Show and Tell Tuesday June Style

I can tell that I am not in school. I had to really scrounge to come up with ideas for this month's Show and Tell. It's not that I'm not doing things or being productive, it's just that I don't keep track of things, or complete things... can you say a million projects all going at once? Anyway, here is my meager attempt at showing and telling what I've been up to.

I've been webinar-ing it away this June. Already SEVEN different ones!

Three from Jen Bengel from Out of This World Literacy, not to mention her daily LIVE Facebook video lessons.

Two from Erin Cobb from I'm Lovin' Lit.

One from Steve Kesler of Kesler Science.

One from ASCD.

There are three more planned for this coming week. I love webinars. I can sit in my pajamas, in my rocker, with my furbabies on my lap and earn continuing education hours. Can't beat it!

I visited some friends on Father's Day. We originally were going to go out for a late lunch, early dinner, but my friends decided since it was such a beautiful day to have a cook-out at the last minute. We all brought favorite dishes as a side, salad, or dessert, but I am not much of a cook or baker so my pantry is not stocked for last minute gourmet offerings. Looking at what I had on hand, I remembered something that was all the rage when I was in high school, Jello Fluff. I hadn't made it in years and don't know what triggered the memory, but I'm so glad that it did. Here is an official recipe for it, but basically all I do is dump the following in a bowl and mix away:

1 large container of Cool Whip (doesn't have to be name brand)

1 box of Jello... just the dry powder (doesn't have to be name brand)

1 small carton of cottage cheese (drained)

1 can crushed pineapple (drained)

I know, I know! That combination just sounds terrible! My niece and nephews scrunched up their faces when I told them what I was making. Ha, little do they know how delish it really is!

Depending on the flavor of gelatin that I use and what I have hanging around, I used to get creative with this refreshing salad. For instance, I used strawberry gelatin and had some berries so I chopped those up and mixed them in. My favorite from years ago was to use lime gelatin and thrown in a handful of mini-marshmallows...YUM! And if by chance I had orange gelatin I liked to substitute the pineapple with mandarin oranges. Something else that adds YUM factor to this simple dish is nuts, any kind. I LOVE the crunch.

For someone who is not much of a cook, it seems that I've been doing it a LOT lately. I recently tried a new recipe that I found on Facebook shared by The Recipe Critic. Called California Spaghetti salad it features TONS of yummy fresh vegetables and a zippy dressing!

I'm not going to say anything more about this dish other than:

Here's the original recipe.

MAKE IT!

Be sure you make it over to Forever in 5th Grade for more Show and Tell blog posts from the edu-blogging world.

Impromptu Monday Made It

I really hadn't planned on joining #MondayMadeIt this week. I really hadn't made anything teachery. Heck, I really hadn't made anything! Until this morning. I am so proud of myself (and I think my mom would be, too)! So Tara@4th Grade Frolics and all the rest of you crafty bloggers, here I am for my first(and hopefully not the last) of the summer...

This past Saturday my niece and I ran up to the West Side Market in Cleveland. We try to go every few weeks... the produce is out of this world! If you live within an hour of this place it is WELL WORTH THE TRIP!

We arrived JUST as the vendors were unpacking and setting-up. There are some terrific bargains to be had for us early birds, and I'm not talking worms! One of our favorite stands had every kind of vegetable that I LOVE at such ridiculously low prices that I bought a TON of stuff, among them a bunch of beets. I LOVE, LOVE fresh beets, especially pickled, but I have NEVER made FRESH beets. That was my mother's domain. I would buy them and she would prepare them. I use canned beets when I make them. Ah well, for a dollar for the bunch, if I ruined them I couldn't feel too bad!

This morning I braved the beets... threw them in a pot of water and set them on the stove to cook while I went off and did laundry and talked on the phone. I occasionally checked on them as they simmered away filling the house with their beety smell.

About thirty minutes later, they seemed soft enough so I took them off the flame, drained the water (reserved some as an afterthought), took them out of the pot to cool, and made the pickling juice (hot water, sugar, vinegar...taste 'til just so). When the beets cooled enough to handle, I peeled and sliced them and a Vidalia onion, and placed them in a storage container. So far, everything looked just like what it looked like when my mother made pickled beets.

The final step was to pour the pickling juice over the beets and onions. I added a little of the reserved beet water (for a bit of color), mixed them up, covered the container, and placed them in the fridge to cool and set to flavor.

Alas, I could only wait 90 minutes. I have NEVER been good at being patient! Oh my, were they good! I was pretty proud of myself, and I think mom would be proud also!

Be sure to hop on over to Tara's blog to read many more #MondayMadeIt posts. You just can't BEET #MondayMadeIt for great ideas and inspiration! Sorry, I couldn't resist... LOL!

Show and Tell Tuesday

If you are looking for the Tuesday Writing PaWs, I'm sorry, but you will have to wait until next Tuesday. This Tuesday is a very special Tuesday.

