Extra Recess, Just Barely

I have decided to stop numbering my photos.  I'm always behind, and I decided I might as well remove the pressure and stop worrying about it.  I still plan to take photos daily, but if I miss a day or two here or there, I'm not going to let it bother me.  So this is still a 365 Photo Project, more or less.

As I mentioned in my previous post, we are having beautiful weather here in Iowa. In fact we reached record breaking temperatures today with a high of 65.  The kids came in very wound up and chatty.  Let's face it, my kids are chatty most days.  Knowing it was going to be such a fantastic day, I gave the class an opportunity to earn an extra recess at the end of the day.  I wrote the word RECESS on the board.  If we had any letters left by 2:45, we could have the recess.  I would remove a letter when we had problems staying on task and following classroom rules.


We earned our recess, but just barely.  All we had left was this lonely R, but that was enough.

PGD Day

Today was a PGD Day; a Perfectly Good Day to leave early!

Kids at Phillips earn paw prints for good choices.  When they have 20, they turn them in to get prizes including a special catered breakfast in the conference room.  The teachers get a chance to earn rewards, too.  We earn these little PGD certificates for arriving at meetings on time or going the extra mile. When we want to, we can turn one in to our principal and leave right after the kids do, no explanations necessary.  I have a whole collection of them, because I rarely leave early.  I did today though.  

We reached a high of 65 degrees here in Iowa on January 30th, and you can't get PGer than that.

Cheeseburger Soup and Cheesy Bisquits

I am a soup lover and today I made one of my favorite soups, Cheeseburger Soup. The original recipe came from Taste of Home Heartwarming Soups.


Cheeseburger Soup


1 pound ground beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup diced celery
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
4 tablespoons butter or margerine, divided
3 cups chicken broth
4 cups diced peeled potatoes
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups (8 ounces) Velveeta
1 1/2 cups milk (I use soymilk)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup sour cream

In a 3-qt. saucepan, cook beef until no longer pink; drain and set aside.  In the same saucepan, saute onion, carrots, celery, basil and parsley in 1 tablespoon butter until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes.  Add broth, potatoes and beef; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

In a small skillet, melt the rest of the butter.  Add flour; cook and stir for 3-5 minutes or until bubbly.  Add to soup; bring to a boil.  Cook and stir for 2 minutes.  Reduce heat to low.  Add cheese, milk, salt and pepper; cook and stir until cheese melts.  Remove from the heat; blend in sour cream.  Makes 8 servings.

I served Cheesy Biscuits with this.  These are actually called "Better than Jim 'N Nick's Cheesy Biscuits." I' ve never had Jim and Nick's biscuits, but these were definitely delicious.  You can find the recipe for these on the blog, Plain Chicken.

Day 24/366: Finished Slippers

These finished slippers are my first knitting project in more than thirty years.  I first learned how to knit when I was around ten or eleven.  It was a Girl Scout project. We used this very same pattern, but I was thinking as I was knitting these, that I know I didn't really understand what I was doing back then.  I hope these fit the person I made them for, because they seem pretty big.

Day 23/366: American Revolution Books

We are almost done with our study of the American Revolution.  Almost everyone has their American Revolution Books put together and turned in.  The kids did some great art work and some great writing.

Day 22/366: American Revolution Circle Books

We are wrapping up our American Revolution unit.  Our last project was creating these circle books which including pages about 4 important events of the revolution.  We are hanging them on a rope stretched across the room, which works okay because I'm short and the kids are shorter.

I had it all planned out, except . . . . .

We have a little problem.  I won't be able to use the screen until we take them down.  Oops!

Day 21/366: Button Box

Teachers collect lots of things, and after teaching the same grade for the past 15 years, I have quite a variety. This button collection was among my math materials, but I decided to take it back home for some craft projects.  Whenever I see buttons, I think of my grandma's button box.  I use to spend hours going through them when I stayed with her.  Some of these buttons came from that collection.