Fun Flower Art

This is a fun art project that I have been letting my Kinder kids do this week.  I posted about using old warming trays last summer.  It is great fun for the kids to watch the crayon melt on their papers!

They have turned out so cute!  I have also found that some of my Kinder kids are very artistic.  I had one little girl shade with a white crayon, it turned out so neat looking!

First of all the kids colored their flower picture using the warming tray.  After letting the crayon dry for a few minutes, I had them use watercolors to paint the background blue.  FYI— I would definitely use construction paper if possible.  The crayon can leave a waxy residue on the warming tray. 

Here are a few examples:

    

Happy Spring!

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White Chicken Enchiladas

I am sad that my Spring Break is coming to an end.  It goes WAY too quickly these days.  I always have such great plans of what I am going to accomplish.  I truly did get quite a few things done, it is just never enough!

Anyway, it is funny how I am much more motivated I am to cook dinner at night when I have not spent my day chasing around 5 yr. olds!  Usually by the time I get home cooking dinner does not sound all that appealing!

Fun Photo Backdrops

It has become a tradition at our school that we teachers host a Daddy/Daughter Dance.  Each year we have a different theme.  This year our theme was “Sweet Heart” dance.  I was talked into creating the backdrops for the dance pics.  I was excited because I have seen numerous ideas that I have been wanting to try out.

Braided Spaghetti Bread

I LOVE this recipe!  This recipe came from a teaching friend of mine!  She is addicted to trying lots and lots of Pinterest recipes. (Which is good for all of us at school…she tries them and then she gives us the low down on how they actually turned out!)   I am sure that is where this one originally came from.  You can check her out over at Cooking With The Clouds.  She writes about her adventures in the kitchen! (This recipe and very detailed directions can also be found here.

This picture does not even begin to describe how great this meal is!  I am really not a spaghetti girl!  But add the bread and all of the cheesy goodness and YUM!  Need I say more?

Braided Spaghetti Bread

1 Loaf Rhodes Bread Dough or 12 Rhodes Dinner Rolls, thawed to room temperature
6 oz spaghetti, cooked
1 cup thick spaghetti sauce
8 oz mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2 –inch cubes
1 egg white (I used butter on top of mine instead of the egg whites.)
Parmesan cheese
Parsley flakes

Lay out dough several hours before you plan on rolling out your dough.  The dough is frozen and needs to thaw out.

Spray table or place dough on parchment paper.  Roll out dough until you get a 12x16 inch rectangle.

Let dough set for about 10 minutes.

Cook spaghetti, drain and let cool.

Mix in your spaghetti sauce. (add meat if desired)

Unwrap dough.

When the spaghetti has cooled off, place the spaghetti lengthwise down the center of the bread.

Place mozzarella cubes on top of the spaghetti.

You will now cut 1 1/2 inch strips down both sides of the bread.  You will then criss-cross the sides, alternating one over the other to make a braid.  (left over right, right over left)  Tuck the ends in.

You can use the egg wash or butter on top of the bread.  Sprinkle with parsley flakes and parmesan cheese.

Bake 350 for 30-35 minutes or until brown.

Slice and serve! 

I would LOVE to know if you try this recipe!

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Life’s Craziness!

WHEW!!  Snow, Parent Teacher Conferences, Valentine’s Day & My Anniversary…Oh MY!!

We started the week off with a nice 1 of snow.  The roads stayed pretty clear so we did have school on Monday.  That meant that the kids were much crazier than usual. 

Tuesday was our Valentine’s Day parties at school!  Yet another very busy and crazy day!  Plus, I had Parent/Teacher Conferences until 7:00.  I got home to enjoy what was left of Valentine’s Day and my 8th Wedding Anniversary! (such the life of a teacher) 

My wonderful husband and I did get to hang out and run around by ourselves on Saturday.  My parents came up and took care of the kiddos for the day!  So nice to enjoy time by ourselves once in awhile!  We rarely have sitters, so the kids are usually always with us.  The kids were super excited when they found out that they were going out to dinner with only their Mimi and Pappi!  NO parents to ruin the fun!  J and I were excited to enjoyed a nice quiet dinner at a small local Chinese restaurant!  (with no kiddos constantly asking to “play” our phones)

That pretty much recaps my crazy week!  So excited to have Friday off! (teacher-flex day!)  Maybe I can finish up a few of my many projects!

 

Snowman--Hangman

I can’t believe that I have not posted in a while.  I really think I kind of needed a little break!  But now I am back and ready to move forward!

Here’s a little Kindergarten humor for you!

As most of you know..I spend tons of my time with 5 year olds.  We are currently learning about Arkansas.  I was reading a book and telling them that the Arkansas state beverage is milk.  I followed that up with…”You know milk comes from cows, right?”  Most of them did say yes.  I had one that said, “How do they do that?!?!”  Another responded..Umm, yea!  “It comes from their gutters!” 

Of course, I had to chuckle!  Never a dull moment in Kindergarten!

I am going to try to post a fun and educational activity each week that you could PLAY or PRACTICE with your child/children.

I found this one on Growing Kinders.

This is played like you would play hangman.  Only, using snowman pieces!   I have been playing this whole group with my Kinder kids.  They LOVE IT!  I have been using past and current sight words as my mystery words.  The words are short, but some of them are really getting good at using our word wall to help them figure out the mystery word.

Here is a pic. of the snowman that I made. 

Let me know if you play this game with your kids and if they enjoyed it!

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TOMS

To Wash or Not To Wash??  That is the question!

Okay..So I have these TOMS..I LOVE my TOMS!

But….

The girl that sold me my first pair of Toms told me to buy them a 1/2 size smaller.  (They are supposed to stretch… Umm No!)

So….I have worn and worn them without socks until…the stench was quite

DISGUSTING!

So I sprayed them several times with Bath & Body Spray…it helped but quickly the stench came back…

SO with much debate…I decided I would wash them and see how they fared in the laundry.

The results are in….

Before Pic…

After Pic…

Obviously, these are the canvas ones and I would not suggest washing the ones that are made of those cute little sparkles!  But, I am happy that I can continue to wear my fresh smelling TOMS!

Oh and I just threw them in the washer with some TIDE and then let them air dry!