Do Your Curriculum Maps Look Like This?

Does anyone else see a problem here? I got into an email debate with the district math department "expert" over this...

Here's how the conversation went...

Me: Dear Math Guru, Why does the curriculum map say that the children only need to understand denominators of 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 but then tells us to teach whole numbers over one. Those two things contradict each other. Which is correct?

Math Lady: Dear Dumb Teacher, please refer to the curriculum maps provided by the district if you are unsure of the standards. You should be viewing the learning targets.

Me: Dear Math Guru, Please refer to page 26 of YOUR curriculum map. I am reading the targets.

This was followed by several equally insulting responses and finally no answer at all. Really? I mean, REALLY? 

The Best Baby Present Ever!

My husband and I are at the point in our lives where we're done having kids of our own but not quite old enough for grandchildren. So when a younger couple that we're friends with had a baby last year, we were super excited. A baby to borrow!! 

Now we love this baby! We love seeing pictures and videos of her trying to talk and trying to walk. So we decided to get them all a Christmas present with the sole purpose of trying to get some extra baby time. We bought them gift certificates for dinner and a movie in the hopes that we would get to babysit. Nice, right? But we couldn't forget about the baby, so look at what we bought her...

Now before anyone leaves me a well-deserved nasty comment, here is what the box looked like when I bought it...

Here's the great thing about young, first-time parents... they totally trust those of us who have already made it through babyhood. They really believed we wanted them to feed their child like a hamster. They smiled (fakely) and thanked us for our most thoughtful gift. It was wonderful and heart-warming!

So how did it all end? Well, we let them think this was the real present for a good half hour, Then we said, "Go ahead, open it up, Let's see how it works. Let's see if the baby likes it!" Then, the fake smiles were replaced by sighs of relief when they saw the footie pajamas, toys, and gift certificates we had put inside the box. Now, we're just waiting to get in that babysitting time!

Recipe Round-Up: Slow Cooker Favorites!

I am SOOOO proud of myself. I actually planned ahead for dinner tonight! Here's my usual weeknight cooking method... leave school around 3:00, drive to the grocery store and wander back and forth through the meat department muttering to myself that nothing sounds good, grab a few random things for lunch tomorrow, hop back in the car and end up at Boston Market/Panera/Subway OR go home and cook some really lame breakfast-for-dinner meal. Not that I don't really enjoy breakfast at dinnertime but come on - We need a real meal sometimes!

So yesterday, we finally got some cold weather and I got to wear my coat to school. Then, when I hit up Publix for my usual fruitless browse, I actually came up with a real dinner idea... beef stew! Yeah, perfect for chilly weather, right? Chili would be great too but no one at my house will eat it (crazy people!). So I quickly whipped out my ridiculously oversized iPhone (will tell more about that later) and pulled up a delicious recipe from The Pioneer Woman. She is totally awesome!

The ingredients are pretty basic - stew meat, tomato paste, onion, garlic, carrots, turnips, beef stock, olive oil, worcestershire sauce, and some seasoning. Turnips? Yes, and if you think you don't like them, you haven't cooked them right. Luckily, my dad just gave me a few out of his garden the other day.

The Pioneer Woman cooks her stew on the stove and I've always just followed her directions. But this time I wanted to use the crock pot. (I do love coming home to an already cooked meal.) Turns out that this is the perfect crock pot stew! Just look...

Is your mouth watering? This stew is so delicious! The only thing I had to do differently was add a little cornstarch-water mix at the end to thicken it up. That could be because I used less meat than the recipe called for but kept everything else the same. The only thing I might add next time is some nice crusty bread to dip in the gravy. YUM!

If you want to try this recipe out yourself, you can get it here: Sunday Night Stew. To make it in the crockpot instead, follow all of her steps for browning the meat, onion, and garlic up to where you add the Worcestershire sauce. After you do that, just dump it all in your crockpot and cook all day on low. I turned mine on at 7am and it was perfectly done by 4pm. I just turned the pot off and it stayed warm until we ate at around 5:30.

If you want to find some more crockpot favorites, hop on over to The ESOL Odyssey and check out the other bloggers who have joined this link up!

A Few of My Favorite... Websites For Learning

I'm linking up with the Teaching Trio for their new monthly feature: A Few of My Favorite Things. This time I'm going to tell you about my three favorite (and FREE) websites for learning. A couple of them do have the option for a paid subscription; but hold onto your wallet because the free versions are awesome all on their own. If you aren't already using these sites, definitely go check them out...

Don't forget to come back and tell me what you think! Now hop on over to Teaching Trio for some more Favorite Things.

The Big Reveal... Blog Makeover!!!

Ta-dah!!! Here is it... my brand new blog thanks to Shanon at Blogs Fit For A Queen. Don't you just LOVE it? I sure do!! I'm so happy at how she was able to work my TpT identity (Fishyrobb) into my blog design. No more split personality!