Saturday, December 31, 2011

Happy New Year

As 2011 comes to an end I have been reflecting on the past year.  This past year I have taken the plung an entered the world of blogging.  Finally got serious about losing weight and lost 50 pounds (3 dress sizes).  So needless to say I have done a lot of clothes shopping lately. 

In 2012 I hope to continue my weight loss journey and continue working out.  Unfortuantely I still have lots to go in that department.  But it took years to put on so it will take some time to take it off.

Also in 2012, I plan to spend more time creating lesson/activities for my new shop at Teachers Notebook.  I always have great intentions on starting something, but somehow never finish it.  (at least not good enought to want to post/sell).

Speaking of Teachers Notebook- Don't forget my sale goes to 1/3/12.  Just added an -ow word work file folder center today.


Have a great rest of your 2011 and Happy New Year to everyone.  

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Can't sleep

Well I have my days and nights mixed up during this winter break.  Should come in handy for NYE.
Yesterday I launched my shop on Teachers Notebook.  Today I added a few more things.  Here's a new one for Goods/Services.  It's on sale until Jan. 3rd.  along with many other items. 




I'm working on a (Ow- center activity, as well as a persuasive writing unit.)  So stay tuned for more information on that to come.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Expanding

Well I have just opened up a shop on Teacher's Notebook.  I haven't had.the time to upload much .I do have a few things on there, and plan to add more items soon.  So now I will be able to post my ideas here, Teacher's Notebook, and The Teaching Oasis. 



Right now I added my addition and addition/subtraction puzzles. (An idea that was posted on here earlier.)  Also in the past few years my Reading Super Bowl Contest has been popular on the Teaching Oasis.  So those items are posted on there as well.  Hopefully if time allows me too I will be adding more to my SuperBowl collection. 

Right now all my items are 20% off until 1/3/12. So be sure to check it out.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Holiday recipe Linky Party

Rowdy in First Grade  is having a Linky Party for the holiday season.  Who couldn't use recipe ideas with all the family and friends get to get togethers we have this time of year. 




Teaching Blog Addict is also having a Linky Party.



Here's a recipe that I just found and made a few weeks ago that I love.  I love artichokes and I'm always looking for new ways to make it.  This would be great for football parties.  (Too bad my Bears are not going to be making the playoffs this year.)


Artichoke Bread

1/3 cup butter
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
4 ounces shredded Mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
½ cup sour cream
1 French bread loaf
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 ounces shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat.
Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the artichoke hearts, Mozzarella
 cheese, parmesan cheese and sour cream. Stir toblend. Remove from the heat and cool. Slice the
bread lengthwise and scoop out some of the center. Spoon the artichoke mixture evenly into the
 bread shell and sprinkle with the cheddar cheese. Place each half on a baking sheet and cover
lightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 25 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another
 5 to 8 minutes or until the cheese melts completely. Cut into slices and serve warm.

Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 19, 2011

Hand Santizer gift

Over the weekend I came across this post on Proteacher.  This year as a grade level we decided not to do gifts, but to go out as a grade level team for dinner drinks in January.  However I have a wonderful aide that I wanted to get her a gift and thought this would be perfect.  This also would work great for parent volunteer's. 

Here's a picture of what I made for my aide.  I added some clear stickers for decorations.


A close up of the mini hand santizer for her purse.

Here's a few links where the idea came from.  On one of these links you can dowload the labels that are on the bottle.




1 more day until Winter Break! 


Sunday, December 18, 2011

Sorry for the 2nd post today- Polar Express writing

As I send in my earlier post today I have 2 more days of school.  On Friday and tomorrow (Monday) our second grade learns about Holiday traditions around the world.  Then on our last day of school we watch the Polar Express.  Of course anytime we watch a movie we have to tie it into our curriculum.  So we are comparing the book to the movie.  I also just created a writing activity for the students to complete.

Enjoy

Non-fiction retelling Homework

From reading many blog posts I hear that many teachers have already started their winter break.  (I"m jealous BTW).  Well we still have 2 more days until our winter break.

This past week I finished up my Then and Now unit in S.S. and I gave my students a retelling assignment for homework.  I have done this activity before in class, but never as a  homework asssignment.  It turned out to be a successful one.  Students were eager to go home and tell their parents about what they have learned.  How many times do we hear from parents or students when asked about their day "What did you learn?"  They answer "Nothing".  Well this assignment helped put that response to bed.