If you are on Facebook at all then you are familiar with the recipe for Salsa Chicken that has been floating around for several weeks. I had tried to resist watching the recipe video because I knew I would HAVE to make it and it would probably be a one and done event. Most of those recipes look yummy but end up tasting just OK. One afternoon after school, I was trying to figure out what to make for my dinner while I was checking all my Facebook when the dreaded Facebook recipe video flashed by. I succumbed! I didn't have the needed boneless, chicken breasts, but I did have boneless, chicken thighs and sour cream, lots of sour cream...YUM.

 Let me tell you... Facebook Salsa Chicken is my new favorite food and it is super EASY to make.

Just in case you haven't seen it, here's the original recipe for you to enjoy.

Salsa Chicken Casserole
Easy Delicious Dinner http://bit.ly/1Kht7ZQ
Posted by Tip Hero on Saturday, January 30, 2016

If you have followed me for any length of time, then you have probably heard about or actually seen my beautiful fuzz girls, Daisy Mae and Lulubelle. Daisy is old and grouchy (pfft... she was young and grouchy at one point) and Lulie is young and full of it!

Aren't they sweet looking? Hah! Like true siblings, they do love each other, but oh boy! Can they get into it! Poor Daisy got the worst of it this week with a scratch above her eye. Lulie nailed her when they were tussling around the kitchen. Now every time that Lulie comes near big sissy, Daisy turns her back and walks away... sisters!

I would be remiss if I did not share a photo of our weather.

Three snow days, an chaotic early dismissal as well as Lake Effect snow watches, advisories, and warnings along with high wind warnings and wind chill warnings have made life interesting of late.

I am so proud of my students, but one of my boys made me so extra proud. First of all he won our school spelling bee against seventh and eighth graders, all of whom had participated in the bee in previous years. Actually, the last three contestants standing were all my students... proud teacher moment! Our school winner went on to participate in the county bee.

During the county bee, my student was pitted against contestants who had three and four years' experience at this level. It was his first. He held his own though, but the stress got to him in the 25th round when he misspelled a word that he knew how to spell. Look at the wonderful little message he wrote to me the next day. He referenced the word that he missed by cutting apart a portion of one of our spelling lists from early in the year on which the word that he missed appeared. His parent typed a special message to me as well. The two made my day!

Make sure you visit Forever in Fifth Grade to check out more Show and Tell posts shared by teacher bloggers. It's a great way to get to know teacher bloggers from all over.

Pick 3 Top Pinterest Picks for July

I am known as the Queen of Pinterest at my school; even my kiddos know this about me. I've had parents ask if such-and-such an idea came from Pinterest. How I have missed this linky I don't know! I do know that I will be joining Inspired Owl's Corner each month from now on.

Have any of you ever used exit tickets or an exit ticket board? I'm thinking of adding this to my instruction this year.

Formative Assessment Tool: Exit Ticket Board

Do you crock pot?

I am all about quick and easy... work smarter, not harder! Crock pot recipes are my go-to meals. Throw in the ingredients, turn on the pot, and walk away. Eight hours later, yummy delicious is there for me. This recipe is hands-down one of the BEST I've ever found. I made it with half chicken breast and half boneless, thick cut pork chop. Oh boy!

Chicken, green beans, red potatoes, and ranch dressing mix. YUMMY!

Are you a REAL teacher?

A little teacher humor.

Be sure to stop by Inspired Owl's Corner for loads more Pinterest ideas for the month of July! I found some great pins to add to my collection.

Be sure to also stop by my TpT Store now through July 5, 2015 to stock up on teaching items for the upcoming school year. EVERYTHING in my store is 20% off!

Happy Independence Day!

Tried It Tuesday (NTR?)

This is sort of related to teaching...

I'm not one for cooking... much! I hate the discipline involved: planning what to eat, collecting supplies, following a recipe, watching the time, taking care to stir, etc. AND the last thing that I want to do after teaching all day is cook! I have fallen into the bad habit of surfing through a drive-through on my way home, tsk, tsk, tsk! So for me to be posting about cooking and sharing a recipe- YIKES, check to see if the trumpet for judgement day has sounded!

However, I found the PERFECT recipe for busy teachers like me and I TRIED IT so I'm sharing it on TUESDAY for Holly's monthly linky over at Fourth Grade Flipper...

You may have seen this recipe on Pinterest. I did and pinned it a LONG time ago (remember what I said about me and cooking).

I was intrigued by the "mini"ness of the pot pie, the few ingredients, and the fact that it only took a half hour from prep to table. However, remember, I am not a cook! I promptly forgot the pin until this weekend when two things happened. First a former student of mine posted on his Facebook page a photo of a delicious, quick and easy dish that he had cooked after coming home late from work, and ...

I was rummaging around through the library on my Kindle (there are over 1200 books in my library) and I found this. This recipe was in there.

It's FREE on Kindle. Just click HERE.

