Let's Get Acquainted AND Tried It Tuesday!!

I'm linking up with Latoya from Flying Into First Grade for her weekly "Let's Get Acquainted" linky party! This week's topic... Stranded on an island- What three things would you have with you? Fun!! If I were stranded on Key West, I'd be a happy camper... not sure about being stranded anywhere else though. Gilligan's Island didn't look too terrible!=)

First up is my family. I couldn't live without them! 

Next is a fishing pole. I'd rather fish for food than hunt for it. 

Finally, I'd need some sunscreen. Although I do tan pretty well, I also burn really easily if I don't use some kind of protection. 

Make sure you check out Flying Into First Grade's linky to see what other bloggers would bring with them! 

I'm also linking up with our friend Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper for her "Tried It Tuesday" linky! 

So, it's no secret {at least in my house} that I'm NOT the greatest cook. I really don't enjoy cooking, at all. Unfortunately, my husband works a lot of nights so I'm left to cook for Makenzie and myself a LOT. Ugh... what's a girl to do? Fortunately, I have a Pinterest board with LOTS of different yummy recipes!! Here are two of my favorites that I've "tried" a whole bunch of times. They're both super easy, and even not so gifted chefs, such as myself can easily make them!! =) 

click the pic to find the recipe

These ham and cheese sliders are TO DIE FOR!! I made them the other night {for the millionth time}, and I had a few leftover, so I'm going to reheat them for dinner tonight! I LOVE the poppy seed- mustard sauce that's drizzled over the top, and the melted Swiss cheese inside is soooooo stringy and yummy!! This recipe calls for 24 white dinner rolls, but for a family of three it's a bit much, so we just buy 8 potato rolls {hamburger buns}, use less ham, and less Swiss cheese, and it works just as great. I also don't use miracle whip... I just stick to plain mayonnaise. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this recipe!!  You have to check out this super cute food blog {The Girl Who Ate Everything} while you're looking at this recipe too... she has SOOOOOO many delicious recipes!! 

click the pic to find the recipe

My next awesome Pinterest find is this chicken, broccoli, cheese, and stuffing foil-pack dinner.  You wrap all of the ingredients up in a tin foil packet and bake! That's it!! It's super easy to make and even easier to clean up! I follow the exact recipe and it's delicious!! Makenzie even eats it, and she's wicked picky! I have to go food shopping tomorrow, so this stuff is definitely on my list of things to buy!! 

Not too much teachery stuff going on in this post, but everyone needs a teacher break now and then. Make sure you link up with Holly and Latoya!! 

Tried It Tuesday!

I'm linking up with our awesome friend, Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper for her weekly linky party, Tried It Tuesday. This week I'm going to share something I tried with my four year old daughter, Makenzie. She really really loves it!



A few weeks ago I laying on the couch pinning away {I do that when I'm bored} when I came across this pin about sight word songs. I was pretty interested since Makenzie just started working on sight words in her pre-k class and at home for homework.  What I found were these pretty cool sight word videos on YouTube created by Have Fun Teaching. These videos teach the word by showing the word, repeating it, spelling it, using it in context, and then typing the word on a keyboard. I really like the repetition, and the tunes are pretty catchy too! There are only 18 sight word videos, but Have Fun Teaching also has letters and sound videos, counting songs, and other songs appropriate for kinders. These videos would be great for any beginning reader. Makenzie has about 10/18 words down and she's excited for more! Check it out!!



Make sure you link up with Fourth Grade Flipper and share something that you've tried!

Tried it Tuesday and a little freebie!!

Our friend, Holly is hosting her first ever linky party called Tried It Tuesday! I love this idea, since I like trying new things... some are successful and some are not. =)
Back in the beginning of the school year, probably around the end of September, I came across this pin and traced it back to the original post written by Amy from What Happens In First Grade.  She explained that she uses mystery walker as a way to manage her class in the hallway. I LOVED the idea since I have some kiddos that have trouble controlling themselves once we leave our classroom.  You can find her original post about how she uses mystery walker by clicking on the picture below. 

I tried doing this idea a few different ways. First I tried remembering my mystery walkers. After three days I couldn't remember who I had and hadn't picked. Duh... sometimes I can't even remember what I wore two days ago. I can't believe I tried remembering.  Then I tried this by printing off a roster and crossing off kids as I picked them. This worked, but I'd forget to pick a kid, and then cross it off. Or I'd forget that I needed a new roster etc...  Finally, I had my hubby make a sheet of numbers inside circles {green, pink, and zebra print, of course!} and I cut them out, laminated them, and placed them in a cup labeled "mystery walker- not picked". Once I secretly picked the two walkers for the day, I'd place their numbers into a cup labeled "mystery walker- picked".  My rule for mystery walker is that I pick two kids {they each have a number} and I monitor how they walk in the hallway {to lunch, to specials, to recess, during a fire drill etc...}. At the end of the day, my students remind me to tell the class who the mystery walker was... If they did a great job, they move their clip up on my clip chart. If they didn't do a good job, I explain that the mystery walker had a hard time {staying quiet, keeping his hands to himself, walking, etc...}. That person's number stays in the "mystery walker -picked" cup until the next time around.  I don't say who the mystery walker was when they didn't do a good job because I don't want them to realize that since their number is in the "picked" cup that they won't be picked for a while, and therefor mess around in hallway. I LOVE the mystery behind it!! 

For the most part, this works like a charm. We're always getting compliments about our hallway behavior. I still have a few kids who are either completely clueless about how they walk in the hallway, or they could careless about moving their clip up on the chart. If you're having trouble in the hallway, I highly recommend this method!! =)  

Here are the numbers my hubby made. Click on the numbers to find this freebie in our TPT store! 

Happy Tuesday!! I love blogging during the middle of the day!! I could seriously be on Spring break FOREVER!! =) 

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