Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts

 It's testing week. 

I don't like testing week. I don't like testing. I've never been a fan of standardized testing and I look forward to the day our society becomes enlightened enough to rid ourselves of such an arbitrary and superfluous waste of time and we realize that students, teachers, and schools are more than a test score. 

Here in Louisiana, we take the LEAP test. For 3rd-5th, it's 3 sessions of Math, 3 sessions of ELA, 2 sessions of Science and 2 sessions of SS (or 3, in 5th grade). Each session is roughly 65-90 minutes. EACH. That's a very long time that our kiddos sit in silence and stare at a computer screen in a room that has been stripped of all colorful and helpful materials and decorations that they've been using all year and suddenly it's not okay. 

However, regardless of my personal feelings the test must go on. So I try to make it fun for the testing administrators. 

(the kids also get treats from their teachers and donations from parents throughout the week, but this post isn't about them!)

As School Testing Coordinator (STC) I'm in charge of disseminating all testing information and materials to testing administrators at school.  So they come to my office every morning and pickup a testing bucket filled with all the needed stuff. 

And I include a cookie!

Since I also own and operate The Most Magical Bakery on Earth, I have experience making and baking all sorts of cookies and sweet treats. 

This year I made: 

  • Brown butter chocolate chip cookies
  • M&M's and chocolate chip cookies
  • Snickerdoodles
  • Sugar cookies
You can find some of my recipes on my other website, HERE

I also made little notes and puns to attach to each cookie. 
I think the prescription pills are my favorite!

These were super easy to make. Just cut cookie dough into triangles using a pizza cutter. Bake and cool. Dye some cookie icing yellow, and then pipe it in a droopy manner on the cooled cookies. When they are dry, use an edible food marker to draw some faces on the cheese. 


For Friday, I gave some colored hearts and a simple little "we love you" note. 



Monday is the last day! I am planning on giving these cookie dippers. Also a super simple way of making a sweet treat. I bought THESE (affiliate link) parfait cups on Amazon. Then I made several small circle sugar cookies. I made some buttercream icing and piped it into the top of the parfait cups and added some sprinkles (you could also just use canned icing from the store). The teachers can dip the cookie in the icing and enjoy!

You can grab a copy of my cookie tags here on my blog. CLICK HERE to make a copy to your Google Drive. 

Do you have standardized testing? How do you make the week/days/time go by? 


Hi yall! It's been a BUSY week over here in Louisiana. Not to mention HOT - upwards to 100. Can't wait til September. But first of August means back to school :)

I just wanted to share with you how my first week back went! I made cookies for everyone!



 
{HERE} is my fantastic recipe. 

Teachers reported on Tuesday where we got to sit in on all that really fun and exciting review of policies and handbooks and all that jazz. But my principal is so awesome that she makes those mandatory PowerPoint presentations into fun games.

We did a Quiz-Quiz-Trade and a Tarsia puzzle. Have you used this before? It's amazing!
District Policy Awareness
Our fourth grade teachers use it with the kids to review facts and help to study. One side of the triangles has the answer and the another side has the questions. You read the questions and try to find the answers. And then the puzzles come together as diamonds, triangles, hexagons, etc. Pretty cool!

That night was back to school Open House/Meet the Teacher night.
Astrobrights Paper, Lend a Helping Hand
Trace hands, stick on label.
 

We had a fabulous night! I met 19 of my amazing families and we gave out a lot of information.
We always set up the desks every Open House with things families will find extremely helpful over the first couple of weeks of school.

The next day, all 6,000+ EBR Teachers came together for One District, One Mission and to meet our new Superintendent.

 Each child had a personal letter from me and my associate.

 
They can take it home and color the pics! 
You can grab an editable copy for yourself {HERE}

The Back to School Flipbook containing all pertinent information about our classroom looked GREAT right on top of the stack of papers!
https://goo.gl/Wq5d8t
This booklet is FREE in my TpT Store. Click the pic :)

Next, I placed the media release form for use of pictures on my blog and social media accounts. 
This letter is free {HERE}

Then we have our Show and Tell Schedule. I firmly believe in the power of Show and Tell at any age. It is so very important that children learn to speak and listen properly at any age. In my classroom, each student is given 1 minute to show and tell something they bring from home or just a little story.
We talk about the importance of eye contact, using a speaker's voice, showing so everyone can see, etc. and also the behavior of an audience member such as listening while others speak and looking at the speaker. We've got to hit those Speaking and Listening standards!! 
You can read more about my show and tell {HERE}

Next up is our Mayfair Lab First Grade Tour Guide.  

