Baked Ziti

Tonight we made baked ziti.

The kids mixed the cheese mixture. Cottage or Ricotta cheese, mozzarella, Parmesan cheese, basil, and an egg (I eyeballed everything).

Aidman added the al dente ziti to the pan.

Lyssy added the cheese mix.

Aidman added the cooked Italian sausage.

Lyssy added the pasta sauce. I don't think there's enough flavor in the jarred sauces so I added salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, basil, and parsley to it before she dumped it in the pan.

It will be ready for the 350 degree oven after we add cheese to the top.

We baked it for about 30 minutes. YUMMY!! The kiddos devoured it!

Spooning and tonging are great for fine motor skills. Cooking is a great life skill and really boast self esteem.

Zebra Stripes

I LOVE art work that looks pretty in the end. BUT the way art turns out is NOT always the most important thing for a 3 and 4 year old child. The most important thing IS the PROCESS of making the art, thought and physical. Luckily, most projects end up looking GREAT when the child feels he/she is in control and doing what they feel free to do. I accomplish this mostly by giving them art materials and letting them have at it, other times I ask them what they want to make and how they can do it and then provide everything they need. Then there are times that I have a project in mind, so the get the most of their thought and creativity going, I ask them questions or read books that lead to "my" project. Don't get me wrong, there are times where teacher/mommy led work is very important.

Today I asked the kiddos what a zebra looks like. They of course said it has black and white stripes. So we got out a big piece of paper (the back side of the paper we used last week for yo yo painting) and black and white paint. As you can see, Aidman made one horizontal stripe, he then stood back and said "that's not right", then he made a vertical stripe and decided that's the way a zebra looks. I led them to what we were going to make without telling why or how to do it, they came up with the rest on their own and had a great time doing it.

The kiddos want me to cut it into the shape of a zebra, so we will work on that tomorrow.

Zucchini Bread

For the letter Zz... we made zucchini bread. When the kids saw the zucchini and I told them we were making bread they both let out a loud ewwwwwwwwwwww.

Aidman shredded the zucchini.

Lyssy and AB took turns measuring and mixing the other ingredients.

THIS is why people don't don't want to cook with kids! It's a GIANT mess.

But THIS is the reason they SHOULD cook with kids!! They kept asking for more zucchini muffins! And I LOVE the way Lyssy says zucchini.

Zucchini Bread

3 cups shredded zucchini

1 2/3 cups sugar

2/3 cup vetetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 9x5 loaf pan or muffin tins.

Stir together wet ingredients. Mix in dry ingredients.

Bake loaf pan for 50-60 minutes, muffin tins for 25 minutes.

Zig Zag Zz

Today we made zig zag Zz's. I cut out the zig zags and the kiddos glued them to the Zz. Look at Lyssy's face, she is trying so hard not to spill the glue.

Zz Week

We are going to have a Zany and Zippy Zz Week!!

Art:
-Zig Zag Zz
-Paint Zebra stripes

Science:
-Plant Zinnias
-Zoo, we can't go because it field trip month and it will be crazy, but the kiddos just went a couple months ago so we will make a book out of the Zoo animal pictures.

Math:
-Ziploc number bags

Cooking:
-Baked Ziti
-Zucchini
-Zoo snack- paint animal crackers with royal icing mixed with food coloring

Movement/Outside:
-Zoom across yard

Social Studies:
-Locate Zepherhills, FL on our map and take a drive there

Bible:
-Zacchaeus

Table Top Toys:
-Zoo Animals
-Rulers and paper
-Gluing together wood shaped to make into magnets

Zz words: (not above)
zero
zipper
zippity
Zimbabwe
Zhob River
Zaire
Zambia
Zorro
Zap
Zephyrosaurus
zone
zither
zipptydeedoda