What's Cooking Good Looking?

I saw this salad on Pinterest and I was really intrigued. I LOVE avocados, I love chicken and I love cilantro and lime. I also happened to have everything except the chicken in my fridge. I found the actual recipe HERE on a blog called The Salted Paleo.  Her blog contains lots of healthy, tasty recipes which I intend to go back and try out.

I don't follow any specific diet or eating plan. I eat what appeals to me and is generally healthy (I know last week's soup does not qualify as healthy BUT it was fantastic! I ate really small portions which were very satisfying). 

This has to be the BEST chicken salad I have ever eaten and it has nothing unhealthy in it!  I love the tang of the cilantro and lime juice, and the creaminess of the avocado.  This salad kept well in the fridge at work inside a sealed container. 

For lunches, I mixed it with some chopped romaine, grape tomatoes, and sliced cucumber.  No need for dressing.  YUMMY!  I had enough to share with other people on staff and still got several lunches out of it.  I will be making this again and again.

The recipe calls for you to cook the chicken breasts. I simply bought a rotisserie chicken at the supermarket.  I removed the breasts, then boned, skinned and shredded them. Worked like a charm and my hubby at the rest of the chicken for a meal.  

I think I might even try making this using some leftover turkey from Easter..if there is any leftover!

Avocado Chicken Salad: 

• 2 or 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1 avocado
• 1/4 chopped onion 
• juice of 1/2 a lime
• 2 Tbsp cilantro,
• salt and pepper, to taste. 

Cook chicken breast until done, let cool, and then shred. Mix with all other ingredients.

 

What's Your Secret Easter Bunny Name?

Not sure what has gotten into me this Easter!  I never make a big deal out of this holiday..yet as a child it was one of my favourites!  I vividly remember the year my parents gave me a stuffed animal for Easter, it was SO MUCH BETTER than getting chocolate!  I loved that little lamb!  (even after it got fruit punch all over its white, fuzzy fur!)

I must just ready for Spring to be here.  I can hear birds outside my window right now chirping away, and the weather was nice enough to go outside with just a spring jacket and running shoes on!  Now that is progress to all us Canadians!  We are done with ole man winter! 

I decorated my class for Easter this year, putting up a little Easter tree covered in little carrots and eggs.  I wore bright, sparkly pink bunny ears all day on Thursday, and I hand delivered a special Easter treat (homemade card and jelly beans) to all the members of our school staff.  I made Easter cards for my students and I attached an Easter pencil and sharpener to each card!  I bought Easter decorations to hang in my classroom, and I created the Easter graphic organizer/poster you saw on my blog on Friday!  

I guess you could say I'm cuckoo for Easter!  I know, I know, wrong bird... but still. Speaking of birds, I'm even roasting a turkey for Easter Sunday.  I bought all the fixins to do a full on Easter feast!  I got my daughter the cutest little Easter things you can imagine...including... a HUGE, stuffed Easter rabbit for her to snuggle with at night.  (Yes, she is thirteen, but like her mother, she still likes to cuddle.)  I got so carried away, that I made the graphic above, because it makes me smile.  I saw one like this for St.Patrick's day and the whole family got a laugh out of our leprechaun names.  I hope your Secret Easter Bunny name makes you smile this weekend!  

A Happy Easter to Everyone!

 

Easter Graphic Organizer Poster FREEBIE

If you follow my blog regularly you will know I have become obsessed with Valerie King's Graphic Organizers. She makes the cutest designs and even helped me out on PI Day (for FREE)!  I have wanted to learn how to make graphic organizers like these myself, but felt that since Valerie (and my classroom volunteer Cindy Lam) make such great ones, I would just continue to use theirs!  I could not find one for Easter, and I did not have the nerve to beg and plead with Valerie or Cindy again...so I have tried my hand at making my own.  Just click on the IMAGE above to download your own FREE copy.  I hope you enjoy using it, I learned a lot in the process of making it, and how hard Valerie and Cindy have worked to create theirs!

I just noticed that I am getting a little closer to 200 followers each week.  If you enjoy my FREEBIES, I would be very grateful if you would Pin this post, tweet about it or even share/like it on Facebook.  Reaching the 200 follower hundred mark before my BLOGIVERSARY on April 29th would be AWESOME!

I wish everyone a wonderful Easter weekend!  

Enjoy time with your friends and family.

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What's Cooking Good Looking?

Here it is, Sunday morning again and I am contemplating what to make for lunches next week.  I seem to be back on one of my soup kicks.  I love how filling and satisfying soup is, and it is portable and quick to heat up in the staff room at lunch.

