Spring Time!

So apparently I'm the WORST blogger in the world> I always promise for everyday updates, but apparently my every day is just too busy!

Right now it's starting to get closer and closer to the end of the year which means big changes, wedding, moving, new jobs and life! We are very excited just anxiously waiting interviews and calls from principals! We've spent the past couple of days getting more stuff ready for the wedding and we're feeling pretty good about it. All the attire is planned for now as well as the food and gifts :) We have also booked a hotel in the Outer Banks for the first part of our honeymooon, before we fly to Wisconsin to spend the second half in Lake Superior! (Best of his world and mine )

School is going well, I'm amazed at how far our kids have come. Does that mean they are perfect? No, but I'm feeling confident as we move into state testing that they will be prepared, comfortable and confident in their abilities to score at least 50% proficient school wide (Over 25% higher than the district!)The kids have also grown a lot in their responses and respect to each other and teachers! I remember the beginning of the year it was like watching them with hawks eyes to make sure they didn't turn the wrong way or step out of line, but now they are becoming leaders for each other and want to make sure that they and other people are proud of their school. I still hear the "I hate this school!" At least once a day, but they are middle schoolers, and that is to be expected! All in all I know the majority of them love school, and amazingly enough I find myself looking forward to seeing the students everyday! I will definitely miss both the kids and teachers next year!

In other news tomorrow is my BIRTHDAY :) yay! I'm so excited (25!) Mainly because it's an excuse for me to get excited and enjoy a nice start to my week! It's only a 4 day week and then I'm headed to NC and get to see my family and celebrate a late birthday and easter with them! The following weekend I'm headed to Minneapolis (with Mark) to do a sample teach lesson in a Spanish Immersion school, so that will be first In-person interview. I've had a few over the phone, with a few schools in NC but it seems as though no one is looking for teachers yet!

I think the rest of the year is going to fly by! I'm excited to spend a few weekends in Kansas City hanging out with some people who have become such close friends with me, going to baseball games, city Market, Yogurtini and long walks! Also goin to have the opportunity to head to Boston with my college Suitemates for a Bachelorette weekend as well as a couple of field trips (including an overnight!) with my students! And not to mention I'll have a few visitors, my cousins Lindsay and Katie, as well as anyone else who wants to come by!

For now that's about it! That was a lot of updates since I haven't blogged since NOVEMBER! Still cooking lots and trying new creations for Mark! I'll try and start keeping those more up to date! For now I leave you with Kansas City in the Spring!

ONE WEEK OFF :)

No way, we have a WHOLE week off.
Day before break a DISASTER. kids were nuts. But first round of parent teacher conferences went well! Had every parent show up :)

So now I have a whole week of and I'm soo pumped!

So of course I started by coooking. This morning made a delicious breakfast burrito with salsa mexicana:

Salsa: Roast-tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil. Blend and add lime, salt and pepper.
Burrito: Grill onion, peppers, tomato, spinach add in scrambled eggs.
-Top a delicious burrito.

Then as a 2nd course delicious gluten free and regular cinnamon buns with the left over icing from my margarita cupcakes this week :)


I've already eaten an embarrassingly amount of my gluten free ones but was able to give away some of the normal ones since Mark won't eat them cause he doesn't like sweets! Love my Allergen free Baker's Handbook.

So I've got 3 more days until we head to Wisconsin to his parent's lake house. I'm guessing more cooking will come, because it's what I love to do!

Leave you with a funny student conversation:

D-Ms. Gerlach did you eat your vegetables when you was a kid?
Me-Yes, I love vegetables, why?
D-Because you be so small!
Me-Actually, I'm just short, that's just how some people are. I love vegetables, I used to be a vegetarian.
D-(with some newfound understanding) Ohhh... so that be why you teach here at Kauffman?
Me-D, I don't think we get each other haha.

Homemade Pasta sauce to forget the nutso day

Sometimes I wonder if the things that happen at school are a movie.
I mean don't get me wrong, I think our school is quite put together and for things at a new charter that is so radical things are going well... but some things still shock me every day!

1. How many kids a day say "I hate you, I hate this school".
2. When a kid punches himself in the face
3. When a kid throws himself on the floor in spurts of doing the dead bug and then leaping through the hallway
4. Having to say STOP over 100 time in 20 minutes.

-Then a class that can make the whole day good :) Thanks North West :)

Then to end the day with this :


Delicious homemade pasta sauce:
-some cans of tomato
-tomato paste
-1/3 a bottle of tomato sauce
-fresh oregano, basil and minced garlic
-1 minced onion
-roasted peppers in olive oil
-hamburger meat
-garlic salt and pepper

I used it for dinner on this:


And tomorrow lunch:
Top a yam and add some garbanzos

Weekend of Cooking and Crafts :)

I will warn you.. the pictures aren't great because I took them on my ipod, but you get the gist :)

Like I said.. the Way I unwind after a long week is cook, and do crafts apparently :)

I started yesterday by attempting to make a good breakfast. Mark LOVES his dads hash browns, and after going to Whole Foods we had some delicious turkey bacon! So I was excited for a full course breakfast!



