Creamy Coleslaw

Going to a cookout and need a quick side dish?  Here's my go to dish- Creamy Coleslaw!  It's easy to make and has only a few ingredients.  To make it even quicker, I use bags of pre-shredded Confetti Slaw mix that includes shredded cabbage and carrots.

Here's what you'll need:
2 packages pre-shredded coleslaw mix
3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon dry ground mustard
2 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar (I used 4 packets Splenda)
salt and pepper to taste

Here's what to do:

Whisk mayo, sour cream, mustard, white vinegar, and salt & pepper together in a mixing bowl.

Combine sauce with bags of pre-shredded slaw mix.  Make sure all veggie mix is evenly coated.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.  This tastes great using broccoli slaw mix too.  I like using this same mix with BBQ pork tacos- just fill a tortilla with BBQ pork and a little bit of this creamy coleslaw.  It's delish, trust me!

Happy summer!  Enjoy your back yard BBQ parties and cook outs with your friends and family!

Book Clubs

Book Clubs are a great way to get kids reading new books and interacting with others to talk about books. Here's how I set my 5th grade Book Clubs up this year.

First I divided my students into groups based on reading levels and book interests.  Each group chose the book that they would like to read as a group.  My book sets are leveled based on Fountas and Pinnell and sorted into plastic tubs, so it's easy for kids to peruse the titles and make their selection. Below are some examples of some of the books they chose for their Book Club groups.

As you can see, students chose a wide variety of books!  I loved going to each Book Club and hearing about their books!

Next, we went over the book club expectations and I gave each group a calendar so they could plan out how much they would need to read each day.  As a group, they had to decide if they needed to break up their reading time into chapters or pages.  They also had to decide if they would need to read at home during the week or on weekends to meet their book club goals.  Below is an example of the planning sheet.

On the back of their planning sheet, I added a Book Club Participate Grade page.  Every student began with 100 participation points.  If a student is off task during Book Club time, then I made an "X" in one of the boxes to indicate that a point had been deducted.

At the beginning of each class period, students met with their book club groups to decide what needed to be accomplished for the day and review what happened in their books previously.  This usually took about 5 minutes.

Then, they got busy reading their assigned pages or chapters for the class period.  I usually gave them about 30-40 minutes to read in class.

As students read, I encouraged them to use post-it notes to make reading connections and make notes of things they wanted to discuss with their Book Clubs.  Here's an anchor chart they used as a reference.  I kept a pile of post-it notes in the middle of each table.

After reading, students met in their book club groups to discuss what was read.  I put a few discussion points on the Smartboard.

I also put up a few anchor charts students could refer to as they met with their groups.

This chart was inspired by the Lucy Calkins Reading Units featuring book clubs.

While students were in their Book Club groups, I visited with each table to listen in on their conversations.  I would sometimes ask the members, "What's going on today with _______?"

I found this chart idea on Pinterest.

After about a 10 minute discussion time, students completed their Book Club Assignment Sheet.  Here's an example of The BFG Book Club's work.

For this assignment, students picked an interesting vocabulary word.  I put dictionaries in the middle of each table so students could use them to look up the definitions of these words.

So, that's how we did Book Clubs in my 5th grade class this year!  I kept it simple and easy and it was very manageable! How do you do Book Clubs in your classroom?  Please share your great ideas in the comments section!  We'd love to hear from you!

Nonfiction Flipbooks- Kids Become the Experts!

The culminating project for our nonfiction unit was for students to create a flipbook with information about a nonfiction topic. Students chose their own topic, read and researched, then created a flipbook to share with others.  With this project, my students became the experts!

Flip books are easy to make.  For this one, I just folded three sheets of construction paper.  Just be sure to layer them so you get about an inch for the "flip".  Then staple at the top.  Students write their subheadings on each of the flips.  When the paper is flipped up, students can write their informational paragraphs and draw illustrations.

Here's the assignment sheet that I gave students:

Students had a choice on what topic they wanted to research.  I just asked them to choose something that they were NOT already an expert on.  Once a topic was chosen, I had students gather up their resources in the library- whether it was a book, encyclopedia, or other informational resource.

Flipbook Projects included:

• Title page with author's name (they are the author!)
• Table of contents
• 4 pages with subheadings, information in paragraph form
• 4 nonfiction text features (photos with captions, illustrations, diagrams, charts, side bars, text boxes or bubbles, charts, bold or italicized words, glossary, etc...)

Here are some examples of some of the projects (I wish I could show them all to you!):

As you can see, there were a wide variety of topics!  After researching and creating their flipbooks, students truly became the experts.  In fact, we all learned something new!

Book Fair - A Celebration of Favorite Books!

Last spring, I did a Book Fair with my fifth grade students.  It was a huge success.  The kids loved making the project boards.  The project incorporated reading skills, writing skills, and creativity.  Plus, after projects were completed and displayed, kids in all grade levels could get ideas for their summer reading!  So, this year I collaborated with my fouth grade teacher friend and we did a 4th and 5th Grade Book Fair. We had about 200 projects on display in our library.  It was awesome!

