Teaching with TLC: April 2011

Attention Teaching Blog Addicts!

Hi everyone! Because of the overwhelming response to Teaching Blog Addict, I will be taking some time off here at Teaching with TLC. I've switched gears for awhile from less posting on Teaching with TLC to hosting TBA. Please visit me over at TBA. Just click on the button below to find the most amazing teaching blogs. But be careful, you may become addicted. :o)

There is finally a place where readers and bloggers can all come together to support each other's addiction (I mean passion).

Be sure to become a follower of TBA if you are a blog reader to have direct access to the most amazing teaching blogs.

Who are Teaching Blog Addicts? We are a community of teachers, home educators, parents, grandparents, mentors, and tutors. We love teaching and want our children to love learning. This community is being created to encourage one another.

Help! I think I'm a blog-a-holic!

Is it possible to be addicting to blogging? I know this sounds silly but I think I am. I have been blogging for a few years now, just a few posts per month- no big deal. But lately, I can't stop writing posts and reading other blogs. I recently found an abundance of creative teaching blogs and I am hooked!

I thought the first step to recovery would be admitting that I have a problem so I told my husband this week. He laughed. No counseling or compassion. That is why I am seeking advice from fellow bloggers.

Here are some of my symptoms:

I sacrifice sleep to blog. And when I do sleep, I actually dream about blogging. For real!

I forget to eat when blogging. That has never ever happened to me before! I love food!

I have become fascinated with statistics. Even though I do not comprehend what a feedburner is or what a widget really does, I pretend to understand these technical terms while I study and analyze my statistics every morning. So weird I tell you.

If I have a comment in my inbox, it makes my day. If I don't have any comments, I wonder what I did wrong.

This Sunday morning I added a follower's gadget, and I seriously thought about submitting a prayer request at church for followers. I wish I was kidding.

I have become a blog-stalker. I have to browse several blogs at least once a day for a "find." It is like treasure hunting to me!

Even worse, I am an "undercover" blog-stalker. I enter a certain blog (codename W.T.T.W.) and then click on all the posts on their blog lists like I am a secret spy. Why? These crazy habits I have make absolutely no sense.

I need to rework my family's budget to compensate for all the ink and cardstock I've used on printing all the treasures I found while spying.

I desperately want to think of more topics to blog about just so I can have at least ten more templates designed by Ladybug. They are just too cute! There must be something I can do with them!

I can't wait for the kids to take a snack break so I can blog. I can't wait for the kids to take a bath so I can blog. I can't wait until the kids go to sleep so I can blog. Do you see the pattern?

When my husband walks into the office, I sometimes quickly close the screen and act like I am working on homeschool lesson plans. He knows me too well and says, "You're blogging again, aren't you?" My reply, "Well...uh...I was just...okay...yes...I was."

I do not care if the laundry is stacked several feet high. It will actually make a good measurement lesson. How much laundry can 7 people accumulate in a week? We could even graph the data each day. Hmmmm. I see another post coming on.

Which leads me to my last symptom. My list of future posts has grown exponentially. If I get time to write all of the posts I have envisioned before the second coming of Jesus, it will be a miracle.

Am I alone?

Unique Cross Crafts

Rainbow Cross Craft Kit
from Oriental Trading

This is one of my favorite crafts for Easter. It is so unique that I kept my son's cross up on our wall for 10 years after he made it in Vacation Bible School. (I would have kept it up longer but I had to take it down when we moved.) This art project takes a lot of patience so I broke it up into 4 different days with 30 minutes spent on each day (for third graders). Most children are done by the third day, but I do not want the perfectionists (like my son) to feel rushed. Breaking up the project times worked out great, and the kids were very proud of their creations when they were completed.

Color Your Own Cross Fuzzy Pictures

from Oriental Trading

For younger children, I recommend these inspirational cross pictures that resemble stained glass church windows. They are quite striking for such an easy art project!

TIP: When ordering from Oriental Trading, most projects are sold in large quantities. I usually split the cost with another parent or I give the extra projects to friends, neighbors, my nieces and nephews, or my church.

Enjoy!

For more Easter activities, click HERE

Spring Chicken Humor

These are some of my favorite replies to the classic joke. Enjoy!

Why did the chicken cross the road?

