Buzzing About Second Grade: Animal Camouflage Reports and Safari Guide#c4802568520640456613#c4802568520640456613

Buzzing About Second Grade: Animal Camouflage Reports and Safari Guide#c4802568520640456613#c4802568520640456613

Snow and Winter

Well...this is definately worth the wait! Woke up this morning to about 18 inches of snow!! It's been snowing steadily for the last 20 hours! OMG....Yes, hard to believe..but the snow goes up to my knees in most areas. I am loving it! Makes me want to curl up in front of the fireplace, read and enjoy absolutely NOTHING!! lol

I am taking this day to blog, update some of my unit plans and just relax. I think I will also do some sewing this weekend, since we can't really go anywhere....our vehicles are stuck!

Hopefully, I can take advantage of this day and create something related to snow and winter. I am going to take more pictures and see what I can come up with. I was thinking of doing this art project with my students, since it might be our last great snowfall before spring comes along. I found these great ideas on Pinterest and the you cna find many more great art projects @ http://www.artsonia.com/
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First Grade Bloomabilities: Chapter Book Series Giveaway!#c231738671119805119

First Grade Bloomabilities: Chapter Book Series Giveaway!#c231738671119805119

Cooking

One of my favorite things to do is cook.....but on my own terms! I love ethnic foods, such as Mexican, Chinese, East Indian, Thai and of course good ol' American classic dishes. I love to eat....therefore I have to cook! My family and I enjoy our favorites. I try my best to ensure we have a  variety of meals each month. At the end of each month I sit down and plan out the next month's weekly meals. Then from there I create a shopping list.

I will spend a whole day cooking some meals and then freezing them to last us 2-3 months. For example, from ground beef I will make chili, shepherd's pie, meatballs (for spaghetti and meatball subs), lasagna, red chili enchiladas, tacos, tator tot casserole, meatloaf, salisbury steaks etc. I use Ziploc bags and my vaccuum seal machine, Food Saver and label each bag with the date.

I look on the net all the time for good recipes. My favorite places to find things are on http://www.allrecipes.com/ and http://www.marriedtoamexican.com/. I'm also busy pinning everything that looks delicious on Pinterest! I have over 30 cookbooks. My family will go through them and list the ones they want me to try. I got these three great books for Christmas from Costco......I absolutely LOVE them!! They have hundreds of recipes in each one.

Another great place to look for is on cooking blogs....my favorite place I recently found is over at http://www.aturtleslifeforme.com. Natalie has fabulous ideas for meal planning on a tight budget!

Please let me know how you and your family plan meals and follow a tight budget. I'd love to hear from you. If I knew how to do a linking party on this subject, I would. But I am new to blogging, so for me to add a post once a week is already an accomplishment! lol

Classroom Organization

I am obsessed with find unusual ways to organize materials in my classroom. Everyone has their own way of putting stuff away into its "home." Yeah....teachers are the worst for being "certified packrats" as my husband would say. Anyhow.....I find pizza boxes useful. I use them to sort my Thematic Units with books related to the topic and original copies of activities and crafts.

Several years ago I purchased 50 12X12 boxes at a wholesale grocery store for $12. It was a great spend. I used them to give during Parent-Teacher Interviews for storing student portfolios. Then I encouraged them to use it as a "reading box" to keep little levelled readers I send home.  I use Fountas & Pinnell and also books from www.readinga-z.com for my Guided Reading sessions.

Starquilt

One of my most favorite thing to do is sew. I love being able to make anything. When I was a teenager I tried to do some sewing....mostly sewing my pants skinnier! My mom would be furious with me because I'd sew like a mad woman and end up breaking the needles and getting the thread all knotted up.

Well, fortunately I learned how to sew on my own after I got married. I purchased my first sewing machine on sale at Sears. I was so proud to have my own machine.........and no one to tell me how to use it!!! From there I would find any cheap material I got my hands on and made things. I did everything from simple skirts to curtains. I just loved making something. It felt so good to create something.

Over the years, I have greatly improved. I am not good at following a pattern, but I can look at something and make a replica of it. Don't know where I got that from.....just think it's the stubborness inside me that gets me going.Anyhow, one of the most challenging things for me was to make a starblanket quilt.

I went to South Dakota back in 1993 and witnessed an elderly lady make about 8 of these quilt in a matter of hours! I was inspired to go home and make my own. I did that and gave my first piece to my nephew for his first birthday. Since then, I have cut out and started several of them........but sad to say, they just collected dust.

Well, a few months ago I was inspired again to make another attempt. I did it as a request from my god-daughter. Here it is.......it was a challenge! But I finished it and have started two more. I also made a baby quilt......but stupid me forgot to take a picture  of it before giving it away as Christmas gift!

I am happy to share my knowledge of making them. They are considered prized possessions of the Lakota people and I honor all the teachings that go along with them. I am proud to have learned how to make them and hope that I will get better on each one I make.

Blog Design

I am super excited to have my blog design complete! Thanks so much to Alicia @ http://dreamlikemagic.blogspot.com/ for the great design and being so patient with me.Now I feel like I can conquer the cyber world in the land of teacher blogs!!! Yah!!

Where do I begin? I have so many things I want to share, especially all the great things I have come across on Pinterest and learned from the years of teaching. I am overwhelmed with joy right now! All I know is that this crazy addiction to teaching blog sites has made my days at school even more rewarding. Everyday I use something that I found on blog sites that I know would just rock my lil kids world! I am so thankful for taking the time to jump into this and not be afraid of the great opportunities that will come my way.

Tomorrow is Valentines' Day and I have things to make for my class. I will update later this week with some great stuff and include some awesome links........until then. Happy Teaching!!