NOW I am Ready for Christmas

        A month ago two radio stations in my city started playing Christmas music and I just wasn't ready for it yet.  But now that we have enjoyed Thanksgiving and it is actually December I am ready to get in the Christmas mood.  Last night I was looking for some 3rd grade Polar Express ideas and I found some adorable and edible ideas that I am going to share with you now.

        My first discovery (oops - I forgot to save the web address)

what you need

4 pkg. (10.75 oz. each) frozen pound cake, thawed

4 cups  thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, divided

Blue food coloring

  Decorations:

16 OREO Cookies

3 rolls  ring-shaped hard candies

1/4 cup JET-PUFFED Miniature Marshmallows

6   BARNUM'S ANIMALS Crackers

1 COMET Cup

1   JET-PUFFED Marshmallow

1/2 cup cocoa sweetened rice cereal

24 pieces  black licorice (for cage bars and train track)

Make It

LINE up cakes on large tray or serving platter to resemble cars in a train.

CUT a 2-inch-thick crosswise slice off front cake; place at back end of the first cake to resemble train engine. Repeat with last cake, placing the removed cake slice in the middle of the last cake to resemble caboose.

TINT whipped topping with food coloring as desired. Use to frost cakes. Add decorations as desired. Store leftover cake in refrigerator.

My second discovery was from: 

http://www.education.com/activity/article/edible-holiday-train/

A twist on the traditional holiday gingerbread house, this holiday train is made with graham crackers and decorated with candy, icing, and other edible trimmings. Your youngster will learn small-scale engineering and design skills and develop her fine motor skills as she carefully puts each piece in its place to construct her miniature masterpiece. In no time at all her Graham Cracker Express will be chugging down the track, loaded with holiday cheer! All aboard!

What You Need:

• Cardboard or cutting board
• Aluminum foil
• Box of graham crackers
• 2 round, flat wafer cookies
• Assorted candies and edible items for decoration
• Quart-sized freezer bag
• Scissors 

For the royal icing:

This is the glue (edible, of course) that holds everything together. It will harden quickly, so make it just before you begin construction and be sure to complete the project within a few hours. If the icing gets difficult to work with, kneading the bag or warming it slightly may help to soften it.

• 1 pound confectioners' sugar
• 3 large egg whites (if you intend to eat the train after you create it, substituting ½ cup pasteurized egg whites is recommended)
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

What to Do:

1. Prepare your train platform by covering a piece of cardboard or large cutting board with aluminum foil.
2. Have your child carefully mix all royal icing ingredients together until smooth and scoop into the freezer bag. Twist the top corner (as you would a pastry bag) to push the icing towards the bottom, then snip a small hole in the opposite bottom corner of the bag.
3. Break four graham cracker sheets in half to form eight square pieces. You will use these pieces to create the engine of your train.
4. Ask your child where she wants the engine to go. Dot one graham cracker square with several small blobs of icing and place on the platform, pressing down gently. This will form the base of your engine.
5. Pipe icing around the edge of the engine base. To form two sides of the engine, help your child place two graham cracker squares on the base perpendicular to the platform and on adjoining sides so that they meet at one corner of the base. Pipe icing along the seam between the two cracker sides to secure.
6. Repeat the previous step to form the remaining two sides of the engine, making sure all seams are sealed with icing.
7. Gently pipe icing along the top edges of the engine. Making sure the train is stable, have your child carefully place the last cracker square on top to form the engine's roof. The engine should now look like a square box.
8. To give your engine a pointed pilot (also called a "cowcatcher") at the front, secure two cracker squares together with icing in the shape of a V and attach them to the front of the engine. The pilot deflects objects away from the tracks and helps prevent the train from derailing.
9. Now that the engine is formed, it's time to create cars for your train. Break a few more graham cracker sheets in half so you have more squares to work with. To create an open-top car, secure another square flat to the platform with icing directly behind the engine.
10. Repeat steps 5 and 6 to create walls for the train car. Do not repeat step 7 for this car; since this is an open-top car, it should not have a roof.
11. To create a longer open-top car behind the short car, secure a full-sized cracker sheet to the platform with icing and repeat steps 5-6 above. Instead of using four squares for the sides of the car, however, use two full-sized sheets for the long sides of the car and two squares for the short sides.
12. Have your child continue constructing cars for her train until she is happy with its length. She can create as many cars as she likes as long as they all fit on the platform.
13. When your child is finished constructing her train, allow the icing to set for a few minutes before decorating.
14. Have your child attach cookies or round candies along the sides of the engine and cars to form wheels, then decorate the train and platform as she desires, using icing to hold everything in place.

