House Block Bee Quilt

A friend and I signed up to be part of an on-line bee called the House Block Bee.  We were each assigned a month.  When it was my month, I mailed fabric to the other members so they could make me a house block.  I sent each person the same green for grass and the same blue for sky.  From cute fabrics I found, I also cut out a couple of owls and a couple of children to send to each person.  Then I went to my stash for fabric to make the house (or other building).  Weren't these quilters creative?  This quilt is now hanging in my "quilty" classroom at school and helps to make the room very cheerful!

   

Welcome to my classroom!  It's a room I call the Reading Nook because it's a perfect size for reading with small groups of students.  I'm a reading teacher at our nearby elementary school, where our grown sons all went to school. 

I start off each school day by working with a group of 4th graders who call themselves the Reading Panthers.  We are currently reading Top Secret by John Reynolds Gardiner.  We read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume and Frindle by Andrew Clements earlier in the year.   

Each morning I also work in a 5th grade classroom with the classroom teacher.  We read a variety of books complete with comprehension activities.  We finished Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare and Number the Stars by Lois Lowry before Christmas and have just begun reading The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg. 



A fun idea I got from pinterest!

               Pencils

               On my desk

               In a small brown vase,

               A bouquet of tall yellow flowers

               Smelling of cedar.

                          Beverly McLoughland

Things to Do If You Are a Pencil

Be sharp.

Wear a slick yellow suit

and a pink top hat.

Tap your toes on the tabletop,

listen for the right rhythm,

then dance a poem

across the page.          

                              Elaine Magliaro

 

 

Another wonderful idea I got from pinterest!

Here's a recipe your children or grandchildren might enjoy:

Play Dough Recipe

1 cup flour

½ cup salt

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1 cup water

2 teaspoons cream of tartar or 1 tablespoon vinegar

Food coloring

Peppermint flavoring

1.  Combine flour, salt, oil, water, and cream of tartar or vinegar in a 3-quart saucepan.

2.  Stirring constantly, cook for three minutes or until the consistency of mashed potatoes.  (It becomes very hard to stir at the end!)

3.  Remove from pan and let sit until warm.  Knead in color and flavoring.  (The flavoring prevents a musty odor.)

4.  Store in plastic bags when you’ve finished playing with it.

  

You might also enjoy reading my previous blog post:  http://www.starwoodquilter.blogspot.com/2013/01/forest-paths-quilt-block.html