It's Cold Outside, Let's Cook!

Today, I'm going to share 2 easy recipes you HAVE to try!  

First, My Grandma's Taco Soup. 

My Grandma kind of tricked us (the Grandkids) and told us this was her recipe.  Turned out, years later we found out it was a well known soup recipe.  

If you have made it before, you know it's wonderful on a cold day!  If you haven't...make it tomorrow!!

Next up, is dessert!

Let it be known...I don't like fruit in my dessert. 

This Little Piggy loves chocolate!

But, Mr. Piggy likes fruit pies, cobblers and (yack) fruity cakes.

  If you're married, you know that there are times you have to compromise.

My compromise is Cherry Crumble.

I call it Cherry Crumble, but some people call it Dump Cake (sounds horrible).

You can make it with cherry, blueberry, peach or apple.

It is best served in a shallow dish with an equal portion fruit and crumble.

Don't get me wrong, it's no chocolate cake, but I always get compliments on it. 

In fact, at Mr. Piggy's job, they request it every pot-luck.

What's your favorite crock pot recipe?

I tried to use fonts that look the most like my own handwriting.

They are all My Little Piggy Fonts.

Frames:

This Little Piggy & Mr. Piggy have lunch for tomorrow too!

Author's Purpose, Gift of Reading Blog Hop Stop #16

Welcome to This Little Piggy Reads.  You have arrived at  

At each blog stop, you will be gathering Reading gifts and freebies.  In each post you will find a picture of a snowman with a letter on it. Collect all of the letters, solve the mystery quote and enter the giveaway.  Record all of the letters on your recording sheet and follow each blog along the way so that you can enter the amazing giveaway at the end!

Author's Purpose is a tricky topic for young readers.  As our classrooms integrate more technology, this skill becomes increasingly important.  Mastering Author's Purpose requires students to read critically.  Students will use this topic throughout their educational career when doing research. 

The Holiday Season is the perfect time to teach Author's Purpose!  Adults and kids are inundated with ads.  They are literally everywhere we turn.  Sales flyers for Christmas dinner, commercials for toys, radio ads for store sales, billboards and now we have internet ads.  Be sure to expose your students to a variety of media and books.  

Do you need a PIE anchor chart?  This is the one I used last year.

  

My secret letter is...

If you would like to be the first to know about new post, giveaways, and blog hops follow me on Bloglovin'.

Don't stop now! Hop on over to Book Units Teacher to pick up an amazing reading gift for Upper Elementary!  Happy Holidays! 

If you get lost along the way download the Hop Map here to easily pick back up where you left off! 

Take Me Back Tuesday - Thanksgiving Freebies!

So, we all know Hope King from Second Grade Shenanigans, right?  

She's having a great linky where bloggers feature an old post.  

I was just thinking today that I should re-post last year's Thanksgiving post because I posted it after the Holiday.

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Originally Posted: 11.18.12

I'm Queen of the DEAL and when it comes to teaching, I'm a Friend of the FREEBIE!  I love them.    Our school doesn't give classroom stipends and my husband complains when I spend $$ on my classroom, so the FREEBIE is my BFF!  

Friday we had a 1/2 Day and our afternoon was spent doing Parent-Teacher Conferences.  Now I'm out of school for the week, but if you still have to control wild cats next week, these ideas might help you out (or you could put them in a file for next year).  This was tested and proven...I actually heard "Ughh, I don't want to go home."  Now, my day had to be re-arranged from the "plan" because our copier died this week!!  We're teachers, we have to adjust and be flexible.

When students entered the room, they found a note on their desk. Erica Bohrer's Your Teacher is Thankful for You Certificates.  I printed these at home on colored paper.  

 

Then, I read Turkey Bowl.  

This was a freebie too because I ordered it with my Scholastic Points.  It was an okay read in my opinion.  We live in TX and don't EVER get snow during Thanksgiving so I think it was hard for my students to identify with the story.  My plan was to use Ashley Reed's Story Map from this Freebie.  Of course, I had no copier, so instead we did it orally.  

Then, we worked on Kimberly Santana's Turkey Day Family Project. 

I caught it in her Flash Freebie. Kimberly doesn't know it, but we're virtual Bestie's.  I stalk love her stuff!  I love her blog and would consider going back to 2nd grade so I could use all of her things.  I try to modify them for 3rd grade when I can;) She sent this home for a family project, but my 3rd graders could complete it on their own.  My plan was to replace the Tummy with Things I am Thankful For, but since the copier was out...I didn't change a thing.  My kiddos loved it.  In fact, the other 3rd grade classes were Ooh-ing and Ahh-ing all over them.  

