Hands-On 3-D Figure Explorations

Check out more similar ideas on my website! http://www.teachbeyondthedesk.com/

Sometimes, in education, we lose the art of exploration. Especially in the middle grades. The standards are so challenging, the class times so short, the demands so many that we deliver canned notes and a textbook assignment and move on.

But it could be so much more. 

When kids learn by exploring and investigating, they come to understand the concepts naturally on their own. They're invested. They care. And they like it. Sure, you're thinking, "Really, Katie? My 8th graders can LIKE cross-sections of 3-D figures?"

Well...YES!

I wager, if you try it, you'll eagerly ditch the lecture and never look back. 

Here are some ways we've explored and investigated the properties of 3-D figures in my class. These activities cover properties of figures, nets, surface area, cross sections or slices, and views of models or figures. You can easily scale each up or down for your level. 

Properties of Figures, Nets, and Surface Area with Magna-Tiles

Magna-Tiles (http://www.magnatiles.com) may be my favorite. I bought them for my youngest son one Christmas but routinely borrow them for class. 

Divide students into small groups and give each 6 squares and 4 triangles.

Give them a couple minutes to just build with the blocks. Inevitably someone makes a shape and unfolds it into its net without me prompting. And the magnetic properties are just fun :)

Then have each group build a cube. Ask questions about the properties. "What shape is the base?" "What do we call each square of the cube?" "How many faces are there?" Etc. You've just taught or reviewed the vocabulary and properties of 3-D figures. And, GASP, without a textbook! Score!

Then have them unfold the cube into its net. I like to have them draw it on a small whiteboard and hold it up so we can compare. Were they the same? Similar? Can we make another net that still works? How many can we come up with? Can we tell how the faces must be arranged for it to work? Now you've upped the rigor by having them draw conclusions and allowed students with strong understanding to keep going. 

And watch. Are they smiling? Talking on task? Willingly trying to do more? Extending their understanding without you prompting them? Woah. 

Then repeat the process with triangular prisms and pyramids. 

Wanna take it a step further? With each shape, while it's unfolded into its net, ask them how they could find the surface area. Give them a ruler and let them try. Can they find a more direct way?

You've now covered several standards without cracking a book. And they were actively invested and interested every step of the way. A great closer? Have each group make a set of notes for a figure based on their exploration and what they found important and then compile a class set. Discuss. Anything to add? You can assign homework to practice the skills independently as you see fit, but I bet they remember more of this than anything we lectured at them or they copied off the board. 

Cross-Sections and Slices with Play-Doh

Ok, so the first time I did this, I learned something I didn't expect. Middle schoolers LOVE Play-Doh. Like, seriously. Even the uber-cool athlete boys. Even the boys who you know are doing drugs after school. No joke, they beg to take it home. It's a big deal. 

Now, that said, I like to get something out of the way right up front. "Just so we all understand, this is Play-Doh. We're making shapes. Not human appendages. Especially not those typically covered by underpants. Understood?"

Trust me. It's a needed conversation. 

Give each group one canister and let them play a minute. 

Then give a task. Have them make a sphere. They can make one for the group or divvy the doh up among each member. 

Then I give each group a plastic knife. I have a similar conversation about the knife. "This is a knife for cutting Play-Doh. Not people. Not materials. This is not Orange is the New Black. Understood?"

Have them slice their sphere in half. What shape is revealed?

Then issue a challenge. Can they slice the sphere with any single straight slice and get anything but a circle?

Repeat with other figures and slices. Most figures can be made by starting with a ball or snake and then smushing edges against the desk. Talk about slices parallel to the base vs perpendicular. What about diagonal cuts? Ask them how they would need to slice a figure to get a certain shape and let them try until they get it. 

Again, you can have them generate notes or do an assignment as you see fit. But they just learned a LOT of content willingly and maybe even happily. 

And little cups of Play-Doh would make great end-of-year gifts later :)

Views with Katie Kubes (or Other Connecting Blocks)

I bought a set of Katie Kubes (http://www.eaieducation.com/Product/520395/Advanced_3D_Cube_Models_Grades_6-8.aspx) from EAI one year and really like them. I use them just for this skill, but even then, they've been worth it since so many kids just can't visualize these kinds of problems on their own. 

You could probably improvise this with other linking blocks. 

I start by showing everyone an example. Many of them have no idea what it means to draw the "top view" of something. And the blueprint can be a bit challenging. Then I give each group an easy model and a blank or digital grid to draw the views on.  Then I just let them keep going, advancing through the models as their skill allows. If they've REALLY got it, I give them a reverse model--they get the drawn views and build the block model from them. 

