1st Grade Activities

 I found this sunglasses writing activity on Pinterest. This is one of 1st graders work, they all loved doing this assignment. When everyone had finished I posted them outside the classroom and had so many teachers comments on the students work. http://thirdgradelove.blogspot.com/

This was an activity that focused on character traits. I had the students write the character traits of the main character in their text and then create their own character trait poster with their picture (I wish I would have taken a picture of them because they were super cute). http://www.amazon.com/Sheila-Rae-Brave-Kevin-Henkes/dp/B004S7XSR8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1341175917&sr=8-2&keywords=sheila+rae+the+brave

Garden in Progress

Garden In Progress

 When we first bought our house our backyard was a blank slate.  No grass, trees, flowers, or even weeds.

 This picture was taken this March. My husband was attempting to level the ground, he just ended up making a big trench.

 We have three kids so priority number one was putting together a swing set (this should keep them busy so I can garden). We purchased this set from Walmart and it was super easy to put together and very affordable. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Backyard-Discovery-Tucson-Cedar-Wooden-Swing-Set/15642030

 With no experience reseeding a yard, we decided to rent a rototiller (the biggest one they had) and that thing blazed through the soil like butter.  It took maybe three hours tops, nice.

 I planted some bleeding hearts that I got as clumps (I know really technical) from Costco. So far they are surviving.  This was the first heart to bloom.

 I went out into the garden this morning and my rhododendrons are starting to bloom, yeah.

 We planted five blueberry bushes, five raspberry bushes, and one blackberry bush, they should keep the kids happy through the summer.

 My first tomato. I read or heard somewhere to put an egg at the bottom of the whole when planting tomatoes and this plant seems to be doing really well considering that it has been pretty cold here. I also put straw around the base of all of my plants and that made a huge difference.  Another, thing that I do with eggs its to save my shells and put them in a bucket of water.  I keep the water outside for a few days because it stinks, but the veggies love it.

 We grew broccoli  last year towards the end of summer and it grew like crazy in our unmanaged garden and this year there off to a good start.

 I don't remember what kind of lettuce this is, but I think it's Caesar.  The dog has been snacking, urgh.

 Here's our lawn after we tilled, leveled, and seeded it.  This picture was taken about one month after. There are some bald spots in the grass, but over all it's super green and soft. I can't wait to walk barefoot on it.

 All of our friends and family call our garden layout the graveyard and before things started to grow it was pretty accurate. This is our first garden so we are allowed to do strange and silly things.

Little Art

Little Art

I needed some art for my daughters room and what better art than your own. Lauren had a blast dipping her fingers and smearing them all over the canvases.

Easy Tasty Pizza

I found a GREAT pizza dough recipe.

I have never made pizza dough before and so if I say it's easy, it must be.

 The only thing I did different was to bake the pizza dough at 520 degrees for about 5 min.s to make sure the crust would be crunchy

I kept the pizza toppings simple: sauce, real mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil

Here is the link to the recipe hope you enjoy as much as we did

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Backyard Project

Last summer we bought a house with a pretty good sized backyard.  Even though we were excited about having a backyard as you can see from the picture, there is a lot of work to be done. Now with that being said I would rather have a blank canvas than an untamed jungle.  Our plan for the backyard is simple, make it awesome, a place we want to hangout, and a place for our kids to play.  We are going to put in a swing set, 3-4 large raised gardens, reseed, and decorate (budget permitting).

Art homework

 My art project was to draw a portrait 

 I put a half inch grid on the paper and photo copy

 I used about different pencils

 The hardest part was drawing his teeth

I finished in about 4 hours

Great website for creative minds

This website has great craft ideas for teachers and for the creative
http://www.skiptomylou.org/