Hooray, you've made it to summer vacation!  Summer is an awesome time to keep reading because there are so many fun places you can read.  My favorite is in a hammock in my backyard with a nice, cool glass of lemonade.  Mmmmm!

Here is a summer reading challenge for you.  Do you think you can read in 100 different ways?

Beat the heat and have some fun while making ice cream in a bag!  

Ingredients and Materials:

• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• ice cubes
• 6 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 sandwich sized plastic resealable bags
• 2 gallon sized plastic resealable bags 

Directions:

1. Place the cream, vanilla, and sugar in one of the sandwich bags, pressing out as much air as possible while sealing.  Put this bag inside the other sandwich bag in case of leaks.
2. Fill a gallon sized bag halfway with ice cubes and mix in the salt.
3. Place the sandwich bag in the middle of the ice and seal the gallon size bag.  Double up the bag in case of leaks.
4. Shake the bag for 5-10 minutes.  Have fun with it!  Play catch, Hot Potato, or any other throwing game.  When time is up, you'll have a delicious treat!

We recently learned a little bit about the planets and our solar system, and I thought I'd round up a few fun activities for you to try.  

NASA has a fun website where you can type in your weight and age here on Earth, and then it will calculate how much you would weigh and how old you would be on other planets.  How cool is that?  I wonder which planet we would weigh the most on?

Create your own planet using shaving cream and paint!

Download a free copy of this fun lift-the-flap book to help you remember the order of the planets!  

To download, you must be a member of Teachers Pay Teachers.  It is completely free to join!

Spring has finally sprung!  I hope you all get the chance to enjoy some nicer weather this week.  I would have loved to go the Pirates' home opener today.  Were any of you lucky enough to go?

In case you didn't know, Earth Day is coming up on April 22nd.  Of course, we should take care of our planet every day, not just on Earth Day, but this is a great opportunity to really focus on being good environmental stewards.  Here are some fun activities you can try:

Clean up the park and brush up on your recycling skills by sorting trash in this National Geographic game.

Instead of throwing away those old nubs of crayons, melt them down to make new, multi-colored crayons!

Get the directions HERE.

Use your favorite veggies to create an Earth Day masterpiece!  
Get the recipe HERE.

These books come from PBS Parents' list of Green Reads.

The Lorax 

by Dr. Seuss

The Great Kapok Tree: A Tale of the Amazon Rain Forest

by Lynne Cherry

I Can Save the Earth!: One Little Monster Learns to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

by Allison Inches

The Curious Garden

by Peter Brown

Every year, we have a Read Across America Day, and it is usually on Dr. Seuss's birthday.  Did you know that Dr. Seuss has a super fun website called Seussville?  You can find lots of interesting games, activities, and information about Dr. Seuss and the books he wrote.  Check it out!

The 2014 Winter Olympics will be starting on February 6th and will be held in Sochi, Russia.  I am SO excited to watch them!  I think the winter Olympics have some very interesting sports that I would never get a chance to watch otherwise (like bobsledding, luge, and curling).  And, of course, hockey.  (Did you know that 7 of my Pittsburgh Penguins will be representing their home countries in the Olympics this year?)

There are a ton of free (yay!) activities you can try at home to learn about and celebrate the Olympics.  Here are just a few that I have collected:

Olympic torch treats 

(Make with store-bought cake ice cream cones and Cheetos)

Olympic ring pizza

(You could use whatever toppings you like, but these are bleu cheese, olives, pepperoni, pineapple, and avocado)

Gold medal cookies

(Golden Oreo cookies and Fruit by the Foot)

Paper towel roll Olympic torch

Laurel Leaf crown

I was able to request all of these books from the library for free.  Don't forget to check out the non-fiction section, where you can find many, many books about individual sports and athletes.

G is for Gold Medal

Olympig!

Tacky and the Winter Games

The Winter Olympics

Geronimo Stilton Saves the Olympics (#10)

Magic Tree House: Hour of the Olympics

World Flags Matching Game

Snowboarder XS

Winter Games

Time For Kids
Information about different winter Olympic sports.

Olympics Fun Facts

Winter Olympics Facts
Over 100 pages of printable activities!

Welcome back to school!  I hope you had a fun winter break.  I hope you aren't buried in snow today!

