No School – Life of the Rookie Teacher

Hello Fresh

July 3, 2019July 3, 2019Posted in UncategorizedTagged Cooking, Delicious, Free, Fresh, Hello Fresh, Meal Delivery, Meal Delivery Service, Meals, No School, Organic, Summer, Teachers in the Summer, Try for Free1 Comment

Happy almost July 4th! Over here in the great bold north we’re already starting our second month of summer (which is insane!) I’ll be honest and say that I’m kind of bored….I know, I know “it’s summer this is what we look forward to all year as teachers.” I’m not saying it isn’t great but I feel like I have nothing to do. It’s fine to have nothing to do a few days in a row, but all summer…..I’m going crazy.

I’ve been thinking about what to post since I have no school stories or activities going on so I thought I would share with you something that I love! I know the whole meal delivery service is becoming a huge hit but I’ll be the first one to say that I love it and it is something to look into! I HATE cooking. I’m bad at it and I don’t have the patience for it so needless to say, I eat out a lot. That all changed when I discovered my favorite kit/program, Hello Fresh.

I promise this is not an endorsement deal in any way (I’m not even close to qualified for something like that) I just truly love this. Like I said, I hate cooking. Growing up, my mom wasn’t the best cook in the world and all my dad knew was how to grill meat and fish (and he usually cooked them so much they dried out) so I was never around someone who really knew what they were doing. I moved out last year and I have wasted too much money on eating out and groceries from Target that end up in the trash because I don’t know what to do with them. One day I was on Facebook and an ad for Hello Fresh came up offering a discount on your first set of meals ordered. I was intrigued.

I looked at the site and thought, “hey why not?” The week I looked at it they were offering a discount on meals (which I found out they offer all the time) and found that I could order 3 meals (2 servings each) for only $40. Now for those of you who don’t live alone, 3 meals actually covers 6 meals since I’m eating alone. I usually spend much more than that anyways each week eating out and buying groceries so I figured the price was worth it.

I LOVED IT! When the kit arrives the meals are split into paper bags labeled with each meal, meat insulated with non-toxic dried ice, and cards that give the recipe for each meal. Before the Friday of the next week, you select the meals you want ordered off of the weekly menu the site offers. The kit arrives on Wednesdays with your meals. Usually the meals are pretty easy to make. Seriously, if I can do it anyone can! The best part is it’s all natural ingredients. I’m not a huge person on “eating organic” but I do love when I know exactly what something is made out of, and it usually tastes better!

This week I ordered a pasta meal, a fish meal, and taco meal. Today I made my new taco meal! The official name of the meal is Pork Carnitas Tacos and it is amazing!

I’m a huge taco/burrito person so this was right up my alley! This was also a super easy meal! The longest part for me, was slicing up the onions, peppers, and tomatoes needed. I honestly just love how they provide you with EVERYTHING you need and the recipes are super easy to follow. Unlike most “word filled” recipes, these recipes have written directions along with picture directions, which when you are as incompetent in cooking as I am, it’s the perfect thing!

Now I know that my picture does not look even close to the same as the website’s picture (when does it ever) but it tasted even better than I expected! I seriously recommend this meal delivery service. It has made me an even better cook (to a point) and has gotten me to eat much healthier than I ever have before!

If you are interested in giving this service a try, I can help you do that for free! (Remember, this is not an endorsement in any way!) As a member I can send out free week invites to interested individuals AND extra discounts to friends. Currently, I still have a free week of meals that I can give out. I also have a $40 off coupon for anyone who also may be interested. If you have always wanted to try a meal delivery service, this is your chance to do it for free. If this interests you, leave a comment saying you are interested! I can have the first person who offers try the service for free and the second person who is interested get the $40 off coupon.

I promise this is an amazing service and definitely worth the try!

Another Day, Another Snowstorm

February 7, 2019February 7, 2019Posted in Education, Life Outside of School, UncategorizedTagged Cold, Early Dismissal, February, Instagram, Late Start, Minnesota, No School, Snow Day, Winter2 Comments

Well it’s been almost another full week of school and guess what, we’ve had barely any school once again! I’m not kidding, this is NOT REAL!

The week started off Monday when we got the call at 5:30 in the morning saying we were going to have a 2 hour late start. I figured I would use the time to sleep in an extra hour but then get to school and have an extra hour of prep time. Just when I was about to start getting ready, my phone rang again saying that they called it and school was closed again. Honestly, this one wasn’t too devastating. We did have school last Monday (and then pretty much nothing all week) so I figured I could just pretend last Monday was this Monday and I would just continue on Tuesday like the last few weeks never happened.

