Class Cookbook from A to Z

Posted by TheRoomMom

Aaaah. The end of the school year. It’s the time of year when I start thinking of some little sirsee for my children’s teachers that will 1) remind the teacher of my child’s class in the years to come and 2) be something the teacher might enjoy using.

A few years ago, we created a class cookbook with photos from the school year. My son has aged out of this teacher gift, and my daughter is on the cusp, but if you have nursery school or kindergarten aged children, this is a fun end of year gift.

The year we gave this particular gift, the children were on a snack rotation (a little like Miss Priss’ snack schedule this year). The students had a letter of the week, and families started sending snacks that related to the letter of the week. By the end of the year, the kids had eaten a snack for each letter of the alphabet.

Parents sent me photos from events during the school year and any recipes they had; I compiled the photos and recipes into a Shutterfly photo book. We ordered copies for the teachers, and many of the families ordered copies as well.

I love this little book. I still use it when I need kid snack ideas (like the Worms in dirt or the Veggie dip). The nursery school teachers continue to use it as a resource for their classroom. The book has the class name on the front cover, a picture of the class and class year on the inside cover page, and a student list on the last page.

Here is what the children had for snack that year:

Apple sticks
Blueberry muffins
Cupcakes
Doughnuts
Elephant Ears
Finger sandwiches
Ghoulish Granola mix (served at Halloween)
mini Hot dogs in buns
Ice cream sandwiches
blueberry Jam
Key lime pie
Lemonade
Marshmallows
bird Nests
Oatmeal aggression cookies
Pizza
cheesy Quesadillas
Root beer floats
Sugar cookies
Tortilla wraps
Upside down cake
Veggie dip
Worms in dirt
chocolate X-plosion
orange Yogurt
Zucchini bread

I don’t know if all the snacks fall into the “healthy snack” category, but it is a great kid cookbook. I will mention that we did attach AmEx gift cards for the teachers to the cookbook, but I think they would have appreciated the little memory book anyway!

Word Trains

Posted by TheRoomMom

Some of my favorite teaching ideas happen on the fly. My students completed the final lesson in our vocabulary book this week. The vocabulary book is based on Latin roots, common prefixes, and suffixes. Now that it is the end of the year and our “root bank” is full, students have been noticing words all over the place that are combinations of the roots and prefixes we studied all year (Yeah!– something stuck).

So, here is what happened. We studied the root “loc” this week, which is in the word “locomotion”. “Loc” means to move from place to place. A student recalled that we already knew the root “mot” meaning to move or to do. And then the game began.

Have you ever played 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon with movie actors? The Word Train game is the nerdy teacher variation of that game.

You begin with a word that contains 2 known parts like DISORGANIZED (dis and organ).
Connect it with another 2+ part word that shares a root, prefix, or suffix from the original word like ORGANIST (organ and ist).
Add a third word that shares the newly added word part like ACTIVIST (ist and act).
Keep going from there by adding REACT then RECAPTURE then CO-CAPTAIN then COOPERATE then OPERATOR.
To really play like the Kevin Bacon game and test a student’s word knowledge, give them the first word and the last word in the word train and ask them to create the connection. For example, try to get from reheat to illiterate.

Click on the picture to view the sample

This was a great vocabulary review, and the students got supercompetitive (super is a prefix from our list, by the way). We have standardized testing coming up, and I am trying to practice reading comprehension and vocabulary skills. This activity forced the students to look at word parts and give definitions based on the parts. It is much more strategic than memorizing definitions.

How many words can you connect? My record is 9. I am sure I could go further if I pulled any word root, not just the ones from my 4th Grade Common Prefix, Root, and Suffix List. Can you beat me? My students did. To download the complete lesson plans for free, click here.

Click on the picture to view the sample

I apologize for the tiny pictures. I kept resizing, and I could not get them to appear larger in the post. If any web experts have advice, please share.

Dirt and Worms

Posted by TheRoomMom

In honor of the gardening unit Miss Priss and her class are completing right now, we will be sending Dirt and Worms for kindergarten snack tomorrow. Miss Priss thought it might not be a “healthy” snack, and she is probably right. I did a little rationalizing much like Bill Cosby’s reasons for serving chocolate cake for breakfast, and I think the milk in the pudding bumps the snack into the safe zone.