Choo choo! Your Graham Cracker Express is ready to go! Use it as a centerpiece for your holiday table, or gobble it up for a delicious afternoon treat.

         So, that leads me to wonder, what do your classroom party ideas look like for this year?  Please share!!!

My 1st Award!!!

       I am so excited, my blog has earned its first award!!!  Thank you so much to Doris Young over at Third Grade Thinkers for awarded my blog with the Sunshine Award.  If you don't know about Doris's blog you should definitely check it out.  She has great ideas and I LOVE the Sunday's Words for the Week-they always start my week off right!

 

        So here are my answers to the questions:

Favorite color...purple, but pink if we are talking about clothes : )
Favorite animal....my classroom is FILLED with frogs, but I also like giraffes and love my dog!
Favorite number...17-not really sure why though
Favorite drink...Grande White Mocha from Starbucks (this is my EVERY Friday treat to myself)
Facebook or Twitter....Neither, never got into it
Passion....learning (I was/am that kid)
Favorite Day...the first and last day of school (I am always ready for both by the time they arrive)
Giving or Getting Presents....yes!!!
Favorite Flowers....daisies, I totally agree with Meg Ryan's character in You've Got Mail, they are just so friendly

        Now I would like to nominate the following blogs for the Sunshine Award:

Ashleigh's Education Journey http://ashleigh-educationjourney.blogspot.com/ Ashleigh is great about sharing themed activities each month, as well as lots of other great stuff!!!

Pitner's Potpourri http://pitnerm.blogspot.com/  Mary has TONS of freebies!!!

Third Grade Thinkers http://thirdgradethinkers8.blogspot.com/2011/12/editing-for-spelling-using-brain.html I want to pass back the love because I really enjoy your blog!!!

Mandy's Tips for Teachers http://mandys-tips-4-teachers.blogspot.com/ I loved Many's guided reading stuff!!!

        Keep up the great work everyone!  I always enjoy checking out your blogs!  And apparently I am in love with exclamation points this evening : )

I am Lovin' Nicholas Sparks!

       Do you have a favorite author that is just for you?  I love Eve Bunting for school and Debbie Miller for school and countless others . . . but when I think about reading that is just for me I think of Nicholas Sparks.  I love his books!  I have been hooked since I accidentally stumbled upon The Notebook one summer at the beach back in high school.  I love that his books are romantic (but not graphic).  I love that his books are predictable-but in a good way.  I love that he has a new book every year just in time for my birthday.  My wonderful hubby got me the newest Nicholas Sparks book, The Best of Me for my birthday back in October but school had been so busy that I had not had a chance to pick up my book.  It just sat sadly on my nightstand waiting to be opened.  Then over this long Thanksgiving break I finally had my chance to read my new book and it was well worth the wait!  If you like romantic novels let me encourage you to check out Nicholas Sparks, he never disappoints me.