This was the impetus I needed! I happened to have a tube of Grands biscuits in the refrigerator, a can of cream of chicken soup in the cupboard, some left-over chicken, and a half bag of frozen veggies in the freezer- all the ingredients that I needed. It was a good thing, too, since there was no way I was heading to the store in sub zero temps and snowfall rates of an inch an hour. I skipped the cheese since I didn't have any.

It took all of 5 minutes to prepare. Simply line a muffin tin with a biscuit and spoon in a mixture of soup, veggies, and chicken that I had folded together in a bowl. Furthermore, it was finished baking in just 22 minutes. It looked great, and...

... tasted even better! The best part was that I had more than one meal out of a single prep/bake. The mini pot pies reheat beautifully in the oven and tasted even better since the flavors had time to mesh well. Now that's my kind of recipe. If you like recipes that are quick, easy, and bother free, give this dish a try. Don't wait like me!

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

This is going to be a JAM packed post today: several linkies, a giveaway reminder, and a party invitation all JAMMED into one. Sit back, hold on tight, and let's get JAMMIN'!

First up is The Teaching Tribune's summer linky Monday Meet-up. They announced today that this is the last Monday Meet-up for the summer. You know what that means? Shhh! We'll not say those words aloud yet!

Next up is the weekly Anchors Away linky hosted by Deb from Crafting Connections.

If you have been following my blog or Deb's linky then you'll know the value of anchor charts, in all shapes and sizes, traditional and non. I'm always on the lookout for great anchor chart ideas. I FOUND AN AWESOME ANCHOR CHART over at Just a Primary Girl that I just HAVE to share with you!

I have used the annotation strategy for initial reads of all text genre for eons; however, with the emphasis on close reading as proscribed in the CCSS, I knew it was time to formalize and expand the strategy in my classes. My first inclination was to create bookmarks with an annotation code; however, knowing my students as I do... unh-uh! Those bookmarks wouldn't last a week! Then, I came upon this anchor chart and knew I HAD to do something like this. LOVE it! Gonna use it! Can't wait! Read more about this chart and how to develop it with your students HERE.


The last linky I'm joining this week is 4th Grade Frolics' Monday Made It.

Last Friday I mentioned that my family was joining me for Independence Day dinner and they had requested Auntie's famous chili. I had gathered all my ingredients and was poised to begin, but... I had NEVER made chili for so many people... 10 in all, and of these ten only three of us are under six feet tall, and four are taller than six feet six inches... I'm hinting that these folks are BIG eaters. I wasn't sure how much of everything to use.

I am not a cook who measures or follows a recipe, I just dump and stir things in. I knew I had to use a BIG pot to make enough chili to feed everyone so I borrowed my niece's 21 qt. stockpot. Here's what I ended up using to make my chili:

• FIVE pounds of meat... three pounds of ground beef and two pounds of hot sausage (normally just two pounds total)
• Four cans of diced tomatoes (normally one)
• Two large cans of sauce, five small cans of sauce (normally one large can)
• Six cans of beans: chili, dark kidney, light kidney, white kidney, black, chick pea (normally three)
• Two cans of whole kernel corn (normally one)
• 12 cloves garlic (normally two or three)
• Two large onions (normally one)
• 2/3 jar chili powder (normally a few tablespoons)
• pitcher of water (normally a can or two to rinse the sauce)
• salt and pepper to taste

When all was said and done, I ended up making about 18 quarts of yummy, spicy chili.

By the end of the evening there wasn't a drop of chili left! I can NOT believe my family plowed through all that chili, and I was looking forward to leftovers on Saturday. LOL!

On to things other than linkies. How 'bout a giveaway? There's still one more day left to win your choice of a Teacher T-Shirt. Hop over to this blog post and enter to win! There's no obligation or cost so give it a whirl! You won't be disappointed if you win. The t-shirt is a great product! I am LOVIN' mine.

Finally...  And I'm REALLY excited about this... You've heard me talk about Jamberry nail wraps, how I'm enjoying them, how cute they are, how easy they are to use...

I'm throwing an online, in real time, Jamberry party via Facebook and you ALL are invited.

You do not need to be a member of Facebook nor do you need to be my "friend" to attend this party. All you need is to visit this LINK and click the join/going button. The only requirement is that you register for the party before it begins so that you reserve your space. Once nine o'clock EST on July 17, 2014, rolls around no one will be able to join unless you have reserved your place. There will be games and prizes while we learn more about Jamberry wraps, hear about some special offers, and make some new Jammin' friends! There is no obligation to purchase anything. Since this is an open party, please feel free to invite your friends to attend as well. Just send them the party link so they may register.

The party consultant who will conduct the party is WONDERFUL! I've been to one of Bev's parties and had a great time learning about these fun fashion wraps. I'll be sure to post several reminders between now and the party date; however, I encourage you to reserve your spot right away. As soon as reservations start to roll in, Bev will begin posting information on the page that you won't want to miss.

Just click this link,

 https://www.facebook.com/events/1537142123180257, 

to reserve your space. 

Can't wait to Jam with you on July 17, 2014.