A day in the life of...

A Summer Enrichment Teacher....

 

 

Hit the snooze button about ten times because it's summer and you really aren't ready to get up yet.  Finally, decide to get out of bed, inhale some coffee, shower, dress, and head out the door, and don't forget a quick bite to eat.  Arrive at school at 8:30 and start prepping for the day.  Supplies:  paint, glitter, stamps, booklets, books, music.  Kids arrive at 8:50ish.   I  read an African folktale, explan the stations and we get to work.  Stations until 11:45 then lunch.  Kids dismiss at 12:15.  Super quick day but tons of fun is being had.   Our focus this year is on the Fine Arts.  Last week I left with glitter all over me, today I am dappled in black paint from adinkra prints. 

 

Summer school is a totally different experience.  It is mostly centers based.  The students lead most of the groups.  It is multi-age (rising 3rd and 4th graders for me).  And my favorite---ALOT of ART!  It has required more planning than I had expected, however we are creating every day.  The fun part is I get to make samples for them so I am making art too. 

 

I am enjoying the experience despite wearing glitter and paint on a regular basis.  I look forward to bringing some of these ideas back into my classroom next year.  I am learning more about the Fine Arts and I am getting to create some art.  What a great way to spend some of my time this summer.  Oh, and the extra money isn't bad either...

Care Packages

What do these ingredients have in common?

The hubby is off again to do work ups for the upcoming deployment. I always miss him when he is gone, and I like to send a litle bit of me with him. Lately...I have been slacking. So this time, I set out with ideas in mind of what I wanted to make. Chocloate chip cookies and banana bread. My darling replied, "Could you make something a little healthier?" I was miffed. If you live on a military base, you know the commissary is closed certain days of the week. I had the ingredients for what I had planned but not what was requested. I called on a friend for a recipe for granola bars to make this treat healthier. Alas, I did not have those ingredients either. I could go out in town to get what I needed...but I was running out of time. I tried a search with the main things I wanted to include: pecans, coconut, chocolate chips....Bingo...

I have never used this site before for recipes. I was a little nervous about how they would come out. But as you will see, they are beautiful. I found the recipe on this site:

http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/334/Buffalo_Chip_Cookies37454.shtml

Buffalo Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 cup shortening (solid not oil)

1 box (1 lb) brown sugar (I used 2 cups)

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups oatmeal (I used quick oats)

6 ounces chocolate chips

1 cup pecans

2 cups Rice Krispies

1 cup coconut (I used a 7oz package)

Directions:
In a BIG bowl cream together (not joking this makes a huge batch): butter, shortening, brown sugar, sugar, eggs and vanilla. In a seperate bowl sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Add oatmeal, chocolate chips, pecans, Rice Krispies and coconut. Using a 1/4 cup measurer or an ice cream scoop, put on a cookie sheet, 6 to a pan.

Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Let them cool 5 minutes before removing from sheet to a wire rack.

If you are using a dark pan, lower the temp to 325 degrees and watch them closely. This recipe from CDKitchen for Buffalo Chip Cookies serves/makes 30 cookies. (I was able to get 49 cookies out of this batch)

YUM YUM! They were a hit with hubby and rumor has it his buddies like them too.

In Absentia....

So, I have been REALLY BAD about updating my blog. I will attribute this to school. Since the summer of last year...yes I said LAST year...I have been just a little busy.

In the fall I took 22 credit hours. I kinda ran out of time for blogging and well...life. In the spring I started student teaching. I graduated last May with departmental honors and cum laude. I am now officially a teacher. Albeit an unemployed one. Seems the economy has even effected education. How terribly sad! Oh and we moved! We received our orders in November of last year. We are now stationed back at Camp Lejeune, NC. More updates will be forthcoming, including pictures.

MIA - But I'm BACK!

I know I have been MIA for a little while, but it's been a little hectic around here. I finally finished summer classes! YEAH! AND I passed Spanish. While that may not be a big deal to many of you, for me, it was HUGE! See, Spanish and I have this love hate relationship. I would LOVE to learn the language, but, I HATE conjugations. Or at least my memory does. I can read a paragraph and sound like I know what I am saying, I can translate a good bit, but if I have to write it out, boy am I in trouble. Needless to say, I am FINISHED with languages. All that is left are Methods classes, and student teaching in the spring. Boy am I excited! WOOHOO!

In other news...Both of my darlings had birthdays in July. Tori turned 9 on the 23rd and Cale turned 10 on the 17th. Tomorrow we are celebrating with a party at the pool. Needless to say, I am up late, finishing up baking the cupcakes. I will turn in shortly so I can get up to frost them in the morning. YIKES! It's gonna be a long day tomorrow. But, so worth it. We haven't had a birthday party for the kids in 3 years. We've gone out to dinner, celebrated at home, but no friends over. Moving with the military makes that a little difficult. Especially when their birthdays are in the summer and you don't know very many people. This year, we are expecting between 18 friends and their families. Another YIKES! And also why we are having it at the pool. I don't have to worry about all the kids running in and out of the house. I'll post pictures tomorrow!

Oh, swimming has been AWESOME! I'll post about that tomorrow too! I have some great pictures and a little bragging to do on my kiddos!

Have a great Saturday!

WWWAT

I have decided to participate in this weeks Wordless Wednesday. This is my first attempt, and I am a little later than I planned because I am in school all day. So here goes. This weeks theme is Summer days/July. Check out the other entries here Rachel . July is a very busy month for us, check it out!

July is one of our favorite months. Being that my husband is in the military, we tend to be very patriotic. The fourth of July is one of our favorite holidays! No pictures of fireworks this year, but I did get the flag, where else, but at the pool.

Another favorite thing is the flowers in full bloom. Notice the red, white, and blue pansies? The smell is wonderful as you walk up our front steps.

July is known for its scorching days, last Saturday was one of those as we visited the NC state capital! A great water fountain to we the whistle.

Another favorite thing to do is water fights! It's pretty funny to watch my husband run from my little girl!

A huge part of our summer and July in particular is swimming. Both of my children are on the swim team as well as my good friends children. We practice 3 -4 times a week and have meets twice a week in July!

And you can't go to the pool without the essential supplies......

Don't forget, we celebrate 5 birthdays in the month of July! This is the cake I made for my friend! She's really 40, but you would never know it.

Both my children have birthdays in July as well. We celebrated Cale's tonight. Tori's is in 7 days, my friends daughters birthday in 11 days. Plus another close friend we celebrate with in July too! Whew! I am broke in July! And you thought Christmas was bad!



I hope your July is as fun as ours! Have a great summer!