Perfect Lessons

        Something else that I am so thankful for are pefect lessons.  Have you ever planned out a lesson and thought this is it.  This is perfect.  The kids will definitely get this. And then they didn't?  Hopefully this has not happened too often.  Well this in NOT what happened to me last Wednesday.  It is really hard to believe that a whole week has already gone by.  Anyway I digress.  Like many of you we have a new evaluation system in my district (CAST) and it has everyone a little anxious, mostly because it is new.  Well I was planning out my lesson and I decided to teach the comprehension strategy of questioning.  I love Debbie Miller and she has a chapter on questioning in her book Reading with Meaning so I think this is a great start.  I copy her first lesson idea and even use the book Grandfather Twilight like she suggests.  My students do well with the whole concept of good readers need to stop and ask questions while they read.  So I decide to introduce the QAR question stems with my students one type at a time.  We are able to get through "Right There" and "Think and Search" questions before my observation.  So the question type that I will teach for my formal observation (with the principal) is "Author and You" questions.  These are definitely higher level so that's great!  I choose to read Cynthisa Rylant's The Bird House, (also a suggested text of Debbie Miller) which turned out to be the perfect book because there are lots of natural places to ask all types of questions, plus it's not too long, and even better it is a rather obscure book so no one except me has ever read it before.  The day of the observation my class was on it!  They gave AWESOME responses (I swear I didn't give them the answers ahead of time or pay them or anything-although it almost seemed like it). They worked in partners after the mini lesson for more practice-then one group shared with the class, then they read independently for more practice-then shared again.  Even my guided reading group was fabulous.  Then for the closing and this was priceless.  My students gave PERFECT answers to "How can I use the questioning strategy to be a better reader?"  At the end of my lesson I was floating on cloud nine.  Not only had my students fully grasped the type of questioning that we were working on but also after only three lessons working with the questioning strategy they could tell me why it was important to ask questions while they read.  Of course it didn't hurt that the principal saw the whole thing.  : ) 
        So I say all that to say don't lose heart.  Our job is hard-but no on ever said it was going to be easy they just said that it would be worth it!  I also wanted to share with you the QUESTION STEMS, from QAR that I used to help my students through the questioning strategy just in case you are interested in using them with your students.  They were extremely helpful for the students to have access to when they were asked to ask both themselves and a partner questions.  Until next time . . .

I am so Thankful!

        First let me say that I am so thankful for my class this year.  I have an awesome group of kids that are sweet to one another (and to me) and work hard.  This time of year, right before the Christmas craziness I like to really count my blessings and believe me they are numerous.  That all being said I want to tell you about an activity that we did today . . .

        Doris Young, from Third Grade Thinkers (if you don't know about her blog I would definitely check it out) blogged about some poetry that her kids wrote back on October 26th.  They wrote poems about fall and put them on pumpkins and had a poetry patch-too cute!!!  So I loved the idea and borrowed it.  Today we worked on thanksgiving poems.  We followed the same format that Doris Young outlines in her blog.  You start with Thanksgiving is . . . then the students think about a noun that reminds them of their topic and an adjective that describes their noun and then a verb (with -ing) that also goes along with the noun.  A fantastic review of those parts of speech : )

        Below you will see a couple of pictures from my kiddos' poems today.

        I wish I would have gotten pictures of all of the poems they were so cute!  I have to say though my favorite part of this entire activity was that one of my students asked if we could write poetry for every holiday-LOVE it!!!  So I think we will   : )

OREO Writing

        This is an oldie-but a goodie so I thought that I would share.  My students and I just finished up persuasive writing and the strategy that I taught my students to make sure that they had each of the elements from the writing standard is OREO. 
        We of course went through the writing process beginning with brainstorming all the different ideas that we had opinions about, our favorite pet, holiday, place to go, etc . .  Then I gave each student a planning sheet that was broken into sections for them to write out their opinion and the reasons and details that matched/supported that opinion.  After planning on their own, checking with a peer and then checking with me everyone was ready to start writing their first drafts.
        It was modeled that we start our essays with our opinion (O), we also included an exciting beginning to make the reader want to read our essays.  Next we took each of the reasons (R) that we thought of and our explanation/examples (E) and wrote a separate paragraph for each.  Finally we wrapped up our essays but restating our opinion (O) but in a different way and talking to our reader.  Ta da OREO!  (O=opinion, R=reasons, E=explanations/examples, and O=opinion).
        ***On a side note I decided to have my students publish their essays into tri-fold brochures-super cute!  I wish I would have brought one home.  I will try to make sure I do that on Monday, (although I am sure you can imagine what they look like).  During our publishing celebration each student was given the opportunity to share his/her persuasive essay and we ate OREOs while we listened.  YUMMY!!!