Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Bake

Inspired by Kraft Food & Family Spring '09. This is a really great recipe and there was pretty much nothing leftover for the next day. It was delicious! It is also a really easy and quick meal to make on a week night after work. Most of the items I keep in my cabinet, freezer, or fridge and if I don't have one of the items, it is a quick stop at the store. 

A reasonably priced meal and even the little ones will love it! Isabelle was in love with the cheesy broccoli and adored the stuffing, despite her resistance to eating chicken at the time. This is also a great meal for the hubby to make if I'm working late. BONUS!


Cheesy Chicken & Broccoli Bake

Ingredients

• 2 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken
• 1-1/2 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 pkg. (16 oz.) frozen broccoli florets, thawed, drained
• 1 can (10-3/4 oz.) reduced-sodium condensed cream of chicken soup
• 1/2 lb. (8 oz.) VELVEETA®, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• Salt & Pepper

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 400ºF.
2. Prepare stuffing as directed on package. We used the microwave directions, which made it quicker, since you bake it to be crispy.
3. Combine remaining ingredients.
4. Spoon into 13x9-inch baking dish. Top with stuffing.
5. Bake 40 min. or until chicken is done and top is crispy.

Introduction Project

I wanted to do something fun with my students for the first week of class. Something that was familiar to them, but allowed them to be creative and share with me a little bit about themselves. I found these awesome worksheets while scrambling to get things organized for the first week and it was an great activity.

The worksheets were called Poppin' Into 6th Grade.  I got them from The Peanut Gallery with a film themed welcome back packet. I am all about the movies, so it was a perfect pack to help me orient myself. The students LOVED working on these. I then took their pictures and we taped them into the little photo spot. Then I hung them on the bulletin board in our classroom just in time for Open House. Students were excited to show them to their parents and then show their parents their friends from elementary school. The bulletin board had a filmstrip border with "I'm a Star" as the center. Apparently this is a popular border, as I've looked around the school and seen it in many, many classrooms.

When the students finished the Facebook style page (complete with a banner they could design), the students filled out a survey about themselves so that I could gather more information. Some of the students didn't want to put down "favorite" because they do not have a "favorite" anything, but I had to remind them to put down something that they like alot. Some students didn't have a favorite or even a liked TV show or movie. They said they  never watch TV or that they are never inside, because they are always outside playing sports. While there is nothing wrong with that, I wonder if someday they will realize how silly that sounds. Sure, we don't all watch TV, but most kids have seen movies and have ones that they like. Either way, the students enjoy working on it. I let the project guidelines be unstructured so that the students could really express themselves, but I suppose they needed more structure than I thought they did. I am actually surprised at how much structure and rigid guidelines they still need. Hopefully by the end of the year they will be a bit more independent and thinking more personally about decisions.

I wish I had pictures of the board, but I forgot. It was a great way for me to learn names and put them with faces right away in the first week. Next year I would have the students share their pages before I collected them. They were all moving at such different paces that it was difficult to make the presentations work this year.

Quick Classroom Part 2

I only had a few days to get my classroom put together for my students to arrive. Here is what I was able to do with a husband, a laminator, and a three-day weekend.

After the Weekend

The Classroom

The Science Side of the Classroom

The Literacy Lounge (Still Needs Work) 

 

Quick Classroom Part 1

I only had a few days to get my classroom put together for my students to arrive. Here is what I was able to do with a husband, a laminator, and a three-day weekend.

The Original Room