Getting to see, turn, and manipulate the models really helps them visualize and understand what these kinds of problems are asking. 

So, there are some ways we explore and investigate 3-D figures using hands-on materials. Every time, I hear things like, "Class is over already?" "That was fun!" "When can we do Play-Doh again?" This approach is definitely worth the risk. I have virtually no off-task behaviors when I do this because everyone, even my reluctant learners, are engaged and curious. They don't even know they're learning so much! If it's too out of your comfort zone, start with a one-shape, one-concept mini-activity (boy, that was a lot of hyphens...) and see how it goes. And share your ideas! How do you get students hands-on with upper-grades math concepts?

Activities for the Book Holes

Check out more similar ideas on my website! http://www.teachbeyondthedesk.com/

Holes, by Louis Sachar, is one of my favorite young adult novels to read with my students.  Although it's challenging for my classes (reading level 5.2), it's funny, engaging, and smart.  This book doesn't talk down to my students.  It's proud of its complexity, but not too proud to be silly in all the right ways.  I mean, a book about pre-teen boys sweating away in a desert work camp is BOUND to include lots of stink-humor.  And my kids LOVE it.

We've been reading aloud in small groups of 5-6 students.  The kids take turns reading a page aloud, under the supervision and guidance of my amazing cohort, Chris, while I run grammar and writing skills groups.  We use rotations, so small groups of students are all doing different things around the room at any given time, and I am fortunate to have Chris with me this year to help supervise these groups.  I mean, after all, we KNOW 6th graders will always do what they're supposed to do without direct supervision, right?? Ha!

Anyway, the students have worked very hard through this book and have participated fully.  They've asked thoughtful questions along the way to improve their understanding, they've made connections with their own experiences, and they've made smart predictions about what may happen next.  Because they've knocked my socks off, I felt it was only fitting to celebrate the conclusion of the book with some fun activities.  Feel free to use any of them with your own classes and modify things as you see fit (thought it's always nice to give credit to your source...ahem...me!).  If you're on MyBigCampus, look me up (Katie Powell); I have quizzes and other resources in a bundle I'd happily share with you.

Trivia Challenge

I selected 30 or so questions from the quizzes we've done along the way, focusing on themes and plot elements that run throughout the story (such as why Kate Barlow became an outlaw, how Zero and Stanley are connected back in their ancestry, what The Warden is really looking for, the importance of Stanley and Zero's journey on the mountain, etc).  I printed a clip art of a shovel in a hole and pasted one question onto the back of each.  I also printed a picture of treasure and one of a lizard (colored to have yellow spots).  Then I asked our secretary to laminate them all.

For the game, I laid the "holes" out on the floor.  Since my students are already divided into three groups, they played in their rotation groups, but you can group your students into any number of teams.  The objective is to "dig" the most "holes" by answering questions correctly.  The first player from the first team tosses a bean bag and has to answer the question the bean bag lands on.  I did not allow team-mates to help so that each individual student was accountable for full participation.  If the player cannot answer the question correctly, the card is returned to the floor.  Similar to memory games, other players should make note of the card's location, especially if they know the answer, so they can get an easy "hole" on their turn.  If the card has treasure on the back, everyone on the team gets a piece of candy (but I did not count this card as a "hole").  If the bean bag lands on a yellow-spotted lizard, the team must surrender a "hole."  The team with the most "holes" when all cards are collected is the winner.  Total game play for 3 teams of 5-6 students, 30+ cards, took us approximately 40-45 minutes.

My students were VERY engaged.  They cheered and jumped around for the treasure and groaned and yelled about the lizards.  And they KNEW the information!!  I was so impressed by how well they did!

Typically I make games that can be applied to multiple areas of content, so I was hesitant to spend this much time setting up a game that would just be used once a year.  But this book is such a hit year after year that I felt it was worth it. 

Extension Idea:

This game could be used as an assessment.  You could call students back one at a time to toss the bean bag to answer a set number of questions, however many you want for your assessment.  You could tally how many they get right or wrong.  You could even number the cards to keep question statistics, such as which questions were most often missed, etc.  You could take a quiz or assessment score right from the game!  I'd probably remove the lizard cards but keep the treasure in for random candy/sticker incentives along the way :)

Celebration Stations

To celebrate the end of the book, I set up centers around the room for the following activities:

1) Holes-inspired treats: donut holes, samples of various kinds of onions, dirt pudding, and sploosh (for us, I used peach-flavored applesauce, but peach preserves, sliced peaches, etc would also work).

