Happy St. Patrick's Day! Rainbow Cupcakes

I went to a conference yesterday, so missed the joys of St. Patrick's Day with my students (which was okay, since it wasn't REALLY the big day yet) but sent in these treats for their wonderful behavior on Thursday during our practice reading test.

Here is the process, if you'd like to make some yourself. I got the idea off pinterest, but used Ziploc Bags instead of bowls so the mixing/pouring would be easier.

I made cupcakes for all 3 second grade classes, so I mixed up 3 white cake mixes (altogether) and separated them into 5 gallon sized bags. I added about 1/4 tsp gel food coloring into each bag, then mixed.

I set out my foil baking cups, and started with purple. I put a little bit in each cup. Cutting off a small end of the bag made this process SUPER easy. Then I repeated with each color until my cups were 2/3 full and I was all out of mix.

Then I baked two pans at a time following the directions on the packaging. You can see by my mess that I was lazy and just squirted the cake mix into these pans. The others were easier because I used a baking sheet. (Foil baking cups do not need cupcake pans).

 While I let them cool I broke one in half to make sure it had the rainbow effect. Awesome!!

While they were cooling I went to the Y (March challenge: running 4 miles/5x week). When I got home I cut up these AMAZING candies (I think that's what really set the project off!) called Xtremes Rainbow Berry Sour Candy, made by Airheads. They come in long strips, and I needed a little less than half for each cupcake. If they are too long, then the rainbow will slip off. 

I iced half of the cupcakes with green grass and half with blue sky. The clouds are whipped white icing. I added white edible glitter on the blue cupcakes and gold sprinkles on the green ones, to look like bits of gold.

 They were a hit, according to the teachers. I really wished I could've enjoyed seeing my kids' reactions, but oh well. I learned all about Professional Learning Communities instead.

Dr. Seuss' Birthday

Yesterday was Dr. Seuss' birthday, so we, like last year, had a ton of activities throughout the day. Our principal read The Lorax to the entire school, then we went outside and each grade level planted a tree (graciously donated by Lowe's). We also had cupcakes, and a visit from the Cat in the Hat, who read us his story. The best part of the day, of course, was the fact that we all got to dress up like Dr. Seuss characters. Even though I had to give up my Friday=Jeans Day, it was a blast and the kids really enjoyed it. I made a no-sew-tutu (like the ones I made for babies before, but of course with a LOT more tulle) and painted a star on my belly to be a Star-Bellied Sneetch from the book, The Sneetches. I also used a marabou boa to make feathered wrists and ankles, since I didn't have anything else yellow, and added feathers to a clip for my hair. It was a fun day!