I set aside some time the next day for students to share what their parents wrote with a partner.  I believe that part is what made it successful.




Well if you are lucky enought to be on break- I hope you are enjoying it.  As for the rest of us- we can get throught it.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

An easy dinner recipe- off topic

Not a teaching idea, but who wants to spend a lot of time in the kitchen after a busy day- work or during the weekends.  A friend gave me this recipe and I tried it this weekend. (I believe it orginally came from Mr. Food- picture below is from Mr. food- the recipe did come from that site.  If you click on the picture it will take you to the site there's a video on there.)
 I just love Mexican food so I had to give this a try.
Not much prep work and you just put everything in the crockpot.


Tamale Pie

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds ground beef, cooked and drained
  • 2 (28-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, drained
  • 2 cups frozen whole kernel corn
  • 1 (2-1/4-ounce) can sliced black olives, drained
  • 1 medium-sized onion, diced
  • 1 (1.25-ounce) package taco seasoning mix
  • 1 (16-ounce) package cornbread mix
  • 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, combine cooked beef, diced tomatoes, corn, olives, onion, and taco seasoning; mix well then pour into a 6-quart slow cooker.
  2. Prepare cornbread mix according to package directions then spoon over beef mixture. Sprinkle with cheese.
  3. Cover and cook on high setting for 3 hours or low setting for 6 hours.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

The Cutest Christmas Ornament


Well being a dog-lover I definitely think so.  One of my teammates saw this ornament last year at a craft fair and I just had to make one. :) (Thanks Dana!  J

All you need is 1 large biscuit, 1 medium biscuit, 2 small wiggly eyes, 1 black bead for the nose (or black Pom pom), brown felt for ears, red  felt for the tongue,  ribbon for the bow and ornament hanger, and tacky glue. 

Directions:

Glue the brown felt (ears), ornament hanger, tongue to the large biscuit and let dry.  Then glue the medium biscuit at the top over the ears/hanger.  Last glue the wiggly eyes, and nose.
Oh, don't forget to write their  name and year on the side.

Of course make sure you tell students to hang these ornaments at the top of their Christmas trees.  We wouldn’t want our four legged friends to eat these biscuits!  Well my poor dog Pebbles was going crazy when I was making this sample. 

Well just after posting this idea I came across a Linky Party from Finally in First. Just click on the Logo below to check it out. For more wonderful ideas.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

5 Days of Christmas at The Teaching Oasis


Are you a fan of the Teaching Oasis?  If not click on the logo above to become a fan.  Starting on Monday Dec. 5 we are having giveaways.  (I believe Monday's is up already!)

I've also noticed that my Guess My Number Puzzles have been posted.  I hope to create another set over the Winter Break.  Also if you read Stregna Nona to your class check out Christina's Stregna Nona unit.




Saturday, December 3, 2011

Gifts for students

Looking for an easy and inexpensive Christmas gift your class?  Well look no further.  I have an idea just for you.  Last year I had forgotten to order books for my students from Scholastic.  So I was frantically searching for something else at the last minute.  Well I was shopping at the $1 store and saw they had playing cards.  They came in a pack of 2, and you can't beat 50 cents for a gift.  My students love all the math games we do in class.  So I quickly typed up math games they could play at home with a deck of cards. 

I can't tell you how many parents told me how much their child liked playing the math games at home. 

So if you are still looking for a gift for your students just click on the picture below for the download.  I'm sure your students will enjoy the gift as much as my class did last year.


Here are some labels that I printed off and put on the deck of the cards.


Saturday, November 26, 2011

Elf on the Shelf

Two years ago I came across an idea on Proteacher about Elf on the Shelf.  It sounded like a good idea.  At first I thought the elf was a little creepy, but was willing to give it try.  My students that year loved it.  Every day they looked forward to finding the elf in the classroom every day.

The Elf on the Shelf  is a cleverly rhymed children's book that explains that Santa knows who is naughty and/or nice because he sends a scout elf to every home or in this case a classroom. During the holiday season, the elf watches children by day and reports to Santa each night. When students come into the classroom each morning, the elf has returned from the North Pole and can be found hiding in a different location.



So I plan to use the Elf on the Shelf again this year.  This year I wanted to incorporate more activities to go along with book.  So that is my plan to create additional activities to go along with the book.

