diary of a teacher

ha! I wish I had enough stamina to keep a diary... this is as good as it gets!

We are reading Diary of a Spider this week and my 2nd graders LOVE it! Every time we read (even at the 6th time!) they are laughing out loud. I wish every story we read could be this engaging!

We have worked on a couple skills this week, but one of the main skills was Cause and Effect. So after compiling a l-o-n-g class list of causes and effects within the story we made some adorable spiders.

This was our first craftivity of the year and I thought it turned out awesome! Of course, I am a horrible judge of time for a craftivity.... It ALWAYS takes longer than it should! But, at least they really really know cause and effect now {I hope!}

Here is how we did it:

Each child needs: 8 skinny strips of black construction paper

1 colored background paper

half a piece of black construction paper (for body)

a copy of the printable for the labels------ link to my dropbox

1. Kids filled out the cause/effect labels

2. We bent our legs into zigzags

3. We made our bodies. 

4. We glued the labels on one side of the legs, then glued the legs to the back of the spider. 

5. We glued the whole thing to the colored construction paper. 

6. We added details to our spiders (which had to include some googly eyes- at their request). A few opted out of the googly eyes. 

7. Most of us put a dab of glue on the bottom of the labels and glued them to the construction paper so our spiders look 3D. 

We had lots of fun and the kids were impressed with their work!

Speaking of being impressed... I was bored with our usual dinner options so I put together a little something tonight that was delish!! 

It was sooo easy and I will for sure be making it again next week...

White Bean Chicken Cornbread Yumminess!

2-3 Chicken breasts

1 can of white beans

1/2 can of crushed tomatoes

1 box of jiffy

a pinch of basil

a pinch of onion powder

a pinch of garlic salt

I put everything in a casserole dish (except the jiffy) and baked @ 400 for 30 minutes. I made the jiffy mix and baked it at the same time for 20 minutes. 

If you make this, please let me know if you liked it. 

Being the not so great cook I am, this is probably not a unique recipe but I couldn't find anything quick and easy on pinterest with white beans and chicken so this seemed to fit the bill. 

So happy tomorrow is Friday!