Panera Black Bean Soup (Thumbs Up)

Inspiration: www.food.com and my mother-in-law

My mother-in-law called today for a chat and towards the end of our conversation, she mentioned that she was making a stew for dinner tonight.  That got me thinking.  I used to have an awesome copycat recipe for Panera's Black Bean Soup.  Of course, I could not find it... sigh, but I did find this awesome recipe from www.food.com.

I have to say, it was BETTER than the one I lost.  I did, however, make a few changes as a result of one of the comments in reviews (197/197 people gave it 5 stars!).  It was suggested that in lieu of the lemon juice and cilantro, substitute salsa.

I didn't have salsa, but I did have a great Pico.  I also added a 5oz. can of green chilies and served it with Parmesan cheese for topping and Frito Scoops.  Since it is Lent, and I was fasting today, I was sure to count the calories (350 cals. for 1.5 cups of soup and 192 cals. for 12 Fritos).  I have to say, it was quite filling.  Next time I might put a few pieces of avocado on top as well.  I will definitely be making it again.

My son would not touch it, but that was not surprising.  However, my daughter LOVES food and anything she can eat as a dip.  She could not get enough of this soup.

I can not say how happy this meal made me AND my husband, how has always loved my black bean soup.  This one is definitely worth a try.

Here's the recipe if you are so in love with my page, that you don't want to leave it.  (haha!)

Happy cooking!

Squishy Circuits

Inspiration: 7th Grade Practice PARCC Test

As you know I am a middle school Math/STEM teacher in Ohio which means we are busy preparing for the infamous PARCC test (I have my opinions about that test as I'm sure you do too.  I respectfully request that you please leave them out of your comments).  Anyway, as a staff we were looking at the research portion of the practice PBA for 7th grade.  At one point, the students watch this short TED talk about Squishy Circuits.  It was AWESOME!  I had to get them for my kiddos.  Take a few minutes and watch the video!  You will not regret it, I promise!

This is how we spent our snowy Saturday morning:

Warning:  There is NO NEED to double the recipe for two kids.  We have a TON of conductive dough!

The kiddos enjoyed playing in the dough before I brought out the circuit materials.

Let the fun begin!  I knew the boy would enjoy this activity. We got the chance to discuss important terms like conductive dough, insulating dough, polarity, and positively and negatively charged wires.  It's amazing what 3 year old's can know and do when you give them a little credit.  It was also awesome to see the look on my electrical engineer husband's face when he came in from shoveling snow to hear his son excitedly explain polarity.

But I didn't anticipate how much my 1.5 year old would enjoy them!  She doesn't quite have the concept of sticking the LED wires into two different pieces of conductive dough, but when she did get it right, her excitement was infectious.

The negative side of Squishy Circuits, our battery pack does not work consistently.  I think there is a poor connection with one or both of the wires.  Also, the mechanical buzzer does not work at all.  I have sent a message to the Squishy Circuit people.  Hopefully we can get this resolved.  I'll keep you posed.  

Until next time, happy STREAMing!

Young Inventor Tinkering Station

Pinspiration:  Tinkering Station for Young Engineers

So as you may have read in our previous post, we've been STREAMing a lot lately... I mean A LOT!  As in constantly, all day, everyday...

So the second I finished the STREAM Lab tour with the kids, my son jumped right in and began inventing.

The only rule for the tinker box is that you MUST create a plan and record all changes in your Engineering Design Notebook (something I use with my STEM students ALL the time).

When your little ones are done inventing, have them share their invention with you and ask them these great questions from A Mom With A Lesson Plan.

• What did you design?
• How does it work?
• What parts were harder than you expected to design / draw / build / make?
• Does this look and work like what you thought it would when you started? Why or why not?
• What would you do differently next time?

Here's our working prototype:

So what are you waiting for?  Go out and build a tinker station of your own!!  Happy Tinkering with your little engineers!

Creating a STREAM Lab

Pinspiration: STEAM Bored Jar

As the STEM Coordinator for my school, I can't help but bring my work home with me.  I found this great pin from Left Brain Craft Brain for a STEAM Bored Jar.  The activities in this post truly are easy to set up in 5 minutes!  I love all of them and so do my kiddos.

This got me thinking (insert eye roll from my husband).  In June 2014, we purchased a huge project house.  Think everything gets replaced... we got a great deal on the house, I'm told.  Fortunately we have an extra bedroom, which works out perfectly for us since both of our families live out of town.  However, it seems wrong to have a whole room in your house that is only used the few times a year family comes to visit.

<Insert brilliant idea>

When we are not entertaining, this room will act as our STREAM (Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Math) Lab.  This was not a tough sell for my Engineer husband.  Basically, there are 6 "stations" around the room with easy to set up activities.  Perfect for interactive OR independent "play".  Since this room was created, we seriously can't get the kids out.  They wake up everyday asking to play in the STREAM Lab.

Here are a few pictures from the STREAM Lab (Please excuse the floors and construction debris. The hardwood and trim will be going in soon!)  I will create posts of the individual activities as we play, but here is a list of what I included to get you started.

Science:

Grow Dinosaurs

Slinky

Butterfly Static Electricity Experiment

Experiments Gifted to us at Christmas

Prism Play and Chalk Art

Air Planes to Experiment with Aerodynamics

...and of course, what Scientist doesn't have a magnifying glass?

Technology:

Leap Products

Small Electronics

VTech LapTop (the boy loves the games on this one)

Old (but still working) LapTops

Alphie

Tablet with great Coding Apps (our favorites are LightBot and The Foos)

Reading:

Books, Book, and more Books

Comfy Couch and Chair

Reading Activities in the Buckets on the Side

Engineering:

This one is my personal favorite, the kids love it too!

LEGOS

MagnaBlocks
Small Electronics to Take Apart and Inspect

Tinkering Station
Protective Eyewear
Engineering Design Notebook
Pencil/Pen

Art:

My daughter is only 1.5 years old, but LOVES to create.  This station is her favorite.

Art Table

Box of Art Supplies

Paint Box

Easel

Coloring Books

Math:

As a math teacher, this station has the most activities.  I can't help myself.  Don't worry, I'll share these activities in later posts.

Well, I'm off to play in the Lab!  Happy STREAMing!!

Hello Pinners!

Pinspiration:  17 Pinterest Fails

OK, so my very first post was not inspired by Pinterest, but it did get me thinking.

Like everyone else, I LOVE everything I see on Pinterest.  What I love more is trying out all of the pins from the thousands of creative people out there.  As a full time teacher and mommy of 2 beautiful kiddos, I don't have time to re-invent the wheel.  Instead, I let all the bloggers out there do it for me.  Thank you for sharing all you creative bloggers!

This blog will be set up similarly to my Pinterest board and I will try, review, and take photos along the way.  Hopefully, this will make it easier for the other busy moms (and teachers), working full time or not, to be more discerning about the pins they choose to recreate.  Please, feel free to share any Pinteresting moments you've had with me! (and excuse the grammatical errors along the way.  I will try very hard not to make them, but nobody is perfect.)

Happy Pinning!