Here's my first idea- a writing activity.


Hope to post more ideas later.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

I'm Thankful For

Well I had great intentions of posting this last week, but never got around to it.  I had several IEP meetings and helped my parents pack-up my Grandma to move her into a memory care place.  Needless to say I haven't had the time I would like to post on my blog. 

Even though I've been busy I have a lot to be thankful for. With all the focus in our school on student growth there hasn't been enough time to do some "fun" learning activities. Last week I had my students write about what they were thankful for.  I was looking for things like "I'm thankful for my video games." I wanted something more thoughtful.  They were to write a sentence on each of the turkey's feather's. 

Here's a picture of the turkey (without the writing.)


Of course you could a number of differnt ways.  I just thought this turkey pattern was so cute.  I'm sure it is too late to use this year, but file the turkey pattern away for next year.


Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Learning Matter with Food

Who doesn't enjoy an activity where food is involved? I know that usually has my attention.  This week I am trying to finally wrap up our matter unit, and thought this activity would be a great lesson on teaching mixture and soulution.  Plus we have lunch so early that everyone once in awhile it is good to have a snack in the afternoon. 


Enjoy!

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Math Puzzles

Over the summer I took some math classes on the new common core standards.  One of the biggest things I took away from those classes was getting students to "think" more about the mathematics.

Students love to solve puzzles so I created some math puzzles for students to solve during math centers.  I have a  free sample which I will upload to this post.  A larger set of these will be available for sale soon at the Teaching Oasis.  Since I have not had a giveaway in awhile so I thought I would combine this with a giveaway. 

For this contest I'm looking for the first 3 posters who would be willing to check over the puzzles with answer key to make sure I have the correct answers to each puzzle.



Puzzle #1 answers:  circle- 6 triangle 5 square 7
Puzzle #2 answers: circle 2 triangle 9 square 4

So if you are interested in winning the whole set (26 puzzles) please leave a comment below and include your email address.  I will be picking the first 3 posters who leave a response/email. 

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Halloween Ideas

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post.  The last two weeks have been extremely busy.  I can't believe Oct. is almost over. Well here's a Pumpkin Seeds making words activity.


A favorite game that my class enjoys every year is Mummy wrap.  Divide your class into groups of 4-5.  One student gets to be a "Mummy".  the other students have to wrap the "Mummy" up in toliet paper from the shoulders all the way down to the ankles.

What is your favorite activity to do with your class for Halloween?

Monday, October 10, 2011

Fire Safety and Columbus Day

Last week our class learned about fire safety.  Here are some videos you can watch with your class.








If you like these ideas I have some Fire Safety Activities at the Teaching Oasis for sale.  They  have just been uploaded. 


This week we will be studying Christopher Columbus.  Here are some youtube videos to check out.










Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Math Fact Puzzles

One of my teammates was telling me about a website where you can create basic math facts puzzles.
All you have to do is enter in a greeting and it generates a puzzle for your students to solve.  I thought it would be a great activity for students to do for homework.  I can see my students enjoying solving these math puzzles.  Anyway to get them to practice their math facts works for me. 
Here's an example of one I completed.  I believe this puzzle says "Practice Your Math Facts Every Night".  or something like that. 



Here's the link to the site.
http://www.softschools.com/math/greetings/

There are a lot of other worksheets that you can generate.  The best part is that it is for free.

 Have fun looking around.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Parent Teacher Conferences

Can't believe that we are past the half-way mark of first quarter.  This week I will be setting up Parent Teacher Conferences for the end of our first quarter.  Here are some Parent teacher conference letters/handout that I shared a few years ago on the 2nd grade teacher's club.  I have had requests to repost those. 
So here they are.

A preconference form so I have an idea of topics that parents would like to address. 

I always start off a conference using this student evaluation of themselves. 



Have a good week! :)

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Work on Writing/Word Work

I have had several emails requesting that I post my I-charts for Work on Writing, Word Work, and Listening to Reading.

I have Work on Writing/Word Work complete and hope to have the Listen to reading finished soon. 


Coming Soon
Parent Teacher Conference Information

Monday, September 26, 2011

Walk and Talk

This past week I introduced "Walk N Talk" as part of my Read to Someone Activities. I got this idea from a workshop I attended last year.  I adapted the idea to make it my own.   Once a pair of students is finished reading they can pick an activity to dicuss what they have just read.  This helps students be more accountable when listening to each other read.

