St. Patrick's Day Classroom Fun

    It's almost that time of year where my lesson plans will begin to incorporate something green in them. This year I am toying with the idea of having my preschoolers construct St. Patrick's Day wands as their fine motor/ art supplement. I'd really like to be able add in a day where we make shamrock suncatchers from tissue paper as well. They are super fun to make and look great hung by the window when the sun filters in. P likes to help me plan so I'm hoping to spend some time this Saturday evening making my first round with her. 

Hello, Cheyenne!

Meet the newest addition to our family, our 1999 Coleman pop up camper!

She needs some minor cosmetic work but other than that, she's in tip top shape! We've spent the last year searching for a pop up that would be a starter camper for us and low and behold, Mr. Pixie found a deal we couldn't turn down. For an initial investment of $1500, we decided that Cheyenne and her solid bones would be our spring fixer upper project. P was ecstatic to come home and find Cheyenne in the driveway, and secretly, I'm thinking our neighbors were, too. 

Halloween Class Party Favors

I came across this printable in my archives when I transferred all of my files from my Surface Pro to my Macbook and unfortunately do not recall to whom to give credit to for their graphics..

    We are so ready for Halloween in this household albeit it's going to be a bit different this year due to the pandemic. I wanted to give my students something different than a bag of candy so in digging through my files, I came across this idea for a party favor. The fangs are from The Dollar Tree as well as the bakers twine. In addition to a socially distanced Trick-or-Treat, we have planned to have a dance party which includes teaching the students the "zombie dance" from Thriller and taking a video of them performing in their costumes to send to their grownups. 

Recycled Bird Feeders

    P and I are trying to get outside as much as possible as the weather has warmed up quite a bit. Today we decided to try our hands at making bird feeders from goods we had on hand. I snagged a bag of bird seed on sale last week and decided to rummage through my stash for empty TP tubes and some ribbon to get this project going. P had a blast coating each of the tubs with peanut butter and then rolling them in the bird seed. I tied each ribbon off for her and she chose the branches of her choice to hang them through the backyard.

Let's Make Banana Bread!

    I love good homemade bread and add a dessert element into it and I'm happier than a seagull with a French fry. My love for bread is far surpassed by my ability to bake it though. About 10 years ago, I stumbled on The Cake Mix Doctor and I've been hooked on her recipe for banana bread ever since. We had some ripe bananas on hand and as it was a bit chilly today, P and decided to take a stab at making a loaf together. 

    This kiddo loves helping out in the kitchen. For this recipe, she started her "job" by peeling the bananas and mashing them up in the Kitchenaid. 

Next she cracked the eggs (donated by a local farm family!) one by one over the edge of the mixer bowl and we measured out the rest of the ingredients for her to dump in. Plot twist: We added CHOCOLATE CHIPS. 

We got this bad boy in the oven and impatiently waited for the timer to signal that it was done. My house smelled flipping amazing!

Gardening

    I received some freshly uprooted sedum (succulents, ya'll) from my next door neighbor and I've been waiting for a moment to be able to get them in the ground. P and I decided to take our science time outside today before the rain kicked in and had a go at getting them planted.

    I'll preface this with the fact that I have an aversion to animals without legs. They creep me out. Jellyfish, snakes, and even worms. When I was digging and turning soil, P was searching for the little creeps and some "roly polies" in the soil and demanding that I stop digging long enough for her to grab a few out.

    We were able to transplant the bushel of sedum into their my home all but not before P started, screaming that something bit her. There was no bite, but there was a trail of what appeared to be a wet brownish goo. Turns out, the creepy crawlies poop, too