So, as I began to make changes to this blog, I realized it was going to be a lot easier to just create a whole new blog. I started this blog in an effort to document my first year of teaching. While I still want to document my crazy life in the classroom, I don't want this blog to be limited to that. So, as I "officially" broaden my blog topics, this URL will no longer be updated. Do not fear, my blog will still be filled with stories about my 7th graders and the crazy comments that come out of their mouths along with the excitement of life in general!
Join me at:
http://stevoandesnyder.blogspot.com/
Monday, January 16, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Thursday Thoughts
Well, today started our cumulative assessments, AKA 2 hours of testing each morning for the next three days. I'm not complaining. These tests aren't nearly as bad as the benchmarks we used to take and I get 2 extra hours of planning done. I have an awesome 2nd period that can stay quiet for 2 hours without much of a battle on my end. Right now my students are either sleeping, drawing with their highlighter, reading, or aimlessly staring around the room.
Tomorrow we have the science assessment, which 7th graders don't take because they don't get tested in science in 7th grade. Weird. I know. So, we're doing The Amazing Race to prepare a little more for the math assessment coming up on Tuesday.
I'm super excited about this! Thanks to my awesome friend Stephanie we have this cool activity to do. Each classroom is going to be a different country. In that country, students have to visit a city where they have a problem to solve with their partner. They have 5 cities in each country to visit and can not get their plane ticket out of the country until they have successfully completed all five problems. Then, they have to solve a review problem to "buy" their plane ticket out the door to the next country. Each student gets to make their own passport today and participate tomorrow morning. It should be a lot of fun! We'll have 200+ 7th graders doing this in the morning while the rest of the school is testing. Since it's a competition, and they're 7th graders, and testing will be going on in the rest of the school, we've established prisons in each country. So, if anyone gets out of hand, they and their partner will have to spend some time in prison. Their goal is to get back to their seat in the class they started in. Once they're there, they have reflection questions to answer and flags to color. Each room is a country that students study in 7th grade and each question is related to that country with some fun fact.
And that my friends, is what you call some serious integrated curriculum!
Oh yea...and our principal got so excited about it that she has invited channel 4, our local school district channel, and the newspaper...so no pressure...
Now, I will go spend the rest of my planning getting the final details together...
Tomorrow morning we'll be in Turkey, Israel, Syria, and Jordan!
PS The spaghetti casserole from several posts ago was delicious! It's very filling and it makes a lot. So, we ate on it for several days. It's easy to do, but several more steps than basic spaghetti. I was so hungry when making it, I almost stopped mid-way and just had regular spaghetti. It was worth the extra effort, but won't be something that I make on a regular basis.
Tomorrow we have the science assessment, which 7th graders don't take because they don't get tested in science in 7th grade. Weird. I know. So, we're doing The Amazing Race to prepare a little more for the math assessment coming up on Tuesday.
I'm super excited about this! Thanks to my awesome friend Stephanie we have this cool activity to do. Each classroom is going to be a different country. In that country, students have to visit a city where they have a problem to solve with their partner. They have 5 cities in each country to visit and can not get their plane ticket out of the country until they have successfully completed all five problems. Then, they have to solve a review problem to "buy" their plane ticket out the door to the next country. Each student gets to make their own passport today and participate tomorrow morning. It should be a lot of fun! We'll have 200+ 7th graders doing this in the morning while the rest of the school is testing. Since it's a competition, and they're 7th graders, and testing will be going on in the rest of the school, we've established prisons in each country. So, if anyone gets out of hand, they and their partner will have to spend some time in prison. Their goal is to get back to their seat in the class they started in. Once they're there, they have reflection questions to answer and flags to color. Each room is a country that students study in 7th grade and each question is related to that country with some fun fact.
And that my friends, is what you call some serious integrated curriculum!
Oh yea...and our principal got so excited about it that she has invited channel 4, our local school district channel, and the newspaper...so no pressure...
Now, I will go spend the rest of my planning getting the final details together...
Tomorrow morning we'll be in Turkey, Israel, Syria, and Jordan!
PS The spaghetti casserole from several posts ago was delicious! It's very filling and it makes a lot. So, we ate on it for several days. It's easy to do, but several more steps than basic spaghetti. I was so hungry when making it, I almost stopped mid-way and just had regular spaghetti. It was worth the extra effort, but won't be something that I make on a regular basis.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Score!
Stephen got me this awesome sweater dress for Christmas, but it was just a little bit too small. In the bag with the dress, he got a coupon for 40% off a regularly priced item good for the first Wednesday of the month. Instead of returning the dress right after Christmas, I decided to risk them not having my size and the dress being on sale to try and get the dress 40% off...AKA cash back in addition to the awesome dress!
