Teachers have to eat: Baked Gnocchi with Chicken

Baked Gnocchi with Chicken

Oh, this is so yummy. I saw the recipe a few days ago in October's Food Network Magazine and knew I had to make it. Here's a link to their recipe. I followed their recipe for the most part, although I made a revision or two to cut down on calories and due to preference.

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

8 ounces white mushrooms, sliced

Kosher salt & ground pepper

2 tablespoon unsalted butter

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1&1/2 cups 2% milk

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg

 about 2 cups cooks chicken (could use left over, rotisserie chicken or just brown some)

1  package potato gnocchi (around 17.5 ounces)

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese (I used fresh)

Pre-heat oven to 425. Make sure rack is in the top 3rd of the oven.

First, brown the mushrooms in the olive oil in a skillet. Stir in some salt and pepper. Brown for about 4 minutes. Then transfer to a bowl. Wipe out skillet for next step.

Next, melt butter in the skillet over medium heat. Add flour and whisk for about 3 minutes.

Whisk in milk and chicken broth until smooth. Simmer and whisk continually until it is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Whisk in 1/2 teaspoon salt and nutmeg.

Add chicken, mushrooms, gnocchi, and spinach to the sauce. Stir until coated and spinach is wilted. 

Since I'm not totally sure if my skillet is oven-safe, I transferred to a small casserole dish and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

Pop it in the oven for about 20 minutes, till it's nice and bubbly. Switch oven to broil and let it broil until the top is lightly browned, about 3 minutes. And then, voila!

It's yummy and really not very difficult. Because I had to brown the chicken first, the whole thing took me about 50 minutes from start to eating. I think I could have saved some time if I had the ingredients pre-measured and set aside. Enjoy!

 

 

Creative Writing Prompt

With the Common Core comes the demand of complex texts and informational writing and essays that synthesize multiple texts. At the same time, we cannot totally neglect the importance of creative writing and encouraging students to express themselves through writing. Here's a quick and easy picture writing prompt which allows student to do just that :)

 If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, in this location, who would you choose and why?

Possible Curriculum Connections:

• Students must choose a character from a specific book
• Students must choose a person from a specific time period 
• Students must choose a person from a specific category (ex. President, world leader, famous scientist) 
• Students must choose the author of a favorite book

Photo credit: From Amazingworld Facebook page

Introducing... Quadramas!

What do you get when you take a diorama and multiple it by four? You may be thinking, "It's a nightmare, finding all of those shoe boxes!" But it's not a nightmare, I promise! What you get, my dear reader, is a simple project idea with limitless possibilities!

Take a look at some of the quadramas my students made about their favorite scenes and chapters from A Long Way From Chicago.

 Instead of shoe boxes, simple folding, cutting, and gluing (or stapling or taping) a piece of paper creates each quadrant. After decorating, simply attach each quadrant. (I used a stapler-- it was the quickest and easiest way of attaching them). This simple project could be used for a book project as I did or for science or social studies projects. I had my students construct theirs in class, but it could just as easily be an at-home project. Before you think I am a creative genius, let me make it clear that I did not come up with this idea. I found several different versions of it on Pinterest, but the best site I found to describe and give directions was Blog Hoppin'. Check out the blog for easy to follow directions.Thanks for the inspiration (& directions) Shelley!

After everyone completed their project, we did a gallery walk. This turned out to be a fun & engaging activity that was a great wrap-up to the end of our novel unit.

 

Cause & Effect Writing Prompt

Looking for an engaging writing prompt that incorporates practice of 'cause & effect'? I've got a suggestion for you!

Here's the picture:

Writing Prompt: 
Have half the class write a short story that is the 'cause' of the picture, and the other half writes a short story that is an 'effect' of the story.

Lesson/Activity Plan: 

1. We started with a quick review of cause & effect. I started by standing on a chair and asked the kids to give me some of the possible effects. Next, I asked them to give me some possible causes for me be standing on a chair. 
2. They then identified the cause & effect in four sentences. 
3. I then showed them the picture and explained that half of the class would be writing the cause and the other half would be writing the effect. To provide extra support and clarity, I explained that those writing the 'cause' would end with the man falling down the stairs, and that those writing the 'effect' would start with the man falling. 
4. I then gave them 10 minutes to write, edit & revise. Only a few students required redirection.
5. Each "cause" student was paired with an "effect" student, and they read their story as one. They had so much fun seeing their stories become one.
6. We had a few extra minutes, so I randomly picked a "cause" and an "effect", and they read their 'story' to the class. I was so impressed with how creative they were and how motivated they were to produce quality writing. 