2) What's Your Nickname prompt: I printed this page.  The students wrote their Holes nickname on the name tag picture and then wrote a sentence explanation on the page.  I had name tag stickers for them to wear too :)  We then hung the prompts in the hallway.

3) Yellow-Spotted Lizard pencil pals: The students traced my example lizard twice onto craft foam, cut them out, and then I helped hot-glue them together along the sides, leaving the space down the middle open.  I allowed the students to use any color spots they wanted.  Once dry, you can slide a pencil down inside.  This "pencil pal" keeps pencils from rolling off the desk :)

4) Moon Sand: On a teacher message board, a teacher said they go outside to dig holes every year to celebrate the end of the book.  She said it's the student's favorite activity every year.  I found this surprising and funny, so I told my class about it.  And guess what--they all wanted to go dig holes.  I don't know if you're familiar with February in Indiana, but our ground's pretty frozen.  That's a no-go.  But I found a recipe on Pinterest (yay!) for moon sand that called for 8 cups flour and 1 cup baby oil.  I had about 3/4 cup baby oil, so I supplemented with cooking oil, and it seemed to work just fine :)  I dumped the whole concoction in a large bucket, tossed in some sand box toys, and laid down a plastic table cloth to protect the floor.  I tried it out at home with my own kiddos first, and I have a couple observations: my 3 year old was less messy than my 6th graders, and my 6th graders enjoyed the moon sand as much as my 3 year old.  What a hit!

5) Of course, the movie was part of our celebration too!  And since my projector burned out recently, we got to watch with our BRAND NEW projector!  Woot!

Writing Prompt

We have ISTEP coming up in a week.  But even if you don't have statewide testing (lucky!) or aren't in testing season, writing prompts are great assessments.  This is the prompt I'm using this year:

I print several on a page and then cut them apart to affix to photocopied ISTEP prompt paper to keep the experience as authentic to our assessment as possible.

This is the rubric I'm using.  The students do peer assessing first which helps deepen their own understanding of the writing process while also helping them catch their weaknesses.  After revising, I grade.  I use the rubric as a basic checklist (the element is present or isn't), but you could use a point scale too.

 So there ya have it!  That's our Holes celebration, at a glance.  Again, if you're on MyBigCampus, look me up.  I have more resources on there I'd be happy to share.  What are your favorite Holes activities?

Giant Floor Graph City

*Check out more similar ideas on my website! TeachBeyondtheDesk.com

For coordinate graphing, I made a giant floor graph using a sheet of plastic drop cloth and masking tape.  I taped the underside of the plastic and numbered each axis.

For several years now, I've used this graph as a way to get kids up and moving during our graphing unit.  However, this year I noticed some of my students having trouble following the grid lines up to each axis to find the numbers for the ordered pairs (coordinates).  Many of my students have visual/perceptual disabilities, so following a line can be difficult.  To meet that need, we came up with the following activities:

Driving on the Floor Graph

I printed basic clip art images that say "Crash!".  I laminated them and then placed them around the graph.  I brought in some Hot Wheels-style cars (Shh! Don't tell my kids!).  The students placed 2 cars at the crash site and then "drove" out along the "roads" (grid lines) until they reached each axis. 

Have you ever seen 6th grade boys with toy cars? Ha!  They had a blast!  And we solved the problem of students not being able to follow the grid lines.

This idea then morphed or grew into the Floor Graph City Challenge.

Floor Graph City Challenge

This activity has 2 parts.  I printed clip art of basic city locations like a hospital, school, park, church, house, and store.  I laminated these, then affixed a loop of tape on the back of each.  

For the first part of the challenge, I placed the buildings around the graph.  Students used their toy cars to "drive" out from each location to the axis lines.  

For the second part, I listed ordered pairs (coordinates) for each building, and the students had to place them correctly on the graph.  They could use the toy cars to check their work.

You could easily use a floor graph like this for many more activities.  What would you use if for?

UPDATE: here are the Google Docs I use with this activity. Feel free to download and edit!

Challenging version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByGR2YbHvPZdSFA2RW9jUllhc1U/view?usp=docslist_api

Regular version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByGR2YbHvPZdX0NEYlViUG9zZDg/view?usp=docslist_api

Some Classroom Freebies

Thanks to my slightly off-the-wall, kooky, active teaching style, I've generated a sizable repertoire of unexpected learning activities.  I've found that if I can hide the learning inside absurdity, humor, and fun, my students learn more and actually enjoy doing it.  So here are some activities we've done lately.

