Scavenging for Gold(ing)

One of my sophomores' favorite activities this past year was a scavenger hunt that I planned in conjunction with The Lord of the Flies. Students were divided into groups and given lists of items that corresponded with Golding's novel.

Their lists read:

• Something fair-colored for Ralph
• A rock that reminds you of Roger
• A leaf that reminds you of Simon
• Something identical for Samneric
• An item that reminds you of Piggy
• Something sharp for Jack
• An item that has a scar on it
• An item that could be used to make fire
• A "beastie" - no live things, please!
• A flower to represent the island's beauty

We went outside during each period (even though it was a slightly chilly/overcast day - but no turning back!) and groups set off with their lists and brown paper bags (an easy way to moderate the size of the items they collected).

and flowers, oh my!

Rocks,

and sticks,

It was a lesson that definitely required some prep-and-planning time, but I'm sure it's one my students will remember. We all had a good time hearing different groups present their findings - there were some repeats, but even those provided good discussion points. I ended up taking pictures of what the groups collected and created a Powerpoint to share with them (different periods had different ideas, and one period missed the activity entirely due to a career fair... yup, thanks for the heads up, Office People... not). It was fun and a pseudo-review activity, as students sought to make sense of each group's item choices. Here are some of my faves:

Straw = Ralph's "Fair" Hair

Items for Piggy - The striped rock was "unique and different,
like Piggy" and the TruMoo milk has a... farm animal
connection, I think? Haha

  

All of the "sharp" things for Jack - thorns, a broken pencil, a nail,
some sort of metal stake, various sticks, a pointy rock, and a shard of plastic.

Leaves for Simon - a dead one (yeah, spoiler alert!) and an 'unlucky' and 'odd' three-leaf clover
that only has one leaf (they definitely plucked off the other two, lol)

All of their "beasties" - a few things that look like snakes, a 'caterpillar,' the bear on the Kodiak tin (*eye roll*),
and a few other items that had less-compelling rationales (one was literally described as "pea-pod thing").

My favorite items with scars. A lot of students ripped holes in leaves,
which made me wonder about their understanding of the term "scar." :P

The most ironic items - huge rocks that represented either Roger (rock) or Piggy (huge).
Get the irony? Get it? Major bonus points if so! :)

After the groups presented (and left for the day) I threw away most of the items (so many dead flowers and leaves!) and had a few students return the large rocks to their natural habitats, so I was glad for the photos. It was definitely a fun, creative activity that I hope made my sophomores' LOTF experience the slightest bit more enjoyable. ;)

Easter Treat Repeat

I whipped up some Easter treats for a few coworkers this year - they might look a little familiar, as they bear a striking resemblance to these little treat boxes that I made for friends last year. ;) I scored these cute little candy holders at Target around this time last spring - I lined them with some tissue paper, filled them with jelly beans, and tucked in a little handmade sign that is simultaneously cheesy ("hoppy Easter!") and literary (I cut out the bunny silhouettes from a copy of Sense and Sensibility). 

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again! (more)

Door Décor: Guest Post

My mom sent me a photo of her door décor earlier this week, and I had to do a mini-post about it because I think it's so lovely! Plus, she put it together for less than $7 (and over half of that was for a can of spray paint!), which is pretty awesome, imo. Check it out! The component/price breakdown is below.

Frame - purchased from a thrift store, spray painted gray ($1 for frame, $4 for spray paint)
Wooden Letter H - purchased from thrift store [she ended up speckling it gray later] ($.50)
Flowers - purchased from Dollar Tree ($1)
Ribbons and buttons - on hand (free!)
Sticks - from the yard (free!)
Metal Washers* - on hand (free!)

Project total = $6.50

*The frame leans a bit due to the weight imbalance, so my dad attached washers to the back of the frame to even it out.