Ingredients

2 (20 oz.) packages Oreo cookies
1/2 stick butter (4 T.), softened
1 (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 c. powdered sugar
3 1/2 c. milk
2 sm. vanilla instant pudding boxes
1 (12 oz.) Cool Whip
Gummi worms

Directions

Cream the butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar together in one bowl. Mix pudding together with the milk in another bowl until stiff. Add the Cool Whip to the pudding mixture. Mix the cream cheese mixture into the pudding mixture until smooth (I use a whisk).
Crush the Oreos in a food processor. Start with 1 1/2 packages, then crush the rest if you need more crumbs.
For individual snacks, Layer 1 heaping tablespoon of Oreo crumbs, then ~1/2 cup pudding mixture, then another tablespoon of crumbs in 9 oz. clear plastic tumblers. Top with 1-2 Gummi worms. You will get ~20 individual cups.
Can be made the night before and refrigerated until time to serve.

Variations

Replace the vanilla instant pudding with chocolate. I think the chocolate pudding makes the snack too chocolate-y, which is why I use the vanilla. The chocolate pudding color is obviously more authentic as real dirt.
Use graham cracker crumbs instead of Oreos, and mini Swedish fish instead of Gummi worms, and top with a small drink umbrella to make “the beach”.
Line a flower pot with tin foil and layer crushed Oreos and pudding in the pot. Top with Gummi worms and a plastic flower(s).

There is a chance we will have one more kindergarten snack opportunity this year. Any thoughts? I don’t think I can top the Dirt and Worms.

Going on a Field Trip

Posted by TheRoomMom

The bulk of the field trips my teammate and I schedule occur during the last 6 weeks of school. This includes a 3 day overnight trip related to our science curriculum. If it were up to me, I would not have any field trips and definitely not any overnight trips.

When my students are in the confines of the school building, I have full control (more or less). As soon as I leave campus with my students, all kinds of untold dangers are lurking around every corner, and the number one thing on my mind is getting these students back to their families in the same condition in which they left.

We have parent volunteers accompany us on all of our expeditions and let me tell you, I am slightly picky about parent volunteers. It is not always first come, first serve in my classroom. This is what I need from parent volunteers.

Have a cell phone in case of emergency but do not use it on the field trip. Do not make a phone call or check e-mails or texts. If you have a job that requires you to check in often, do not volunteer to chaperone.
Spread out from the other parents. If all parents clump together at the back of the group, you can’t help with crowd control, discipline, and safety, and that is why I invited you along.
Be at the pick up and drop off locations on time and as instructed. If you decide that it would be nice to take the kids in your car out for ice cream on the way home, or if you drive them to your house for pick up at the end of the day rather than back to the school for regular carpool line, you just created a giant liability issue for the school and me. If students ride together on a bus, this problem is eliminated!
It is OK for you to discipline students if they wander away, are too loud, or are rude to the tour guide. I want your help in this area. If you are uncomfortable disciplining, let the teacher know. Please don’t sit back and watch the unacceptable behavior continue.
Do not complain about school issues or faculty members on the field trip. This is not a time to vent any problems you may have with the school. It puts me in an awkward position, and it is poor manners. However, feel free to tell me what a great school year it has been.
Do not try to have a parent/teacher conference while on the field trip. I can’t give you my full attention, and it is not exactly a private forum.
DO enjoy yourself and this time with your child and his/her classmates. Field trips are supposed to be a little bit of fun. I do want parents who participate in the activities when appropriate and are engaged.

Here I am on our field trip related to our studies of Colonial America.

Managing parent volunteers on field trips for my classroom has made me more aware when I attend a field trip as the parent volunteer for my own children. I try to anticipate where a teacher might need back-up even if it is simply counting children and letting the teacher know everyone is present. Because, in the end, I always consider it a successful trip if I arrive back at school with the same amount of students I had when I left. What are your best (or worst) field trip stories? The teacher or parent version!