Verbs with AFV!
To build anticipation for and gather some quick formative assessment data on what my students already know about verbs, I used the hit show AFV.  I streamed clips of America's Funniest Home Videos (but you could use any clean, funny videos) and had the students write a sentence describing what they saw happen in each clip and then identify the verb(s) in each sentence.  The kids LOVED it, I got the data I needed, and we all had a good time.  MUCH better than a worksheet!

Checkers for Worksheets or Review

For this one, you'll need a checker board (and checkers).  I labeled each square used in play with numbers (there are 32 squares played in checkers, but my worksheet had only 27 questions, so I labeled 5 spaces as free spaces, similar to those used in BINGO).  Because I wanted to use these checker boards for other activities, I used Post-it strips to number the spaces, but you could easily write directly on the board.  I wanted students to turn this worksheet in, so I made copies for each student.  However, you could laminate your worksheet or use page protectors and rotate kids through the activity, reusing the same sheet with dry or wet erase markers to save paper.  My kids have iPads, so they could even snap a picture of the page and email it to me (though most of my kids have iPad 1's, which don't have cameras...).
OK, here are the rules of play:

Checkers Review Game o  Set your checkers up as you would to play a normal game of checkers.
o  Move your checkers as you would in a normal game.
o  When you JUMP your opponent, look at the number you LAND on.  You must answer that question correctly to take your opponent’s checker.  If you answer incorrectly, your opponent’s checker stays.
o  When you move your checker in to be KINGED, you must answer the corresponding question correctly.  If you answer incorrectly, your checker is NOT kinged.
o  The player with the most opponent’s checkers at the end is the winner.

You get the same information a worksheet would provide, but you're also breaking up the monotony and allowing learning to happen in an unexpected way :)

4 Corners
You've probably already heard of this one.  Label 4 areas of your room, one for each term or concept you're covering (we did the 4 types of sentences).  Then you give an example and have kids WALK to that area.  You can also use this activity as an ice-breaker or time-killer ("Your favorite zoo animal: tigers, lions, chimpanzees, or alligators--go!").  Cheap, quick, and easy!  And the kids LOVE it and tend to remember the concepts because their BODY was there.  When we did the types of sentences, kids connected the type of sentence to where they had stood in the room and used that to help them on the final assessment.

Voting Paddles
These are great for yes/no questions or any question that can be answered with one of two answer choices (think math--positive or negative or opinions--agree or disagree).  I made mine very simply: laminated paper and craft sticks.  That's it.  Then I have the students use wet-erase marker to write our answer choices for the day so we can reuse the same paddles for other activities.  I ask questions and have the students quick vote with their paddles.  Students can also poll each other that way.  Again, quick, fun, easy formative assessment!

Give me a ., !, ?
I'm using this one currently for our reading log.  I have the students give me a brief statement summary (.), one thing that surprised them (!), and one thing they're still wondering about (?).

Adverb Charades
You'll need strips of paper or index cards, two different colors.  One one color, have the kids write one verb that could be easily demonstrated.  Then have them write one adverb on the other.  Gather the cards in separate stacks.  When a person is "it," they draw a combo and act it out.  Students then guess the combo.  I usually quickly write a word bank on the board as I gather the cards.

And one last instructional freebie: If you haven't yet checked out the site classdojo.com, you need to! It's a free, online classroom management site that lets you award or deduct points for any issue (you can input your own, positive or negative) and keep running totals and even email reports to parents!  I LOVE this site, and it's motivated my students like never before WITHOUT creating more work for me!  Woot!

Finally, I try to do things on open house or conference night to make my room as welcoming as possible.  Sometimes parents and/or kids are nervous, younger siblings are squirmy, and everyone is tired and frazzled.  I appreciate that parents take the time to come in, so here's what I do to make the whole experience a little more enjoyable:

And since our conferences are student-led, students often sit there uncomfortably unsure of what to say while parents impatiently flip through page after page of old homework assignments.  This year I developed a conversation guide to focus the time.

