Ice Cream Sandwich Cake

A great friend shared this easy, delicious recipe with me.  All you need are:
     16 unwrapped rectangular ice cream sandwiches
       1 large tub of Cool Whip
       1 large jar of chocolate fudge topping
       Sprinkles, crushed cookies, crushed nuts, or small candies.

In a 9 by 13 baking dish, place 8 ice cream sandwiches.  Cover with half the jar of fudge and half the tub of whipped cream.  Place 8 more ice cream sandwiches on the next layer.   Cover again with the rest of the fudge and whipped cream.  Top with your favorite sprinkles, crushed cookies, nuts, or small candies.  Place in the freezer for at least 2 hours.

You can get creative and use peanut butter ice cream sandwiches, fudge, and crushed nuts.
Another combination might be chocolate ice cream sandwiches, caramel topping, and mini chocolate chips.  Etc.  This cake can also be created for a birthday celebration or holiday. 

One thing is for sure, this recipe is fun to make with kids, does not involve an oven in the summer, and takes less than 10 minutes to make.  This is my kind of recipe!

Visual Schedule

I love having a Visual Schedule in the classroom.  I place it on our calendar board and every morning during our group meeting we go over the schedule for the day.  I place the cards up on the schedule board in front of the students so that they can watch the activity plan of the day unfold. The first column shows the morning activities and the second column shows the afternoon activities.  As we complete an activity in class, I (or a student) will turn the card over so that only the activities we have left to do are showing to the students.  A visual schedule is an amazing resource for students who need to know the routine and structure of the day and it also gives them some comfort in knowing that they can look at the calendar board anytime to see what is coming next. 

Art Curtain

 I found this creative idea in the Family Fun Crafts for Kids spring issue.  All you need to create this art curtain are 12 by 12 inch 3 hole page protectors, scrapbook paper, jumbo round brads, a glue gun, and tape.  I found the page protectors in the scrapbook album area and I made sure I chose the heavy duty clear protectors.  Next, I found coordinating sheets of paper.  I decorate my classroom with lots of green so I chose these as my colors. 

 Next, I found some decorated large brads.  I placed the scrapbook paper into the the protectors and made sure that the openings all faced the top.  I connected the protectors with the brads (see photos) .  The back is a little tricky.  I hot glued the bottom row to the top (see photo below)  Then I slid some of my son's artwork into the sleeves. 

This cute display can be placed with magnets onto a chalkboard, taped to a wall, or you can attach rings to the top and thread the curtain onto a pocket chart or dowel rod.  You can also add more sleeves to make a larger curtain and use any color or decorating theme you want.  The great part about this project is it took 10-15 minutes!!!!  I am planning on using these in my classroom next year for sure!  (This curtain looks a lot cuter than it appears in the photograph.)

The Sunflower Seed

Happy Summer everyone.  I am loving the sunny skies and slower schedule!   A little story about the Sunflower on the left.  Every year we plant Sunflower seeds in our first grade classroom.  I always plant a few extra seeds so that if a seed does not sprout for a student, there will be another one for that student to take home.  Last year, one of the cups had a seed that just did not sprout like the others.  As I was cleaning out the classroom at the end of the year, my son found the cup with the little sprout by the window and he begged to take it home and plant it in the ground.  He did and he took the best care of that little sprout.   That little sprout grew to be the most beautiful flower by the end of the summer and it gave me a strong reminder that with a little care, love, warmth and patience blooming and growth do take place in it's own time. 

Marshmallow Pops

 Happy Summertime!  If you need a fun, creative snack to make with kids this summer Marshmallow Pops are the snack to make.  They are easy, fast, and can be made for any special occasion (I was practicing these for the 4th of July).  First, melt some Almond Bark (Vanilla flavored) in the microwave following the package instructions.  I then placed a large Campfire marshmallow on a skinny stick (see images below) and swirled the marshmallow in the melted coating.  I then sprinkled the freshly coated marshmallow with sugars and sprinkles. Let the marshmallow stick dry on wax paper and in a few short minutes it is ready to enjoy.  You can make just a few or a whole bunch.  I placed mine in a glass jar with blue and white candies to place on the dinner table tonight.   

Monkey Bulletin Boards

I decorated my last year's classroom in a Monkey Theme.  Here is a picture of one of the bulletin boards.  The "Wild Words" consisted of our character words or new vocabulary words throughout the year.  This bulletin board also had our Word Hunt poem to emphasize high frequency words we were currently working on. The second bulletin board was our Welcome board that we displayed in the hall at the beginning of the year.  I will continue to post some pictures of our MONKEY Binders (My Own Notebook Keeps Everything Yearlong) and some other classroom resources as the summer passes.  I am currently trying to decide which theme I want to have this coming school year.  It would be so easy to just stick with the Monkey theme but after having the theme for a year...one starts to go BANANAS!