March is here! And with it, we welcome Dr. Suess Day, St. Patty’s Day, the first day of spring—all represented by the color GREEN! So Speechsnacks will be featuring GREEN recipes throughout the month. Nature provides us with some beautiful shades of green, many of which can be found in the foods we eat (or should be eating!) Throw out the green food coloring and try some real green foods that not only taste amazing, but contain incredible amount of nutrients. On today’s menu, Homemade Guacamole Dip. Enjoy a batch while you catch up on the March Madness College basketball scene—or if that’s not your thing, enjoy it with a beverage of your choice as you celebrate St. Patty’s Day with your lads and lassies!
And don’t forget to check out the speech and language activities that will center around the GREEN theme as well! Today’s “speechsnacks” are geared to your upper elementary and middle school kiddos as we explore idioms that contain the word GREEN. And learn the names of those awesome shades of GREEN in your crayola box that you may have never really paid attention to before. And have fun playing the idiom game while earning some “green” .
Nutritional Benefits
Next to the olive, the avocado is the second fruit with the highest monounsaturated fatty acids content at 20%. This amounts to almost twenty times that of any other fruit.
Weight-watchers often stay away from avocados specifically because of the fats content of the fruit. But that’s a myth. The monounsaturated fats and the wholesome nutrition helps the basal metabolic rate, and reduce overeating.
A majority of the fats content is the health-promoting monounsaturated fats, followed by smaller amounts of polyunsaturated and saturated fats.
The potassium content and calories of an avocado is three times that of a banana. Other essential minerals are iron and copper for the blood, phosphorus and magnesium.
The sodium content in avocados and its low sugar content and absence of starch make it an ideal fruit for diabetics and hypoglycemics.
It is also one of the richest source of fiber among all fruits and vegetables. Packed with vitamins A, several B-complex, especially B3 (folic acid), powerful anti-oxidants like vitamins C and E, calcium, iron, potassium, etc.
Caution
People who are sensitive to latex should avoid touching or eating avocados as it contains an enzyme called chitinase that can cause an allergic reaction
Homemade Guacamole Dip
You will need: 2 ripe avocados, 1 jalapeno pepper, 1 clove garlic, 1 lime, 2 Roma tomatoes, 1 small shallot, salt and pepper to taste
Peel and dice the onion and garlic. Combine with diced jalapeno pepper.
How to peel and avocado: Cut carefully lengthwise around the pit. Gently twist in half so that you have two equal parts.
Carefully press your knife blade into the pit and gently twist, loosening the pit
The pit should easily pull out once it is loosened.
Mash the avocados to the desired consistency.
Add the juice if 1 lime and fold in diced tomatoes. Add salt and pepper, season to taste.
Enjoy with your favorite tortilla chips!!
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Learn GREEN IDIOMS and earn some GREEN$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
I know you have some “play money” hanging around from that old Monopoly game or another board game—use it with your green idioms to let kids “earn some green” with this game. I happened to salvage some old “speech loot” from a company that no longer exists. We used our loot while working on this green idioms game.
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Here is a list of idioms that contain the color green.
1–using index cards, write the idiom on one side. Use a second index card to write the meaning of the idiom. Have students match up the idiom with the meaning. (Earn $10)
2–Show kiddos the sample sentences with the correct use of the idiom. Ask them to make up their own sentence. (Earn $20)
3–Ask students to act out the idiom (like charades)—(EARNS $50 for both good acting and correct guesses)
4- Have your kiddos explore a box a Crayola’s to learn about different shades of green —Here’s a list of some of the shades of green you will find in a box of 120 crayolas: Aquamarine, Asparagus, Caribbean Green, Fern, Forest Green, Granny Smith Apple, Green, Green Blue, Jungle Green, Magic Mint, Mountain Meadow, Olive Green, Pine Green, Screamin’ Green, Sea Green and Shamrock are all greens in a Crayola box
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- Get (or give) the green light
– to receive a signal to start or continue
something
We got the green light from the principal to go on the field trip.
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- Grass is always greener on the other side of the
fence
– a place or situation that is far away or different seems
better than one’s present situation
The man believes that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence and he always wants to change
jobs.
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- green
– to be inexperienced or immature
The young man is rather green and does not have enough experience to drive the large machinery.
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- Green around the gills
– looking sick
My friend looked green around the gills after the long bus ride.
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- green belt
– an area of fields and trees around a town
Our city has a policy to increase the green belt around the city.
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- green-eyed monster
– jealousy
The woman was consumed by the green-eyed monster and it was affecting her life.
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- green thumb
– a talent for gardening, the ability to make things grow
My neighbor has a green thumb and she is able to grow one of the best gardens in our neighborhood.
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- green with envy
– to be very jealous, to be full of envy
I was green with envy when I heard that my cousin would be going to London for a week.
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- greenhorn
– an untrained or inexperienced or naive person
The young man is a greenhorn and he has much to learn about his new job.
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- going green
-to be environmentally friendly (by recycling, cleaning up litter, planting trees, etc.)
Our school is going green this year by recycling all the chips bags after lunch.
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- earn some green
-to earn money
He earned some green this winter by shovel snow in the neighborhood.
Wow! I never knew that connection between latex and avacado allergies! So interesting.