I is for Icecream

I is for ice cream was a very fun lesson and perfect for our upcoming SUMMERTIME. Some of the highlights were graphing our favorite ice cream flavors, making an ice cream cone craft out of our handprints (I let them choose their 3 favorite "flavors"), and making homemade ice cream. I never knew how easy it was to make homemade ice cream. Here's the recipe if you want to try it out:

Homemade ice cream
Large zip lock bag
Small zip lock bag
3 cups of ice
6 tbsp of salt
1/2 cup whole milk
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 Tsp Vanilla
Add milk sugar and vanilla together in the small zip lock bag. Zip TIGHT and place larger zip lock bag with the ice and salt around it.
SHAKE.....SHAKE.......SHAKE for 5-10 minutes

I had the kids go out and jump on the tramp for the shaking and it worked perfectly, maybe a little too well. They had to let them thaw out a little! But the ice cream was actually quite good and incredibly easy. One piece of advice if you try this out... when you take the small ice cream baggie out of the bigger one, rinse it off before opening it so the salt doesn't mix in. Have fun!

We found some cute books about Ice Cream:
The Ice Cream King
Wemberly's Ice-Cream Star
 Should I Share My Ice Cream? (An Elephant and Piggie Book)
 I Scream! Ice Cream!: A Book of Wordles
 Ice Cream: Including Great Moments in Ice Cream History

Traced the Letter I
(click here for a printable)!

And we did a fun flannel board rhyme with my ice cream cones show above.  I had 5 colorful ice cream scoops to help show the story.
Five little ice cream cones standing in a row,
each has a scoop and an ice cream cone,
out came the sun and it shown all day,
one little ice cream cone melted away

Four little ice cream cones...
Three little ice cream cones...
Two little ice cream cones...
One little ice cream cone...

A fun math/reading activity: make ice cream cones with the colors and numbers on them.   A pattern is here.

We ate our homemade ice cream for dessert!  But alternatively, you could make homemade ice cream in a machine, like Rachel who gave us the recipe recently.

I cut triangles out of tan cardstock and then I crimped the cones with a Paper Crimper.  We traced the kid's hands, so I just had a plethora of colors so they could choose their favorite "color".  I bought Red Pompoms for the "cherry" on top.  Then I had a hole punch and various paper to hole punch in case they wanted chocolate chips, sprinkles or bubblegum.

A fun tidbit: July is National Ice Cream Month, the 3rd Sunday in July is Ice Cream Day and July 15 is Ice Cream Cone Day.  Who knew?  But one thing I know is that ice cream must be good for the soul because my dad had a scoop or two just about every night of my childhood and he is the healthiest grandpa I know! Other fun ice cream facts are here!


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Homemade Granola Recipe

Granola

8 c. rolled oats (I use 14 cups of oats rather than oats/wheat)

6 c. rolled wheat (or oats)

2 c. UNTOASTED wheat germ (found by cereal products with a red lid)

2 c. coconut

1 ½ c brown sugar

2 tsp salt

 1 c. sunflower seeds (optional)

combine with

1 c. oil

1 c. water

1 c. honey

4-5 tsp vanilla

3 Tbsp cinnamon

Mix all dry ingredients together.  Mix all wet ingredients together in a separate bowl.  Put wet ingredients with dry and mix together and spread even thin layer on cookie sheet and bake at 210 degrees for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.  

We store it in ziploc bags, glass jars or cereal tuppeware.  This is something even my pickiest of eaters devours!

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Teacher Appreciation Week + Gift Idea

Sorry for the delay.  But we did sort through all your comments to make sure each thing you did received an entry and then we placed the entries in to random.org.

And the winner  of a family pass to The Princess Festival is:

 Diana, who wrote, "My granddaughters would love this as they are always dressing up like princesses!"

Congratulations!  Please check your email or contact mommylessons101@gmail.com so we can get you your pass!  Welcome to all our new readers.

Below is a twist on our mother's day gifts in case you need teacher appreciation or end of the year ideas for those amazing teachers!

I have to say that I love the way Teacher Appreciation Week has changed over the years.  I was a teacher and I loved the sweet things my students brought me as appreciation.  My favorite gifts I remember getting: Picture of me and the child or class in a frame, heartfelt notes, Great Harvest Gift Basket, Gift Card to Barnes and Noble, Caramel Apple, etc.

This year, I even adapted our mother's day gift basket into a teacher appreciation basket!  It was a hit.  Here's the note we included:

Thank you for being an INCREDIBLE teacher! Here’s a little basket to show my appreciation…

Starbursts because you have always taught me to shoot for the stars!
Popcorn because you give me a listening ear anytime an idea “pops” into my head
Glue Sticks for your ability to stick by your students, no matter what!
Post-it-notes because you don’t postpone teaching us what matters most
Kleenex to symbolize your compassion for your students
Smarties for teaching us to all be smarties!
Paperclips because you always keep it all together

Thanks for everything!

In addition to gifts, our school {and I think many others} have moved on to making it a full teacher appreciation week. I used the above basket for the "bring your teacher a supply" day.

Monday - Bring your teacher their favorite fruit

Tuesday - Wear your teacher's favorite color

Wednesday - Bring your teacher their favorite treat

Thursday - Bring your teacher a classroom supply

Friday - Write your teacher a note, draw a picture or make a collage and tell them why you appreciate them

All Week: Please donate a book that you family as already enjoyed to the teacher's classroom.  Inscribe the inside cover with your name and year.  Please do not purchase a new book, pass on your love of reading with a recycled book!

Other Ideas: Celebrate your teacher's favorite team, bring your teacher's favorite drink, bring a flower {made, homegrown or store-bought}

Another cute idea I saw was an

Around the World Theme...

Monday- they'll receive a passport visa and pencils

Tuesday- they'll get a fortune cookie and chopsticks

Wednesday -  French pastries for breakfast

Thursday- Ireland with gold coin candy in little pots

Friday - Caterer sets up a taco/burrito bar.

Add some flair by decorating the school in countries flags.

We are almost to the end of the school year.  Time for some summer boredom busters coming up!

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