Five For Friday: Shrimp Tacos, Tablets, Sidewalk Chalk, and an App Review

After sitting outside for a one-person happy hour, I decided it was time to come in and share all the fun we were having this week.

1. Shrimp Tacos with Chipotle Lime Mayo
recipe adapted from Food Network

Shrimp marinade
1 lb shrimp
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
pinch of cayenne pepper
juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp triple sec
1 tbsp EVOO
Kosher salt
black pepper

Peel and devein shrimp, toss in marinade and let sit for about 10 minutes.  Grill or pan sear shrimp for about 3 or 4 minutes on each side, until shrimp are opaque.  Reserve in a covered bowl if not using immediately.

Chipotle Lime Mayo
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
juice of 1 lime
1 tbsp honey
1 chipotle pepper, finely chopped
1 tsp (plus more to taste) chipotle in adobo sauce
Kosher salt

Tacos
Whatever garnishes you like!

According to my husband, these were the best tacos he's ever had.  But he says that about a lot of things I make... the mayo was so good I'm going to use the leftover as a dip for french fries! This was a great quick meal for a weeknight.

 2. Research with Google Tablets- Our district bought two carts of Google Tablets, and my 8th graders have a research report to do.  I don't have computers in my room, and it's hard to get into the lab when there isn't a class going on.  So, tablets + newly discovered subscription to Ebscohost (yay!!) = happy teacher.

3.  Working with adverbs.  I am pretty sure I explained before that my 8th graders are lacking many basic foundational grammar skills.  We did common and proper nouns last week, and I actually gave them the exact same test I gave my second graders. This week we worked on adverbs as our problem of the day, and some kids picked it right up, but adverbs can be tricky! This is a great website if your students need some extra practice.

 4. Prefixes! In other grammar news, my second graders worked on prefixes.  We did Brainpop, we did interactive whiteboard games, we made flap books...we worked really hard!  So today I borrowed some sidewalk chalk from my always prepared friend Halle, since my sidewalk chalk was in my car...exactly where it should be, right?  Anyway, we went outside and studied for our test like this:

Me: "Give me a word that means not happy!"
Them: "Unhappy!"
And they would race to write it.
Simple and fun and planned while we were walking down the hallway.  Now that's my kind of lesson. Don't tell my principal.

We had free "chalk talk" time after and one of my buddies made me "re-man!"

 5. Kid-Tested, Teacher-Approved.  We used the free app Bluster (by McGraw Hill) all week, and I am giving it an A+ rating!  Here you can see it in action- my students begged to play it again and again! It comes with matching rhyming words, synonyms and prefixes.

You start on Level 2 for some reason, and the words are good for 2nd grade and up.  My students liked it because they figured out they could "beat the clock" to get a better score.  We didn't learn all the prefixes they have in the app, but that was ok because it was teaching them word recognition- two of my students were great at it, but one really struggled.  That helped me to see where his problems are in quick reading.  If you don't have it yet, I suggest you download it!

Do you use iPads or tablets in your classroom? What apps do you use?

Monday Made-It May 2013

It's time for Monday Made-it with Tara!

Food

1. Mongolian Beef

adapted from www.dukanitout.com 

Ingredients:

11/4 lb sirloin steak, cut in 1/4 inch strips against the grain

1 tsp fresh ginger, minced

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup water, divided

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp cornstarch

2 scallions, chopped

red pepper to taste

Spray a pan with cooking spray.  On medium high heat, add the garlic and ginger, after 30 seconds add the soy sauce and water. Swirl around pan, add brown sugar.  Cook over medium high heat for 3 minutes, then on low heat until sauce has thickened a little.  Remove to a separate bowl.  While sauce is thickening, shake meat and cornstarch in plastic bag- let set on counter for 5 minutes.  In same pan as sauce, set heat to medium high and brown meat on all sides- if it sticks, it's ok!  Add 1/4 cup of water to meat in pan, let bubble and reduce.  Add soy sauce mixture, toss with meat and scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of pan.  Add scallions and red pepper flakes, serve.  

2. Creme Brulee

We used Ina's recipe...check it out here!  The brulee was an experiment in and of itself.  It was delicious, but each pot took about 5 minutes to brulee and it's definitely supposed to be faster.  We found out later that we were putting gas in the torch the wrong way, so we will have to try it again sometime.  Poor us!

Classroom

State testing was a few weeks ago, and I needed something unique and fun, so I made these: 

Home

A few weeks ago we went to Florida for the weekend, and I wanted a cross-body bag to travel with.  So last-minute me went to Marshall's the night before our flight.

Oh yeah, I did that.  I was so proud of myself I wore that bag for two weeks after our trip just to show it off!

What have you made recently? Link up with Tara!

Teaching How-To Writing, Part 2!

Crunch, yum, munch! Last week I taught my students the magic of using onomatopoeia and the 5 Senses to spice up their how-to writing about Oreos.

We started with a lesson inspired by Collaboration Cuties; read this poem (below) projected on my whiteboard, then read Honey Honey Lion, which I followed up with Click Clack Moo and Tap Tap Bang Bang. While the students were listening, I had them record onomatopoeia they heard on their recording sheet which you can find here for free!

