Happy MLP Halloween

My daughter and I decided over the summer that we were going to be Rainbow Dash and Applejack for Halloween. We had the knit hats and matching scarves and my mother-in-law would maybe my daughter's costume. I would wear jeans with boots and a cutie-mark t-shirt. All was right with the world.

Then I became greedy and wanted my sixth grade co-workers to dress up like ponies, too. There was some minor resistance (ponies or Milwaukee Brewers Racing Sausages), but we made it through. One of my co-workers made the ears on the headbands. The same co-worker ended up having to print the t-shirt transfers (which I felt so bad about. . . but my printer didn't work and I couldn't find a place to print them).

Bottom line, we all tried to fit the personalities of our characters and I did a lot of coaching and prepping for most of these, but it worked out. We even made our only guy teacher Big Mac AND got make-up on him. It was super perfect.

Here are the costumes, which worked out perfectly.

Then I had two different costumes... the one with the hat and the one with the knit hat.

My daughter's costume is so gorgeous! It's a full body suit made of that really plush, soft fabric that they make comfy pants out of. My mother-in-law followed a pattern she found for the suit proportions. There's a detachable tail made with colored feather boas. She also made a matching hat, gloves and shoe covers, but we already had knitted gloves and a knitted hat. So we went with that, as per my daughter's request. She looks adorable!

She was thrilled and I was happy to have a real costume. Thank goodness I had co-workers who knew how to do makeup for the ponies to really add to the awesome. It was a great My Little Pony Halloween!

I'll leave you, this Halloween, with a Geek & Sundry video spoof of my Tabletop Game Club's favorite game, Werewolf!

A Day in the Life of a Middle School Game Club Teacher

I start my day getting up a little earlier than normal and  loading my car with a box of games, that must then be carrried up the steps to the building, then down the long hall to the other side of the school and up to the third floor. Once there I put the box down and prepare my classroom.

 I had a lot of construction in my back room this year. So I had to scrub down the tables and chairs and make sure we had at least 5 extra chairs in the back.

Then I have to unload the box of games into the game vault.

Check the calendar for gaming sign-ups and get the games out of the vault.

Set up the more set-up-heavy games for the kids, so they can amplify game-play during lunch. (Save set-up procedures for teaching days.)

Finally, lunch rolls around and it's TIME TO GAME!

Oh Captain, My Captain

That your pain was so great, breaks my heart, because your light has gone out. That the darkness snuffed out such a beacon of inspiration is a true tragedy.

This man was such a huge part of my life, without me ever knowing him in person. This man inspired me in so many ways, from being part of the Peter Pan canon that I studied relentlessly, to having inspired a junior in high school during English class and going on to make me want to use Dead Poets Society for my forensics piece that I did the best job ever on. He has spanned every aspect of my life, touching each part of it in some small way that makes such a huge impression.

Now, as a teacher, I found myself constantly thinking about him and his character's dedication to teaching literature and writing WITH A PASSION! Whose performance drove me to create my own poetry parlor and try to foster that primal understanding of emotion in writing.Even more, I loved how unique he was.

I have literally been in tears for hours after hearing the news. Bombarded by the television and social media outlets. My heart goes out to his family and I hope that he found the peace he needed.

Your verse inspired millions, Oh Captain, My Captain. RIP Robin Williams, my inspiration. 

Richard Parker Poop Balls

In a previous post, I shared how I made Life Saver Doughnuts for my students who were reading Life of Pi. Well, I also made another treat for the kids who did their homework over the last weekend we had to finish the book. See, I had to have the kids read the last five chapters bringing us up to Part III in the book, but it was also over the last weekend in the school year. So to reward the kids who really put in the effort to finish it, I made them this really simple and awesome treat. I, of course, had to tie it into the book and make it gross, because that's how I roll!

I got the recipe from a co-worker a few months back on how to make Oreo Truffles. Since we had read the wonderful chapter that week on Pi trying to eat Richard Parker's poop, I had a EUREKA moment and decided to make Oreo Truffles, also known as Richard Parker Poop Balls. I then served them in a plastic cup, that the students could then fill with water from the bubbler to wash the rich chocolatey taste out of their mouth. It was quite a success and great fun. I heard, through the halls, about the Richard Parker Poop Balls and it was a memorable connection for my seventh graders.

Oreo Truffles
(AKA Richard Parker Poop Balls)

Ingredients
36 OREO Cookies, finely crushed, divided
1 pkg.  (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened
4 pkg.  (4 oz. each) BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, broken into pieces, melted
OR
Any kind of chocolate you want. (I used mini chips, melted in the microwave for 1 minute, then 15 second intervals until melted.)

Directions

1. Use food processor to break up Oreo’s until fine pieces.

2. Mix soft cream cheese and cookie crumbs in a bowl until fully mixed. (Clean hands work best.)

3. Shape into 48 (1-inch) balls. Place on wax paper-covered cookie sheet and refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.