RED RIDING HOOD: He was taking a shortcut to Grandma's house. I hope he is careful!

DARTH VADER: To join the dark side.

SIMON COWELL: That was the worst road crossing I have ever seen!

RANDY JACKSON: Yo dog! He did what he had to do. That was hot!

THE PRINCIPAL: After reviewing a significant amount of data, including the number of eggs laid per minute, the chicken decided that the other side of the road was a much better environment.

THE TEACHER: We are not telling jokes in class!

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE: To cross or not to cross. That is the question.

SANTA CLAUS: For cookies and milk.

JIMMY NEUTRON: According to my calculations, the chicken required nutritional substances located on the opposite side of the road.

BRITTNEY SPEARS: Oops, he did it again.

THE BIBLE: And God came down from the heavens and He said unto the chicken, “Thou shalt cross the road.” And the chicken crossed the road and there was much rejoicing.

PARIS HILTON: Huh?

JERRY SEINFELD: Why does anyone cross a road? I mean, why doesn’t anyone ever think to ask, “What is this chicken doing walking around all over the place, anyway? What is wrong with that chicken?"

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Four score and seven years ago I saw that chicken cross the road to get to the other side.

A CHEERLEADER: To get the pom-poms, of course. G-O-C-H-I-C-K-E-N! Go chicken!

A PESSIMIST: Who cares?

DR. SEUSS: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad?

MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.: I envision a world where all chickens will be free to cross roads without having their motives called into question.

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: It doesn't really matter. The chicken said, "I'll be back."

BILL GATES: I have just released the new Chicken Visa, which will not only cross roads, but will also lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your checkbook.

GRANDPA: In my day, we didn’t ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken had crossed the road, and that was good enough for us. And that chicken would have had to walk barefoot five miles in the snow just to get to that road!

JOHNNY BRAVO: Did somebody say there are chicks across the road?

Do you have any other favorite responses?

Jelly Bean Board Game

Jelly Bean Board Game

What an innovative way to teach the Easter story! The objective of this game is to collect the most Jelly Bean jar cards by answering questions about Jesus and get to FINISH. CLICK HERE to print the game, cards, and directions. This site also has tons of other Easter activities, too.

CLICK HERE for some more Jelly Bean activities on my site.

Enjoy!

For more Easter activities, click HERE

Resurrection Cookies

Resurrection cookies are a unique way to help your child understand the fabulous thing that happened on that first Easter morning. The cookies must be made exactly as written, and the Bible readings should be read when recommended for this dessert to be the best.

Resurrection Cookies

1 cup whole pecans

1 teaspoon vinegar

3 egg whites

a pinch salt
1 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 300F.

Put the whole pecans in a baggie and let your child beat them with a meat mallet or hammer to break into small pieces. Explain that after Jesus was arrested, He was beaten by the Roman soldiers. (Put pecans aside for later.) Read: John 19:1-3

Have your child smell the vinegar. Put 1 teaspoon vinegar into mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross, He was given vinegar to drink. Read: John 19:28-30

Add the egg whites to the vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life. Read: John 10:10-11

Put a tiny pinch of the salt into your child’s hand. Let him taste it and brush the rest into the bowl. Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus’ followers and the bitterness of our own sin. Read:Luke 23:27

So far the ingredients would not make a very good dessert! Add 1 cup sugar. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to know and belong to Him. Read: Psalm 34:8 and John 3:16

Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks form. Explain that the color white represents the purity in God’s eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus. Read: Isaiah 1:18 and John 3:1-3

Fold in the broken nuts. Drop dough by a teaspoon onto a waxed paper covered cookie sheet. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus’ body was laid. Read: Matthew 27:57-60

Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door, and turn the oven OFF. Give your child a piece of tape to seal the oven door. Explain that Jesus’ tomb was sealed. Read: Matthew 27:65-66

Now go to bed. Explain that he may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight just like Jesus’ followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed. Read: John 16:20,22

On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone in your family a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow! On the first Easter, Jesus’ followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty. Read:Matthew 28:1-9

Easter BINGO Game

CLICK HERE to create your own Easter BINGO cards to print. For some extra fun, use the word BUNNY instead of BINGO and use jelly beans as your markers.