Biographies

For the past couple of weeks, the Prince and I focused on biographies. I focused on his high interest for Native Americans and we read biographies on Sequoyah (our lineage), Sacagawea and Pocohantos and then completed was-did-wanted charts on each.

We also read the biography of Jane Goodall and completed an is-does-wants chart.

In addition we read the very kid friendly biography, Georgia, about Georgia O'Keeffe. I personally love her and since we are currently in New Mexico, and she loved it here, I thought she was perfect :) The Prince then selected one of her pieces of artwork and replicated it.

We enjoyed reading biographies, so we created one of our own. The Prince decided he wanted to interview his daddy. He asked the questions and I wrote the answers:

We then spent a couple of days creating a Dad biography poster:

The section I'm holding open is goals. It reads "He wants to move back to the East Coast." :)

The Prince was so excited to show his daddy!

Thanks to Amy with Step into Second Grade for the biography inspirations. You should stop by her blog and check out the fantastic work her kiddos did with these! You can download some useful docs for this project HERE!





Vegas Trip and Guacamole (vegan)

Last Thursday the Sharp crew, including Thunder Lovie, piled into the car and headed to Vegas, eight hours later we arrived. The Prince awoke and was very excited!

We took the Prince to the Strip and saw all the fabulous lights and sites....and we hit the arcades! The husband and I are very very competitive, so we use the excuse of a child to try to put the smack down on each other. We are crafty enough to allow the Prince to pose with Spongebob, so it looks like it is all about him.

THIS race the Prince and his daddy won! UGHHH!!

And in this race, the Prince and his mommy LOST!! I DID NOT LOSE EVERYTIME!!

The next day I cooked lunch for one of my dearest and most beloved friends, as well as, the Prince's godmomma, Kyra and her husband, Les! She asked for the recipes, so that is the reason the guacamole is attached at the end :) That evening, the Prince's godmomma took him to play while his momma and daddy went out!

Auntie Kyra!

Uncle Les!

YEP! This is us.


WAIT!!!! I have to tell you what my dear Kyra did! She brought the most amazing GF cake pops for us (sorry, no picture) AND she bought me presents!! She is FABULOUS and so are my presents!!! I am a huge breast cancer awareness advocate. We should all have a cause, right?

On our last day, I woke up with a MIGRAINE! OUCH! My two boys headed off to get meds and they forced me to the couch. After a long nap and snuggle time with my two little ones, this momma was ready to travel.

Here's the Guacamole recipe!

Thanks, Hilah!

Ingredients:

• 2 Hass avocados or 1 Fuerte
• 1 lime (about 2 tablespoons of lime juice)
• 1 jalapeno or serrano pepper, minced (seeded for less heat)TRUTH TIME - I use CAYENNE!! 
• 1/4 cup minced cilantro
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. Hold the avocado in your palm, caressing it. Use a sharp knife to cut around it, longitudinally, to create two symmetrical halves.
2. Twist the halves apart and use your knife to knock the pit out of whatever half it is stuck in.
3. Scoop out the avocado guts with a spoon or just squeeze them out like I do.
4. Squeeze the lime all over the avocado guts.
5. Mash the avocado all up with a fork.
6. Add the other stuff.
7. Give it a whirl and add some more lime juice or salt if you think it needs it.

The First Thanksgiving, The Prince and Baked Parmesan Eggplant

I have so much to share from our classroom last week, this week and our trip to Vegas! However, I am going to post a bit backwards and start with our lessons from today and the Prince's dinner.

This evening I made broccoli and onion quiche for the big man of the house and myself. The Prince will only eat an egg if it is boiled , so I knew I would be making him a seperate meal. I decided on the O-so-Easy Parmesan Baked Eggplant that he loves. As soon he took a bite, the Prince said "OH! You have to post this on the blog." I giggled and here I am.

Baked Parmesan Eggplant

• 1 eggplant peeled and cut into thin medallions
• 1 cup seasoned breadcrumbs (I use GF Kinnikinick)
  1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
  1/2 teaspoon salt
  1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  1/3 cup milk 
  Cooking spray or vegetable/olive oil
  
  1. Preheat oven to 425° F. Grease a large  baking sheet.
  
  2. Whisk together bread crumbs, Parmesan, salt, onion powder and pepper in a medium bowl. Place milk in a separate shallow bowl. Dip eggplant slices in milk then in breadcrumb mixture patting the crumbs on. Place slices on baking sheet. Repeat until all are coated.
  
  3. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping half-way, or until golden brown. Eat as is or Serve with any dipping sauce; ranch dressing, blue cheese dressing or I like a mix of low-fat sour cream and horseradish

On to lessons....

