Sunday, July 29, 2012

Macaroni and Cheese


 Greta was in charge of grating the cheese!



 Little girls sneaking the cheese!!!
We still had plenty for the macaroni!



Here is the recipe for the mac and cheese!! The most AMAZING mac and cheese! We had to add more salt and pepper, and Gretchen had the great idea of adding Lemon Pepper!!! Again...AMAZING!
  • 4 cups Dried Macaroni
  • 1 whole Egg Beaten
  • 1/4 cup (1/2 Stick Or 4 Tablespoons) Butter
  • 1/4 cup All-purpose Flour
  • 2-1/2 cups Whole Milk
  • 2 teaspoons (heaping) Dry Mustard, More If Desired
  • 1 pound Cheese, Grated
  • 1/2 teaspoon Salt, More To Taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon Seasoned Salt, More To Taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
  • Optional Spices: Cayenne Pepper, Paprika, Thyme

Preparation Instructions

Cook macaroni until very firm. Macaroni should be too firm to eat right out of the pot. Drain.
In a small bowl, beat egg.
In a large pot, melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Whisk together over medium-low heat. Cook mixture for five minutes, whisking constantly. Don’t let it burn.
Pour in milk, add mustard, and whisk until smooth. Cook for five minutes until very thick. Reduce heat to low.
Take 1/4 cup of the sauce and slowly pour it into beaten egg, whisking constantly to avoid cooking eggs. Whisk together till smooth.
Pour egg mixture into sauce, whisking constantly. Stir until smooth.
Add in cheese and stir to melt.
Add salt and pepper. Taste sauce and add more salt and seasoned salt as needed! DO NOT UNDERSALT.
Pour in drained, cooked macaroni and stir to combine.
Serve immediately (very creamy) or pour into a buttered baking dish, top with extra cheese, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly and golden on top.

-sunshine


Saturday, July 28, 2012

Homemade SLIME!


 Here is the recipe for slime!!
1 1/2 cups of CLEAR glue and 1 3/4 cups of liquid starch. 
The liquid starch we used was the brand STA-FLO, you can find it at your local grocery store with the laundry detergent
You mix it all together, separate the slime into a few small bowls and add food coloring to each bowl.
You only need a few drops of food coloring!!!
The mixture may need to be mixed with your hands for a bit to get the desired texture, depending on the brand of glue you use. We used Elmer's Clear Glue.


This gave the girls something to do for the whole afternoon!
high fiving myself right now!


Friday, July 27, 2012

Teacher Ideas Part 1

Hello! And welcome to "A Little Nebraska Sunshine"
My previous blog "sunshinekb" is still up but I wanted to change my blog to a different name that encompasses who I am! I recently moved back to Nebraska, and I still would love to have friends and family involved in my life-especially those who have had such a big impact on me! This move was really hard, but it was a good move. I have enjoyed this summer being closer to family and I feel like I am not missing as much as when I was in Houston...communions, quilt shows, spontaneous lunches after church with relatives!
I am loving every minute of being home!

SO I thought that it would be fitting to have my first blog be about teaching! Something I am very passionate about! Here are ideas that I found from blogs and things I want to incorporate in my classroom!


I heart this idea! Homework as I have learned in the past, is difficult for students to complete. This year I am going to try and document as much as possible so that when parents call to ask, I will be able to tell them whats going on. This binder puts the students responsible for their actions. Each time they do not complete a homework they have to fill out a paper saying why they did not complete it. That way, at parent teacher conferences I can have the binder available for the parents to see. The students can come up with as many excuses as they can, but in the end it is their responsibility and grade.


I am going to give these to the parents on back to school night!
I have all the leaves cut out and ready, just need the apples!

"An apple for the teacher
is really nothing new,
except when you remember
parents are teachers too."




This is for running records of the students. Use address labels, clipboard (which I covered in zebra duck tape) (well Reenie and Teresa made it for me), and large index cards. While walking around the classroom and observing the students, you can write notes on the labels and stick them to the index cards. Then during parent/teacher conferences just pull out the card and share with the parents!!! Brilliant!



Cell Pals!
Cell phone partners. Each student selects 10 names to put on their speed dial. For example, if Lucia is Taylors sd 3 then Taylor is Lucia's sd 3. So when I call out "3" Lucia and Taylor would be partners. This helps so kids do not feel left out, and everyone would have a partner! I remember learning this in Professor Mumm's class at UNK, and having it on a cell phone is modern for our students!!!



 Happy Birthday with Silly Straws! I have always given pencils, but I wanted to try something a little different this year! ...and at $0.14 a straw its so worth it!



 This is an amazing idea!!! I have decided to give the students a "lottery cards" when they turn in all the homework for the given week. For example, if I assign 4 homework's and they hand in all 4, they will get a ticket. If they hand in 3, they can try again next week for a lottery ticket.


Parent teacher conferences!!! Awesome idea!!!
In love with this idea, and I have already wrote up instructions for the parents! The teacher can send a text to parents about test or project alerts. With this they text the number and get put into a group. The teacher is then able to text the "group" from the website. And no one knows eachothers numbers, It is one easy way that I can be in contact with the parents!



First day of school!
- an eraser – mistakes are opportunities for learning
- Smarties candies – we all have different kinds of “smarts” 
- a pencil – "Because I know that you are sharp!"
- a stick of gum – we are going to stick together as a team
- a Hershey kiss – we have a safe and caring classroom
- candy – we are sweet and respectful towards each other


The idea is from scholastic! Amazing teaching ideas!




All of these ideas, I have taken in and made my own, If you would like a copy of:


The Cell Pals
Apple for the teacher
First day of school note
Happy Birthday notes
Thanks for "popping" in
Lottery ticket outline
Remind101 rubric for the parents


just shoot me an email and I can send you the document! I work for Diet Coke and Dove chocolate!!!


Part 2 coming soon, because there is SO much good stuff out there!!! :o)


-sunshine