Name__________________________________________Student-Led ConferencesDiscussion Guide1) Thank your parents for taking the time to come in. 2) Show your parents your 1^st Quarter grades on PowerSchool.  Go through each class and take the time to answer any questions they have. 3) Show your parents your agenda.
Do you fill it out each day? _____________________Do you take it to every class?_______________________
Do you look at it at home to see what you need to do for homework? __________________Do you show your parents your agenda each night? ______________________________________ 4) Go through your accordion folder.
Have you kept your folder organized? ____________________Have you shown Mom and Dad your graded work, notes home, etc? ___________________Are you keeping ALL your important papers in your folder? ____________________________Are you as organized as you need to be? _____________________________________ 5) Homework:Have you turned in ALL your assignments on time? _____________________________________Are you doing homework at home? _______________________________________Are you taking the time to do it well? _________________________________________Does any of your homework feel too difficult? _______________________________________Do you have a specific time and place at home to work on homework? ________________Look back through your grades on PowerSchool.  Are there any marked as missing, late, or zeros? _________________________ 6) Studying:Do you tell Mom or Dad when you have a test coming up? ______________________________Be honest.  Do you REALLY study? ___________________________________How much time do you typically spend studying at home for a test? ___________________Look back through your grades on PowerSchool.  Are your test grades above 70%? ________________________What could you do to better prepare for tests 2^nd Quarter? _____________________________ 7) Attitude:How do you feel about school? __________________________________Do you like coming to school? __________________________________What do you like best about school? _____________________________________________________Do you get along with your classmates? ____________________________________________What do you need to do to improve your attitude or behavior? ______________________________________________
  8) Goals:Did you give your very best 1^st Quarter? _____________________________________________________What do you want to improve most for 2^nd Quarter? ___________________________________________What will it take to accomplish that goal? ___________________________________________________ 9) Read180:Show your parents your rBook and talk to them about each of the workshops we’ve done so far (1, 2, and 6).  What was your favorite? _________________________________________Look back at your Read180 and English class grades.  What were some assignments you think you really gave your best on? ______________________________________________Explain bell work, daily trivia, journals, reading rotation, etc.Go over your Reading Fluency rubric.  What did you do well? ______________________________________What did you need to improve? ________________________________________________Go over the rubric for your Halloween poem.  What did you do well? _____________________________________What did you need to improve? ________________________________________________Explain Class Dojo and how you’re doing.Make sure you SHOW them your poem too!You can show your parents the software, the different areas of our room, etc. 10) Math (if you have Mrs. Powell for math)Go over your math grades.  We covered whole numbers, story problems, integers, and decimals this quarter.  Which of those skills was your best? ___________________________________Which did you struggle most with? ______________________________________________Do you typically take the time to check your work? ______________________________________Do you SHOW all your work? _______________________________________________Did you take advantage of the chance to re-take or redo tests and quizzes? ________________________________Did you do all your homework assignments? _____________________________________________How do you feel about math? ____________________________________________________ 11) Social Studies:Review the things Mr. Weimer told you to review.  Use your data notebook app. 12) Science:Review the things Mrs. Kreienbrink told you to review.  Use your data notebook app. 13) What is one thing you wish your parents knew about you or school? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________14) What is one thing you really should thank them for? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________If you or your parents have questions to address with other teachers or you’d like to stop in to see them, you can go visit other classrooms.LOCKER:Show your parents your locker.Is it organized? ____________________________Take a moment to tidy it up.

So there ya go!  Feel free to add your own activities and resources in the comments!

I'm Absurd for a Good Cause...and Baked Fiesta Cups

As you probably know, I teach 6th graders for a living.  If you've ever met a 6th grader, you know they are fairly ridiculous creatures.  For example, one of my students asked, "Why do I need to take English class?  I already speak it goodly."  In another class, a girl asked my colleague if people can get bad gas. She was speaking of the fuel, not flatulence, but her question didn't come out quite the way she intended.  This stuff is gold, and I couldn't make it up.  12 year olds are just this delightful all on their own.

Last week was a spirit week to raise money for Junior Achievement.  But I'm a rational, mature, intelligent adult.  Wearing pajamas to school is wonderful to the average 12 year old.  But to this rational, mature, intelligent adult, it's terrifying.  You've had those dreams when you woke up late on the first day of school, or missed your alarm, or shown up in your jammies, right?  I was a dork in middle school.  Popularity and coolness were not mine.  I was insecure.  So even now, when it comes to spirit days, I obsess a bit.  I'm always afraid I have the wrong theme on the wrong day and that I'll show up to work in my jammies on hat day.  Or I'll have the wrong week entirely.  Or, Heaven forbid, I'll have to stop for gas on my way to work.  In my jammies.

