Hi there, friends! We made it. Thanksgiving break. {Insert sigh of relief here} I don’t know what it is about the day before a vacation, but boy, was there something in the water yesterday! I love love love my job, and I am totally not complaining, but yesterday was just a whirlwind of a day! I am so happy to be on break to take some time to regroup and replan so that we can start off on the right foot on Monday!
Speaking of REGROUPING, have you noticed anything different about this little blog? We underwent a MAJOR facelift over the past few days! I cannot thank Megan from A Bird In Hand Designs enough for being so wonderful to work with! I hope that I wasn’t too much of a pain; I admit that I’m a perfectionist!
I decided to celebrate my new blog design with a fun idea and freebie for you! In guided reading groups this past week, we read a Rigby reader called Here Is The Butter. It was simple enough for my struggling readers to get through with support, and had some great meat to it for my advanced readers to discuss. I chose to use this book for all of my guided reading groups this week because of the topic. {Normally, each group is working on a different leveled text} Last year, my fantastic mentor shared with me how she makes butter with her class after reading this book. Since it was my first year of teaching, I was in no shape to be taking on this fun activity. But this year, I was ready!
How do we make butter? I’m glad you asked! The book does a great job explaining exactly what you need to do, and it is SO simple. After reading the book, my kiddos definitely did not believe that we could make butter! So, I said we’d try it!
I could not find jars with twistable lids, so I used small Betty Crocker tupperware. I taped the lids on very securely with packing tape so that nothing would spill out during the shaking!
You could really add as much heavy cream as you would like. Just keep in mind, the more heavy cream you add, the longer it will take to turn to butter!
It took us about 5 minutes! I gave each table of four students their own tupperware. I wish you could see their faces in these pictures, they are working SO hard!!!
It worked! There will still be some liquid in the container, so I just scooped the butter out with a spoon and put it into a cup (without the marble!).
Then we all got to try our very own butter! I made some corn bread the night before, and gave everyone a piece. It was up to them if they wanted to be brave and try our butter. Almost everyone did, and LOVED it! I have to say, it was pretty darn good!
Want to file this idea away for next year or just use it later without a Thanksgiving connection? I made a fun little freebie for you to use with this activity! Click the image below to grab it!
Love, love, LOVE your new design! Grey chevron is so you! Great job on the butter making and turning it into a fun freebie sequencing sheet. You are a rock star!
Love your new design! Megan designed my blog too. She's the best!
I love this!!! We did butter at a story time a few years ago through the a local organization (like with my own children) and it really is something we remember as a family! Crazy how making learning fun has that effect right!? =)