Thursday, September 16, 2010

NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Giveaway

I wrote about some ice cream sundae cookies I made. And, I wrote about ways to get families in the kitchen, especially during the busy school months. Remember?
  1. Reconnect over cookies and a glass of milk and catch up on their busy day.
  2. Play with your food! For fun, after-school activities use Nestle Toll House Refrigerated Cookie Dough to create cookie puzzles and other fun cookie games the whole family can enjoy.
  3. Make math fun by baking Nestle Toll House cookies and letting children help with the measurements.

These thoughts and ideas would be fabulous with a Back to School Kit, don't you think? I received one that includes all kinds of fun Nestle Toll House items, including aprons, cookie dough and morsel coupons, Mini Toppers and recipe cards. Sweet! (literally and figuratively)

What would you do with a kit? Let me know! That's how you can enter to win. Check out the details below.

Here is how you can win:

MUST-HAVE ENTRY: Please leave a comment on this post telling me why you would love to receive a Nestle Toll House back to school kit :)

Other chances to win:

  1. Become a Fan of Mele Cotte on Facebook
  2. Follow me on Twitter
  3. Tweet (once) about this giveaway. Copy and paste: Spend quality time with family baking! Win a Nestle Toll House Back-To-School Kit! @MeleCotte has your chance to win - http://wp.me/pUE1f-BP
  4. Share about this giveaway on Facebook (when sharing, please tag @MeleCotte so I can easily verify)

(Open to readers in the US & Canada only. Give-a-way ends September 19th at 11:59 pm EST. The winner will be chosen randomly.)

Disclosure: I received free products samples from Toll House at no cost for review.

Leave a message on Mele Cotte? No worries! They'll count, too.

*
**Winner***

Congratulations!
Sharon May won the Nestle Toll House Back-To-School Kit!

I will contact you soon so I can get your mailing info. Happy Baking!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Recent Trip Pics...ATL - NYC

Random pic of me at my mom's party.

On the orad
Love my mom's liquor table...

Capitol duckies

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Another Trip to NY....Teaching on Long Island!

My time in NY, this trip, is fast coming to an end. I have just spent the last week teaching teachers various strategies that can be used in their classrooms. I decided not to chat about it on on Mele Cotte, since it was a portion of my trip that wasn’t food related. Well, candy/snacks were involved, but we won’t elaborate on the store bought stuff. Ha!


Anyway, it has been (oddly) fun getting back into the swing of things after a year of being out of the school system, as well as being seemingly unemployeed. How did this all happen? Well, first - I know people. LOL No, really, I met a teacher while in Utah, we chatted shop talk, and she suggested I offer classes to teachers in her area. And, so I began. Why not? Similar to the systems I have worked in Georgia, teachers all have to participate in professional development throughout the year, some mandatory and conducted within the individual schools, while some are offered by the area and conducted by a consultant. This is where I fit in.

The benefit of what I completed this week was that the teachers chose what classes take because something triggered their interest (besides the fact they have to meet X number of hours each year). So, as I did while I was in the my former system, I tried to make sure I included as many (hands-on) cross curricular examples of cross curricular strategies and ideas as possible, as well for all grades. Then, the teachers were able to walk away with "stuff"for immediately use upon returning to the classroom. All that really needed to be done was the “bump up” or “bump down” according to the grade taught and level of students involved.

As I tell participants, by no means am I an expert. No, no, no. But, I know what worked in my situations, with the many different demographics I have encountered. Sure, gurus like Reeves, Dufoor, Wormeli, Thomlinson, Wiliam offer wonderful information and insight into what needs to happen in the classroom, schools, and systems as a whole. But, in all honesty? When was the last time they taught in a classroom, as a staff member, among the new, raw issues that face not only our students, but the whole educational structure as a whole? Right? Right.

Anyway, I facilitated 5 courses geared toward secondary educators – Tiered instruction, Differentiated Instruction, Classroom Management, and Reading/Writing Strategies for Across the Curriculum. Some elementary teachers came as well, which wasn't a problem what-so-ever. I wish administrators could have been involved! But, the areas here are run much differently and I was intrigued by what I heard. Being in an area where unions drive many of the decisions/actions, education here is a whole new world to me. I had no idea that it was not the norm to take your students to lunch and eat in the cafeteria with the class, while monitoring. I had no idea that teachers had unassigned time, with which they could be out of the building and not have to “worry” about their students and what’s happening in the school, per say. I might have actually got some work done during the day if they had that in Atlanta. Ha!

Anyway, I enjoyed my classes, albeit they were all met with limited attendance. But, with comments I received on the evaluations, like

“This was the best class I have ever experienced!”
“When are you coming back?”
“I wish I was able to attend each one of your sessions.”
“This stuff was actually useful; I can make this work for my students.”

I am hopeful I will be able to get future gigs. Or, at least find a job in the district up here, which is what I am about to work on right now. Off to complete my OLAS application! Wish me luck!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

A Brunch to Remember at the Four Seasons, Atlanta

Big thanks to Broderick. He didn't bring his camera to the

Four Seasons and I was only to eager to pass him mine

throughout the day. :) Trying to figure out the best way

(in this slide show)to differentiate,I decided to use a star (*).

In this case, since my pics are fewer, I placed the star (*)

next to my pics. Thanks Broderick!


Check out the complete post and details on the blog....click here!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Sugar Coma Redux!

Bren and my spread at The Wine Shoe

















Additional pictures and information on Mele Cotte.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

The Food Bloggers Bake Sale: The Photos



Photos from the 4/17/10 Food Blogger Bake Sale...in no particular order...:)


The location...


great house across the street




Cuties -Katie & Nicole from We Whisk Away




The Man and his gluten free cupcake



Shameeka and Wanda


I get gitty when people go for my items...:)







Patti (Anatomy of a Dinner Party) was/is awesome!



The house a few doors down...








Someone lost their pet horse...




proof positive I need my tan back and my eyes done




Tito,, lost, was also looking for treats! Mandy called his owner...yeah!