For this activity I have the students lay the cards on the floor. (I have them numbered on the back so they are in correct retelling order.)  Each student reads the prompt on the card (question) and answers the question.  There is a sentence starter to help students answer the question in a complete sentence.



(Hmm, I thought I had the picture going up and down.  Oh, well.)
I have created these for both fiction and non-fiction.  So far my students have enjoyed this activity.  It gets them up and moving.  A break form reading but they are still on task discussing their book.  I just love it when they have a good book discussion.
 These are available for purchase at The Teaching Oasis- click on the picture of above. (It's under reading strategies.)  I was also thinking of creating these in a bookmark style as well.  If that is something you would be interested in please leave a comment below.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Giveaway Winners

I decided to giveaway the freebies to all the posters that left a comment prior to this post. (See it pays to leave comments.)
  So the following posters can email me at sandra@teachingoasis.com
and I will send you the files.

Congratulations to Shelia, Erika, Ms. Lies

Mary and Kelly you already left your email so I will go ahead and email after I post this.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Number Bonds

So my giveaway (the post below this one) is asking for teachers to comment about math ideas that work for their classroom.  I thought I would add an idea that I learned about this summer.

Number Bonds:  Our district does not use Singapore Math, but the concept of Number Bonds does address the new common core for math.

Each student has a set of these (numbers 3-10 each number ring is a different color).  Students use these to show all the different ways they can make 6.  (0 +6=6: 1 +5= 6 etc.)  I love how this is hands on and it is great for the visual learner.  I also like how you can flip the ring over and you can see the turn around fact.  This has been a great resource so far for my 2nd graders.


2 + 4= 6

4 + 2= 6
Don't forget to post your math ideas on the post below for the chance to win some math activities from the Teaching Oasis.  Details below.

Freebie and Giveaway Time

Well I tried uploading this document with Google Docs, and for some reason it won't let me upload this document.  So I'm going to try and upload this with Scrib.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/64625717/Fiorini-rollingfornumbers


Giveaway Time:
This week with my students I am starting math centers so I thought for my 200th follower Giveaway I would make it about Math.

What you have to do is leave a comment below (or give us a link to your blog) on something new or something you have taught for math that is successful.  I will pick 3 names through a random number drawing.

The winners will recieve:

Subtraction Bump
Place Value Hop
Digit Cards/Pocket Holder with both 2 and 3 digit Guess My Number Clues.

Contest ends Thursday night.  Good luck! :)

Thursday, September 8, 2011

200 Followers!

Yeah! I have 200 followers.  So this weekend I will be back with a freebie and a giveaway.  So check back this weekend for more information. 

Monday, September 5, 2011

Proud Americans

Every year our school celebrates Patriot Day by reciting the Pledge of Allegience outside, and wearing red, white, and blue.

This ends up being a perfect time to incorporate our symbols unit in Social Studies. Here are a few activities I do during the week leading up to Patriot Day.
 

I pledge Allegiance By Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson, Candlewick Press 2002
This is an excellent trade book that explains the pledge to the flag in simple terms.  There is a brief discussion about the words we recite every day at school.  Your students will think differently about the Pledge of Allegiance after reading this book.


I pledge Allegiance By Bill Martin Jr. and Michael Sampson, Candlewick Press 2002

This is an excellent trade book that explains the pledge to the flag in simple terms.  There is a brief discussion about the words we recite every day at school.  Your students will think differently about the Pledge of Allegiance after reading this book.

The Flag We Love By Pam Munoz Ryan, Charlesbridge Publishing, 1996
This is a perfect book for primary students.  The illustrations alone are inspiring.  The book gives factual information below a poetic text.

Later in the week I tie in writing, art, and social studies together for a student independent activity.  Students write about what they learned about the American Flag and its symbolism- what it represents and why.  Once the writing is completed, the students glue their writing on a piece of blue construction paper.  They attach 12 inch streamers to this that will be red and white to represent the red and white stripes on our flag.  Last they take a white crayon or colored pencil and draw fifty stars.  I hang these from our classroom ceiling to display our patriotism that we are Proud Americans.
 Here is writing paper to download.

Later in the week I will upload pics of our flags once my students create them.