Seriously.  I know most of America goes to Wal-Mart in their jammies.  Peopelofwalmart.com is testament to that (and many atrocities more).  I don't get it, to be honest.  It takes, what, 30 seconds to put on pants?  So why not put on REAL pants before you head to the store? Or at least comfy pants of a solid color?  But NO.  Americans flock to Wal-Mart in their flannel print or character-adorned fleece jammie pants.  So when I had to go to the store on pajama day, I stopped home to change my pants first!  I couldn't do it!

Anyway, as an adult in the world of middle school, it takes courage to humiliate myself.  I have to be brave enough to humble myself and make an utter fool of myself.  I don't LIKE to do it.  But I like the results.  I was the only teacher in the whole school to participate in pirate day.  Did that bother me?  Yep.  It was like all those bad dreams, but in real life.  But as I walked to my classroom door from my meeting that morning, I heard a student say, "Phew, I knew she'd be in costume!"  I looked up into the face of a very relieved boy dressed in full pirate garb.  For a moment, I flashed back to all the insecurities of being 12 and realized that if I had been afraid to participate, he must have been nothing short of terrified.  Being 12 is hard enough.  It's an awkward time.  But when he got ready for school that morning, he knew Mrs. Powell would be even more ridiculous than he was, and that gave him the confidence to participate.

So, yes, I'm absurd for a good cause.

I've found that the bigger fool I make of myself, the better I do as a teacher.  This is true both when I'm dressed as a pirate and when I'm in a suit.  It's not about what I wear or don't wear.  It's about the fact that I'm willing to put my own pride aside and make my time at that school about my students.  If I sing songs about capitalization and punctuation, even though I can't carry a tune in a bucket with a really sturdy handle, they remember it.  If I chant about adverbs, even though I was never a cheerleader, for good reason, they remember it.  If I pantomime various over-the-top emotions for our show-not-tell lesson, they remember it.  If I dress as a pirate, they remember it.  I may be more than a little embarrassed on the inside, and the term DORK hasn't ever really left me, but it's worth it!

Here's Duck Tape Day!

 I braided three kinds of Duck Tape for the bracelet and necklace.

I made my hair pin by making triangular leaves in green and pink, then curled petals of the zebra print, then taped the whole thing to a giant bobby pin.

My challenge to you this week is this:
What do you need to lay aside for the sake of someone else?
How would your impact be different if you weren't afraid to make a fool of yourself?
What would you have the courage to do?

This week, try it.



Finally, a bonus feature.
I cook the way I teach.  I have an insistence about doing things my own way, blazing my own path, and I'm insatiably curious and creative.  And stubborn.  So I rarely follow a recipe.  When I cook, I often throw things together and see what happens.

I have a very patient husband.

He's also forgiving.

And if what I serve is remotely food-like, he's happy.

Sometimes my experiments work.  Sometimes they don't.  Here's one that worked!

I call these "Baked Fiesta Cups."
You can call them whatever you'd like.
When you cook, you can change anything you'd like about this concoction.  This is just what I did!

In a pot or crock pot, combine:
shredded chicken breast (I used the Tyson pre-cooked variety--one of my favorite time-savers!!); fully cooked if whipping this together on the stove; you can use uncooked in the crock pot
1 can diced tomatoes with cilantro and lime (I used the Ro-Tel brand)
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
rice (minute or quick variety, brown or white)
1 packet either taco seasoning OR chicken chili seasoning (I used chicken chili--it's what I had!)
I also needed to add about 1/3 cup water for the rice.
You could even simplify this by using black bean salsa instead of the tomatoes and beans!

You'll also need tortillas, cream cheese, and cheese (shredded or otherwise) for later.

Heat the first ingredients through, then cover and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice is soft.

While it's cooking, pre-heat the oven to 350.  Grab your muffin tin and tortillas.  Slice the tortillas in half and roll into a cone-ish shape, then fold/stuff them into the muffin tin to make little tortilla cups.  Mine kept trying to un-fold/stuff themselves, so I dabbed them with a little water to soften them and keep them in the cups.

Is your rice soft? Then stir in half a package of cream cheese.

When it's blended into the rest of the ingredients, spoon the mixture into the tortilla cups, top with cheese, and then bake until the cups start to brown.

Then eat!  Well, you'll want to let them cool a smidge first.  But then eat!

They were super yummy!  Hope you enjoy!

And if you don't, psssh!  Make your own recipe! Ha! :D




Now go be absurd.