Coloring Pasta- made easy!

This is an activity that I'm doing with my kids at home, and thought I'd share with my students as well! My oldest son just graduated Pre-K and my twins are 3 years old. In other words, they all need something to keep their interest!

Science- making solutions/ color creations
Skill- patterns/ sorting/ hand-eye coordination
Pinterest link- {HERE} 

What you need:

 Pasta (1 cup per bag)

rubbing alcohol (2 tbs per bag)

food coloring (3-4 drops per bag)

sandwich bags (1 bag per color)

measuring cup/ spoon

cookie sheet to dry pasta

Step 1- Mix 2tbs rubbing alcohol and food coloring in a baggie. 

My daughter chose pink. (red food coloring)

Step 2- Add 1 cup of pasta into the baggie and shake the baggie to coat all the pasta. 

My son noticed that he got green pasta when he really wanted blue. Well, yellow pasta and blue food coloring make green! Next time, we'll add more blue coloring and see if that helps. 

Step 3- Spread the pasta on a cookie sheet to dry.  

It needs at least an hour to dry, but the blog I used said she let it dry overnight. I let it dry during lunch and nap time. 

After they all dried, I put it all into baggies. You can use this pasta in art projects, making jewelry (like in our Kwanza celebration), sorting activities, making patterns, practicing math facts... anything! Just don't eat it!!

I miss you all and I hope you're enjoying your summer! Keep checking the blog, you never know what you're going to find!

Celebrity Story Saturday- Let's Go Visiting!

Welcome to the Summer Club, Mrs. Cox!

Mrs. Cox is newly married, you might remember her from {THIS} post when she was still Ms. Rader. (my partner in surgery!)
I was lucky enough this year to have the room right next to Mrs. Cox and I loved being able to pick her brain whenever I needed some fresh ideas. She was also kind enough to be a time-out room for students with too much energy. :)

We are staring the summer off right with a short-but-sweet story called Let's Go Visiting! Summer is all about going to see people and things that you wouldn't get to normally see during the school year.

Thank you, Mrs. Cox for helping us start our summer!

Click {HERE} to hear the story or watch it below!

Our compliments to the Chef!

During Teacher Appreciation week, our school's cafeteria staff treated the teachers to a complimentary BBQ lunch. It was de-lish!

Well, today was our report cards day, but it was also our annual lunch for our cafeteria and custodial staff! All the food was prepared by Mrs. Green, our librarian, and all-around amazing teammate!

So, what did Mrs. Green prepare, you might ask? Homemade EVERYTHING!

BBQ chicken with 2 homemade sauces

Greens with ham

Chocolate cobbler with vanilla ice cream

If you've ever attended a Pampered Chef party, you've had this dessert. It's made with a box cake mix and icing, but cooked in the microwave for 10 min! It's the power of the pot.

Mrs. Green also prepared cornbread, rice, and potato salad, but I didn't get pictures. Ms. Payton helped with set-up and I helped serve dessert. (but let's be honest, I just wanted to be close to the chocolate cobbler)

 Our cafeteria staff, Mr. Williams, our Principals, and Mrs. Green

I had to get a close-up of Mr. Williams. He's our head custodian, and he rules the school! When we had a daycare at the school and my 3 attended, they L.O.V.E.D Mr. Williams. Especially my little girl. :)

Awesome job, Mrs. Green!
And a BIG shout-out to our unsung heroes of the CHES staff! Thank you for making sure out students are fed and can learn in a clean and safe environment!

AND- Thank you to my students that came by to see me today and get your report cards!

This is not all of my students that came today, but most came in the car line and I couldn't get a picture from outside the car. Just know that I miss you all!

Have a great summer, and keep checking back! I have some Celebrity Story Saturdays lined up!

Celebrity Story Saturday 36

The end of the year is finally here, but that doesn't mean we're going to be slacking! There will be Celebrity Story Saturdays throughout the summer, so keep watching!

