Apple Chips... made easier...

AJ & LJ's (bro- and sis-in-law) neighbors have a crazy producing apple tree.  One day they sent niecey LJ over to ask if they could pick some apples.  The neighbors said they wanted to pick first and then they would let them have at it.  The neighbors got all they wanted and then sent us crazy Js over.  I just can't even tell you how many apples were picked but it was a ton.  Our kids got in on the action and had a grand time.  AJ & LJ shared some apples with us, and kept a bunch for themselves, making things like apple butter, applesauce and apple chips.  JJ didn't want to do any of those things and just wanted to eat them.  I let him have at them for a while, but it didn't seem like they would get eaten fast enough and I didn't want them to go to waste, so yesterday I decided I was making apple chips, which, in my opinion was the easiest option!  :)

I could NOT find our mandolin slicer, so I resorted to one of our other "slicing" products.  Kinda sad that we have multiple options, but if you know anything about JJ, you probably know that he is a gadget kind of guy.  And he loves to cook.  Ok, two things about him!  But put them together and we have A LOT of random kitchen gadgets.

I got out our apple peeler-corer-slicer.  After wrangling it a bit, CJ and I figured out how to make it peel the apples, but we could not figure out how to make it core the things or slice them for that matter.  It took me a looong time (well a lot longer than it should have) to put them through the peeler, then core them, and then slice them by hand.  THEN put them in a lemon water bath.  And THEN put them in the dehydrator.  TOO much input what seemed like not "enough" output.

I told JJ all about this last night when he was home.  He looked at me incredulously.  He took one look at the peeler-corer-slicer thingy, flipped up a little knobby, and even moved the handle back into position with another flip of another lever (rather than hand crank it as CJ & I had done all morning)...  UGH.  We could've saved SO MUCH TIME!

Today in about 10 minutes I had a second batch of apples ready to go.  So.  Should I count this as a fail?  No.  I am not.  I learned something new and will be much more willing to tackle those apples next time!  

New Toy!

I have a new toy at school.  It's a SmartBoard  --I think it's that one-- and it is THE BOMB.  I admit it definitely has the novelty factor - hey a little novelty never hurt anyone!  And at times it is a bit consuming switching my plans to the smartboard software (Notebook).  Oh, and there are the technological glitches.  Thank goodness for Mr. G who is our guru of technology even though he's not the tech guy.  BUT for the most part it's a great addition to my room.  One of my kiddos hardly ever wants to write anything, but if I say, "Well, you need to write it on your paper first and then you can write something on the board." -- that is all it takes to get him to write a notebook page full!  I'm hoping it actually is teaching kids something and enhances their learning...  I've done almost all of my math lessons on the smartboard since I've gotten it.  Just even having the whole space blank to work out work makes it seem that much more fantastic!  It's even turned into a social skills lesson - "We can only use it if we are kind to each other and help each other out.  I need help sometimes.  Your classmates will need help sometimes.  We have to be patient or we will go back to the white board."  My kids were like cheering each other on - clapping when they did the work right, being gracious about taking turns, etc.  YAY Smartboard!

Techno-queen!

I mentioned before that we would be getting a smartboard for our room, but I neglected to mention that we are ALSO getting Ipod touches!  I'm already feeling behind the times, because I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at all of the capabilities of these two technologies.  I'm glad to be getting training so I can actually use all this great stuff!  I am also thinking about having a classroom blog.  Our tech partner thought it would be easier and more effective and appropriate than a wiki for what we wanted to do.  I keep using "we" because my specialist co-worker and Resident Teacher all work closely together in projects.  Being honest, they have all the good ideas and I just go along with them!  I'm also going to be keeping a grade in my tutorial starting the second semester (Tuesday!).  I'm thinking this will help with classroom management and reduce the amount of times I'm asked, "Why are we doing this?" and "Is this even for a grade??"

Another COOL piece of technology in my classroom is the new book I'm reading aloud to my kiddos.  Book, you ask puzzled what that has to do with technology.  WELL, this particular book combines reading with watching movies!  It's great!  Have you heard of Skeleton Creek?  It's a "journal" by character Ryan.  He writes everything down while his bf Sarah takes different videos to go along with the story.  Every so often there will be a password.  You go to a website (sarahfincher.com) or iTunes to watch the videos and then Ryan continues on with the story in the book.  This first book was super spooky at parts but also left off with a MAJOR cliffhanger!  I'm hoping it's enough to spark my boys to read the second one ON THEIR OWN!  Novel idea, right?  A teacher can only hope...

Techy??

I have been working with a group of teachers on differentiating our English curriculum. Which has been great fun, by the way. It is helping me transition into my job as a specialist and I have gotten to know more ladies at work. We've even started a bookclub! But anyways, I have become the tech guru. One teacher, for example, was absolutely awed by the fact that I could make square boxes in Word. "Wow! We don't have to photocopy graphic organizers, white out what we don't want, add what we do want and recopy it! You can make them for us!" "Woah! How do you switch bullets so easily? Just a tab you say? That is amazing!" Wow! I guess so! : ) It is interesting how relative things are. In the everyday world, I am probably far behind my counterparts in the area of technology. So, I'll just stay in teacher lala land and feel important for as long as I can!