Water Balloons & reading!

I shared this post earlier… then Wendy & I were talking about it and said we could do the same thing with those large packing bubbles we get.  Then I had an AHA moment!  It might be because I am so exhausted that I’m thinking like a child or because of this humidity… but I thought, Why not do this with water balloons??  Then they can throw them or just pop them on themselves!  We can do the basic pronouns, throw in some verbs and adjectives and nouns… not just sight words and make whole sentences out of them.  We can then have summer fun AND teach the kids to read!!

From Teacher Tipster….I found a use for bubblewrap! I wrote my students’ sight words on the flat part of the bubblewrap and when they read the word correctly, they got to pop the bubble! I teach special needs kids so this activity had a dual purpose. It was sight word recognition and an occupational therapy/finger strengthening activity. They LOVED it! You could do letter recognition, number recognition, math facts, etc. I would do with colors.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=160591104077137&set=a.103654346437480.2663.100003787445219&type=1&theater

Crockpot Bacon Cheese Potatoes

Ingredients
1/4 pound bacon, diced – I bake it first in the oven so that it is “done” and browned then I dice it and place in the crock pot.
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
4 medium potatoes, thinly sliced (or if you use a new potato or Yukon gold then halve)
1/2 pound cheddar cheese, thinly sliced (shredded is fine)
salt and pepper
butter
Green Onions (optional)
Instructions
Line crockpot with foil, leaving enough to cover the potatoes when finished – this will help to not stick and to steam the potatoes – also to keep them from getting discolored or mushy.
Layer half each of the bacon, onions and potatoes in the crockpot.
Season to taste with salt and pepper and dot with (real) butter.
Repeat layers of bacon, onions, potatoes and cheese. Dot with butter.
Cover with remaining foil.
Cover and cook on low for up to 6 hours (check at 4 hours – depending on your crock pot).
Add cheese for the last 20 – 30 minutes and enjoy!

by Melissa at Stockpiling Moms

No Bake Strawberry Icebox Cake

Ingredients:

3 lbs. fresh strawberries, sliced

2 (8 oz.) tubs fat-free whipped topping (or use regular or light)

1 (14.4 oz.) box graham crackers

1/4 cup milk chocolate chip morsels

directions:

1. Spread a small amount of whipped topping on the bottom of a 9×13-inch baking pan. Place 5 graham cracker sheets down the middle and break 2 more sheets into crackers to fit down the sides. Lightly cover the top of the graham crackers with more whipped topping and then a layer of sliced strawberries. Repeat three times, until you have four layers of graham crackers (you may be a few crackers short on the top layer, but that’s ok). You’ll end with a layer of strawberries on top.

2. Place milk chocolate chip morsels in a plastic bag. Microwave in 10 second intervals until melted. Snip the end of the plastic bag and drizzle chocolate over top of cake.

3. Refrigerate covered for at least four hours, or until the crackers have softened completely. Cake will last well for two days. It will still be good on the third day, but the strawberries will start to get juicy and leak into the whipped topping. It will still taste good, but it won’t be as pretty

via (1) Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=359144770858317&set=a.326854847420643.67424.100002883901090&type=1&theater

Blake Shelton – Mine Would Be You

What’s your all time high, your good as it gets?
Your hands-down best ever make-up sex?
What’s your guilty pleasure, your old gold tooth?
Well if you ask me, mine would be you.

What’s your worst hangover, your best night yet?
Your 90 proof, your Marlboro Red?
The best damn thing you lucked into?
Well if you asked me, mine would be you.

Mine would be you
Sun keeps shinin’, back road flyin’
Singing like crazy fools
Makin’ up our own words
Laughin’ ’til it hurts
Baby, if I had to choose
My best day ever
My finest hour, my wildest dream come true
Mine would be you.

What’s your double dare, your go all in?
The craziest thing you ever did?
Plain as your name in this tattoo
Look on my arm, mine would be you.

Mine would be you
Sun keeps shinin’, back road flyin’
Singing like crazy fools
Makin’ up our own words
Laughin’ ’til it hurts
Baby, if I had to choose
My best day ever
My finest hour, my wildest dream come true
Mine would be you.

What’s the greatest chapter in your book?
Are there pages where it hurts to look?
What’s the one regret you can’t work through?
You got it baby, mine would be you.

Yeah you got it baby, mine would be you.

Mine would be you
Taillights fadin’
Daylight breakin’
Standin’ there like a fool
When I should’ve been runnin’
Yellin’ out somethin’
To make you wanna hold onto
The best love ever
Girl, can you tell me
The one thing you’d rather die than lose?
Cause mine would be you
Mine would be you, mine would be you.

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Make Easy Liquid Hand Soap from Soap Scraps – Yahoo! Voices – voices.yahoo.com.

I <3 Smart Apps For Kids!

We’re giving away a $100 iTunes gift card **tonight** to thank our readers for 1m pageviews in April! – Smart Apps For Kids.

The Recipe Critic: Slow Cooker Beef and Broccoli.

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless, beef chuck roast, sliced into thin strips
1 cup beef consumme or beef broth
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 tbsp. sesame oil
3 garlic cloves minced
2 tbsp cornstarch
Frozen Broccoli Florets (I used one bag)
White or brown rice, cooked

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the beef consume, soy sauce, dark brown sugar, sesame oil, and garlic.
2.  Lay the beef strips in the crockpot and pour the sauce over, tossing the strips to coat.

3. Turn the crockpot on low and cook for about 6 hours.  Mine was ready at 5.  You don’t want to cook the beef too long or it will start to shred.

4. When it is just about done, take 4 Tbsp of the sauce and whisk it in a small bowl with the cornstarch.  I added about 2 extra tsps of cornstarch to thicken it up a little bit more.  Slowly stir this into the crockpot.  I added the broccoli in at this point so that it could get heated through.  You want to let it cook an additional 30 minutes so that the sauce can thicken and frozen broccoli can cook.  You don’t want to add the broccoli until the very end or it will be mushy.
5.  Serve over white rice and enjoy!!
Recipe adapted from Table for Two

http://www.therecipecritic.com/2012/11/slow-cooker-beef-and-broccoli.html