Have a great 4 day week! :)

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Daily 5

Just finished our 2nd week of school.  On the first day of school we started building our stamina for Read to Self.  This past week we started Read to Someone.  Both are going well.  With limited wall space in my classroom.  It's hard to find places for all of the anchor charts we create.  I first write student responses for the anchor charts on chart paper.  Then I type them up into a smaller poster and/or we add them to our reading workshop folders for reference.

Here are the anchor charts for Read to Self and Read to Someone.


 and EEKK



Well I see that I'm close to another giveaway time (200 followers).  So I will be working on that this week.  Stayed tuned for more freebies and giveaway time.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

It's Been a Busy Week

This has been my first week back to school.  Needless to say it's been a busy week.  It's 11:00 central time on a Sunday night and I'm now just starting to plan for my week and getting ready for Curriculum Night this Wed.

Speaking of Curriculum Night I have a free download of "An Apple for the Teacher" poem that I always use for Curriculum Night.  It is always important to let parents know that their involvement with their child is very important and that both parents and teachers need to work together. 
I have this in a baggie on each of the students' desk when the parents arrive. 



I see that I'm just 15 followers shy of 200.  So if you are not a follower yet; please be sure to do so.  When I reach 200 followers.  I will have another giveaway from the Teaching Oasis. 

Within the next week I will upload pictures of my classroom.

Friday, August 19, 2011

For my clip chart fans

This summler while creating the themed clip charts I had several requests for notes for good/bad behavior.  So I created clip chart notes available at The Teaching Oasis.  The notes are for Outstanding Behavior and an Oops note if a note is to go home to the parents.

For the Outstanding Behavior I write what the student did that day to move their clip up.  So many times at our school-  students go home and say that they made it to the top of the chart, but they don't always know/remember what they did.

For the Oops note I have the student write what it is they did that resulted in their clip moving down.  The student also writes what they will do next time to make a better choice.  Having students write in their own words/handwriting makes it harder for parents to say their child did nothing wrong.  (We all have a couple of those parents I'm sure.)

Currently I only made the clip chart notes for the themes I made the clip charts for.(If I forgot one please let me know.)  Since the clip charts have been so popular I will do my best to create clip charts for the rest of themes sometime during the school year.  Here's the sample of the Hollywood clip chart notes.



Tomorrow I will be back with an idea for a year long reading incentive for your classroom.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Problem Solving2

Just realized I forgot a problem solving strategy.  Write an Equation.  So add this to the others.

I will be adding more Problem Solving ideas this school year.  So check back often. 

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Problem Solving

So as a kid I hated problem solving (word problems).  I dreaded working on those problems.  As a teacher I don't want my students dreading word problems as much as I did.  With the common core standards problem solving activities is going to be a must do.  So I've been trying to come up with activities to help students with this.  I created these problem solving posters.  So many times students don't know why they do what they do.  This year I want to emphasize thinking/think alouds in math. 

This is a good visual to start students with the math extended reponses.  Be sure to check out the Teaching Oasis for more Problem Solving ideas and for extended response ideas check out the Show and Tell Math.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Pinterest Linky Party

Usually don't post twice in a day, but when I saw this Linky Party I just couldn't resist. So head on over to Michele's Math in the Middle.  Pinterest is a great place to organize all the great ideas you find when searching blogs.  I will warn you in advance if you haven't checked out Pinterest- it is quite addicting, but it's well worth it because you will come away with many great ideas.

 This past weekend I started my own Pinterest page. You can find this by clicking on the red button on the top of my side bar.

Open House

This past school year I stalked many of blogs and received so many great ideas.  The problem was you would see these wonderful ideas being posted after a holiday/season.  So I just had to file away that idea for next year. 

Hope to plan and share some ideas ahead of time so that followers of my blog can use seasonal ideas this year.  We usually have our Open House in Sept. so I was going through some of my Open House ideas.  I have shared this scavenger Open House doc. on my classroom website for years and have gotten many requests to make that a fillable doc.  So here it is.  Just remember it is fillable not editable doc.  I created the boxes so you have room to type out two lines of text in each box.



So if you like this document and like to see more Open House Ideas be sure to let me know by leaving a comment below.  So I know what you would like to see more of when I blog. 

Be sure to also check out my classroom website for more ideas on Open House. (The same file of above is on there, but that one is not fillable.)




