The Barefoot Teacher

Have you ever wanted to learn sign language but just didn't know where to start? It can be overwhelming! I remember the first day I began learning American sign language. I made a small goal of learning 1-2 new signs a day, and I made another goal to not forget the new signs I had learned while I was learning others! I remember feeling overwhelming...I would never catch on. But, I was wrong!
It's not easy at first, but the more you learn, the easier it gets.I promise!
So here we are, at the start of a new year. A time when everyone is thinking about and making New Year's resolutions. Why not make a resolution to learn basic sign language?
Today, I'm sharing some New Year's signs from Signs with Rio.Go ahead and click that link. Don't worry, it will open in a new window so you can keep reading and watch his video below!

Rio made a short clip of some simple Happy New Year's signs...including the sign for "resolution!" (You know, since you just made a New Year's resolution to learn more sign language!) By the end of this video, you will know how to do these Happy New Year words in American sign language (ASL): 🥳 Happy New Year 🎉 2023 ⭐️ Resolution 🥳 Party Hat Make sure to watch thru to the end to see Rio’s reaction to a confetti popper!He wasn't expecting that to happen!

He also has a New Year's Countdown in sign language!Check it out:

Happy Signing, and Happy New Year!
Who is Rio? And why does he want you to learn sign language? Learn about him here!

Don't forget to PIN this post so that you go back and watch these signs again if you forget them!

What other words are you wanting to learn? Leave them in the comments!

Happy Signing!

-Til next time

Bek

Need a quick and cheap treat for a holiday classroom party? Christmas crack is a yummy candy dessert that will guarantee to be gone by the end of the night!

This is a treat I often forget about during the holidays. In fact, it was an accident that I even remembered it! I was trying to come up with a holiday treat idea for the class and got to talking with my own children about the types of holiday sweets and treats that I enjoyed as a kid.

That's when I remembered...CHRISTMAS CRACK! Do people even still make this? I haven't seen it around in a looooong time! (Ok, not THAT long of a time. I'm not super old...yet! Ha!)

I was excited to remember this recipe because, besides being delicious and festive, it's a recipe you can easily send home with students to do with their family over Christmas break. You don't need a lot of ingredients and it's fairly cheap to make. Plus, it's so yummy! Let's be honest, this is a treat that will be eaten very quickly.

You'll need to grab a large cookie sheet and some foil. Heavy duty foil works best, but you can use regular foil if that's what you have laying around. You can use parchment paper too.

Buy a box of saltine crackers, two sticks of unsalted butter, 8-10 crushed candy canes, 1 cup of packed brown sugar, and about a cup of mini chocolate chips.

Once you've got everything ready to go, put your foil on the cookies sheet. MAKE SURE YOU GREASE YOUR FOIL! I'm embarrassed to admit that when I was making my first batch, I completely forgot to spray the foil...which wound up being ok, but it took me a long time to carefully peel the foil from the crackers! So save yourself some time, and don't make the same mistake I did!

Lay the crackers on the foil. Make sure they are touching on all sides. Then bring the butter and sugar to a boil in a small pan. Once it's ready, pour it over the crackers and spread it out evenly.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the butter/sugar mixture. Wait just a moment while they start to melt and then spread those out evenly as well. Once that's done, sprinkle the crushed up candy cane on top and put the cookie sheet in the fridge for a 2-3 hours.

Once it's hardened, pull the cookie sheet out of the fridge and use a pizza cutter to slice it in many directions. It's a good thing you remembered to grease the foil so that they didn't stick!

Put it in a cute holiday tray and serve!