My new 10 min Popsicle Maker!

I got an X-press Pop popsicle maker for Christmas. I gave one to my sister-in-law, and then asked my husband to get me one. I was hoping that it worked well, and . . . . . I LOVE it! My kids are always wanting me to make popsicles, and I usually make a big batch of smoothies in the morning and then freeze the leftovers, but then they have to wait a few hours before they can have some. Not anymore! I can make 8 popsicles in 20 minutes!

It works like most modern ice cream makers that you use at home. You keep the unit in the freezer and then you pour the liquid in it and put the popsicle sticks in. 10 minutes later you have made 4 popsicles.

I bought the one for my sis-in-law at Bed Bath and Beyond. It is priced at $30.00, and then, of course, you can use your 20% off coupon bringing the price down to $24.00. They sell one on Amazon for $50.00 that has great reviews, but this one works great, so why pay twice the price? It comes with 8 popsicle sticks and this cool remover tool that gets the popsicle sticks out in a snap by just tilting it to the side.

Here is a smoothie recipe idea for some popsicles

4 kewi, skins removed

4 cups frozen strawberries

1 peeled banana

2 cups of OJ

1 Tablespoon (or more if you want it really sweet) of agave syrup

Super yummy, and super healthy for the kids!

Are you feeding your children the "worst" sugar cereal?

WARNING: The Following Breakfast Cereals Contain More Sugar Than A Twinkie

Dina Spector | Dec. 8, 2011, 10:01 AM | 579 | 3

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Image: Flickr

Most parents probably wouldn't knowingly serve their child a Twinkie for breakfast.

Unfortunately, an alarming amount of sweetened breakfast cereals, popular with the younger set, are just as unhealthy as the iconic creme-filled snack cake and many other packaged desserts.

The Environmental Working Group analyzed the nutrition labels of 84 popular children' cereals and found that more half of the brands they reviewed deliver more sugar than three Chips Ahoy! cookies.

Three cereals — Kellogg's Honey Smacks, Post Golden Crisp, and General Mills Wheaties Fuel—contain more sugar than a Hostess Twinkie.

A shocking 75% of cereals did not meet the voluntary nutritional guidelines proposed by the International Working Group, a federal advisory board responsible for foods marketed to children.

The IWG recommends that children's cereal have no more than 26% sugar by weight. Most of the breakfast cereals that made EWG's worst list exceed the government's proposed limit by nearly double.

Take a look at the list below:

1. Kellogg's Honey Smacks—55% sugar
2. Post Golden Crisp—51.9% sugar
3. Kellogg's Froot Loops Marshmallow—48.3% sugar
4. Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch's OOPS! All Berries—46.9% sugar
5. Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch Original—44.4% sugar
6. Quaker Oats Oh!s—44.4% sugar
7. Kellogg's Smorz—43.3% sugar
8. Kellogg's Apple Jacks —42.9% sugar
9. Quaker Oats Cap'n Crunch's Crunch Berries—42.3% sugar
10. Kellogg's Froot Loops Original—41.4% sugar

So what's the issue? Child obesity rates are climbing as a result of eating foods high in sugar. Meanwhile, manufacturers of sugary cereals spend upwards of $20 million a year in advertising targeting the youth market.

"Somehow, reading a nutrition label and seeing that Honey Smacks has 20 grams (that's nearly five teaspoons) of sugar per serving does not have the same impact as slapping a label on the box that reads, "Warning: Equivalent to Eating a Twinkie," says Tom Laskawy of Grist.

General Mills recently argued that that kids won't like their cereal if they reduce the sugar content anymore than they already have over the last few years. Maybe that's a good thing.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/childrens-cereals-sugar-environmental-working-group-2011-12#ixzz1fxexWXtr

News from KLRN Education

Learning Measurement and Math Skills this Holiday Season
Yvonne Yates
Director of School Services, KLRN

With the holiday season nearly upon us, I find myself drifting into memories of my mother’s kitchen. The holiday season, was and still is, a time when all the women in my family go into full cooking/baking mode. I learned at a young age how to properly measure the ingredients that went into my mother’s famous cheesecake. I learned to read a scale, measure out dry and wet ingredients. My mom taught me that you need to measure accurately in order to get a yummy result. Cooking and baking continues to be a passion of mine, ask any of my co-workers who blame me for their extra pounds this past year.