I know the soup below looks way to decadent for an everyday meal, but I am going to make the base part of it (potato soup) and then add some healthier toppings.  Not that I don't love sour cream, bacon bits and shredded cheese, but I think I'll stick to a little chopped green onion on mine.  I am also believer in portion control.  I would rather have half a cup of yummy, delicious soup than a whole bowl of something devoid of flavour and texture.  I will have a little soup and a BIG salad for lunch next week and that will get me through the days!

I saw the recipe for this soup while watching television on my march break holiday.  I had a US station on and there was a lovely woman and her two sons cooking the soup in preparation  for St.Patrick's day.  When I discovered that the lovely woman was Tamara Chilver from the blog Teaching with TLC, I knew I just had to try it.  Tamara is the founder of Teaching Blog Addict and was part of the team who created the Virtual Teaching Expo.
I encourage you to read her blog page, she has lots of hints and there is an embedded link to the television show I watched while on break, just click on the link above!

I have converted the units below for my Canadian blogger buddies but left the US units as well.  

1 750 g  (30oz.) bag of frozen, shredded hash browns 

1 can of cream of chicken soup

 1 and 1/2 900 ml boxes (48 oz.) of chicken broth
Dash of pepper
1 pkg. brand name cream cheese (add last hour of cooking)
optional- 2 c. shredded cheddar cheese, sauteed onions and mushrooms

In a crockpot, combine everything except for the cream cheese. You can add any extra ingredients you may like in your soup (sauteed onions, mushrooms, or shredded cheddar cheese.)  I plan to add a little cheese to mine.  Tamara says her family likes it cheesy, so I'll take her word for it.

Cook for 6-8 hours on low heat until most of the shredded potatoes are dissolved.  Some people prefer some shredded potatoes for extra texture but when most of the potatoes are dissolved  it makes the soup thicker. Add cream cheese about an hour before serving and keep heated until thoroughly melted.

I got up early, and the soup is in the crock pot.  I love my crockpot.  What is your favourite thing to cook in a crockpot?  

Am I the only one who obsesses about school lunches?  I'm always looking for new ideas...I would love to feature you, your blog and your recipes on What's Cooking Good Looking so please drop me a line or leave me a comment.

New Store on Teacher's Notebook and Two Great Giveaways

Ever have one of those "Why the heck didn't I do this before?" moments when you are teaching?  This year, I decided to set up a system for absent students in my classroom.  I am often too busy trying to maintain the tasks of the current day to deal with students returning to class after being ill, or returning from an extended vacation.  Often the first thing they do is ask me what they missed and how they should make up the work they didn't do while they were off school.  I have a TeacherWeb website, on which I post all homework and assignments.  I also often post extra copies of work that has been handed out in class, in case someone loses it or needs an extra.  Even doing this though, does not cover all the situations which occur in the average classroom.

Years ago, I decided to have my students each choose a "homework buddy" at the beginning of the year.  These students agree to exchange phone numbers or emails and keep each other up to date.  I found this worked for awhile, but I still found that there were missing papers, and assignments, and often the "buddy" was also absent, or did not follow their duties.  

This year, I laminated some red file folders, put a sticker on the front which says Absentee Folder and put the sheet you see below in each one.  My students still have a homework buddy, but as part of my classroom leadership team (classroom jobs) I have several students whose job it is to note when a student is absent, get a red folder and sheet, put it on the students desk, and to keep it updated throughout the day.  

When the absent student returns, they are responsible to check with their homework buddy and/or the absentee assistant.  They are to complete the work and hand it to me with the sheet by the given due dates.  The red folders are returned to the storage spot and a new sheet is put inside, leaving it ready for the next time it is needed.  I have been very happy with this system.  

How do you handle absent students?  Leave me a comment, maybe there is more I can do to streamline my system.  

To thank you, be sure to download this FREEBIE from my NEW Teacher's Notebook store.  Just click on the image below and you can have it to use next week in class!

If you liked this FREEBIE click HERE or on the image below to visit the Calming the Chaos Year End Blog Hop. 

 

Math Chat

Do you have a Math Chat learning community in your classroom?  