Speckled Egg Cake

I like to follow craft blogs - they are both fun little escapes and an occasional source of inspiration. And unlike Pinterest, the good ones always have step-by-step instructions for creating the craft (usually by the blog author, detailing the minutia and mistakes alike). Please note, however, that I have discovered there are essentially two different kinds of craft blogs - those whose ideas I see and think Ooh, I could do that - perhaps even better! (see one of my new favorites, Dollar Store Crafts) and those whose ideas I see and think I'd like to take a shot at that, and we'll see how it goes (see any DIY craft from my bestie Martha). This cake craft was definitely one from the latter category, but I'm still pleased by it. That being said, no, I will not show you the inspiration image. You'll have to leave this page and go see it for yourself because I'm not offering up a side-by-side comparison. ;)

At any rate, I've been baking cakes since I was a kid - don't ask me about my frozen dinner last night (and the night before, and the night before...), but I have a solid set of baking skills that will get me through many a future potluck. So, without further ado, here's my basic set of skills put to use to make a speckled egg cake in honor of spring (yeah, that theoretical concept).

Step One: Bake a cake! Seriously, pick up a box of Duncan Hines or Pillsbury (whatever is cheapest, imo) and follow the directions. We (my mom and I) made two round chocolate cakes because thanks to our brief stints in the food services industry, we now know how to assemble layer cakes. Golden Corral ftw. Tip: Line the cake pans with parchment paper beforehand - it makes it easier to pop out the layers.

Step Two: Frost the cake! While the cakes were baking/cooling, I scooped the vanilla frosting out of its tub (we had an extra-large one - otherwise you will need maybe 1 and a half normal tubs of frosting - layer cakes are a bit high maintenance when it comes to frosting, I know) into a bowl and added blue food coloring. My mom had the paste kind, which I haven't worked with much, so I ended up putting too much in my first time, and there's no going back! So, our cake is a bit more vibrant than the inspiration image, which isn't a big deal.

After the cakes have cooled, simply frost one cake entirely (you can keep the top thin and imperfect, since it's the layer part), then stack your second layer on top of your first and frost it. I ran my knife under warm water a few times to get the icing looking as smooth as possible, since we aren't professional cake-bakers like my friend Ashleigh who bakes cakes for clients on the side (of teaching high school and working on her Masters!). And here's our finished result:

Step Three: Speckle the cake! First I had to whip up the paint. Yup, there's chocolate paint in this recipe! The mixture from my inspiration site is as follows:

In a small bowl, mix together 1 TB of cocoa powder with 1 1/2 TBs of vanilla. Stir well until cocoa is completely dissolved and you have a thin, chocolate paint.

Once it's all mixed up, take a clean (unused) paintbrush or toothbrush, cover the surface of your work space (i.e. kitchen counter), and flick your paint mixture on your cake. You should probably test it out first, and watch out for drops of the mixture from your painting tool - definitely had a few of those happen. And, yes, it's messy! Also - the chocolate paint is NOT like icing, meaning you shouldn't taste the leftovers afterward. My mom found that out the hard way.



Step Four: Decorate the cake! For our finishing touches we added Whoppers Robin Eggs around the edge to cover up the messy bottom (and heck, more candy is always better!) and made a nest out of chocolate icing on top, with more Robin Eggs inside. Pretty easy recipe - the only additional work was dying the icing and the speckling part. And picking your favorite cake/icing flavor combo pretty much guarantees your satisfaction with the finished result, even if it comes out a hot mess.

The menfolk of our family were duly impressed, except my grandfather didn't eat his Robin Eggs. Lame.

Hoppy Easter!

I found these little Easter boxes at Target a few weeks back and decided to use them as Easter candy-holders for a few friends. I whipped up their presentation pretty quickly (it's been a busy week!), and since they still came out pretty cute, I thought I'd share:

I lined the boxes with sheets of purple and yellow tissue paper, filled them with jelly beans, and tucked in a little card that I made with cardstock and my favorite material: old book! After cutting out four sets of bunny ears and heads, I used a glue stick to attach them to my cards (that I prepped with a border), which taper at the bottom to fit in the boxes better. Then I finished them off with whiskers and a choice cliché - and voilà! Happy Easter, folks!

"Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 

He is not here; he has risen, just as he said."