4. While the balls are being refrigerated, melt the chocolate until smooth.

5. Take out the Oreo cookie balls and dip them in melted chocolate; place them back on waxed paper.

6. REFRIGERATE 1 hour or until firm. Overnight for best results.

Geek Love for My Students

I couldn't end the school year without doing something geeky for my seventh graders. We're whole-class reading The Life of Pi. So we're listening to the audiobook and working on worksheets while we read (and look at the ebook on the screen so we can highlight words and google things we don't understand). After we finish reading the book, we're going to watch the movie and do a compare and contrast. That will end our year.

I wanted to bring in a treat for them, because they have been doing so well with the book, reading it, paying attention, asking questions, and all that jazz. So I found a way to make easy homemade doughnuts that look like LIFE SAVERS!!! Err... life buoys? Errrmm... life preservers? OH! Life Tubes? Anyways. . . those rings that save people that they have on boats and around docks and stuff.

Since it's Friday. . . it's treat day. I woke up at 4:30AM to make my students Life Saver Doughnuts to enjoy while they listen to the book today. Here is my journey. The recipe is at the bottom.

Life Saver Doughnuts

Ingredients

• 3 packages of Grands Jr. Biscuits
• 1 whole bottle of vegetable oil
• 1 container of preferred non-whipped frosting (I used white)
• 2 cups sugar (for the doughnut holes)
• 1 squeezable package of Red Cake Decorating Frosting

Equipment

• 1 small round or hexagon cookie cutter
• 1 large pot (not too high on the sides)
• 1 plate
• 1 large flat plate or a cutting board
• 1 medium to large bowl (for the dough middles)
• 1 paper towel lined cookie sheet or plate
• 1 small-medium bowl (for the sugar)
• Metal or Silicon tongs.
• Butter Knife or Frosting Knife

Directions:
1. Put the oil into the pot and put it on the stove on medium heat. Let heat up.

2. On a large plate or cutting board, open the Grands Jr. containers and lay out the biscuits.

3. Press the biscuits to be a little flat, then place the cookie cutter as close to the middle as possible and cut out the middle. Put the middles aside in a bowl.

4. Finish 1 whole package (or all three) and arrange the cut out doughnuts on a plate.

5. Using a doughnut hole, test the oil. The oil should start to bubble when the dough is placed in. Drop and let cook on each side (these will need to cook longer than the doughnuts, because they are thicker).

6. Once the oil is ready, you can drop 4-5 doughnut rings in at a time. Just note in the order you dropped them. Flip them with a tongs as soon as they are light golden brown (not dark golden brown) on one side.

7. Once both sides look similar, take them out and place them on the paper towel to soak up excess oil.

8. Do this for all the doughnuts and doughnut holes.

9. In a bowl, put half of the frosting from the container and put it in the microwave for about 25-30 seconds.

10. Take a doughnut and dip it in the melted frosting and let the excess drip off. You'll have to do this 3-4 times to get a thick white coat. OR you can spread a little of the unmelted frosting on first and then dip it in the melted frosting. Put aside so the white frosting firms up just a bit.

11. Take the red bag of frosting and, on four parallel sides, put little red dollops.  Let firm, then use a knife or frosting knife to tape it down into neat little red markers (see above pictures).

12. While you are waiting for the frosting to firm, you can toss the holes in the sugar you've placed in a bowl.

13. Serve with a napkin. Does not do well overnight, because the frosting is so moist.

To .14159263 & Beyond! (Happy Pi Day!)

π

For a long time I've celebrated Pi Day. Here's what's sad, though. . . until I found joy in teaching it to my class of third graders a few years ago, I never really thought much of it. Now I'm a teacher who gets to live every day sharing the awesomeness of the world with them! For example, every Friday, I write a Friday Freewrite prompt tying in some sort of "On this day" or "International {Insert} Day."

This year, I got to flex my Geek Girl style on this particular Pi Day. Sure enough, when I went to work and shared everything with my co-workers, they reminded me how the Math teacher who is on leave always does Pi Day in a big way. My husband also mildly mocked that I'm a Literacy teacher, not a Math teacher. What the heck. . . I can't have fun with Pi because I don't teach Math? Are you INSANE?!?! Watch me!

Writing Prompt: 1. Today is International Pi Day! No, not the pie you eat, the pi you do Math stuff with. On the back is only the first 3,640 numbers after the 3 point, but traditionally they refer to pi at 3.14 or π , but use the number Pi to guide you. Using the layout on the back of the worksheet, use words with the amount of letters equal to the numbers as you follow the number past the decimal point. For example, “I love a large thinkfest of clever wit” is 14159263.