For the project, students choose their favorite book they have read this year and create a Book Fair Project.

Here are the components that were required:

• Book title, author, publisher, and copyright date.
• Setting
• Main Characters and descriptions
• Plot Summary
• Conflict
• Resolution
• Tone or Mood
• Author's Purpose
• Genre

Students could add in extra things such as:

• Theme
• Author's biography
• Photos or other visual aids
• Book / movie comparisons 
• Book review
• Etc... (Really, the sky is the limit!  Or whatever will fit on the board!)

The best part of this project is that kids use their creativity when designing their board.  Kids used all sorts of things to decorate their board and they were all different, yet fantastic!

When I introduced the project, I sent home a letter to parents explaining the project guidelines, including due dates and links to project examples.

Here's the Book Fair Project Planning Sheet I had the kids use as a rough draft.

And now for some of the great projects!  I wish you could see them all!  Here's a small sampling of the fifth grade projects.

Once all the projects were on display in the library, I created a Book Fair Scavenger Hunt where students could have a chance to peruse the projects on display and look for certain projects that contained...a book that has an animal as a main character, a book that's purpose is to inform, a book that is set in a magical place, etc... My students loved this scavenger hunt.  It gave them time to look at and enjoy the projects, plus reinforced the skills that were taught during this project.

This project could be adapted for any grade level.  It's fun, engaging, and gets kids thinking (and hopefully, reading) some great new books! 

Postcards Across America!

One of my most favorite projects that I did with my fourth grade class several years ago was a "Postcard Project" to learn about the regions of the United States.  It was so much fun!  My students got so excited when a new postcard would arrive in the school mail.  Our goal was to make sure we received a postcard from every single state.  As I discussed the project with students, we talked about the states that might be hard to get.  Really, there was no need to worry!  As we began brainstorming, one student mentioned he had an aunt who lived in Hawaii.  Someone else knew someone from Alaska.  Someone else had a Grandma and Grandpa that were on vacation in another state we needed.  The project became a game to my students.  As postcards poured into our classroom, we'd see which ones we had and which ones we still needed.

Here's one of the bulletin boards that I made to display some of the postcards we received.

When I launched the project, I sent home a note with students (see example below).  The note explained the project and gave the address of where to send the post cards.  In addition, I sent the note via email so parents could forward it to their relatives and friends who lived in other states.  To gain even further attention to our project, I posted a note on my Facebook page so my friends and relatives could participate.  The outpouring of support was amazing!

Every time we got a postcard in the mail, we read the postcard, looked at the pictures, and shared what we knew about that particular state.  We identified the region of the state and the state's capital city.  Then a student would locate the state on our class map and put a push pin to indicate that we had received a post card.  Below is our class map with push pins and more of our postcard collection!  My students were obsessed with checking this map!  They were determined to make sure we got all 50 states!

One day we got all of these post cards in the mail!

We got so many postcards that I added another bulletin board to display them all.  The support we received from relatives of our students and the community was incredible.  We ended up getting a postcard from every single state!  We tracked the number of postcards received from each state in a bar graph.  So, not only did we tie in Social Studies to our postcard project, but math too!

After the project was over, I gave the postcards to all of my students.  They got to pick out their favorites as keepsakes.  If the postcard was from someone they knew, then they got to keep that one.

With this fun project, they learned so much about the United States (and I did too!).

Roasted Baby Brussels with Garlic Aioli Dipping Sauce

I've had a bag of Brussels sprout in my fridge for the past week and have been contemplating how to prepare them.  Recently, I've had great success with roasting veggies.  It's easy to do and the veggies always come out delicious.  So,that's what I decided to do with these baby Brussels tonight.  I made a double batch so I'd have some Brussels sprout left over for snacking and as a side dish for a meal tomorrow night.  Oh, and here's a little FYI, did you know you're supposed to say Brussels sprout, not Brussel sprouts??  I learn something new every day!

Here's what you'll need:
1 bag of baby Brussels  (The bag I bought from Sprouts was 1.5 pounds)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Pepper
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon minced roasted garlic
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Here's what to do:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare your Brussels sprout by rinsing them with water. Remove the outer leaf and cut off the hard end. Then cut the Brussels sprout in half.

Place Brussels sprout evenly on a baking sheet.  I like to line my baking sheet with parchment paper.  It makes for easy clean up!  Drizzle extra virgin olive oil.  Then sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes.  While Brussels sprout are cooking, mix together mayonnaise, roasted garlic, and lemon juice to create the aioli.
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The next time I make this, I might add some crumbled bacon when roasting.  Everything tastes better with bacon, right?

If you have leftover aioli, just refrigerate it in a sealed container.  If you would prefer to drizzle the aioli, just add a little more lemon juice to thin it out.  It would look pretty too!

Enjoy!