In your classroom, this means: 
• making both students and teacher responsible for asking questions; 
• providing a supportive environment whereby students can confidently express their understandings, and explain, defend, and justify their mathematical thinking to others in the class; 
• confirming that students are recognized as important sources of mathematical ideas by regarding their suggestions as valid and worthy of further exploration; 
• encouraging problem solving in a variety of ways with students collaborating in reasoning and explaining solutions; 
• requiring students to take responsibility for their own learning by asking questions in class, demonstrating their understanding of problems, and sharing their solutions with others.
( Math Talk Learning Community: Professional Learning Guide, MOE, http://bit.ly/10Wwdrf)



I do not use a traditional textbook in my classroom.  I don't find that it best meets the needs of my gifted students.  I  used one for one year, but both the students and myself were utterly frustrated and the students academic results were not what they should have been. I abandoned the text book and went with what I know best~ hands-on, minds-on instruction.  

If you have read my earlier posts you will know my students create a "Math Survival Guide" the first week of school.  They use this all year to learn the important mathematics vocabulary we are studying.  I believe that it is important to activate prior knowledge before starting a new unit, and this is one strategy that helps with that.  It gives the students and myself a chance to see what they already know, and find out what they still need to learn.  As the unit continues students revise and add information to their survival guides.  They use them frequently in daily work, and for studying and reviewing before quizzes and tests.

This year I also started using Interactive Math Notebooks.  We only started these part way through the year, but so far this approach has integrated well with how I structure math instruction in my classroom.   For example, I find using the Guides to Effective Instruction in Mathematics with my classes to be highly engaging.  The contents of these documents are organized by grade, and material related to a specific grade can be pulled out and used on its own.  The activities/investigations in these guides fit really well with the format and structure of an interactive math notebook.

I particularly like how the guides take into account the specific needs of junior learners.  The graphic below illustrates how important Math Chat is to the junior student.  Math Chat supports intellectual, physical, psychological  social, and moral and ethical development.

Structuring the Math Chat classroom, the teacher must take into account the social/emotional needs and development of the students.  One strategy that supports Math Chat is the creation of Anchor Charts.  "Anchor Charts are developed together with the class to make thinking permanent and visible. They allow the class to clarify thinking, make connections, and/or remember a specific skill, strategy, or concept. These skills will be used throughout the year while doing group work/ cooperative activities. The charts can be kept and reviewed periodically, as needed." 
(http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/studentsuccess/lms/files/SocialSkills.pdf)

Before introducing Math Chat to my class, I made sure we reviewed each social skill listed below (Encouraging Others, Taking Turns, Active Listening and Summarizing, Including All Participants and Disagreeing in an Agreeable Way).

CLICK ON THE DOCUMENT ABOVE TO VIEW IN LARGER FORMAT

I did not want to keep reminding students of HOW to discuss math problems and math investigations while we working in groups, so I decided to create some speech bubbles and place a Math Chat sentence stem in each one.  I have found that the students refer to them often, and when they get off track, I can redirect them and point at them posted on the wall.

You can download a FREE preview by clicking on the image below.  

I hope you love your FREEBIE!  

If you decide you would like to purchase the entire set of Math Chat speech bubbles CLICK on the image below to get the entire set of over 20 bubbles!

If you are interested in standardized test preparation be sure to come back on Friday for the 

BIGGEST, MOST COMPREHENSIVE MATH FREEBIE yet!

What's cooking good looking?

It's Sunday...March break is over:(  I have to make lunch for the week.  I find that if I prepare my lunch for the whole week for school on Sunday, I am more likely to make good, healthy choices.  I decided that I would share with you my favourite "go to" lunch, Pesto Tuscan bean soup.  

I discovered this soup on the Foodnetwork website.   I have probably made this soup 15 times since the winter started.  It's healthy,  low calorie, high in protein and fibre and easy to modify.  You could make it with homemade or reduced sodium broth to lower the sodium content.  I have tried making it with low sodium broth, but it doesn't taste as yummy.  I try to balance out the sodium in the rest of my day when I have this soup.  It is so hearty I usually just have it on its own with some fresh veggies on the side and fruit for dessert.  It keeps me going through the entire afternoon, but does not give me that "mid-afternoon" slump that so many high carbohydrate choices do.  This recipe makes enough to get me through the whole week.  I put it in glass bottles and take them to work on Monday.  I don't have to think about "what to make for lunch" for the whole week!

Ingredients:

1 box chicken broth or stock

3 tbsp. olive oil

5 garlic cloves peeled and sliced thinly

pinch of red pepper flakes (I use more than a pinch)

2 cans white cannellini beans (also called white kidney beans)

Pesto (I use store bought from a jar, but you could make your own)

Parmesan cheese

Roasted red peppers (optional) (I use the kind in the jar)

Olives (optional) ( I don't add these as they would tip the sodium into the "do not eat" zone)

Directions
Saute 5 sliced garlic cloves and a pinch of red pepper flakes in a skillet with olive oil. Add 2 cans drained cannellini beans and 1 cup water; simmer until thick, 8 minutes. Stir in 3 tablespoons pesto and 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan.