Optional extras:

1. Use the book Because a Little Bug Went Kachoo by Rosetta Stone to provide extra examples and practice with cause & effect. Or watch it video on YouTube here.
2. View OK Go's 'This Too Shall Pass' video with the Rube Goldberg Machine. If you use this version it's the begin through 3:33. It's a great illustration to show kids that the effect can become the cause.

Picture Credit:
The picture is from the website FHM. Please note that some of the pictures on this website are NOT appropriate for students. Right-click on the picture to save it, then you don't have to worry about it.

Student Sample:
Cause story...
"Wake up, Adam! I've been trying to get you up for half an hour! You're late!" I was still in my pajamas in bed. "What? I'm late?" I sat bolt upright. I heard giggling down the hallway from my little sitter. "That is not funny, Josie!" I yelled. Oh well. I was awake two hours early. What? Three hours?? At least now I can do what I've always wanted to do: Shoot a movie with my twin! "Are you sure we should do this? It's quite an action packed scene," Mark said. We did it anyway though. I took a deep breath and hurled myself down the stairs. "Ahhhhh..." (by Ivy)

"It's not that bad," Michelle said coming back from the hospital. "Yeah it is," Timber said gloomily. "I can't believe I was the cause of this." "It's not your fault," Michelle said. "We just have to make sure he doesn't eat any more peanuts." Timber went to bed feeling worried. I can't believe I fed him peanuts, he thought. I am a bad uncle. The next morning he heard his nephew in the kitchen. "What's this with purple and brown on it?" he said eagerly. "I think I'll eat it!" "Nooo!", Timber roared as he rushed down the stairs. Timber began to fall. (by Sammie)

Effect story...
Jonathon had finally learned his lesson. As he was falling down the stairs, his life flashed before his eyes. He saw his sister Sarah and him at a water park. He saw his dad grilling steak for a family cookout. He also saw his best friend Jim laughing at a comment he had made on the bus. In the split-second before impact, he saw all that mattered to him. He hit the bottom of the stairs and slid to the ground.  (by Nate)

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Jake was screaming as he fell. "Thump!" He was laying on the floor now, feeling as if he had broken his arm. "Holy cow!" his mother ran next to him in worry of what had happened. "Let's get you to the hospital," she exclaimed. Jake just sat there with a loud moan when the ambulance arrived. It was a long drive, at least he thought so. (by Kate)

As Junior was falling, he wrote his will in his own mind. He crashed through the floor, and the next thing he knew, he was about to die in his own basement. But when Junior hit the ground, he kept going and hit stairs instead! Junior had discovered a secret basement in his basement. All of a sudden Junior saw a special glow of light. Junior started to walk towards that very light. While walking towards that light with curiosity, he thought of all the possible things that may be the source of that light. Junior discovered that the glow of the light turned out to be... TO BE CONTINUED (by Joshua)

Teaching Character Traits

Whether you're teaching second graders to simply identify and describe characters or you're having fifth graders compare and contrast characters between the beginning and end of the story or between two stories, they need to have a good grasp of character traits.

Like with any skill, repeated practice and exposure is the key to your students truly understanding and mastering the skill. As I'm planning for the week ahead, I'm racking my brain and resources for character traits ideas and activities. After coming up a wee bit short, I turned to Pinterest and the world wide web. What follows is simply a collection of resources, ideas, and activities I have found and plan on tweaking to meet the needs of my kiddos. I do NOT take credit for any of these great ideas, simply passing along some great resources in one location.

Starting with a Mentor Text

 At Lesson Plan SOS there is a great activity use the story Bad Case of the Stripes. Her blog not only contains info on this great idea, but also several other mini-lessons and activities using the same book. Here is a link to her Camilla Character Trait FREEBIE!!