Now the hasbrowns turned to mush, because I got super distracted watching the Deacs play... and therefore they turned more into mashed potatoes, but that's ok. I also added that yum bacon and pumpkin french toast. And even mark liked it! (He doesn't like pumpkin)

Ingredients

* 3 eggs
* 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
* 1-3 tablespoon almond milk [or milk of choice]
* 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
* pinch of nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 4 slices gluten-free bread
* optional – for sweetness, add 1-2 tbsp of brown sugar

Later in the afternoon I started crafting, while I continued watching the Deacs ALMOST beat Clemson . Made 2 wreaths :)





Later that day felt a sweet tooth so took another recipe from PINTEREST and made more pumpkin ( i love that stuff!) pumpkin chocolate chip brownies!

They were delicious and low cal!
http://pinterest.com/pin/145381894190672282/

Made chicken corn chili on the crock pot for dinner (wasn't too big a fan) So no picture or recipe included :)

This morning got up early again and got EXCITED for this new recipe i saw for "breakfast for dinner" I call it "Breakfast for breakfast"



That's a pancake topped with a fried egg, two slices of bacon, another pancake and carmelized apple maple syrup YUMMMM :)

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/Recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/rachael-ray-30-minute-meals/breakfast-for-dinner-pancakes

for recipe.

Today I have ambitions to walk my little pupppy the 60 degree weather IS WONDERFUL right now. And only 1 more week until there's an entire WEEK off from the school! :) SOOO excited.

I'm also going to make white sauce chicken pizza for dinner (made the dough yesterday) it is Pizza Sunday, and will maybe make some quinoa salad for lunches. Let's see how ambitious i get!!!!

I LOve the weekends.

Makeover Apple Streusel Coffee Cake

SO I made this for people at work, and was asked to share the recipe.

Coolest part, it's lower calorie than normal coffee cakes, and still delicious enough that my boss went back for 3rds (maybe forths?)


* 1/3 cup butter, softened
* 2/3 cup sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 2 cups all-purpose flour (or oat flour for gluten free)
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 cup greek plain yogurt
* (1/2 t xantham gum if gluten free)

TOPPING:
* 1/3 cup chopped oats (or walnuts)
* 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 2 medium tart apples, peeled and thinly sliced

If I were to make it again I might add more cinnamon and a little bit of salt, but people seemed to like it the way it was :)

New passion.. cooking

Ok, don't get me wrong, I truly believe in the education movement, and yes things are still going with my school... but it's more stressful and work than I could have imagined.... So my outlet, COOKING :)

Tonight I made this DELICIOUS Spanish Turkey Sandwich:
On a ciabatta roll (or for me normal gluten free bread)
-Aioli (1 egg yolk, 1 minced garlic, 1 T lemon juice 1 T water, 1 t mustard, salt and pepper)
-Pepper-almond relish (roasted peppers 1 cup, 1/3 cup almonds, 4 t olive oil, salt and pepper)
-Manchego cheese
-Roast turkey


SOOOO good. It made a pretty tough day with my kids alright.
THey are continuign to test, the school is hard for all of them (including us) it's a different kind of thing) BUTTTT this cooking thing is helping me get through.

As a side note, funny kid quote.
"HOW LONG DID YOU GUYS KEEP US HERE!" Was what a kid said today after he saw it was dark outside leaving school.. No sweetie that's daylight savings.. and at a school with no windows, where you get to school before sunlight, and leave after sunset, you get used to dark.

Long Days, but they fly by?

I feel like I'm back at my summer training of institute with Teach For America. Days go by so fast, but at the same time, you look back and each day seems like 5! I guess the schedule 7-5 is really jam-packed!

We finally finished our first 2 weeks of actual teaching and lessons and it's definitely been a roller coaster ride. If I'm having a good day Monday, guaranteed someone else is not and is needing my support. If I'm having an awful day Tuesday guarantee SOMEONE is having a good day and will be there to help me out. The teamwork at my school floors me and really makes this high-stakes, high-stress environment manageable.

I've found that the more I get to know my students and let them know I DO care about them and will be sticking around and strict no matter what they do, the more they respond. I'm gaining an inch every day... Examples that stick in my head:

Tuesday: J talks out, I give him a demerit (his 3rd which = a detention) he screams out "This is not fair, I don't get it" and starts bawling and spewing snot in the middle of class. My heart is breaking on the inside but the next day I sit down and have a heart to heart with said child and he thanks me for how much I care about him and how I'm pushing him to succeed, it's just hard.

Wednesday: J (different student) storms into class fuming and refusing to do anything. Surprised (because he was generally so compliant and excited to learn) I sent him to our dean to try and talk out whatever was wrong. Turns out he had a family member pass away that weekend, I late had a sit down with him and let him know my grandfather had just passed away as well and that I understand how difficult it is and I am there if he needs to talk.

Thursday: Class 3 (my toughest class). I inform them that my mother is from Colombia South America, and that she speaks Spanish. I then proceed to have a 2 minute conversation with them completely in Spanish. The kids who had been giving me such a hard time's eyes light up and are so impressed with my ability to speak. They let me know they were impressed and that I did well.

Friday: C comes up to me and shoves a book I let her borrow in my face and said with a lot of attitude "Ms. Gerlach this book is lame, I need a new one!" I said, "C please try that again". C said, much more politely "Ms. Gerlach, this book is lame I need a new one *smile :)". After talking with her about what I meant by do it again I thought she didn't get it....until later that day C said "Ms. Gerlach, I really did appreciate you letting me borrow that book, I did enjoy it but I read it so many times and I wanted a new one so bad so I wanted to let you know".

They might seem simple, and small, but the growth our students is making is incredible. Are they testing us? Most definitely, will they continue, unfortunately Yes. But I think it's these little wins that will get us ALL Through the year!