Tuesday started and luckily it was a normal day, but I was so thrown off from the not having school that actually having school was weird. I was so NOT in the teaching zone. I made it through the day and then had to head to out to a gymnastics meet. We had a conference dual meet against a team that was an hour away. I was so excited for it but then I left school and noticed we were in a full blown snow storm. It took us over 2 1/2 hours to make an hour long drive. Because of that, we then had to push everything back later than normal. Long story short, a meet that should’ve been done by 9 and had me in bed by 10, ended later than normal and had me in bed past midnight. (Not my normal school night.)

I woke up only a few hours later early Wednesday morning sick….of course! Of all the days and weeks I could get sick, it had to be after having a week off from school. I had the plan to get to school super early this morning (Thursday) because I wanted to get caught up from yesterday, but guess what!? We were in the middle of another snow storm again! Even though I left early, I still made it to school around the same time because the roads were so bad.

The morning was going so smoothly until at about 10:30 I got the email. The email informed us that we would be getting out at noon because it was so bad outside. They made the announcement to the school a few minutes later and I pretty much lost control of my class. At noon, instead of staying later to work, I had to leave with my kiddos because the roads were SO bad they were encouraging all staff members to leave as soon as possible as well.

As soon as I got home I got an email saying that we are already 2 hours late tomorrow morning because the snow isn’t supposed to let up until early tomorrow morning, which means that tomorrow is going to be a wash of a day too.

I JUST WANT TO TEACH!!!! I have NEVER experienced anything like this before! When I was in school, the most consecutive days we ever had off was 2! Some years, we never had a snow day. My mom has been teaching for over 25 years and she cannot believe what has been happening. This is killing me.

I feel like I am letting my kids down, which yes I know is dumb since I have no control over the weather, but they will be so behind! Next week WILL be a full week and a better week! I’m just looking at the last 2 weeks as an extended vacation and going to move forward! Ugh, oh Minnesota!

For more day to day in the moment activities and projects, go follow my instagram account and watch my stories on: @lifeoftherookieteacher

Snow Day Valentine’s

February 4, 2019February 4, 2019Posted in Education, UncategorizedTagged February, Instagram, Math, Minnesota, No School, Reading, Snow Day, Target Love, Teacher Life, TeachersPayTeachers, Valentine's Day, Winter, Writing3 Comments

You can’t make this stuff up but we had ANOTHER DAY OFF today from school! That makes 4 1/2 days off in a week, which NEVER happens! With the extra free time I figured I would use my time wisely and make my Valentine’s for my class.

The reason we didn’t have school today was because the roads were so icy they were too dangerous to drive on. I got pretty antsy shut up in my apartment so I waited until the roads cleared up a little bit and ventured out to the one and only Target.

I went back into their seasonal section and found some amazing Spritz Valentine’s party favors to create a fun little goodie bag for each student. The first thing I found was a pack of heart shaped putty packs with cute little goggly eyes. My kids are OBSESSED with putty and slime so I thought this was perfect!

The second thing I purchased for them was this pack of eraser toppers. The package has a variety of different characters to choose from. The pack I bought had mermaids, hedgehogs, sloths, and dinosaurs. (You can also buy an all dinosaur pack which is also super cute!)

The last thing I included were some Utz “x” and “o” shaped pretzels. I know Valentine’s Day is ALL about candy and sweets but with 23 students all bringing sweets for each other, they end up with plenty of candy by the time the day is over. I thought that pretzels would be a fun snack they could have that day or save for another time. (I also found that the fact they were “x” and “o” shaped was pretty adorable!)

I wanted to attach a fun and cute card to my goodie bags but I also didn’t really want to make one. I looked on Teachers Pay Teachers and found these cute cards for my kids free on Erica Bohrer’s shop.

I LOVE putting together little goodie bags for my kids so I had a blast making these today. It also felt good to do something productive today since I couldn’t go to school once again. I really miss my kids!

I have 2 super fun activities that I’ll be sharing with everyone next week that involves candy hearts, math, and creative writing to make for a fun and educational Valentine’s Day morning.

Signing off once again from the frozen tundra that is Minnesota! I am keeping every finger and toe crossed that we will have a full next 4 days of school!

For more fun activities and day to day life, go follow my instagram account @lifeoftherookieteacher to see all of my daily stories and posts!