Add 3 cups chicken broth and 1 cup chopped celery; cook 15 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup each chopped olives and roasted peppers.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 353 g

Calories 154

Calories from Fat 49

Total Fat 5.4g

Saturated Fat 1.4

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 4mg

Sodium 928mg

Total Carbohydrates 14.4g

Dietary Fibre 5.7g

Sugars 2.8g

Protein 11.0g

What are your favourite go to lunches?  I am always looking for new ideas and recipes.  Spring is coming and I keep thinking about salads...and quinoa...and fresh fruit:)

Last minute addition on Sunday night...I just linked up with Groovy Educator at her "Absolute Favorite Blog Post" linky party.  I had a hard time picking one...why not hop over and see what my decision was.

Mean, Median, Mode and Madison

It's March break here in Ontario.  I have been working away on my laptop this week.  My wonderful daughter, Madison, has been helping me make my newest product.  It was meant to be a FREEBIE but she thinks I have put so much time and effort into it that I should sell it on TPT.  So I have decided that I will post a FREEBIE and the whole package on my teacher store at TPT.  

Measures of Central Tendency are math concepts that many junior level students seem to have difficulty mastering.  A measure of central tendency is a measure that tells us where the middle of a set of data lies.  The three most common measures of central tendency are the mean, the median, and the mode.  Range is usually included in the teaching of measures of central tendency. The range tells you something about how spread out the data are. Data with large ranges tend to be more spread out.

Madison helped me when I was putting together this package for student use.  Included is the super cute poem in the image at the top of this post, as well as a song to help students memorize the difference between each measure.  Each poster has one of the terms, a definition and examples.  I have also created student question sheets for extra practice and Madison helped me make the answer sheets.  She is in grade 7 and the practice was good for her. 

You can download a FREEBIE from the package when you download the PREVIEW from TPT by clicking on the image below. 

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HUGE PI DAY CELEBRATION AND FREEBIES

March 14th is PI Day.  I have never celebrated this day with my class before.   The main reason I have never celebrated it would be that the date falls during our March Break holiday.  I LOVE all things math...well things that make math more interesting and engaging.  My class and I will celebrating PI Day on the 18th of March, which is the first day AFTER our spring break.  Using a variety of resources, I have put together a package of engaging and hands-on activities for the students to investigate.  

I previously wrote a post which featured my colleague Cindy's PI DAY poster.  She was inspired by the work of Valerie King on TpT.  I have been using and blogging about Valerie's posters quite a bit this year.  I LOVE her work.  I pestered poor Valerie until she created this fantastic poster as a FREEBIE.  I think that really shows how awesome she is as a person and as a teacher.  Thank you Valerie for continuing to inspire ME and others with your great artwork!

I also found the following activity on TpT and thought it looked like great fun for my students.  If you have the book "Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi"  by Cindy Neuschwander you might want to download this FREEBIE as well.  I found a PPT of the book online and am using it with the activity.  You can also find a version of the book on Youtube.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO TPT

My students are also going to make PI Day bracelets.  I found the  activity pictured below here on TPT.  The students will use pony beads (which I bought at the local dollar store) to create their own bracelet representing the numbers in PI.  It's kind of like a three-dimensional glyph:)  I think this will be great for the kinesthetic learners in my class.

I guess you could say I have caught the PI DAY bug and I decided to make a few of my own activities.  I know that students love cootie catchers, but I have never had a chance to use one with this class.  I have made a simple one that the students can use to review some of the information they will learn while doing their PI DAY activities.  I am very interested in seeing how they turn out!  If you use the cootie catcher with your class, please be sure to come back and leave me a comment!

CLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE TO DOWNLOAD YOUR OWN COPY FOR FREE

My students love to write poetry.  We have a monthly "Poetry Share" in my classroom where the students bring in the poetry they have collected and authored during the previous four weeks.  To give them some extra inspiration, I created a student worksheet with instructions on how to write PI-KU poetry.  You can download the instructions for writing your own 

PI-KU HERE.

Just added a new FREEBIE from TPT. Pink Cat Studio (yay! another Canadian!) has allowed me to post her free poster for you to download and add to your growing list of fun PI Day materials.  Click on the image below to download your own copy of this super adorable poster.