Monday, August 8, 2011

Everyday Games for Math Centers

This past weekend one of my neighbors were having a moving sale.  They were selling many of the games their children had when they were kids.  Well I found three games and I thought would make great games for math centers. No papers to check and would keep students busy for a quite awhile when I'm working with small groups.


Number Sense
A game for 2-4 players.  Object of the game:  Get your rack of cards in order from least to greatest first. 
I would start off by having kids order 4 cards from least to greatest and then increase the number.

Adding 3 Digit Numbers
Add up your points as you match up the Tri-ominos.  For younger students you can have them just match up the numbers for recognition.  2nd graders and up and add up the three numbers as they discard the Tri-ominos.  Students can play according to the directions or you can adapt it to fit the needs of your class.
Students use skill and strategy to create sequential stacks of cards.  The winner is the first player to use all their cards in their stack pile.
Here’s another game that I have in my classroom that I purchased from Learning Resource.
I ran out of score sheets so I created a new sheet of my own.  You can also have students just write the math equations on dry erase boards to save paper.  (I know our district is always on our case about making too many copies.)

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Back to School Freebie

This week I finally get to go into my classroom and upack.  I have two weeks to get my classroom ready and of course there are meetings/workshops already before school starts.  I'm starting to get stressed that it won't all get done by the first day. I hope to start posting some pictures (that's if I can find my camera that I packed up in my room.)

Well here's a back to school freebie for everyone.  I know we all get those students who never write their name on anything.  Having students highlight there name has cut down on the amount of no name papers.




Another way to make it easier to track down no name on papers is to have a basket.  On the rim of the basket have clothespins with either student names/numbers.  When students turn in their work they just look for their clip.  I do this for turning in homework.  It makes it real quick and easy to see who turned in their homework.  

Friday, August 5, 2011

Last update on Clip Charts

  **Themed Clip Charts for Purchase**
Are now available at the
Teaching Oasis.  These are the themes that are available for purchase:
bee, camping, detective, frog, groovy, Hollywood, ocean/beach, pirate, polka dot, rock star, safari/jungle sports/baseball, star, Seuss, and western.


An apple theme is available for free.
All of the clip charts can be found on the
classroom theme page.  Just click on the theme.


Aug. 8th- I can finally get back to my classroom.  During the next two weeks I will be unpacking my classroom and have several meetings to attend.  So I will not be creating any new clip chart themes at this time.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Recipe Linky Party

This week I'm taking a graduate class and it got me thinking about planning out recipes to make for quick and easy dinner ideas. I know during the school year we all are exhausted and the last thing we want to do is fix dinner. I know I enjoy picking up the cell phone and ordering pizza or chinesse food. That can get to be expensive and not always the healthy choice. (I always like to use left overs for lunch.) My goal this year is to make more homemade meals that are easy to prepare after an long day.

When the linky party is over I will post all the recipes collected into one document to share with everyone.  So you have a favorite recipe to share.  It could be a main dish, side, or a dessert. (my favorite.)
Here's a recipe to get us started:


4 small boneless skinless chicken breast halves
3/4 cup chunky salsa
1/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup crushed tortilla chips
3/4 cup shredded Mexican Style four-cheese blend

Preheat oven to 400.
Place chicken on foil-covered baking sheet. Slice 3 cuts on top of each chicken breast with sharp knife.
Top each chicken breast evenly with salsa, sour cream and tortilla chips.
Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven; sprinkle with cheese.
Bake an additional 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.



Back To School Freebie

Reading many of the blogs I follow I am amazed at how many schools have started or will be starting next week.  I thought our district started early.  So to celebrate going back to school I have a freebie. All I ask is if you download the file be sure to become a follower of my blog if you haven't done so already.

Since homework is something that students will be doing during the school year-  It is important that students set up a homework plan.  Here's a freebie for students to fill out along with their parents to set up a homework plan of their own. 



I either give out the homework plan on the first day of school or during Open House.  Both days you are sure that this sheet gets in the hands of the parents.



If you like that idea, you may also like this one.  On the first day of school I send home a Parent Brag Sheet.  This is homework for the parents.  The students love the idea that their parents have homework to do.  Parents fill out a form telling/bragging about their child.  There have been times where I had tears reading the parents comments about how proud they are of their children.  If you are interested in this check it out here at the Teaching Oasis.
(Look under "Other Documents")