Student Teaching Week #5

I'm halfway done with student teaching! It is going by so fast and I know will be done before I know it.  I really am enjoying my student teaching experience so much.  I love the kids and am learning so much from my cooperating teacher. 
The science unit I am teaching is on the states of matter and so we have been doing little experiments with evaporation, condensation, and freezing.  The kids learned this past week that salt lowers the freezing point of ice water and so today (Monday) we made ice cream.  They loved it and at classroom meeting almost all of them said that was their favorite part of the day.  Thomas and I made some last night and tested it out and it was so good.  Homemade icecream is the best and who knew it was so easy to make?!

• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup whipping cream (heavy cream)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla or vanilla flavoring 
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup sodium chloride (NaCl) as table salt or rock salt
• 2 cups ice
• 1-quart Ziploc^TM bag
• 1-gallon Ziploc^TM bag
• themometer
• measuring cups and spoons
• cups and spoons for eating your treat!

Procedure

1. Add 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup whipping cream, and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla to the quart ziploc^TM bag. Seal the bag securely.
2. Put 2 cups of ice into the gallon ziploc^TM bag.
3. Use a thermometer to measure and record the temperature of the ice in the gallon bag.
4. Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup salt (sodium chloride) to the bag of ice.
5. Place the sealed quart bag inside the gallon bag of ice and salt. Seal the gallon bag securely.
6. Gently rock the gallon bag from side to side. It's best to hold it by the top seal or to have gloves or a cloth between the bag and your hands because the bag will be cold enough to damage your skin.
7. Continue to rock the bag for 10-15 minutes or until the contents of the quart bag have solidified into ice cream.
8. Open the gallon bag and use the thermometer to measure and record the temperature of the ice/salt mixture.
9. Remove the quart bag, open it, serve the contents into cups with spoons and ENJOY!

Thomas and I are both learning that when you have a spouse who is a teacher, you get roped in to doing a lot of teacher stuff.  For example: grading papers, cutting things out, making copies, going to the store for supplies, volunteering at school events, and helping with projects in the classroom.  Today, Thomas came with me to help get everything ready for making ice cream. He's such a good teacher's spouse :)
As I was walking home from school today I had to take a picture of the little park I walk through.  It is just the perfect example of springtime.