I'VE GOT THAT JOY, JOY, JOY, JOY...

Hosted by Cecily and Rachael

Yes, this year has been pretty tough.

I've attended 2 funerals for people with school-aged children. And was unable to attend 2 others. And found out another co-worker, with a young child has Stage 4 cancer.

My husband became crippled with pain (literally) and has been given zero prognosis for any recovery beyond "pain management".

I went from wife, worker, and mother, to caregiver, wife, worker, mother. As if the first three weren't time consuming enough! And our family relationships went through crises as we re-adjusted our roles.

We sold a mini van for almost nothing. Bought a wheelchair. Cursed ourselves for getting rid of the van.

But you know, I have it good. Really, really good. I am healthy. My children are healthy. My marriage is stronger than it has been in quite a while. I have a great job and insurance. We have friends. We have a church community. We have a warm home.

And, as my daughter oft reminds me at the top of her little lungs (often at 10pm)...

I'VE GOT THAT JOY, JOY, JOY, JOY
DOWN IN MY HEART!
WHERE?
DOWN IN MY HEART!
WHERE?
DOWN IN MY HEART TO STAY!

Some of my joys include:
The sound of my husband laughing (instead of moaning).

Diet Coke with warm chocolate cookies (or cookie dough).



An unexpected hug from a student.

An amazing score at a garage sale or a coupon-tastic deal day.

My kids hysterically shrieking from some quirky game.



And a warm spring day with nothing to do but play!

Join in on Barking Mad's Crazy Christmas Giveaway. Because we all need to remember that joy in our hearts.

Auctionable Cookies. Months 6 and 7.

Apparently, I forgot to share my November featured cookies.

Oops.

So you get the benefit of not just one yummy recipe, but two fabulous cookie recipes today. Aren't you lucky!

Stop laughing. Seriously.

Well, one of the recipes I have actually blogged about here. So maybe that gets me off the hook?

You see, November = cranberries.
And cranberries = Coconut Cranberry Chew Cookies.
And Coconut Cranberry Chew Cookies = 10+ extra pounds for me.
Yum.




Coconut-Cranberry Chews
3/4 cups butter at room temp
1 cup sugar
1 Tbs. grated orange peel
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
3/4 cups dried cranberries
3/4 cups sweetened flaked dried coconut

1. In a large bowl, mix butter, sugar, orange peel, and vanilla until smooth.
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to butter mixture, stir to mix, then beat on low speed until dough comes together, about 5 minutes. Will be very crumbly. Mix in cranberries and coconut.





Using my fabulous math skills, a similar equation can be used for December.
December = peppermint
Any time of the year = chocolate
Peppermint + chocolate = OMGosh my scale is going to explode.
The end.




Peppermint Bark Chocolate Cookies from Simply Recipes

1 cup of butter
3/4 cup of brown sugar
3/4 cup of white granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon of peppermint extract (very important change from original recipe)
1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup of peppermint bark, broken into little chip size pieces (I smashed up 1/2 cup of candy canes I've been saving since last Christmas and added 1/2 cup of chocolate chips--cuz I'm cheap like that)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Cream the butter and sugars together for about two minutes at medium speed or until well incorporated and light in color.
3. Add the egg and the vanilla extract until well incorporated, about a minute. Be sure to scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl halfway through.
4. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Add to the butter mixture slowly, and beating at medium speed, stopping once all of it is incorporated (do not overmix).
5. Fold in the peppermint bark chips (or Super Woman's cheap alternative)
6. Take small spoonfuls of the dough and roll into one inch sized balls and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for -12 minutes. Let cool on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies.

Marvelous Monday, Teaching Tuesday, Therapy Thursday: Gingerbread Man

There are so many versions of the Gingerbread man story, they make for a beautiful December unit on comparing and contrasting tales.

1. Read the classic on-line Gingerbread Man story. Kids enjoy "turning the pages" with the click of a mouse.





2. Now that the children are familiar with the story, read through the picture-word version of the story.


Children that can read should read along with the teacher. Pre-literate children can say the pictured words as the story is read.

Children struggling with language development can practice the chorus, "Run, run as fast as you can! You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!" with its multiple repetitions.


3. Make a story map of the Gingerbread man using a graphic organizer such as this one.or this one.





Here's where the language fun begins...