After school on Wednesday I headed off to Southpoint. When I got to the store, I returned the dress first just in case they wouldn't let me do my sneaky bargain shopping. While I was returning it, the cashier explained they had just gotten in a lot of new stuff so they had a lot of older stuff on sale. I got a little worried, but thought I'd still give it a try. I wandered the store and found the dress in my size in the middle of all of the clearance items. After looking more closely, I realized my dress wasn't on sale
So, I re-bought the dress using the 40% off coupon and used the extra cash to get some new make-up! Score #1!
I also had to return some DVDs my Mom got me for Christmas. She got me 2 seasons of Friends on DVD that we also got from someone else. When I got to Barnes and Noble (who knew they sold TV series on DVD??), they were having a buy two get one free sale on all DVDs. So, I returned my current 2 DVDs, and then bought 3 new seasons for the price of 2, which also completed our Friends collection! Score #2 and 3!
Lastly, I went to Belk to get a blender. We still had some money left on gift cards from the wedding. A lot of their blenders were about $100, but I found one that was priced around $70, which was still a little more than I wanted to spend, but I went ahead and got it. They were also have a sale where all frames were 50% off. When I checked out, the blender was also 50% off. Score #4 and 5.
I left very proud of my bargain shopping for the day!
After school on Wednesday I headed off to Southpoint. When I got to the store, I returned the dress first just in case they wouldn't let me do my sneaky bargain shopping. While I was returning it, the cashier explained they had just gotten in a lot of new stuff so they had a lot of older stuff on sale. I got a little worried, but thought I'd still give it a try. I wandered the store and found the dress in my size in the middle of all of the clearance items. After looking more closely, I realized my dress wasn't on sale
So, I re-bought the dress using the 40% off coupon and used the extra cash to get some new make-up! Score #1!
I also had to return some DVDs my Mom got me for Christmas. She got me 2 seasons of Friends on DVD that we also got from someone else. When I got to Barnes and Noble (who knew they sold TV series on DVD??), they were having a buy two get one free sale on all DVDs. So, I returned my current 2 DVDs, and then bought 3 new seasons for the price of 2, which also completed our Friends collection! Score #2 and 3!
Lastly, I went to Belk to get a blender. We still had some money left on gift cards from the wedding. A lot of their blenders were about $100, but I found one that was priced around $70, which was still a little more than I wanted to spend, but I went ahead and got it. They were also have a sale where all frames were 50% off. When I checked out, the blender was also 50% off. Score #4 and 5.
I left very proud of my bargain shopping for the day!
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
How To: New Years Eve Party
Ingredients:
Games
Buffalo Chicken Dip
Funfetti Cake Batter Dip
Awesome Sparklers
Fire
Smores
Great Friends
Directions:
Gather together in a common location and enjoy!
Happy New Year!
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Pinterest Finds
I was introduced to Pinterest several months ago and began pinning all sorts of ideas to do/make. Then, one day I saw someone pin a quote that said something like I pin things to feel creative, but never actually make any of them. That's exactly how I started out...great intentions with no follow through. I decided then I wanted to actually do/make the things I was pinning. My recipe board was the easiest place to start. Although I have many recipes that I hope to one day try, here are a few that I have tried and a brief review.
(Pictures are linked to recipes; just click on the picture if you want the recipe!)
Parmesan-Crusted Chicken
The first two times I made this dish, I followed the recipe exactly. But, I realized I could make it skipping a few things. I use Italian seasoned bread crumbs and skip the initial seasoning of the chicken. I don't have a wire rack to bake on so I just used a cookie sheet and it worked just as well. Coating everything in cooking spray is what gets the chicken really crispy. Stephen and I both love it!
Crock Pot Hawaiian BBQ Chicken
My friend Jenn had shared her BBQ Pulled Chicken recipe with me and then I found this twist on it. It was hard to find the Hawaiian BBQ sauce; grocery stores didn't have it. The pineapples add good flavor, but Stephen and I didn't like actually eating the pineapples when the meal was done. But, the chicken was great!
Funfetti Cake Batter Dip
This recipe is super easy once you figure out the measurements. The recipe only gives directions for one serving. I was making this for our New Years Eve Party so I needed a lot more than one serving. The lady who posted the recipe said she just mixed stuff in until it tasted right (it's only 3 ingredients), but I'm not that brave. I'm a logical person that likes control so I measured out the cake mix and did some rough calculations to figure out how much yogurt and cool whip I needed. I had never tasted plain yogurt before. It looked so good when I opened that container that I took a bite...yea, bad idea. But, once mixed in with the cake mix and cool whip, it was fine. If you're wanting to make enough for a party, I figured out that one bag of funfetti cake mix, one regular sized container of cool whip, and 2.5 cups of plain yogurt will work. It's best to do this the night before and let it sit. It was a huge hit! It takes just like cake batter!
Spaghetti Casserole
This is the next recipe on my "To-Try" list...hopefully it will be just as good as everything else has been so far!
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