Teacher Testing Tips

I tried this thing...it's called cooking. Ha!

I wouldn't consider myself a great cook (I definitely am NOT a baker! I wish I were though...It just never works out). Nice weather means cooking out. Mr. Patterson and I could sit outside all evening-working in the backyard/redecorating our patio/changing things up outside! Basically anything a homeowner would do! With all this outside-ness means using our grill!

The recipe I am sharing is delicious! I was in charge of creating the pineapple salsa, while the man of the house whipped up the chicken. We stole the recipe from tasty.com. If you have never heard of this website, you must check it out! It is magical.

The recipe calls for rice on the tacos, we did not do that. Just using a wheat wrap, teriyaki chicken, spinach as a base, and the pineapple salsa filed us up. It tasted so fresh.

                       Lucky us, our local market had pineapple on sale for $0.99 the day I went shopping!

I love mini peppers. The recipe calls for 1/3 C red pepper diced peppers. I improvised and used red and orange mini peppers. It tasted the same as a red pepper and I had it on hand and didn't have to buy more.

                         We are not big on onions. I cut up a lot, however, I did not use them all.

 Jalapenos are scary. I love using them in recipes, but, like I said, they are scary! Anytime I cut one I                                                      always wear gloves...is that just me?

 Cilllllllllllllantro! Using this ingredient makes me feel worldly. Fun fact: I grow it! My plant this                                     year has not sprouted enough to cook with. It will be ready soon.

                                                 I did not use a real lime. Just lime juice.

We made a lot more salsa than needed! We used the leftovers to snack on with chips for the next few days. We will definitely be making this again. It was the perfect dinner for the spring feeling in the air. It was also the perfect dinner to get this teacher ready for Istep!!!

Our state testing is just wrapping up this week. It is grueling. Good food is a must for a teacher during standardized testing, am I right?!

Here are some fun things we did for our 4th graders. We called them "magic pencils". We only used them to take notes. These pencils gave brain power!!!!

I saw this floating around on Facebook. I wish I knew who originally posted it so I could give them a virtual high-five. There are similar posts on Pinterest.

Mints are amazing to 4th graders. A magic pencil and a mint will allow any student to kick butt on a                                                                              test.

Each student got a post it. They were instructed to write down one thing that makes them smile. During the test they had the post-it in the corner to remind them of a happy thought. Just a little testing pick-me-up. It was so cute to see what they write down...glitter, pets, new shoes, little brother. 

If you haven't started testing, good luck!!! You've got this. Use these testing tips to help you push through.