Next, we used a 5 Senses Graphic Organizer to record adjectives about our Oreo.  I handed out one Oreo to each student, and they were under strict orders not to eat it until they had at least 5 adjectives for looks, smells, sounds, and feels.  I had a couple of icing-swipers, though.  Sneaky, sneaky.  Finally, after the suspense was over, I gave them new Oreos (to be sanitary) and they got to eat those.  It helped to display a list of common adjectives on the projector to give them a starting point- they came up with their own after seeing a few basic ones.  

The next day, all of my students got another Oreo.  I projected my graphic organizer on the board, modeled how to eat my Oreo, think about what I just did, and then write it down, step by step.  Well, that was harder than I thought it would be! I had to talk and eat and write at the same time...not easy. I ended up dropping my Oreo on the floor halfway through, causing my students to erupt with laughter and the next-door teacher to come and see what the problem was! They thought it was so funny, that in at least two of my students' essays it says, "Last, don't drop it on the floor like Mrs. M-C did."

We talked about how, just like our last How-To writing, we need to pretend that our alien friend has never seen Oreos before.  What can we do to make sure that we are making it perfectly easy and clear for him to understand?  My students really take that to heart and are desperate to make the alien understand.

The fourth day, we started our first drafts.  We used an outline from my How to Eat an Oreo Unit to lay out our paragraphs, then flipped back to our steps, materials, and adjectives to fill it all in.

 You can find my entire lesson plan, plus an original poem (different from the one above), a model essay, and the graphic organizers I used in the unit.

When it came time to edit, I taught a (very) mini-lesson on a strategy my teaching partner taught her students, that I think is a fabulous idea.  I only wish I had learned it earlier in the year!  

I made a clean model and a model with number edits-
here's a student checking to see where my number edits should go.

Some of my students had some anxiety when they saw that it was going to be 5 paragraphs, as they are used to writing 2-3 paragraphs tops.  However, presenting it to them in a format they could easily follow, with all their information pulled from organizers they had already written made it much easier for some of my more reluctant writers.

Here are some finished products, and our bulletin board.  My students really enjoyed learning how to "how-to write" and I know they are better writers and more strategic thinkers because of it.

Do you "How-To?" What kind of process writing do you teach in your classes? How do you teach editing?

Teachers Appreciating Teachers!

So, in case you haven't heard...

Thanks, Graphics From the Pond!

 My store will be on sale for 20% off, plus TPT's 10% off which = 28%.

Here's a peek at my wishlist: 

What's on your wishlist? Happy shopping!

Reaching English Language Learners in the Mainstream Classroom: Guest Post!

Hello and Happy Friday! State testing is over and I am off to the Caribbean!

Sadly, that's not true.  Happily, what I am doing is guest posting over at the fabulously terrific Rachel Lynette's blog, Minds in Bloom. 

I'll be talking about how my mainstream classroom teacher friends can reach out to their ESL students.  Hop on over and see if there's something that can help you!

Also, don't forget to go here and help me pick a name for my "Word Family" game.  We played it yesterday and I said to my kids, while holding up the bag, "Hey guys, want to play this game?" It needs a name. Desperately.  All (school appropriate) entries are valid, and there are some good ones!

Have a great weekend!

Word Family Warm-Up Game and a Challenge

This game I'm about to show is a classroom favorite, but it came about from faculty room discards!  I was re-organizing my games and activities mid-year and just put it together one day.

1. Each student gets 4 or 5 letter dice, depending on how many students are playing.  Then I pick an ending from the deck. 

Excuse the glasses...sometimes we get goofy.

2. Students (and teachers who like to play games) can only use one side of their letter dice to make a word.  You can't have two of the same words.  The cool part about this is if you get stuck on a letter you already had, you can go back to a dice you already used and try and change it- I love teaching strategy!

3. After students have written their word lists, they tally their scores and compare to the group.  We have a running competition in my class!

4.  I have the students choose 2 words to write sentences for at the bottom of their papers, then we share them out loud.

5. This is a great ELL game because they are constantly saying the words out loud to see if they make sense, and I have a rule that they can't ask me until they try to use it in a sentence.  It's great for pronunciation practice, spelling, and handwriting practice.  

So here's my challenge: Word Family Warm-Up Game is not exactly a student friendly name.  Can you think of a better one?  I'll give you until Friday, and I'll let my 2nd graders vote on what name they would like.  Winner gets to pick any item in my TPT store!  Make sure to leave your email, and good luck!

**Update** My students liked Michelle's Battle of the Words the best! Congrats Michelle!

Teacher Talk Tuesday

Well, I jumped on the instagram bandwagon! A bunch of really cool, (cooler than me) bloggers were talking about this thing called "Teacher Talk Tuesday" and I didn't want to be left out!

So I joined Instagram.  Now, what to do with it? There are all these buttons at the bottom...I should probably ask my four year old nephew.  He's better at iPads and technology than all of us, put together!

Anyway, if you'd like to, you can follow me at everyonedeservestolearn.  Now to go figure it out! Any tips?

Enjoy the rest of your week!