Happy May 1^st  Everyone!!

Can you believe that it's May already?? Time flies when you are having fun and today is cooking class with Ms. T and then art. Won't that  be fun?

Today’s recipe has a funny name. It is called EASY DUMP CAKE!! But don’t worry, it’s really yummy! Enjoy watching me make it and then you try and see how it turns out. 

     Easy Dump Cake from Scratch Recipe

If you're using frozen fruit, use them from frozen; no need to thaw.

INGREDIENTS:

For the fruit:

·      3 cups fresh or frozen fruit (like berries, sliced peaches, sliced apples, sliced plums, etc.)

·      1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar, plus more to taste

·      2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

·      1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

For the cake:

·      1 cup (200 grams) sugar

·      1 1/4 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour

·      1 teaspoon baking powder

·      1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

·      3/4 cup (170 grams) melted unsalted butter

·      Vanilla ice cream, to serve

METHOD:

1 Preheat the oven to 375°F. 

2 Prepare the fruit: Combine the fruit, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a 9x13 baking dish, stirring to coat the fruit in the sugar and cornstarch. Add up to an extra 1/4 cup sugar, as needed, if using very tart fruits. (Frozen fruit is fine; it doesn't not need to be thawed before baking.)Spread the mixture into an even layer.

3 Add the cake topping: Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and kosher salt for the cake layer in a mixing bowl. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top of the fruit. Drizzle the melted butter evenly over the top.

4 Bake the cake: Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the fruit is bubbling through the center and the top is golden (frozen fruit might take an extra 10 minutes or so). If you notice a few dry pockets of flour toward the end of cooking, push them down into the fruit with a spoon so they cook.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Leftover cake can be covered and refrigerated for a few days.

Because we have been talking about rain and the water cycle for the last few weeks, I thought it would be fun to make your own rainstick! I have attached a little video for you to watch that tells you about real rain sticks and then you can try to make one yourself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b32g5NvG9Qc

There are many ways you can make a rainstick and this video just shows you one way. If you have a papertowel tube or an old pringles can or for a smaller one a toilet paper roll. Then they would make interesting sounding rainmakers. I cant wait to see yours.

Lastly remember today is your spelling test.

Ask your parents to test you today (or your brother or your sister)

and then I want you to have a great weekend and remember that you are wonderful, loved and important!

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Keep up the great attitude and hard work!!

Here is how my Dump Cake turned out....

Friday, April 24th.

Good Morning boys and girls.

I hope everyone has had a lovely week!! 

From all that you have sent me I am so impressed by your creations from your recycle bin.

Some people made games (soccer games, mazes, bowling game), some made toys (car ramps, ships, giant paper airplanes,) and other wonderful things. Thank you for being so creative! 

Also it was Earth Day!! So many people sent me where their favourite sit spots were. Lily loves her parents bed and Lis loves to sit at Bayview's old bamboo forest!!

This weeks focus was WATER. WATER is important to all life. It is part of the curriculum so we will be spending another week focusing in on the importance of water and doing a few more things with that theme in mind. I will continue to send daily letters and updates and videos for you to watch to get that concept across.

I loved listening to the grade ones and twos read! Very impressive. I will be sending an attachment  on Monday with the new reading that I would like you to look at and if you want to practice you can, if you don't, that's fine. When we set up our time for reading to me, have that paper ready. Many parents said that the time that we read today works for them next week..let me know if you are okay with the time you had and I will see you same time, same place!!

If you have any questions about anything that we are doing let me know. I will try to help you out. I am always available.

Also, like I said before if you can't do an activity at the time, don't stress and maybe a different day would work for you.

Today is Friday and on Friday's we cook.

Todays recipe is a no BAKE..which will be great because you do not need to use any energy  to cook them but they will give you energy when you eat them!!

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER ENERGY BITES

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup (90g) rolled oats
• 1/2 cup (125g) crunchy peanut butter
• 1/3 cup (113g) honey, maple syrup, or agave
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (30g) desiccated coconut
• 1/4 cup (25g) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup (90g) dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

1.      In a large mixing bowl, mix together the oats, peanut butter, honey, vanilla, coconut, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips until completely combined.

2.      Refrigerate the mixture until firm enough to roll into balls - about 30 minutes.

3.      Once chilled, roll the dough into 1oz balls. If the mixture is still sticky, you can dampen your hands to make the rolling process easier.

4.      Refrigerate or freeze once again to allow them to firm up before eating.

Today other activities that you need to complete:

1) Have someone give you a spelling test. Your bonus word can be an Earth Day word or a water word.