Today, at the Sharp Academy we read The First Thanksgiving by Linda Hayward. The Prince then created a paper Native American and a Pilgrim, with a writing component...of course!.



"Native Americans are tough!"

 

"Pilgrims sailed on the Mayflower."

I couldn't help but ask, "Why is your pilgrim sad?" The Prince's reply, "You said they didn't have any food on the Mayflower and half of his friends died!"
Should I be laughing out loud while I type this??!!!!



Veteran's Day

Ever since the Prince became fascinated with military men and women, I have tried to teach him how honorable and important their job is and how we should be forever grateful. In turn, the Prince literally thanks ever person in military uniform we see. He typically says, "Excuse me, thank you for keeping us safe." Each time he does this it makes my heart smile and I am so very proud he is mine. In addition, the brightness that comes across these men women's faces is priceless. I never thought the lesson I was attempting to teach would be so powerful to watch :)

So on to today's Veteran's Day activities! We have been discussing the approaching holiday and reminding ourselves of the sacrifices and importance of our military personal, as well as, reminded ourselves of the importance of gratitude. Today, we created some cool projects and of course including a writing element to both.

Thanks to Mrs. Jumps Blog and BabblingAbby for the creative inspiration.

Finger Painting!! He really enjoyed this!

Gotta love that crazy "camera" smile!

Then the project made it to the new display addition in our classroom (yarn tied between to thumb tacks) and appropriately next to our classroom American flag.

Have a Happy Veteran's Day!

Homemade Stove Cleaner!

Yes, it really was this easy:

Mix baking soda and peroxide to make a thick past and use it to clean off the yuckiness on your stove top! Honestly, there may be a couple spots that need a bit of elbow-grease, but for the most part a firm scrubbing with the 2-ingredient cleaner is all you need.

I must say, I feel gross when I see how icky my stove-top used to be, but I HATED using those smotheringly strong oven cleaners to clean it! 


Thanks for the idea, Pinterest!

Halloween Silliness!

We are a silly crew and I wanted to post some of our pre-trick or treating fun; we have a very disgruntled Native American boy on our hands (seriously, we do....he is very disgusted about the way his native ancestors were treated....I recently told the husband, "all hello! is gonna break loose when he also starts identifying with his African American ancestry....yikes!") Anyway...back to our Halloween silliness!!!

The husband made us a "Perry" jack-o-lantern, from Phineas and Ferb. I was a pirate and the husband, since he is a pharmaceutical rep., dressed in scrubs like a doctor and Thunder Lovie rocked her candy corn dress.

I promise we aren't a violent crew....typically.

Johnny Appleseed - I loved this unit/lesson.

I was intially inspired and recreated the fabulous ideas of Abby from The Inspired Apple!

We started off by reading Johnny Appleseed by Steven Kellogg and the Prince dictated the answers to his first-next-then-last worksheet, it would be wayyy to much writing for him and I never want to discourage his 5-yr-old brain :).

We followed the book with this cute poster from BabblingAbby identifying the main idea and a few details.

Here the Prince is cutting hair for his personal Johnny A. HERE is the template for Johnny A.

VIOLA! Johnny A. with the main idea and one detail from the book, Johnny Appleseed.

Completing a cut and past Johnny A. sequencing worksheet.

There is no way I could let the unit on Johnny A. be complete with making applesauce, so I peeled and the Prince cored.

He also diced. His knife is a lettuce cutter!

He added ingredients, mixed and placed on the stovetop to cook.

He mashed and then he shared, a little.

I must tell you that this was truly a yummy, and I mean yummy, applesauce.

Ingredients

3 golden delicious apples, diced

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 c. water

Mix all ingredients together, boil over medium heat for 20 minutes, mash and enjoy!

I found some free GREAT A-B-C apple order sheets and activities on The First Grade Parade. So let's look at how the Prince used them:

The Prince filled in the apples with the alphabet.

He then used his apple alphabet to help him alphabetize his apple words.....he is growing up so fast, it makes me teary.

BUT....we aren't finished with apples just yet.

HERE is where you can find the super cute and educational worksheets you will see in the following pictures. These came from Amy from Step into Second Grade, she posted that even though she doesn't teach Johnny A. in 2nd grade she wanted to share the worksheets she previously used in first grade. I am happy she shared.

And finally I realized there were blank apples and main idea stripes left from the Johnny A. the Prince created, so I asked him if he wanted to make up a story....he happily dictated as I wrote. The next day he used is personally created story about himself and his doggie to identify the main idea and details....

Apple and Johnny A. complete...WHEW!