In honor of the snowstorm, I decided to round up a few books about snow that you can read online totally for FREE.

http://www.wegivebooks.org/collections/featured

The snow-themed books they have here are:
The Mitten by Jan Brett
The Hat by Jan Brett
The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
Snowmen at Night by Mark and Caralyn Buehner

One of the crafts I love to make in winter are paper snowflakes.  They are pretty, but boy do they make a mess!  Luckily, I found a cool website where you can make virtual snowflakes.  They're much easier to cut and are mess-free.

http://www.thekidzpage.com/freekidsgames/games/snowflake-maker/

I hope to see you all at our RAMP session on Monday, January 6th at 3:00!

I hope you all enjoy your Fall Break!  What are some things you are thankful for this year?  Here are some things I am very grateful for:

My loving family
My warm, cozy house
Having plenty of delicious food to eat
Being able to teach all of you!

Were you ever curious about the origins of Thanksgiving?  You can take a virtual field trip to Plimoth Plantation by visiting this link:

http://www.plimoth.org/learn/just-kids/thanksgiving-virtual-field-trip

On that website, there are also some links to Pilgrim recipes, coloring pages, and even how to talk like a Pilgrim.  Fun!

Don't forget to come to my RAMP sessions! We've been having lots of fun learning together this year.  We will only have 2 sessions in December:

Wednesday, December 4th, 3:00 (Fractions)

Monday, December 16th, 3:00 (Time Order/Sequence of Events)

I hope to see you there!  (The link is always in my email signature in case you lose it.)

Have you ever heard of a cornucopia?  I'm sure you've seen them, even if you didn't know what they were called.  

A cornucopia is a horn-shaped basket overflowing with autumn fruits and vegetables.  It is a symbol of plenty that we usually see in October and November.  (You can find the dictionary definition here in the Merriam Webster's Learner's Dictionary, which is a fantastic online dictionary for young students.)

You can make your very own cornucopia using plain old sugar cones!  This smart mom figured out how to steam the end of the cone in the microwave to make it curl up.  Just click here for a complete tutorial.  (You'll need a grown-up's help for this!)

http://www.squidoo.com/thanksgiving-crafts-for-kids-and-toddlers

I think these would look cute on a Thanksgiving table!

Do you dress up for Halloween?  I know that some families do not celebrate Halloween, but I think dressing up and visiting our neighbors is a lot of fun!  This year, we dressed up my daughter Eliana as a minion and took her trick-or-treating for the very first time.  Here is a picture!

We've been having a lot of fun in our weekly online RAMP sessions!  I hope you can join us if you haven't already.  My sessions are every Monday at 3:00 pm.

If you missed our session last week, you can view it by clicking on this link: View the Blackboard Collaborate recording


November's Dates and Topics:
Monday, November 4th:  Compare & Contrast
Wednesday, November 13th*:  Graphs
Monday, November 18th:  Main Ideas and Details in Paragraphs


*Rescheduled due to the Veteran's Day In-service

What is your favorite part of fall?  The crisper, cooler weather means that it is now football season, hockey season, and time to get ready for winter.  I think my favorite part of fall, though, is the delicious food!  I have to say that I really like pumpkin flavored treats:  pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin rolls, yum!  Did you know that you can even eat the seeds?  The next time you carve a pumpkin, save those seeds!  Not only are they a yummy, crunchy snack, but they are rich in fiber, too.  Here is a simple recipe from www.food.com for roasted pumpkin seeds.  You can experiment with the seasonings to create your own unique flavors!

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups pumpkin seeds
2 teaspoons melted butter (olive oil or vegetable oil work well) or 2 teaspoons melted oil (olive oil or vegetable oil work well)
salt
garlic powder (optional)
cayenne pepper (optional)
seasoning salt (optional)
cajun seasoning (optional)

Directions
1.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  (Ask an adult for help!)
2.  While it's OK to leave some strings and pulp on your seeds (it adds flavor), clean off any major chunks.
3.  Toss pumpkin seeds in a bowl with the melted butter or oil and seasonings of your choice.
4.  Spread pumpkin seeds in a single layer on baking sheet.
5.  Bake for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.

What says back to school better than a freshly sharpened No. 2 pencil?  Here are some easy tutorials to dress up your new pencils.

Materials needed:
pencils
washi tape (available at craft stores and some big box stores, like Target)

Directions:
Simply wrap the tape around your pencil in whatever pattern you like!

image and idea courtesy of Confetti Sunshine Blog

Materials needed:
pencils
pipe cleaners

Directions:
Shape the pipe cleaners, then wrap the end around your pencil.

image and idea courtesy of Make and Takes