America's favorite cookie & Psalms

So I was thinking... 

that Oreos are my favorite cookie. My dad fostered my love of this cookie when I was little. It was/is my favorite bedtime snack: Oreos and milk. It might have just been a sneaky way to get my siblings and I to drink more milk, but good job mom & dad, because it worked!

This past weekend I went with about 10 of the girls in my Sunday School class to the lake for a girls' retreat. We had a fabulous time playing Mexican train domino's, making crafts out of clay and just hanging out together with the Lord. We studied Psalm 139.

Here are some of my favorite parts:

vs 1-4

O Lord, you have searched me & know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 

vs. 15-16

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

vs. 23-24

Search me, O God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. 

(NIV)

Didn't the Lord give David just the perfect words to show His love for us?!

Also at this retreat we had tons of FOOD. I signed up to bring a dessert(typical) and went off to google to find a fun dessert to bring. I found this recipe from Bakegirl and when I saw that the only 3 ingredients were Oreos, marshmallows, and butter; well how could you go wrong!

Chewy No-Bake Cookies and Cream Treats (Oreo Bars)

1 package of Oreos

1 bag of large marshmallows

4 tbsp butter

Bakegirl's recipe says to heat the marshmallows in the microwave, but I was a little weary of putting the whole bag inside; not wanting to clean up a huge mess later, so I opted for heating them on the stove like you do with Rice- Krispie treats. 

1. Crush the Oreos either in a food processor or by beating them with a rolling pin.  

2. Melt the butter in a pot on Med-High heat

3. Pour in the 1/3 of the marshmallows. Constantly stir until melting has occurred. Continue this step until the whole bag is melted. 

4. Take the marshmallows off the stove and immediately pour in the crumbled Oreos. Stir together and pour into a 8x8 pan. Make sure the pan is lined with aluminum foil that has been sprayed with cooking spray for best results.

5. Let set for about 30 minutes to an hour, then cut and serve! 

Happy Baking!
Rachel

Five for Friday 3.1

Thanks to Kacey for linking us up each week!

1. Our assistant principal sent this out us this week after our Accreditation team left town! Isn't Dr. Seuss the best! My kids absolutely LOVE him, we have been laughing all week long as we read. 

2. We have been writing about Dr. Seuss's books this week using our Cat in the Hat booklets. 

             

Their challenge this week was to read one of these books to me by themselves. If you haven't noticed Dr. S's books are rather long but my firsties were up to the challenge and even my slower readers were really pumped. They received 10 free computer minutes as a PRIZE!!

In other Dr. Seuss news, we wrote about the Cat in the Hat on Monday using adjectives(our monthly grammar skill) and my friend and I created this fun bulletin board with a little help from pinterest. 

We also did a tally/graphing exercise with the book One Fish, Two Fish... using colorful goldfish.

3. Today, the first grade teachers along with our Reading coaches did literacy rotations. My rotation was teaching the kids how to draw The Cat in the Hat! It was really fun and interesting to see some of their pictures! But fun was had by all!

4. This past weekend, some of the girls in my Sunday School class went to the lake for a girls' retreat. I made these delicious Oreo bars. Come back this weekend to get the recipe! They were a HUGE hit!

5. We read The Dot this week. What a fun story! I found a fun activity called Dot Duo. Each child created their own dot, then you cut them in half and switch your half with a partner. You glue the two halves together on a sheet of paper and create your masterpiece! 

I also have a freebie for you, we played these fun Connect 4 games with our weekly skills: 'ea' and inflected endings. I also created the games for next week: 'oa' and three letter blends. I put the boards in page protectors and we used dry erase markers to try and make 4 in a row. 

Here is the link!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss tomorrow!!

Halloween came early

So I was thinking... that Halloween is fun after all. During the past few years, Halloween has not ranked highly on my favorite holiday list; however, this year Halloween came a little early at my school and it was quite spooktastic!

Each month, the teachers at my school provide treats for the lounge, it is one of our favorite days of the month! This year I volunteered to supply the decorations for our Halloween themed party! With a little research I found some fabulous ideas and re-created them with my own twist.

Step into our shabby-chic Halloween event!

Get your taste buds ready for some yummy treats!

I used all of my new Halloween adjectives to create these fun place cards to display in front of the treats that the first grade teachers and a few friends brought. 

 

Cute peeping cheese cakes and Mummified pigs in a blanket! Yum, yum!

Now on to some fun decorations. 

I whipped up this bow with some ribbon from Dollar General ($1.50!) I loved making the Trick or Treat banner, inspired by this pinterest find. 

 Close up!

 Cute paper pumpkins(be looking for a tutorial later; and some lovely flowers 

provided one of the teaches!

Another view of the fun pumpkins I made!

Hope these help with your holiday decorating!!

