Mardi Gras!

What fun!  Today we had a guest to speak to 4th grade GATE students about Mardi Gras!  Mrs. Gayle Cribbs, who taught gifted in Albertville for close to 25 years, was our guest.  She was no stranger to these kids.  She was the Enrichment teacher at Big Spring Lake Kindergarten School when these students were in kindergarten.  She is also....my mom!

Mrs. Cribbs taught the students many French words:  numbers, colors, and conversational phrases.  She told a little about the history of Mardi Gras...which actually started in Mobile, Alabama.  Since 4th graders study Alabama History, we talked about the French influence in Alabama history.  She shared traditions of beads, parades, King Cake, and the Mardi Gras colors with the students.  In her best Cajun accent, she read The Cajun Night Before Christmas!

While the students learned more about the French colors and maps with activity pages, each student had the opportunity to make their own crepe!  Yum!!!  We blended the ingredients, baked the crepes, and filled them with yummy ingredients in GATE today!  They were delicious and the kids had  a great time making their own crepe!

Several students wanted the recipe for our crepes and asked if I would put it on this blog...here you go!

French Crepes a la GATE

1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
2 T oil
2 T sugar

Blend in a blender.  We used a crepe maker to dip and bake the crepes.  Then filled them with a variety of things:  apple pie filling, cherry pie filling, whipped cream, chocolate chips, cherries, chocolate syrup.  You could use fresh fruit or other goodies.  Enjoy!