Is it fall yet? I took a trip to Hobby Lobby this afternoon with my husband (I had to be sneaky in my attempts to have more browsing time. He had a specific mission to only get two frames. I took a detour to the fall decor when I was supposed to be going to the register and earned a few extra minutes before I got the call..."You still haven't checked out?? Where are you??" And yes we were in the same store." Anyhoo I am so ready to bust out all my decor, slip on a sweater, and sip a pumpkin spice latte! In order to envoke that feeling of fall, despite the 95-degree August heat, I made us some tasty, hearty soup and cranked down the AC. One can dream right? This soup was absolutely delicious, super healthy, and easy! It is definitely going to be revisited when fall actually does come around.
Pasta Fagioli
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 celery stock, chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 (15 oz.) can cannelini beans
(I just used Great Northern beans because I happened to have a can in the pantry)
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes
1 large bay leaf
1 Tbsp basil
1 Tbsp parsley
1 tsp oregano
2 (14 oz) cans fat free chicken broth
1 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste
6 oz dry Ditalini pasta or other small pasta
(I used whole wheat little elbows)
Parmesan cheese to top
1. In a deep pot, saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat.
2. Add beans to pan then add tomato sauce, celery, carrot, chicken broth, basil, parsley, oregano, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Add 1 cup of water and bring to a slow boil.
3. Let simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the dry pasta and cook uncovered until al dente, according to pasta directions. **Mine cooked a bit faster than usual so just keep your eye on it.
5. Ladle it up and top with cheese!
Highly recommended: serve with buttered french bread to soak up all the yummy broth!
I cannot believe we have only been in school for one full week! This week has been so crazy, but good; exhausting, but rewarding. At one point I wondered if I had gotten married or if it had all been a dream since I hadn't seen that person called a husband much this week! My first grade teammate and I have been pulling some late nights at school, spending more than 12 hours up at the classroom, which resulted in a variety of eating out last week ha! Let's see...Subway, Pei Wei, and Little Caesar's were all my friends. Which is why I promised that husband (I found out I did get married after all!) some homemade meals this weekend. Hence the soup.
Anyhoo, although it was crazy we were so busy and had a lot of fun last week! In science we were learning all about the five senses and made these precious little people....
We also did a sight tour of the school using only our sense of sight (go figure) and the kids enjoyed it way more than I thought! They could not talk but only use their eyes to draw pictures of anything they saw at the front desk, the hallway, and two spots outside. One of my sweetest little boys looked at me and exclaimed, "There's so much to see!!" We also did science mystery bags for the senses of touch and hear. I put different items in brown paper bags and the kids had to close their eyes, reach in, and feel (or shake the plastic Easter egg filled with small items like rice or coins for hearing). Then they recorded their guess, followed by what was actually in the mystery bag. Finally, on Friday we wrapped up the five senses with a Skittles blind taste test.
The kids were really into nouns and verbs which I thought was so funny! They were so excited to learn more about them as the week progressed. We made these little noun flip books which were really fun. They thought of at least one person, place, and thing and illustrated.
The highlight of the week, however, definitely had to be on Friday when we became verb action heroes. I found the idea for the page on Pinterest and decided to make my own. After brainstorming a list of verbs, the kids wrote 6 different verbs on their page. Then they got to design their own super hero (the girls added pigtails or bows to the top of the little boy clip art super hero) and color the logo to go on their cape. Then came the craziness....having the kids glue on their logos, tie 16 different capes, 16 different masks and try to get a group photo on the rug as the carpool announcements were starting. Needless to say I was a bit tired by Friday afternoon but it was totally worth it! The kids looked SO cute and I got a class photo to send to parents! And a lot of kids wanted to wear their capes out to their cars in the carpool line. Of course, my little guy who is six going on forty-six (he is the most responsible kid ever and begins every thoughtful comment or question with the phrase, "First of all..." then pauses and uses hand gestures) told me he was just going to carry his cape because he was feeling a little embarrassed. Besides him all the kids loved it and I'm pretty sure they will not forget that verbs are action words!
We also began our study of word families and made these cute word family flip books. Super easy to make (a third of a sentence strip and paper) and a really fun activity for the kids!
Finally I thought I'd share this with y'all, although I'm sure you've already seen it floating around Pinterest. We had received these foam magnetic word family tiles but my white board, unfortunately, is not magnetic. I really wanted the kids to be able to manipulate the tiles in a station so I got 4 cookie sheets from the Dollar Tree and voila! They moved the letters in front of the word family, decided if it was a real word or a made-up word, and recorded them in their writing journals. Thank you Dollar Tree for satisfying my cheapskate heart!