2) Do more math...a math page away will keep your brain awake and ready for when we meet again!!

3) Do some art!!! Friday is our art day!! Famous artists from Paris would often just sit outside  and draw and paint what they saw...this was called "en plein air" (well something like that) and it meant out in the fresh air. Van Gogh used to do this all the time. He would sit in the sunflower fields and draw and paint sunflowers. Sit in your front or back yard and draw or paint me a picture of what you are looking at. You can start with sharpie ( I love sharpie) and then either use water colour paints, crayons, any kind of paint, pastels...and then send me a picture of what you drew. I am so excited to see your art!!

Have a great Friday and also a great weekend!!!

xoxo

ms t

Bread in a Bag

1 gallon sized resealable plastic bag3 cups flour1/4  cup sugar1 packet yeast (rapid rise or regular)1 cup warm water1/4 cup butter, melted1 teaspoon salt (this can be to taste)

• Combine 1 cup flour, sugar, and yeast packet in a bowl. Pour into a resealable (Ziplock style) bag.
• Add warm water. Seal bag, pressing out air.
• Begin shaking and mixing the bag by hand
• Set bag to rest for 10 minutes (proofing)
• In a bowl, combine 1 cup of flour with salt. Pour into bag along with melted butter.
• Seal bag again, pressing out air. Shake and mix again.
• Open bag and add in last cup of flour.
• Seal bag, and mix for final time.
• Pull out dough and place on a floured surface.
• With floured hands, knead dough for 5-10 minutes
• Place dough in a greased loaf pan.
• Lay towel over the loaf pan and set it in a warm spot in your house. Allow the dough 30-45 minutes to rise
• Bake at 375 for 25 minutes

Good Morning boys and girls,

I did another cooking video as today (Friday) is usually our cooking day.

I made a bread in a bag.

I had to work really fast, but if you follow the directions with your parents, it takes a little bit longer. It was fun for me to make. Yesterday I made sourdough bread and that was fun too.

You dont have to make this bread recipe if you have a different one that you want to try make. In fact if you want to make anything today...that is fine too. Take a picture or a video of what you are making. And in your journal write me a little bit about what you made. And if you dont have time...write about your favorite type of bread...and what type of sandwhich you like made with bread. Today the topic of writing is BREAD BREAD BEAUTIFUL BREAD!!

If you watch a video on bread..thats fine..tell me about it.

That is your writing activity for the day.

Read for 20 minutes.

Do some math.

And have a great weekend.

What did you think of the assembly?

xoxo

ms t

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This is our weekly chart. Either print it off...or refer to here for your overall schedule for the time being. I have this in front of my on my desk so that I can see what I will be asking you to do on a daily basis.

Good morning boys and girls and parents,

So today I am trying something new. I had Abi take a video of me making Hard boiled Easter eggs...and I hope it works!! This will be your challenge for this morning's work. The ingredients for making your own Nature died eggs are things from with in the kitchen or out in nature. My recipe is Turmeric Coloured eggs.

You will need: White shelled Eggs

4 cups of water

6 tbsp of Turmeric 

1 tbsp of vinegar.

Watch my video (if it works) and you will see me making the coloured eggs.

All you have to do is mix it all together and put it on the stove and boil it till the eggs are hard (which takes about 15 minutes).Then leave it in the water so that the shell absorbs the colouring. Sometimes the eggs break and I say...oh dear...and that is that...when you open up the egg, then that even might have some of the beautiful colours on it.

The plum tree at the end of my street.

This morning I also went for a spring walk and I took lots of pictures of spring things for you to look at. These were some of my favourite things. When Shane and Abi were little we would walk in the neighbourhood and identify all the plants. Do you know these ones?

The grape hyacinth that blooms every year whether you replant it or not.

The lonely little daffodil growing at Abi and Shane's elementary school

The pink Azalea that is in my neighbours front yard.

The yellow forsythia that is the hedge in my yard.

The tulips growing near my greenhouse.

Inside my green house you can see the spinach on the far right that we started in school, the peas in the yellow book bin, and the mesclun to the left...all growing and almost ready for transplanting.

More spinach in the round containers and the strawberries that I transplanted into my greenhouse so they can hang in my hanging baskets.

I took a picture of our spuds in tubs..but I can't find the picture today. So I will add to the blog next week.
Enjoy reading the blog.
Let me know if the video worked. It was my challenge today!!
Have a great Easter!
I will be sending you something else later on...so  keep an eye out for it!!
xoxoxoxo
ms t