 

My kids went to Specials but before they left, I pulled out these...

and put them on my teacher's table.  I saw these on someone's blog (if it's you, please let me know!).  They were adorable, but I couldn't find candy corn, so instead I used gumdrops & toothpicks.  My kiddos didn't care one bit!  They loved it.  Again, I found a freebie that allowed my students to practice procedural text.  Well, I had to improvise.  

 The outside was our title and illustration.  

On the inside, students listed ingredients when they got their baggie.  

On the right side, students wrote their steps to make their turkey.   At the bottom they included a little note such as "enjoy your snack" or "gobble up your turkey".

I didn't do a step-by-step.  Instead, I used this time to incorporate some problem solving.  I showed a final product and let them have at it.  Everyone was able to re-produce and only 1 turkey crumbled (luckily, I had extras).  

 

 

  My kiddos ate lunch in the classroom and I passed out extras so students could have a snack.  We watched a tumblebook, packed up and went home.  

Saturday's Hodge-Podge Post

This post has a billion things going on...

please excuse the mess in my brain.

I finished My Girl's b-day invite.  I had her make a font and used it to make her invite...what do you think??

Some little kids dream of being a Doctor or the President.  

I dreamed of being a Mommy.  She is my dream come true.  

If you're looking for some freebies, this is a great linky party.  

I hope you find something fun & useful.  

If you're new to blogging and/or TpT this is a great linky to take part in.  It's every Saturday! 

I found an awesome deal on clip art and thought I'd share for my fellow clipart-a-holics. 

If you buy 2 sets, you get 2 sets for FREE!!  

That means for 4 sets of CU (commercial use) clipart for $2.50 each!  Not bad.

  

I rarely talk about my TpT items, but my TpT store is about to turn 1 year old and I just hit over 400 followers.  I thought I'd share my excitement! 

If you have ever purchased something from me, I greatly appreciate it.

There is a bloggie anniversary going on at Whoooo's Ready to Teach?  

I'm helping out.  If you're a lucky duck go enter!!

This Little Piggy is having a Mommy-Daughter Weekend!

Cave Field Trip - Day 1

This week I'm going on 2 field trips.  

Today we took 3 schools to the Austin area to visit a cave. 

 This was a 2 1/2 hour bus trip there and another 2 1/2 hours back.  

Luckily, our ride was pretty good.

I think the kids enjoyed it and I did too (except for a small asthma attack).

Wish me luck for Friday's trip! 

Where is your favorite field trip??

This Little Piggy is sleepy!!

Nov. Currently

It's time for the November Currently.  Go link up.  Go quickly before you're number 300!!

Don't throw the leftover Halloween candy at me, but can we be serious for a minute?  I like Gilmore Girls and I like Parenthood, but is Lauren Graham the same character in both shows?  Single mom who ran off and had kid/s to her parent's disappointment.  Does anyone else see it?

My clipart addiction is getting REALLY BAD, I might need an intervention!  I've spent almost $30 on clipart this month!!! WHOA.  

I actually love going on Field Trips, but I hate the anxiety that comes with the unknown of it.  This week I'm taking 2!!!  I am taking 150+ kiddos to a CAVE!  Am I crazy?

My girl is visiting her grandparents and my grandparents this weekend.  I miss her LIKE crazy!  I got up before 7a.m. this morning worried about her.

I haven't done any Christmas shopping AT ALL!!!!  I hate shopping and I always put it off.  UGH.

My pin is a taco bowl...It looks so good.  I think I'm going to have to make it this week!

This Little Piggy can't wait for smoked turkey and dressing!

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 for Friday

It's been a while since I've posted a 5 for Friday (esp. on a Friday). 

 This week I have a couple of pics to show, but 5 events.

Last week our Department (GT) had Open House.  

It was titled, Through the Lens of a Scholar.  

My students studied the Scholarly Habits and Photography.  

Then, they staged pictures with symbols to represent themselves and the Scholarly Habits.  

My students were busy last week.  

We were studying energy, fossil fuels and alternative energy sources.  

They are also doing it in their Science classes and they "got it".  

We did a PBL to find out where we could put a windmill at our school.  The need.org website was a good resource.

 

This week we accelerated our learning and moved to a 6th Grade concept - Kinetic and Potential Energy.  

I used Rencharee's Roller Coaster Project as a guide/framework.  

My students had to include a "jump", "hill" and "turn".  

Every group worked well together and was successful after a little trial and error! 

 

 

 

My kiddos L-O-V-E Logic Problems.  

This is a pretty cool one that is hands-on.  

Perfect for collaboration & problem solving!

  

We're heading to our cave field trip this upcoming week.  

  They learned a lot about bats and caves.  

They created a cave, bat glyphs, vocabulary terms and QR codes with research findings.  

We put this up for Open House so students could show parents how to use QR Codes and teach their parents about bats.  

This Little Piggy's Girl was a Mermaid for Halloween.