This week, we have a special treat with Ms. Johnson, who is our school's Social Worker. We share her with 2 other schools (I think) and she is a ball of energy! (She would have to be- going to 3 different schools!) She is a tireless worker for our students, and I know that CHES appreciates all her hard work!

She requested that her story be one that my students are familiar with, so we chose It Looked Like Spilt Milk.

Actually, all my books were packed up, and Ms. Beckett just happened by with a stack of books, and this was on top! But don't tell anyone!

You might remember this book from a previous post that we did back in April. We read the story and my students created their own pictures, then swapped with a partner and wrote about it. You can check out that post (HERE).

Thank you, Ms. Johnson!

Click {HERE} to hear the story, or watch it below!

Day 172- So long! Farewell! Aufwiedersehn! Goodnight!

I want them back! They've only been out of my sight for a few hours, but I miss my Soldiers!

I'm sure they will miss me too, but not until they go through all the stuff I sent home with them. Each of my students are going home with backaches from carrying their heavy backpacks!

 While cleaning out the classroom, I came across some Burger King crowns that I had from years ago. Pop out the paint, give some directions, and off they went!

 The "I am Cool" crown belongs to the Soldier in the striped shirt. I'm glad my students don't have any self-image issues!

 I didn't get a picture of them wearing their crowns, but after lunch most of them wore them the rest of the day.

At 1:00 we had a Student vs. Teacher kickball game. Lots of fun, sunshine, and music! (Thanks, Mr. Burney! He's always the best DJ!)

Here are some pictures of the game. I didn't get these pictures personally, since I was the announcer, so thank you my teacher friends!

 Mr. Cruz- our interpreter

 Mr. Evans got in on the action!

The final score was Teachers- 22, Students- 5!

The one thing you should know about the Hills, our teachers are crazy competitive! They gave the students no slack!

Well, I'm going to miss my Soldiers, but they won't have to miss me! Make sure to check the blog over the summer, I'll keep it up to date! (Not everyday, but at least once or twice a week)

**Check back tomorrow for the next Celebrity Story Saturday!**

Day 171- I could just cry!

The year is almost over! Just one day left, then I set my first graders free for the summer. Words can not express how much I have loved this year. (Absolutely NO sarcasm here!) My students this year have been the best! I'm going to miss then- especially since I am being moved to 3rd grade next year. *tear*

Well today we cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned. My students made out like bandits! I finally got around to giving out the free products I collected at the International Reading Association Conference earlier this month.

These students took home the tote bags.

 There were teachers waiting in line and acting like it was 5am on Black Friday morning just to get this bag! It's cute, but it's not worth losing a toe over!

 This bag reminded my kids of Angry Birds. I'm not sure what it really is.

 Love, love, love Jan Brett! I was unable to get this bag myself, but a fellow teacher (from Texas) had an extra and was willing to share! I love Texas!

 This was actually sent to us from our Junior Achievement representative. But we love it!

This was the tote given to all participants in the Conference. I do love a good tote!

I didn't get the pictures of all the other things given away. There was plenty for all!

As I was going through my room, I came across some random art supplies. So, we made necklaces.

Tomorrow is 5th grade graduation, Kindergarten promotion, and cleaning day for the rest of the school. On the plus side, we have a Student vs. Teacher kickball game tomorrow afternoon! Yours truly will be the MC. I can't wait!

Day 170- It worked!

Our homemade water-color paint worked! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures. While my students were exploring their creative sides, I was working on report cards, quarterly awards, and cleaning the classroom.

My lovely students helped me around the classroom and were rewarded with lots of stuff to take home. This afternoon they got to combine their checks from reading groups and their Cub Cash to buy books and stuff from my class store. It was a frenzy! It also helped to clean out my room. Yea!

So, to make up for my lack of pictures, I have pictures of something my students have to look forward to in just 4 short years... the 5th grade dance!

This year's theme is Shanghai Noon. 

Students will walk down the cobblestone walkway to have their picture made with the dragon.

 The front and back of the dragon.

 Huts on either side of the stage. Cute!

 Cake and refreshment table

plenty of tables

I hope everyone has a great time. 5th grade has worked so hard this year!