We are partnered with the Lab School at LSU and the superintendent over there came up with this idea as a road map for incoming parents. We list out everything we teach for the year. And our CRLGs. 

 The full guide can be accessed by clicking {HERE}.
 Also had the Helping Hands on the Board and the Parent Wishes Jar. 
This idea was from Funky First Grade Fun along with the freebie forms there. Go check it out and read all about it!

So the first day!!!!!!!!! It was such fun! All my little firsties were ready to learn!
Of course we did Brain Breaks! Love Go Noodle!

And from my SUPER Back to School Unit, we wrote out our wishes for what we want to learn in First Grade on our Super Hero Capes! 




How to Read Chapter Books, Count to 200, the Senses, Field Trips
Science Experiments, Science, Field Trips
Count to 200, Science Experiments
Count to 300, Add to 100, Read books, Time
How to Count, Field Trips
We always read Chrysanthemum and talk about how sometimes our words can hurt others so we should also take care of what we say. Every time one of Chrysanthemum's classmates makes fun of her name, we crumple the heart. And every time her parents make her feel better, we try to smooth it out. But we know that once we say something mean and hurtful, it always leaves a little wrinkle.
Then on bandaids, we write our names as promises to think and be smart. 

 All too soon it was time to go home and yes, this was me. 

Here are some first day pics of me and Carly Summer: 


 I am so excited about this school year! I will share lots more soon!
Loving that Mardi Gras is upon us! I've been crazy busy getting things ready  for next week since we've only got three days of school. And I'm heading home so I've got packing to do as well! Phew! Time sure flies when you don't want it to! I made some cookies for the parade.
Learn how to make the masks at the end of this post :)
And Valentine's Day.

In a different twist to my usual posting, I wanted to share my fantastic cookie recipe with you. It's been the BEST SUGAR COOKIE IN THE WORLD. No lie. Seriously. The. Best.

Now I've been making cookies for quite some time now, and I've tried many, many, many recipes but the trick comes from what works for YOU. Weather has a crazy effect on food, heating, cooling, opening the oven door too many times, etc.

Anyway, here is the recipe I use that I have perfected over the years: This makes about 3 dozen cookies, depending on how thick you roll the dough.

1 1/2 cup butter, room temperature (3 sticks)
2 cups sugar
2 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup sour cream
5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
First, cream the butter and the sugar. Add in the eggs, vanilla, and sour cream. Sift together the flour and baking powder and baking soda. Then blend in the dry ingredients.
Roll dough to desired thickness. I roll to about 1/2 inch because I love how thick and soft the cookies look and taste!! Cut into shapes. Place cookies on un-greased cookie sheet or cookie sheet with a layer of parchment paper. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the cookies look slightly golden.
And that's it!
You'll have some delicious cookies after this recipe! 

I have used Royal Icing, Color Flow, and Glaze icing. I like glaze the best, even though it makes the biggest mess in the history of the universe and ever, but it's yummy. Check out Cookie Crazie's Glaze recipe and tutorials. 

Awesome sauce! 

To make the Mask Cookies, cut out hearts from dough. Bake and cool. Choose your icing color and load into a decorating bag with a straight tip. Outline the cookie like the diagram below. 

Flood inside outline with icing. Let dry for 10-20 minutes and add details with other icing colors and let dry. 
Same thing with the Valentine hearts: outline, flood, detail. 

Like this: 



Ta-DA!!!!!



For my kiddos, I made these adorable Valentine Science Kits from Teach a Roo!
FANTASTIC find on Teachers Pay Teachers and her blog is amazing! 

Don't forget to check out my posts on Mardi Gras Math and Mardi Gras Madness, both math activities to add some carnival to your school day!










Happy Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, and Teaching!!
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