4. Choose a tale similar to the Gingerbread Man from this site or this one. Or find your own book at the library to use for comparing and contrasting. Suggested books include: The Cajun Gingerbread Boy, The Runaway Pancake, The Runaway Tortilla, The Runaway Rice Cake and many others.

Make a story map of the new story using a graphic organizer such as this one.or this one.






5. Watch and listen to Jan Brett read her version of the story, Gingerbread Baby (note actual story begins about 3.5 minutes through the video).





6. Compare and Contrast 2 of your favorite stories with the Venn diagram-- Printable Gingerbread Man Comparison Chart (from mrsnelsonsclass.com).





7. Repeat indefinitely with other versions of the story!



8. Try out some more gingerbread activities, just for fun:

Make a Jan Brett Gingerbread Friend

Trim a Jan Brett Gingerbread Baby House

Color a Gingerbread Man

Make Gingerbread Man story characters and act out the story

Make Gingerbread Chains




Or make Gingerbread Cookie dough, Playdough, Bath salts, or Non-edible dough (all from mrsnelsonsclass.com)

Gingerbread Dough (for cookies)

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1 pkg. instant butterscotch pudding mix
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Mix together egg, shortening, and brown sugar. Add remaining ingredients. Roll out dough and cut into gingerbread men shapes with a cookie cutter. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Decorate using favorite frosting and candies.

Gingerbread Playdough

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup salt,
• 2 tsp. cream of tartar,
• 1 cup water,
• 1 tsp. veg. oil
• spice (cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg, etc.)

Mix the dry ingredients. Add spice until you get the desired scent. Mix water and oil together first. Add them to the dry ingredients and stir. In a pot, cook the mixture on the stove on low heat for2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. The dough will start to pull away from the sides of the pan and clump together. Take the dough out of the pan and knead the dough until it becomes soft and smooth. Allow to cool and store in an air tight container.

Gingerbread Bath Salts - recipe from Mailbox Magazine

• 1 tsp. allspice
• 1 tsp. ginger
• 1 tsp. cloves
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 box of baking soda

Mix ingredients and place into a jar or plastic bag. Attach a decorative tag and send home as a gift.

Non-Edible Cinnamon Dough - (for making ornaments) from Allrecipes.com

• 3/4 cup of applesauce
• 4 ounces of cinnamon

Mix the applesauce and cinnamon to form a stiff dough. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters and make a hole for ribbon. Carefully place cookies on a rack to dry. Let air dry for several days, turning occasionally. Decorate.

There's a hole...

There's a dozen rat holes in the yard, dear Liza, dear Liza.
There's a dozen rat holes in the yard, dear Liza
A dozen holes.



Then fill them dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry
Then fill them dear Henry, dear Henry fix them.

With what shall I fill them, dear Liza, dear Liza
With what shall I fill them, dear Liza, with what?

With dirt, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry.
With dirt, dear Henry, dear Henry, some dirt.

The dirt cannot fill them dear Liza, dear Liza
The dirt cannot fill them, dear Liza, too big.

Try some strong men, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry.
Try some strong men, dear Henry, dear Henry, strong men.



What if they aren't strong enough, dear Liza, dear Liza
What if they aren't strong enough, dear Liza, not strong?

Get a digger, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry.
Get a digger, dear Henry, dear Henry, a digger.



Won't that make more holes, dear Liza, dear Liza
Won't that make more holes, dear Liza, more holes?

As long as they're rat-free, dear Henry, dear Henry
As long as they're rat-free, I really don't care.





Hosted by Cecily

Teaching Tuesday: Learning the states again (and again and again)

I have stuck with my type-A tradition of mailing out Christmas cards during Thanksgiving weekend. So, now that most of our cards are making their way to friends and family, all we have to do is sit back and wait for the cards to in-turn show up at our door. Right?

(heh)

This is a re-post from last year in a pathetic attempt to beat last year's number of stars number. (Especially stars from some of those lonely blank states!)




Send a card. Get a star on your state.

Simple.




Anyone up to the challenge of helping us out?

Therapy Thursday: Thanks and Giving Tree

In the spirit of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's "Complaint-Free Day", I present to you not a laundry list of things that have s*cked about this year, but a reminder of all we have.

