Saturday, December 29, 2012

Juggling My Recipesssssssssssss...

One of the things I LOVE doing when I'm not teaching is trying all kinds of new recipes. Christmas Break is a great time to do just that and fortunately my family likes my variety of choices :) Here's just a few I found on Pinterest just lately. I have tried, whenever possible, to go back and tag the original source for these links! Here is your 7-Course "pinteresting" meal ... First up, a yummy appetizer Mozzarella Cheese Balls No meal is complete without a yummy salad and this one is coined as the Best Pasta Salad Eva ......
And now for the main course(s) Chicken Enchilada's with Green Chili Sour Cream Sauce ~ yum
Or, Better Than Takeout Chicken Fried Rice ...
Or, Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad ...
And we must NEVER forget dessert Impossible Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes appropriately named because they are IMPOSSIBLE to put down ...
Thin Mint Cookie Truffles ~ gimme gimme
With a lovely, yummy after dinner drink Snow Cocoa made in the slow-cooker ...
Have you tried any "pinteresting" recipes lately? Hurry and try these BEFORE you make your News Years Resolutions! ;)

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Sleep in Heavenly Peace...

A friend posted ~ In thinking about the events of Friday and the darkness of this world, it is good to be reminded that Light has come....Hallelujah! Max Lucado wrote this on Friday. Dear Jesus, It's a good thing you were born at night. This world sure seems dark. I have a good eye for silver linings. But they seem dimmer lately. These killings, Lord. These children, Lord. Innocence violated. Raw evil demonstrated. The whole world seems on edge. Trigger-happy. Ticked off. We hear threats of chemical weapons and nuclear bombs. Are we one button-push away from annihilation? Your world seems a bit darker this Christmas. But you were born in the dark, right? You came at night. The shepherds were nightshift workers. The Wise Men followed a star. Your first cries were heard in the shadows. To see your face, Mary and Joseph needed a candle flame. It was dark. Dark with Herod's jealousy. Dark with Roman oppression. Dark with poverty. Dark with violence. Herod went on a rampage, killing babies. Joseph took you and your mom into Egypt. You were an immigrant before you were a Nazarene. Oh, Lord Jesus, you entered the dark world of your day. Won't you enter ours? We are weary of bloodshed. We, like the wise men, are looking for a star. We, like the shepherds, are kneeling at a manger. This Christmas, we ask you, heal us, help us, be born anew in us. Hopefully, Your Children In the midst of horrific events, may we never forget that The Light Has Come

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Bluebird of Happiness Classroom

Welcome to my classroom! Most of you know that I consider it more than just a place of learning for my students. Considering where I teach and the heavily-burdened children that are entrusted to me for a year, I want their Kindergarten room to be a place where they come and are safe and loved and able to BE ... I hope that when they leave me at the end of this year they will be able to see beyond the sadness of their daily home life ... So, here's a peek into my world!
Last spring, I happened upon Melanie Ralbusky at the Schoolgirl Style blog. Have you been there? You must! I had gotten my job about 2 weeks before school started and 3 weeks before my daughter's wedding {{{EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK}}} and so I had never really decorated it the way I had hoped. Well, I can tell you that the inspiration I received from Melanie's site made my little heart go pitter-patter. I began to plan every nook and cranny. I gathered all of my supplies ...
The first thing that had to go was this beast of a cubbie. It was painted in primary colors ~ ugh!! This baby has 32 cubby holes ~ ON EACH SIDE!!!
It took me about 20 hours to paint the behemoth but I chose nice warm colors that would complement the rest of the decor. I think you will agree that the end result was worth all the time that it took! Next I worked on the kids' work tables. I wanted each one to feel like they were sitting around the kitchen table!
Our Technology Treehouse and Reading Loft ...
Common Core I Can chart ... This was created for me by Karen at Rockin' Room 11
My Behavior Management System, also purchased on TPT through Jessica Stanford
The Reading Corner and Birthday Wall ...
Some more shots from around the room ...
And, we can't forget all the details that make everything JUST right:
This wall has a string of bluebirds carrying the words "Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true" ...
And this one is my favorite, "If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why oh why can't I?" ...
I hope that my little sweeties will always remember our Classroom Sweet Classroom!
Thanks for visiting my little corner of the world!

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Juke Box Fun

Just a really quick post before the TPT sale closes! Towards the end of the summer I found the cutest Dr. Jean Nursery Rhyme Juke Box on Pinterest. It was perfect for our beginning of the year intro to nursery rhymes. Well, my kiddos ate it up! They loved it A LOT!!
Not a great picture but you can see it in the background. Anyway, it quickly became a favorite area of the classroom. I hung it up to look like a real juke box with a CD player near by. Then the kids would press a "button" to choose a nursery rhyme and I would play that selection on the CD. It was a lot of fun! You can find that one at TPT here. So, the other night when I was browsing, I came across a Christmas Juke Box, in fact there are quite a few different Juke Boxes that really creative people have made. You can find it here! I'm gonna go grab it. What a great way to have a classroom caroling party! Jingle Jingle!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Juggling My Wishlist ...

SURELY you know about the Cyber Monday & Tuesday Sale over at Teachers Pay Teachers, right? Just about every blog I clicked on this weekend reminded me that it would be going on! So I've made my wishlist and I'm checking it twice so that I'm ready to order some of the items that I have been eyeballing for awhile. Here's what I've got in my cart! First I went back through Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business' store and chose a few of her units that I haven't purchased yet.
Then, of course, I had to add some of Deanna Jump's units to stock up for January:
She also has some really cute mini-units that go with a few of Jack Hartmann's songs.
The next 2 weeks we will be doing our Gingerbread Unit and I found some cute additions from Differentiated Kindergarten's storefront.
I found a few other cute gingerbread ideas in various and sundry places.
Then I found the perfect decor package for our Gingerbread Unit from Schoolgirl Style!
This picture really does not do her creations justice! You MUST visit her website, Schoolgirl Style, but I must warn you, bring a napkin with you when you do because you will be drooling all over your keyboard~lol. No REALLY! I plan on doing a more extensive post all about her delicious products in the very near future, including how she single-handedly (no matter how I type that word it doesn't look right) inspired my classroom design this year! HURRY! Go visit her site! I needed something for the party that we are having after our Children's Christmas Musical at church and I found something that was perfect through Victoria Moore.
Somehow I've got to also squeeze in a unit on Food this month. That will be interesting! But I needed some updated vocabulary cards and pocket chart fun and I found just the ticket!
And lastly, something that I've had on my Wishlist for quite some time. Something to help me learn how to use my Smartboard!!
I tried really hard ya'll to figure out how to add a link to each of these pictures but I just couldn't do it! Forgive me, I'm still really new at this! What's on your wishlist? Happy Cyber Monday & Tuesday!