them, numbered 1-5.  The kids had to trace the numbers, then color the sombreros according to their numbers, then put that many beans on the sombrero.  They had a lot of fun with this, and the leftover beans were great in a sensory bin!

On Friday we focused on Maracas.  In the morning, we danced around for almost 45 minutes with maracas that we already had, and the kids loved shaking them around.

For art, the students made their own Plastic Spoon Maracas (from Celebrations 

) using those leftover beans from yesterday (I made $4 worth of beans really last)! 

The week was so much fun, and everyone had a blast learning about Mexico!