Family Made

Ahhhh....nothing like sitting down on a hot summer night with a cold glass of buttermilk in my Old Lady Room. Yes, that's right, buttermilk. I'm probably one of the eight people in northern California who buys buttermilk (The other seven are my relatives.). (I'll tell you another time about my Old Lady Room)

Buttermilk is a southern staple. Growing up, I could ALWAYS count on it hiding inside the fridge at both my grandparents' homes. My mom's family is from Alabama, and my dad's family is from Texas and Oklahoma. And boy do they love their buttermilk!

My favorite buttermilk snack would be at my dad's mom's house (Nana). Unlike my mom's mom, Nana made her cornbread a bit sweet. It was crumbly and delicious hot or cold. My favorite was to take a glass of buttermilk and crumble the cornbread up and drop it in the glass. I'd grab a spoon and push down the golden bread until it was all soaked up with the sour, thick buttermilk. 

I'm hankerin' for some now! Lucky for me, I bought some the other day (wish I had gotten a bigger carton. This here is the last of it).

With all this nostalgia for my childhood, it got me thinking about my home. There are times when I walk in, and it smells like Nana's house. If I make a roast in the crockpot, I'm whisked back to her home by my nostrils. When I tell a story that cracks me up to the point of tears, I think of her telling me about the time she set up a tent in the dark while camping, only to wake up the next day to honking. She had tears in her eyes laughing so hard recalling how they had set up camp in the middle of the road. "I wondered why it was so hard driving those stakes in!" she said through roaring laughter.

We have pictures everywhere of our family in our home. The biggest issue I have with that isn't the amount of pictures we have, but of how we have them displayed. Our shelves are covered with different sized black frames from our 16 years together. We have one wall that cannot seem to get anything attached to it other than my two guitars. Meaning, we've hung a large poster photograph, and it fell. We attempted to rub one of those stencil things, and it wouldn't stick. I searched for a framed art piece that I could hang, yet nothing was "the one".

Then I came up with an idea. If I could create a centerpiece that represented us, we could hang the photos all around it! Here's what I did:

I bought a canvas, Mars Black acrylic paint, some scrapbooking paper, dragged out my unopened bottle of glossy Mod Podge, my husband's adhesive spray, and my old paintbrushes from art class. The rock is merely to keep the papers from blowing away.

I had my three year old son help me paint the canvas black using the sponge brush. We then let it dry overnight on his hopscotch court.

The next day, we went to my friend Jessica's house so we could use her Sillhouette Machine. Have you seen these things? They are AMAZING! I'm still gushing over it! We picked out the font, and sent each scrapbook paper through to cut out a different letter on each paper.

I then sprayed my fingers the letters with the (removable) adhesive and placed them accordingly. I let it dry overnight (although, it could've been done sooner). Note to future self: Spray, let it dry a bit, spray again, and make sure all letters stay FLAT before applying Mod Podge. Or use vinyl (sticky paper) instead.

Cue the Mod Podge.

I again used the sponge brush and did left to right motions. I also made sure to get the sides of the canvas. It goes on white, but dries clear and shiny (unless you're using the matte version). After a few hours of drying, I added a second coat. It turned out FANTASTIC!

Now, where can I find a Sillhouette machine? 

I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics' Monday Made It. Check it out here:

And Teacher's Take-Out here:

Nature Inspirations

This year I have an amazing group of students. For the most part, they are well behaved, helpful, self-motivated, kind to each other, and respectful to all. I feel very lucky to be teaching such a great group of kids. When behavior isn't an issue, it's AMAZING what you can accomplish! I don't feel like a broken record and I feel more calm. I have been re-energized and reminded why I wanted to be a teacher in the first place. Such a nice feeling.

With this group of kids, I'm finding myself wanting to incorporate more fun activities and lessons. It seems natural, right? You behave well, you get rewarded. You complete your work, you get rewarded. You're kind to others, you get rewarded. So why not have a fun little art project combined with the beauty of autumn's nature?

I gave each kids a piece of large yellow construction paper. We did a step-by-step drawing of a turkey body. We colored it, then went outside and collected the most beautifully colored leaves and used them to make the tail! So simple, and so adorable!

Kitten's First Full Moon

Last week my students read the story, "Kitten's First Full Moon" in their anthologies. What a CUTE story! The kitten sees the moon and thinks it's a bowl of milk. He tries again and again to get the bowl of milk to no avail. But in the end, there is a nice bowl of milk waiting for him at home.

Since my school is a magnet school for art, math, science, and technology, I decided to incorporate the science and art portion into the lesson. In our Treasures anthologies and leveled readers, the topic is space. We talked about the moon and read about some astronauts (as well as astronaut food). We talked about how when the moon is with us, the sun is on the other side of Earth. We talked about the different shapes of the moon (a little bit of math there) and what we can/can't do at night.

I gave each student a scratch board. Now, if you aren't familiar with these, they are AMAZING. I've been using them for years and even entered a few pieces in the county fair growing up. Basically, it looks like a giant scratcher lotto ticket. But when you scratch, there is color underneath. I've used some that are white or silver underneath. This particular packet was multicolored.

Since the package only came with six scratch pencils, I improvised and used popsicle sticks. This worked well. It took a little bit for the kids to get used to it. So we started with drawing the moon first.  We then made a cityscape. Here is one student's rendition:

Since we took a field trip to San Francisco a few months back, my students were excited when I mentioned we would also draw a bridge. Many of them said they were drawing the Golden Gate as they reminisced driving over it in the bus:

Overall, it was a fun lesson and the kids were engaged and excited. I still have a package of scratchboard left and can't wait to plan our next lesson using them!

Harvest of the Month

My school is participating in the "Harvest of the Month". Basically, the district sends us a fruit or vegetable that is in season each month. We also receive information about the farm that sent it to us. Today was the first month. We received enough mandarin oranges for each student to have one. We ate them at snack.

I told the kids when they peeled it, to feel it, smell it, and then slowly taste it...because we'd be writing about it. What I didn't tell them, was how we would be writing about it.

When the students got back in, they each got their iPad. I had them open up the "Drawing Pad" app. They each then drew the mandarin orange they had eaten, along with a slice of it. I had them include the white part too! After that, we described the orange by the way it looked, felt, smelled, and tasted. I had them write that on their iPad too. They LOVED it!!!

Technology Linky (MY FIRST LINKY!!!)

My school is a magnet school for art, math, science, and technology. I have fully thrown myself into the technology aspect. Being on the laptop and the iPad the school loaned me are both a hobby and now a passion. I'm truly enjoying creating, writing, and sharing.

One of the things I was able to do was create quality board math on the Promethean Board with ActivInspire. To read the blog post, click here. To download it for free, click here.

So I'm hoping that more of you are interested in sharing too! Link up with me!

Rules: 
Your link must be technology related. It could be a story about how you used some form of technology, an anecdote, a link to a technology freebie in your store, or a link to a technology giveaway you are hosting. I'm hoping to read lots of great stories and get some good ideas.

Don't forget to stop by my stores this Monday for some great deals! I'm also hosting a Christmas clip art giveaway on Teacher's Notebook.