Providing Hand-outs & Resources for Students

 Although you don't want students to become dependent on a list of traits, it is definitely a great thing to use in the beginning and to serve as a reference throughout the application of the skill. It's also a great writing resource to help them expand their vocabulary. 

Here is one such Character Trait list. It's from the blog Workshop Classroom, and I especially love this one because it breaks the traits up into categories and categorizes them. I think that this would be great for ELL students and those who need a little extra support. Here's a direct link to the FREEBIE.

 

Here is another list. This one is from Totally Terrific in Texas' blog. She includes the list and a character map via a google doc. (Also a FREEBIE!)

 Interactive Notebook Fold-able for Hands-on Practice

 One your kiddos have learned how to use a character's words, thoughts, and actions to infer a character trait, it's time for them to practice. We are currently reading the novel Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper, so I am going to have my kids analyze the characters in the chapters we are reading. Instead of just giving them a worksheet, I'm going to have them do a fold-able to put in their interactive reading notebook. Here is an example of one possible foldable to use by Teaching in Wonderland. (Bonus: It's a FREEBIE!)

Fun "Skill to Self" Connection Activity

Over at Adventures of Room 129's blog, there's a super cute idea for kids to  create a frame that gives them the chance to display some of their own character traits. I' m thinking that after kids create their frame, I'll give them a chance to pick one trait that describes them to share with a partner and then give 'evidence' from their life to prove that it's an accurate trait to describe themselves. For further connection and rigor, kids can then think of a character from a story they have read that shares the same character trait. 

Do you have any other great ideas? I'd love to hear them and "borrow" them for my classroom :) Feel free to put them in the comments below.

Paper Tweets

So I've seen "paper tweets" various times on Pinterest and decided to give them a try today. I originally planned for it to be a fun and quick way to discuss the chapter they read yesterday, but it morphed into something much more.

Yesterday I had a Grade Level Data meeting, and my kids were left to read the first chapter of A Long Way From Chicago with the substitute. I just love the book and knew they'd get a real kick out of it, so I was a little bummed to not be there to read it with them. Anyways, so today when they came in, they each had up to 144 characters to write their reaction to the chapter they read yesterday (and of course they got to create a super creative #hashtag). We taped each one to the cabinet above the sink and counters.

 

 As I began reading them, I realized that many students were confused by the first chapter, and some were specific with the parts that confused them. I had never thought that they may be confused by the chapter. I had also never thought that reading the first chapter with the sub may not be the best idea. But, thanks to the tweets, I was able do a quick recap and provide extra support and discussion with chapter 2. By the end of the period, they were laughing hysterically and thoroughly enjoying the book.

After the kids left for the day, I went back and reread them all. I was suddenly hit with a brain storm, grabbed a pen and post-its and started commenting on some their tweets. I'm excited to see their reactions when they come in tomorrow and see post-it comments on their tweets! What started as just a fun way to have the kids talk about what they read, turned into a useful diagnostic tool and a springboard for further discussion.

A Peek at my Week

Again this week I'm going to give you a quick look at my week. Some day I hope to post it before the week has begun. One can dream, right?? (For more info on "A Peek at my Week", check out Jennifer's blog .)

I'm being quite ambitious with this project but am giving it a try, and so far, the kids seem to be really enjoying it and doing okay with it. We are reading the novel Out of My Mind, and in an attempt to get them reading some nonfiction and to get them make some connections with the novel, I've created a 'biography blogging' project. Students can choose between OJ Brigance and Stephen Hawking and then given pre-selected articles, interviews, and texts on him. (Both OJ and Stephen have ALS and have limitations and challenges very similar to the main character in the novel). After reading and taking notes, students write a blog entry (minimum 2 paragraphs) about OJ/Stephen's challenges and successes. They must write in complete sentences, include an introduction and conclusion sentence, and include the theme. I'll let you know how it turns out. But yes, my 5th graders are reading Stephen Hawking! How is that for rigorous texts, Common Core? (He just published a brand new autobiography/memoir called A Short History which is a little easier to read and understand although it is NOT all child appropriate.)

 This week I'll be starting A Long Way from Chicago (by Richard Peck) with my GT group. Since we've been reading a collection of short memoirs, I'm excited to get them reading some fun & happy fiction. (Memoirs tend to be quit depressing. They keep begging me to read something happy :))