Liebster Award!!

I am honored to be nominated for the Liebster Award by Kindergarten Planet!  I am so excited that she thought my blog was worthy of this award.  If you are unfamiliar with this award, it is an award given to new bloggers with a growing audience to help welcome them to the wonderful world of blogging.  Blogging, and especially teacher blogging, is comprised of a fabulous and positive community of educators who are looking to connect with each other and share ideas and stories from the classroom.  

1. Why did you start blogging and how long have you been blogging?  I work with a talented team of teachers at my school.  However, we are a small school and I am the only kindergarten teacher.  From reading others blogs and attending conferences, I realized how much I would love to work with a team of kindergarten teachers so that we could share ideas and plan together.  I started my blog in January of this year so that I could begin to connect with other kindergarten teachers as well as reflect on my own teaching. 
2. What one word sums up the heart of your blog?  Coffee :)  Just kidding!  I have a two year old at home and I teach kindergarten.  That makes for a very busy day.  As of right now, I think the best word to sum up the heart of my blog is reflection.  I love reflecting on my own teaching as well as reading other blogs and seeing what everyone has been doing in their classrooms.  This helps me figure out our next steps for teaching and learning in my classroom.  
3. How many hours a week do you dedicate to your blog/TpT/social media? Good question!  Since I stared blogging, I am amazed at how many new ideas I have had for the classroom.  I try to take the time to blog/TpT/social media when I am at home, my son is sleeping, and (to be completely honest) have the energy.  This varies each week.  I am excited for summer break! 
4. Where does your blog inspiration come from?  My blog inspiration comes from my students/classroom.  This is usually what happens: I write my lesson plans, go to use them in the classroom, end up with a better idea during the middle of my lesson and change them, and then a blog idea is born.  
5. What category of blog posts do you like to read best?  I love to read about the way other teachers run their classroom and implement curriculum.  This inspires me to try new techniques or strategies in my own classroom.  
6. What is your favorite aspect of blogging?  I love connecting with others.  Teacher bloggers are some of the nicest and most encouraging people in the world.  
7. What idea from a blog would you like to try yourself?  This bubble/matter experiment from A Day in First Grade looks like so much fun!  I have to try it next year.  
8. Salty or sweet?  I have a sweet tooth!  I love chocolate, ice cream, and any kind of fruity dessert. 
9. Are you a morning person or a night owl?  I am a night owl.  My parents used to say I got my second wind around 9 PM.  I have always wished I was a morning person. I think I would get so much more done that way!
10. If you weren't a teacher, what career would you choose?  I would love to be a children's book author. 
11. What is your favorite grade to teach?  This is the end of my tenth year teaching.  If I include my experiences teaching when I was in college, I have taught everything from pre-k to 6th grade and have enjoyed each experience.  However, kindergarten is my favorite.  I love teaching kids to read and building foundational skills to be life long readers and learners.  

Here are my nominees for the Liebster Award (in no particular order):

*Tamsyn from Miss Fegan's Magnificent Munchkins
*Diane from Spreading Joy One Giggle at a Time
*Kathryn from Kathryn Loves Teaching
*Megan from Smiles in Style
*Devon from Real Life Adventures of a Very Unlikely Teacher

I would love for these bloggers to answer the following questions:

1. Why did you start blogging and how long have you been blogging?
2. What one word sums up the heart of your blog?
3. How many hours a week do you dedicate to your blog/TpT/social media?
4. Where does your blog inspiration come from?
5. What category of blog posts do you like to read best?
6. What is your favorite aspect of blogging?
7. What idea from a blog would you like to try yourself?
8. What do you like to do when you are not blogging or teaching?
9. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
10. If you weren't a teacher, what career would you choose?
11. What is your favorite grade to teach?

Here are the Liebster Award rules:

• Link back to the blog that nominated you (me!)
• Answer the 11 questions posted by the nominator 
• Nominate 5-11 blogs (with less than 200 followers) and link to them in your post
• Contact the nominees and let them know they have been nominate

Thank you again to Kindergarten Planet for nominating me!  I feel so privileged to be nominated for this award!  

Have a great weekend!

Five For Friday: May 15th

I am cheating a little here because I took this picture a week ago.  I asked my students what they thought would happen when we put popcorn kernels (inside a baggie with a wet paper towel) in the sun.  Once one of my kids said that we were going to make popcorn, we all thought we were making popcorn.  It was quite the surprise when the kernel sprouted.

We had the coolest opportunity this year for our zoo field trip.  We have a volunteer, who is a zookeeper, and she took us on a private tour of the zoo.  It was awesome!  We fed the giraffes, fed exotic birds, and were able to "go behind the scenes" to see where the warthogs and African porcupines sleep at night.  Our zoo has Koalas on loan and they were coming in that night on Southwest.  Seriously, Koalas travel on airplanes with people.  How cool is that?

We had a fun picnic lunch after we toured the zoo and found a caterpillar.  They thought he or she had escaped from the butterfly garden next to our picnic spot.  The kids were fascinated by the caterpillar.  We found a stick, scooped him up, and put him in a tree to be safe so he could make his chrysalis.

It's been a busy week in our little classroom.  We let our babies go.  It was a windy day so we had to coax our butterflies to fly free.    

Our calendar books for this month.  This has been tough, but with repeated practice I think we are getting the hang of it!

This week I finished reading The Energy Bus.  The book focuses on how being positive and sharing your positive energy can bring out the best in your life, your team (at work), your classroom, etc.  Ok, well it doesn't say the classroom specifically, but the possibilities for the classroom are endless.  I am excited to try out some of my ideas (I'll keep you posted on how it goes)!  It is a quick read and totally worth it.

Happy Friday!

Currently: May

Listening: To the Penguins of Madagascar movie.  In full disclosure, I started this post much earlier today, but it was a beautiful day so my little conductor and I played outside.  I am just now getting back to blogging.  Ah, life with a 2 year old!

Loving: My husband has been in California visiting family since Wednesday and he comes home on the red eye tonight.  We met on our first day of college in our first class and then started dating that summer.  It has been 14 years (wow, where does the time go?) and I still miss him every time he is away.  

This is an old picture but I love it :) `

Thinking: I can't believe my baby will be two on Monday.  He was born on Derby day so today holds a special day in my heart.  We are having a "Little Blue Truck" birthday party with family tomorrow.

Wanting: A vacation... it has been way too long.  

Needing: I need a new show to watch.  I recently started watching "Once Upon a Time" and binge watched it.  Now that I am all caught up, I need something new.  I love Fairy Tales and I really enjoyed seeing them reimagined in this show.  I got spoiled watching Netflix.  One time a week just isn't enough.  

Summer:

Yes: We are going to Disney World over the 4th of July and then on a 5 day Disney cruise.  I am so excited.  I can't wait to see Josh meet the characters now that he knows who they are :)

Hope: I hope for a lot of family time.  There is nothing like experiencing the world through the eyes of a child.  I can't wait to spend some good quality time playing outside with Josh, William, and our two dogs. 

Dream: I would love to go to Vegas this summer and meet up with other teacher bloggers and sellers. I started this blog as a way to meet other kindergarten teachers.  I went to the SDE Indiana Kindergarten Conference this past November and loved it.  I met some great teachers and the amazing Deedee Wills from Mrs. Wills Kindergarten.  I learned so much.  I can't wait to go to Vegas someday.