The children filled up recycled packaging paper with beautiful fall colors, while I cut out a bare tree. I later cut out leaf shapes. Most evenings at dinner, we report one thing that we "gave" that day and one thing we are "thankful for". It's our nightly "thanks and giving" routine. For the last few weeks, we wrote each of those on colorful leaves and stuck them to the tree. It's a visual reminder to be generous and thankful every day.

And now the therapy portion of this activity (yes, I know that I'm a day early....):

1. Have the children use complete sentences when responding to the questions, "What did you give today?" and "What are you thankful for today?"

2. There are many difficult sounds in "thanks" and "giving" and this activity provides daily practice towards perfecting these sounds. A great cue for the "th" sound is to "gently bite your tongue and blow". And a cue for the the "v" sound is to "gently bite your lip and blow".

3. Expand vocabulary by challenging the children to use descriptive and unique words when being thankful. Be sure to think of something new every day (which my kids are notoriously poor at doing).

4. Have fun talking and brainstorming together as a family!





For more Wordful Wednesday, visit 7 Clown Circus!

Teaching Tuesday: The 1st Thanksgiving in 4 parts

In my stash of resources, I found a simple, illustrated "First Thanksgiving" story from Parents Magazine, November 2003. By reading and sketching out this story, my students could (gasp) retell me about the first Thanksgiving.

I began by drawing the Mayflower and labeling it with the word "May" and a picture of a flower. On this ship were tiny stick figures labeled with drawings of "pill"s + grim. The ship was about to hit a rock.

Simple picture cues can be so helpful both for readers and non-readers. Try illustrating an event in history in 3-4 picture sequences and have your children retell the story. See what happens!

Marvelous Monday Children's Books: Plump and Perky Turkey (re-post)

This is a re-post from 11/17/08, but still my favorite Thanksgiving book...


Plump and Perky Turkey

Throughout my childhood I vividly remember Thanksgiving as the annual holiday when I ate potatoes. Lots and LOTS of mashed potatoes. Eventually I grew to love pumpkin pie and that was added to my meal.

And that was it.

Even now I'd prefer a honey-baked ham over a turkey any day.

It is little wonder that I adore this rhyming book about a clever turkey who outsmarts an entire New England town. Shredded wheat for Thanksgiving? No problem (so long as there are mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie!).

Speech Therapy Ideas:
1. Practice articulation words before, during, and after reading this story. Here are some of the words that I picked out of the story.



2. Identify and explain turkey idioms such as:
"go cold turkey"
"talk turkey"
"turkey" (as in "You turkey!")

3. Practice vocabulary within the story. Identify meanings, tell meanings aloud, determine synonyms, match words to pictures. I made a 3 page chart of vocabulary words. Here is a screen shot of a few of them:


4. Answer story comprehension questions:
Who:
Who are the main characters in the story?
Who has the great idea?
Who decides to be the model and makes the towns people happy?

What:
What do the people in Squawk Valley want?
What do the people in Squawk Valley NOT want to eat?
What does Pete take as his payment for modeling?
What kind of activity do the people hold?
What is the plan for tricking a turkey?

Where:
Where does the story take place?
Where are all the turkeys going?
Where do the posters go?

When?
When does the story take place?
When does Pete disappear?

Why?
Why are the turkeys hard to find at Thanksgiving time?
Why does Pete hide?
Why do the people want to trick a turkey into their town?

5. Retell the story including characters, setting, problem, events, resolution.

6. Just for fun, make some turkey origami!

Turned

I am an Ivy League Grad turned Special Educator.
I am a prep school student turned couponer extraordinaire.
I am an athlete turned caregiver.
I am a healthy daughter turned adoptive mother.
I am a scientist turned linguist.
I am a book reader turned book listener.
I am a world traveler turned home maintainer.
I am....turned.

Come join Wordful Wednesday at 7 Clown Circus!

Marvelous Children's Book Monday: Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving

Thanks to certain blogging friends, I was able to check out a few new Thanksgiving books this year. Although I still haven't found a fantastic one about the original Thanksgiving feast, this rhyming picture book has been fun new one to read and explore with my students.

Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving


I never had time to come up with fantastic wh- questions, idioms, or fill-in the rhymes. But I did develop a vocabulary list that includes definitions, synonyms, and (most importantly) picture cues. Many of my students find these pictures crucial to remembering what a word means and can conjure up the memory of the picture much easier than the definition of the word.