As teachers, a struggle that we constantly run into is the “Why are we learning this?” and “When will I EVER use this?” The holiday season is a perfect time to remind students why they need to learn measurement and math skills. Not only will the younger ones want to help in the kitchen but the older ones will be asked to help put up holiday decorations and they will need their math skills to make sure they have enough room and also that the weight of those decorations will not come tumbling down. Why don’t you challenge your students to use what they have learned — through math and science thus far — and come up with a holiday activity or gift for someone? Have children make those real world connections and come back and tell you how they used what they learned in your class to come up with their project.

These next two months race by in the blink of an eye. Teachers are looking for fun ways to not only teach concepts before the holiday vacation but also entertain their student to keep them engaged and not day dreaming of the Sugar Plum Fairy. Visit PBS.org and look through our extensive teacher resources.

How are you using PBS resources in your classroom? Leave a comment, and let us know what you find helpful. This month’s newsletter will be short, but be on the lookout in January for our next Education e-newsletter.

Resources from KLRN Education

KLRN PBS Learning Media Clips to use:

Sid’s Holiday Adventure-Part 3 (Grades PreK-1)
Join Sid and his classmates for Run Time with Miss Susie as they discuss the holidays and temperature.

A Cage to Save a Whale (Grades 2-5)

In this Cyberchase video segment, the CyberSquad must estimate the measurements of Spout the Whale in order to find a cage that will fit him. It took 100 short stories and several books worth of writing before Shannon Hale felt worthy to be published

What’s a 360? (Grades 5-8)
In this Cyberchase video segment, Harry tries to snowboard and learns how to measure and identify many common angles.

Landscape Architect (Grades 9-12)
A landscape architect describes how he uses geometry and measurement in landscape design projects.

Resources from KLRN Education

KLRN PBS Learning Media Clips to use:

Advice for Aspiring Writers (Grade K-8)
Grace Lin shares her advice for becoming a children’s book author. She believes that authors have to love their own writing before they can expect other to enjoy it, and that if a person wants to become a writer, he or she first has to be a reader.

Becoming a Writer (Grades 4-9)
It took 100 short stories and several books worth of writing before Shannon Hale felt worthy to be published.

Read, Read, Read (Grades 4-12)
If children want to become good readers or writers, Katherine Paterson points out an enjoyable way to learn about writing is to read often.

News from KLRN Education

Get Reading and Writing!
Yvonne Yates
Director of School Services, KLRN


When a child opens a book and begins a journey of a lifetime, they can travel to faraway places, magical lands and experience adventures. This is all done without the need of an airline ticket or passport. When a child learns to read, they begin to learn that what an author writes can change their view of the world. They learn early in their lives that writing and reading go hand in hand. To be a writer, you must be an avid reader.

With each turning of the page students learn that written words have a sound and meaning. These magical discoveries turn into rough draft diamonds when students begin to write. A student is eager to write their own stories and not be limited by grammar, spelling and rules. They illustrate stories if we are lucky, they will share them with their teachers and parents. As teachers it is our job to teach our students to love to read, write and sneak in those pesky grammar lessons.

As a teacher the best story I ever read was by a student who misspelled every other word and yet the imagery and imagination of the story brought me to tears. The student passionately wrote when I told him to just write. It was not an assignment but just something he wrote over the weekend and he wanted to share with me. We fixed the spelling mistakes and submitted it to a writing contest. He did not win but he did learn to use a dictionary to help with his spelling.
It is no surprise to me that National Book Month and the National Day of Writing both fall in the month of October. My wish for each student is that they fall in love with one or more authors and that these authors aspire to write. Three authors have influenced my life, Chris Van Allsburg, Roald Dahl and Jane Austen. Who are your favorite authors that inspire you? Share them with your students.

Visit http://www.ncte.org/dayonwriting to find out more about The National Day of Writing.

So my question to you this month is: What is your class writing about this month? Share your ideas with us.

Resources from KLRN Education

Try This:

Human Impact on the Water Quality (Grades K-12)
Students explore human impact on water resources, investigate the quality of their community’s water supple and consider ways to clean up and avoid further pollution.

An Alaska Native Community Helps Seals (Grades 3-12)
This video from First Alaskans Institute spotlights the Alaska Native community of St. Paul and its hands-on commitment to care for the land and animals on which it depends.

Community Garden (Grades 3-8)
Orville Edwards describes how community gardens help improve the quality of life in the city.