American Girl Sweet Shop

Posted by TheRoomMom

It started out innocently enough. Miss Priss needed (wanted?) a shelf to hold all of the American Girl doll food we made at Christmas, so her doll restaurant would seem more authentic. I found a Recollections “Embellishment Organizer” for 50% off at Michael’s (A LOT of assembly required). It really looked like a display at a bakery. Crafty obsessive idea brain immediately took over. Hadn’t Sewing Sister made miniature cakes out of plastic bottle tops? If I just picked up a few supplies, I bet I could make cakes. Did we really have enough American Girl doll food from Round One to fill the display? Perhaps not. And so, food production began again.

Wedding Cakes

Locate any and all plastic bottle caps. I used caps from anything I could get my hands on like water bottles, milk bottles, vitamin jars, juice bottles, and soda bottles. The more size variety you have, the better.
White plastic caps work the best, but I did use acrylic paint for the pale pink and pale blue cakes. It took about 3 coats of paint. If you have white bottle caps, no painting is required.

I like 3 stacked bottle caps the best. Stack them in graduating sizes. Run a bead of hot glue around the edge of a bottle cap and press it onto the center of the top of the bottle cap that goes beneath. Repeat for all layers.

Add decoration with the hot glue gun. I used satin flowers, 3-D flower stickers, thin lacy ribbon, and strings of mini pearls.

Cupcakes

Collect twist off toothpaste caps. Thankfully, I had a stash of travel toothpaste tubes from the children’s last dental visit. My kids never put the lid back on the toothpaste tube anyway, so I did not think it mattered if I took the caps.

Drop a blob of hot glue into the bottom of a toothpaste cap. Squish one 3/4″ pom pom into the cap.
Smear a little Elmer’s glue around the top of the pom pom and sprinkle seed beads on the top.
Add a mini 5 mm pom pom if desired.

Milkshakes

Taller, clear caps work the best for the milkshakes. The clear caps that cover the top of non-aerosol bug spray or suntan lotion are perfect. I also used small, clear bead jars.
Cut a straw to the needed length to stand in the milkshake cup. Run a small bead of hot glue on the edge of the inside of the cup and attach the straw.
Put a blob of hot glue at the bottom of the cup and press one 3/4″ pom pom to the bottom. Add a blob of hot glue to the top of the pom pom and press another pom on top. Try to avoid getting any hot glue on the edge of the cup because it looks smeary from the outside. Repeat one more time with a third pom pom.

Smear a little Elmer’s glue around the top of the pom pom and sprinkle seed beads on the top. I used rainbow nonpareils sprinkles on a few of the milkshakes too.
Add a mini 5 mm pom pom if desired.

Donuts

Put a spoonful of powdered sugar in a small Ziploc bag. Add Cheerios and shake.
Put a spoonful of cinnamon in a small Ziploc bag. Add Cheerios and shake.
Remove Cheerios from the bags. You may need to brush excess cinnamon and powdered sugar from the Cheerio.

Oreos

Using a round hole puncher, punch a ton of black and white circles from foam sheet.
With glue dots, build Oreo cookies. 2 black circles on the outside, one white circle in the center.

Pies, Cookie Tray, Sponge Cake, and Petits Fours

Visit the original American Girl Buffet Post for directions.

Materials

Plastic bottle caps, any and all sizes
strings of mini pearls, thin white lacy ribbon
mini 3-D flower stickers
mini satin flowers
hot glue gun
acrylic paint (pale colors)
3/4″ pom poms
5 mm pom poms
seed beads (variety of colors)
rainbow sprinkles (optional)
black and white foam sheets
glue dots
Cheerios, powdered sugar, cinnamon
small mirrors, mini Altiod tins, flat wood shapes (to use as serving trays)

I have put the bakery display in Miss Priss’ room, although, I am not entirely comfortable with her actually playing with the doll food. It looked so perfect for a few short hours sitting on the shelf, untouched by little hands.

This is how Miss Priss has it set up in her room.

TheRoomMom

The Parent with the Teacher's Perspective

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Class Cookbook from A to Z

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Word Trains

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Dirt and Worms

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Going on a Field Trip

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American Girl Sweet Shop

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