Week 4: Letter Ee & Review

This week we learned the letter Ee and its sounds. We made some elephants out of E’s and sang our letter sound song. I was really impressed with the scissors skills that went into cutting out our elephants and how precises some kiddos were when placing their ears, eyes, and tails.

To review all the letters, numbers, and shapes we've learned so far this year, we had scavenger hunts throughout the week. Letters, shapes, or numbers that we have learned were posted down the hallway. I would then hold up one of these things and each child had to find it and bring it back to it’s baggie. There were enough of each for every child to find his/her own. All the kiddos did a great job. It was rewarding to see how much they had learned already. My favorite part though, was seeing the kindness and joy in this activity when friends helped each other find the letter, number, or shape.

At this point in school we are learning how to work at different centers in the room during learning time in class. My classes divide into two or three groups and work on different things while I work at different centers with groups as they rotate. This has been a little tricky for the classes. It demands they listen to instructions when given since I won't be at every center, but also allows them freedom to figure things out on their own, or with a friend's help.

We are also starting to practice using our words with our friends before coming to the teacher with a problem. It's amazing how many times I hear my name during a half day of school. Often times when a child comes to me with a problem, it is as simple as: 

"She took my toy!" 
To which I respond "what did you say to her about it?" 
"Nothing"
"OK, why don't you go tell your friend how you feel about what happened."

Once the child does the accused typically gives back the toy and all is forgiven. The version of "he hurt me!"  is also popular in my classrooms with the same conversation happening between myself and the child telling me. Children are often so focused on their own games or tasks they have no idea they bumped into a friend or stepped on their foot. Once it's pointed out they feel very sorry for it and all is forgiven.

Week 10: Season to be Thankful, Nn, Review

This week our theme was being Thankful, especially for Veterans. We learned that Veterans work to keep us safe. We also learned that Thankful means “happy to have.” We made a Thankful Pie out of two plates where one rotates so you can read the different things we were “happy to have.” 

Our letter this week was Nn. We stamped numbers all over our N’s. The class also worked on some fall patterns with our substitute while Ms. Megan tested students one at a time.

Week 9: Hibernation, Ll, Orange, Octagon, 1-8

This week our theme was Hibernation. We learned that Hibernation is a long winter’s sleep. We built some block caves for our toy bears to hibernate in. We pretended to sleep like bears, ladybugs, and hedgehogs, all animals who hibernate.

Our letter of the week was Ll. We stamped letters onto our Ls- so fun! We also had the number 8 for the week, and our shape was an octagon, which happens to have 8 sides. It was very exciting to see the connection there. 😊 We colored our octagons with our color of the week, orange and cut them out. It’s so wonderful to see all the growth this class has made with their scissors skills.

Week 8: Trees & Leaves, Bb, White, Hexagon, 7

This week our theme was Trees and Leaves. We had so much fun learning about leaves, trees, and seasons this week. We went on a leaf hunt and charted all the different colored leaves we found.

Our letter of the week was B, so we glued buttons onto our Bs. These turned out really cute. 

Our color of the week was white, and our shape was a hexagon, so we cut out our hexagon on our white paper. The whole class is really improving on their cutting skills! 

Their writing and tracing skills are also developing quite well. We traced our letters, shape, and number in our notebooks and everyone is holding and controlling markers so much better than the beginning of the year!

Week 7: Fire Fighters, Tt, Gray, Oval, 6

This week our theme was Firefighters and Fire Safety. We went on a Fire Safety Scavenger Hunt. This was really fun and we walked all over the YMCA looking for alarms, sprinklers, and fire extinguishers. All the kids did a great job graphing how many we saw of each. I was really impressed. 

We also learned that firefighters use water to put out fires. We had a little relay race and ran cups of water to put out our “fire.” Despite the cooler weather the class had a lot of fun doing this outside. 

We talked about things that are safe to touch and things that are hot, or burning like a candle and are not safe to touch. We made little “Safe to Touch” books. The kids did so well cutting these out and marking out things we should not touch.

Finally, we learned about 9-1-1. We dotted a paper phone and practiced calling 9-1-1. We learned that is how we can call a firefighter, policeman, and an ambulance if there is a Big problem and we need help.

This week we learned the letter Tt and its sound. We put tape all over our letter T’s. 

We also colored our shape of the week, oval, with our color of the week, gray, and cut them out. Everyone is improving with their scissor skills.

Week 6: Autumn, Letter Rr, Red, Star shape, Number 5

This week we learned the letter Rr and its sound. We pretended to be “Rrrrrockets” and blasted off. For some of our letter craft this week we painted Rainbows and glued cotton ball clouds onto them. 

We also colored our shape of the week, star, with our color of the week, red, then again, my older class got to cut them out. The classes have picked up on the pattern of this craft to the point that my older class knows to look to the bulletin board for what color they will then start searching through the crayons to color the shape in front of them. All with no guidance from me! They also no longer argue that their shape is colored with a couple scribbles in hopes to get the scissors sooner. They know that at this point I insist the shape be fully covered before they can begin cutting- I don't care if they've scribbled all over the paper as long as the shape is covered.

This week our theme was Autumn. We made leaf puppets. They were very cute and the kids did a really good job with them. We also did more experiment testing to see if acorns, rocks, leaves, and apples would sink or float. It was fun to experiment with the apples and see if the color of the apple mattered if they sank or float. If you’re eager to know- it doesn’t, apples float no matter the color. 😉

Chocolate Pecan Pie as seen on The Chew

I'm writing this post because its Thanksgiving again, and as I opened Pinterest to get one of my must-have holiday desserts, the page I sought no longer existed. What?!? How am I supposed to celebrate the holidays without my favorite dessert of the last (almost) decade?!?

I began frantically searching Google and Pinterest for any other posting of Carla Hall's original chocolate pecan pie recipe, but alas I couldn't find one. I finally stumbled upon a Disney video of The Chew with Carla explaining it, however it didn't provide the measurements for the ingredients. I was encouraged to finally have her list of ingredients, the list I've been using for years, and I was sure I could figure out the measurements by comparing other similar recipes. I dusted off my recipe book to write down the ingredient list, and low and behold... I'd written the whole recipe down years ago! Hooray! The holidays are saved!

Here is the recipe in case you too are searching for a perfect chocolate pecan pie recipe.

Ingredients:
1 c dark corn syrup
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp softened butter
1/2 c sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
3 eggs
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla
1Tbsp white vinegar
1 1/2 c pecans
1/2 c dark chocolate chips
1 pie crust

Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350*F
-Cream butter and sugar, then add 3 beaten eggs, cornstarch, salt, vanilla, vinegar, and corn syrup
-Prepare pie crust
-Glaze bottom of pie crust with egg white
-Sprinkle crushed pecans and chocolates on pie shell
-Pour pie filling into prepared crust
-Bake on center rack of oven for 40-50 minutes or until set
-Cool on wire rack before serving
-Note- tap center of surface of pie lightly- it should spring back when done