On the back, I put:
3.
1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510 5820974944 5923078164 0628620899 8628034825 3421170679 8214808651 3282306647 0938446095 5058223172 5359408128 4811174502 8410270193 8521105559 6446229489 5493038196 4428810975 6659334461 2847564823 3786783165 2712019091 4564856692 3460348610 4543266482 1339360726 0249141273 7245870066 0631558817 4881520920 9628292540 9171536436 7892590360 0113305305 4882046652 1384146951 9415116094 3305727036 5759591953 0921861173 8193261179 3105118548 0744623799 6274956735 1885752724 8912279381 8301194912 9833673362 4406566430 8602139494 6395224737 1907021798 6094370277 0539217176 2931767523 8467481846 7669405132 0005681271 4526356082 7785771342 7577896091 7363717872 1468440901 2249534301 4654958537 1050792279 6892589235 4201995611 2129021960 8640344181 5981362977 4771309960 5187072113 4999999837 2978049951 0597317328 1609631859 5024459455 3469083026 4252230825 3344685035 2619311881 7101000313 7838752886 5875332083 8142061717 7669147303 5982534904 2875546873 1159562863 8823537875 9375195778 1857780532 1712268066 1300192787 6611195909 2164201989 3809525720 1065485863 2788659361 5338182796 8230301952 0353018529 6899577362 2599413891 2497217752 8347913151 5574857242 4541506959 5082953311 6861727855 8890750983 8175463746 4939319255 0604009277 0167113900 9848824012 8583616035 6370766010 4710181942 9555961989 4676783744 9448255379 7747268471 0404753464 6208046684 2590694912 9331367702 8989152104 7521620569 6602405803 8150193511 2533824300 3558764024 7496473263 9141992726 0426992279 6782354781 6360093417 2164121992 4586315030 2861829745 5570674983 8505494588 5869269956 9092721079 7509302955 3211653449 8720275596 0236480665 4991198818 3479775356 6369807426 5425278625 5181841757 4672890977 7727938000 8164706001 6145249192 1732172147 7235014144 1973568548 1613611573 5255213347 5741849468 4385233239 0739414333 4547762416 8625189835 6948556209 9219222184 2725502542 5688767179 0494601653 4668049886 2723279178 6085784383 8279679766 8145410095 3883786360 9506800642 2512520511 7392984896 0841284886 2694560424 1965285022 2106611863 0674427862 2039194945 0471237137 8696095636 4371917287 4677646575 7396241389 0865832645 9958133904 7802759009 9465764078 9512694683 9835259570 9825822620 5224894077 2671947826 8482601476 9909026401 3639443745 5305068203 4962524517 4939965143 1429809190 6592509372 2169646151 5709858387 4105978859 5977297549 8930161753 9284681382 6868386894 2774155991 8559252459 5395943104 9972524680 8459872736 4469584865 3836736222 6260991246 0805124388 4390451244 1365497627 8079771569 1435997700 1296160894 4169486855 5848406353 4220722258 2848864815 8456028506 0168427394 5226746767 8895252138 5225499546 6672782398 6456596116 3548862305 7745649803 5593634568 1743241125 1507606947 9451096596 0940252288 7971089314 5669136867 2287489405 6010150330 8617928680 9208747609 1782493858 9009714909 6759852613 6554978189 3129784821 6829989487 2265880485 7564014270 4775551323 7964145152 3746234364 5428584447 9526586782 1051141354 7357395231 1342716610 2135969536 2314429524 8493718711 0145765403 5902799344 0374200731 0578539062 1983874478 0847848968 3321445713 8687519435 0643021845 3191048481 0053706146 8067491927 8191197939 9520614196 6342875444 0643745123 7181921799 9839101591 9561814675 1426912397 4894090718 6494231961
5679452080 9514655022 5231603881 9301420937 6213785595 6638937787 0830390697 9207734672 2182562599 6615014215 0306803844 7734549202 6054146659 2520149744 2850732518 6660021324 3408819071 0486331734 6496514539 0579626856 1005508106 6587969981 6357473638 4052571459 1028970641 4011097120 6280439039 7595156771 5770042033 7869936007 2305587631 7635942187 3125147120 5329281918 2618612586 7321579198 4148488291 6447060957 5270695722 0917567116 7229109816 9091528017 3506712748 5832228718 3520935396 5725121083 5791513698 8209144421 0067510334 6711031412 6711136990 8658516398 3150197016 5151168517 1437657618 3515565088 4909989859 9823873455 2833163550 7647918535 8932261854 8963213293 3089857064 2046752590

In addition, the class participated in a π Contest. They had to come up with a fun Pi-Graphic-Pun. It was hilarious! Here are the outcomes and the five best. See if you can figure them out.

I also loved being able to turn numbers into letters, so sure enough . . . my shirt for this year was 3.14 and PIE. W00T!

Additionally, we played 3.14 from t he Cowboy Bebop Soundtrack, just for a neat cultural experience.

Finally, we looked up why they use the symbol and how they found it. Well, it comes from the first letter in the Greek word for "periphery," which essentially equates to circumference. Together, we all said "The more you know!" And the following is for my daughter and her love of Pinkie Pie!

 

HAPPY PI DAY!