~Rachel 

Linking up here:

Somewhat Simple

See Vanessa Craft

We're off to Great Places! Dr. Seuss Week(s)

So I decided that just one week of Dr. Seuss was not enough so we had Seussical fun for two weeks in Room A9. We started off by reading some favorite classics. We recorded our favorite part in our Cat in the Hat hat booklet.

Here are my examples: 

 

We also did the Lorax on the 2nd in honor of the movie coming out, but I forgot to snap a pic of it!

On Friday we made Oobleck 

We learned that it is a non-neutonium fluid as we studied the state of matter. 

We wrote about our experiment and completed a Venn diagram on solids and liquids.

The Lunchroom served Green eggs and Ham.

Our math tubs revolved around One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, with 

Goldfish graphing, coloring fish patterns, and number words match. 

We ended our Dr. Seuss fun with these fun Thing One and Thing Two cupcakes!

Yes, that is a  Valentine cake mix, but cake mix doesn't go bad and when it's on sale for 60 cents, a teacher's budget smiles! Add a little cotton candy and a sticker : )

Today you are you, that is truer than true, there is no one alive that is youer than you!

~Dr. Seuss

~Miss Anderson 

Creamy Chicken Spaghetti

So I was thinking... crock pots are the best!

For Christmas my uncle and aunt gave me a fabulous crock pot; unfortunately I am sad to say that it has only been used twice. However, I am currently in search for more recipes to try out! Here is one I did the other day.

I found the recipe here. (great website with all of the recipes categorized!)

Creamy Chicken Spaghetti

-- Start with chopped up chicken, lightly bake it in olive oil and seasoning.
Then simply layer in your slow cooker.

* soup mixture * chicken * cheese *UNCOOKED spaghetti 

* soup mixture * chicken * more cheese

Cook for 3 hours

I was so hungry I didn't snap a picture of the finished product, but it was yummy!

~Rachel 

the purpose of teaching and a little valentine's day

So I was thinking...today was a hard day. I am having trouble with one of my friends but I know with some more prayer and love they'll turn it around. But today ended on a good note from one of my special little boys in my room. One of my boys went to read with our reading coach (he came to me reading 5 wpm and now we are at 55!!) at the end of the day so I popped in to listen when I dropped my kids off at PE. After hearing him read and our reading coach and I gushing over how great of a reader he is this special gift was given to us. We were talking about something else and he began writing this note, totally unprompted.

"I am a good reader and my teecher think I am a good reader. 

and I Love my teecher and I love miss planz" 

Needless to say I left the room with tears filling my eyes. After a long day it was just what I needed to be reminded that I am making a difference. This little boy who came to me not know all of his sounds is now reading and BELIEVING IN HIMSELF! I am so proud that all of his hard work has paid off, he truly loves reading to anyone who will let him read! Now I know the words are spelled wrong and they aren't perfect sentences, but those are not the important things in life. Yes, I am a teacher saying that, but its because I believe believing in yourself can take you far in life!

Now before I start crying again, let's talk about Valentine's Day.

A great part of being a teacher: having 20 Valentines!

 They loved the crayons!

 Valentine bags to hold all of our loot!

 cake pops made a great Valentine treat! 

(for a how to look over at the sis's blog)

 ~sugar high~

 The class beside me made these! How cute, definitely going to try these 

out next year, or in our ladybug unit!

 We rounded the day out by doing a Candy Heart probability worksheet I found in blogland. 

Thanks for reading!

~Miss Anderson

Blast from the Past: Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies

So I was thinking... how much I love snack cakes. They always remind me of my softball games because after the game, the parents would always supply a snack and drink. While browsing around on Pinterest I happened upon this great recipe for Oatmeal Cream Pies. So I pinned it and started baking.

Oatmeal Cream Pies

For The Cookies: 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened * 1 cup packed brown sugar * 1/2 cup granulated sugar * 

2 eggs * 1 teaspoon vanilla * 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour * 1 teaspoon baking soda * 1 teaspoon cinnamon*

1/2 teaspoon salt * 1 cup raisins * 3 cups Quaker Oats, old fashioned, uncooked*

For The Filling: 8 oz. mascarpone cheese * 4 oz. cream cheese, softened *

 3-4 Tablespoons honey * 1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1. Mix together your sugars with the butter. Then add eggs and vanilla.

2. Slowly add in the dry materials, beat together. Stir in the oats. 

3. Bake in the oven at 350 for about 15-20 minutes. 

4. Mix together the filling, I did not have mascarpone cheese so I made my own with the help of a Google search. Honestly, I wasn't a big fan of this filling, next time I might just make a cream cheese frosting. 

5. Take two cookies and adding a big spoonful of filling. Refrigerate overnight to help solidify and soften the cookies. Take out in the morning before serving. 

Enjoy your bite down memory lane!

~Rachel