classroom teacher

Dinosaur Dig

Posted by

0

After the success of the “J” week jellybean treat, we decided to send in another themed snack to the nursery school class during “D” week.  We combined some Chex mix recipes and came up with a dinosaur style snack mix.  The idea was to have kids dig for dinosaur bones and dinosaur eggs in the snack mix.

Ingredients

  • 2 c. Corn Chex cereal
  • 2 c. Rice Chex cereal
  • 1 1/2 c. oyster crackers
  • 1/2 c. small pretzel sticks or pretzel snaps
  • 2 c. graham sticks (dinosaur bones) or Stauffer’s original animal crackers (dinosaurs)
  • 6 oz. dried fruit (we liked a combination of dried blueberries, cranberries, and cherries)
  • 1 c. yogurt-covered raisins (dinosaur eggs)
  • 5-6 T. butter, melted
  • 2 T. sugar
  • 2 t. ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 t. ground nutmeg

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 13×9 pan with nonstick cooking spray.
  • Place cereals, oyster crackers, pretzels, and graham sticks in a large bowl; mix lightly.
  • Combine butter, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in small bowl; mix well.  Drizzle evenly over cereal mixture.  Toss to coat. **If the mixture is pretty dry, mix another half batch of butter/sugar/spice and add.
  • Spread the coated cereal mixture in an even layer on the pan.
  • Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown, stirring gently halfway through.  Cool completely.  Stir in dried fruit and yogurt-covered raisins.

Variations

  • Instead of graham sticks or animal crackers, you could use mini-dinosaur grahams.  I can’t ever find these at my grocery store, but I think they are out there.
  • For “G” week, you could make Gorilla Grub and substitute the yogurt-covered raisins and dried fruit for plain raisins and dried banana chips.

Jellybean Joke Bags

Posted by

1

My daughter’s nursery school class sent home a small Ziploc bag every Friday with a “letter of the week” printed on the outside. Over the weekend, we would find a small item at home to represent the letter and return the filled bag on Monday for a class share. During “J” week, we sent treats for the whole class.

I used a Word label template for the joke inserts and printed them on cardstock.  They are roughly business card size.  We purchased clear cellophane bags from Michael’s, added a handful of jellybeans, and tied up the treat with curly ribbon.

I’ll need some fresh letter-of-the-week-treats for next year so if anybody has suggestions, please comment!

SIDE NOTE: Not all 4-year olds get the humor in the elephant joke even after 7-year old siblings try to explain.

Author Letters

Posted by

2

There is nothing like getting personal author letters to peak interest in a book.  Many of my students wrote to various favorite book authors and received replies this year.  Overall, we had about a 50% success rate and learned a few things along the way. (To download the lesson plan for free, visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store.)

author letters

Newer authors have websites with an e-mail address and are more likely to send a personal reply.  We e-mailed Annie Barrows, Jewell Parker Rhodes, Kate Klimo, Jody Feldman, Jonathan Auxier, Tracy Barrett, Erica Kirov, and a few others.  In most cases, we received replies within three days.  The replies were unique and specifically responded to the letter written by the students.  Some authors even gave new book suggestions, which built excitement among the students to pick up an unfamiliar book.

author letters

Other authors provide a snail mail address on their website. These replies take longer– sometimes up to three months, so be patient. Kate Klise wrote us back twice and each letter contained different content.

Mega authors like J.K. Rowling are overloaded with letters and are less likely to reply to fanmail. But Rowling and other popular authors like Sharon Creech will send a generic reply if you include a self-addressed stamped envelope with your letter.

If you can’t find contact information on the author website, locate a mailing address for the author’s publishing company.  Mail a letter to the author c/o the publisher.  Publishers will forward all mail to the author.  We mailed a letter to John Christopher via his publisher.  We did not realize that the author had passed away, and his daughter actually replied to our letter several months later!

No matter how you try to contact an author, it will encourage a child to reach for that next book and establish a personal connection with a writer. To read more tips for contacting book authors, check out THIS POST by author Annabelle Fisher.

Read-Alikes

Posted by

2

Have you ever read a book that was so good you hoped it would never end?  Students are always asking for book suggestions that are “just like” a great book they finished last night, last week, or last month.  Here are some popular book titles with alternate book names that might almost be as good as the original. (If you have a great read-alike, please add a comment!)

If you love Harry Potter, TRY:

  • Knightly Academy by Haberdasher
  • The Magic Thief series by Prineas
  • Nathaniel Fludd, Beastologist by LaFevers
  • Books of Elsewhere series by West

If you love The Lightning Thief, TRY:

  • Magickeepers series by Kirov
  • Kane Chronicles by Riordan
  • The Grimm Legacy by Shulman

If you love Wrinkle in Time, TRY:

  • When You Reach Me by Stead
  • 13th Reality series by Dashner
  • The Magic Half by Barrows

If you love Little House on the Prairie, TRY:

  • Caddie Woodlawn by Brink
  • Understood Betsy by Fisher
  • Sarah, Plain and Tall by MacLachlan
  • The Bread Winner by Whitmore

If you love Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, TRY:

  • Candymakers by Mass
  • The Candy Shop War by Mull
  • Gollywhopper Games by Feldman
  • Floors by Carmen

If you love My Side of the Mountain, TRY:

  • Island of the Blue Dolphins by O’Dell
  • Hatchet by Paulsen
  • Far North by Hobbs

If you love From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, TRY:

  • Wonderstruck by Selznick
  • Red Blazer Girls by Beil
  • Sherlock Files series by Barrett

If you love The Hunger Games, TRY:

  • The Giver by Lowry (and all companion books)
  • The White Mountains trilogy by Christopher
  • Museum of Thieves by Tanner

If you love The Lord of the Rings, TRY:

  • The Ranger’s Apprentice series by Flanagan
  • The False Prince by Nielsen
  • The Thief by Turner

Ice Cream Sundae Kits

Posted by

0

If you need a lot of teacher gifts but don’t want to spend too much money, you can put together ice cream sundae kits.  My son and I needed about a dozen sirsees or little surprise gifts for the special area teachers, classroom teacher, school receptionist, etc.

We purchased small cake boxes, curly ribbon, cardstock paper, clear bags, and small ziploc jewelry bags at Michael’s.  We then bought sugar cones, fun ice cream toppings, and ink jet return address labels at Walmart/grocery store.  At home, we printed the labels, printed the cards to tie on the top of the box, and filled bags.

Our gift tag on the box said, “Thank you for teaching me this year. I hope you have a sweet summer.”