Million Minutes

Please keep reading at home! You only have a few more weeks to reach your goal! Keep up the good reading!

Fun on the Playground!

Saturdays and Teacakes

This week I had the chance to share one of my top 5 read-alouds of all time with the students, Saturdays and Teacakes by Lester Laminack. The story is sweet memoir of the author's childhood memory of spending Saturdays with his Mamaw. Each Saturday, he would ride his bike across their small town to her house in the country. He would mow her grass, and in return, she would feed him the way only grandmas can. After the chores were finished, they would make teacakes together. Most importantly, they enjoyed one another's company. The students loved the book, and by the end, we all wanted a Mamaw Thompson of our own!

After reading the book, I thought it was only right that we had a chance to try Mamaw's teacakes.  With a little research  (and a whole heap of flour), I managed to pull off 80+ teacakes using Mamaw Thompson's exact recipe. 

(Mamaw says that you must use Blue Bonnett.)

The kids LOVED them (and proclaimed that I was the best teacher EVER)!  Just in case they come home begging for more, I wanted to share the recipe with you. Here it is:

Mammaw Thompson's Teacakes

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Gather these ingredients (Mammaw always used these brands, but you can substitute your own brands):

• 2 sticks of Blue Bonnet Margarine
• 3-1/2 cups of Martha White self-rising flour
• 2 cups of Dixie Crystal Sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3 teaspoons of vanilla flavoring

Blend margarine and sugar until creamy. Beat eggs and blend. Add vanilla, then flour, and blend. (You can blend the ingredients with a potato masher, then stir with a long wooden spoon.) Gather the mixture into a loose ball and sprinkle lightly with flour.

Lightly flour the surface you’ll use for rolling, then roll out the dough.

Next remove about half of the dough onto the cutting surface and roll it out with a rolling pin to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Cut circles in the dough with a tea cup, glass, or cookie cutter about 2-3 inches in diameter. (Dip the rim of the cup in flour between cuttings to prevent the dough from sticking.)

Place the circles on a baking sheet that has been lightly buttered or use a nonstick baking sheet. Set the cookies about 1 inch apart on all sides. Sprinkle sugar lightly over each cookie.

Repeat for the second half of the dough. (Refrigerate the dough if it will sit for more than ten minutes. Chilled dough is easier to roll out and cut.) This recipe should produce a batch of about 40 teacakes.

Place the cookies in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes. The cookies are done when they are lightly browned. Remove them from the oven and let them cool a little before you lift them off the baking sheet to eat them.

If you make teacakes at home, please snap a picture and send it to me for the blog. 

Mrs. Uekman 

Pass the Plate

Each table made their own word problem on a plate and passed it to another table for them to solve.

This a problem that was solved.

Power of ten

August character kids

  

   We are learning about powers of ten!

This is a power of ten problem.