Liebster Blog Award!!

I apologize to Charlene over at Diamond Mom's Treasury of Teaching Resources for taking so long to respond to her giving me the Liebster Blog Award. Thank you so much, Charlene!

The Liebster Award is given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. It’s to show that new bloggers are appreciated and help spread the word about our little pieces of cyberspace.

 

Here are the rules:
1. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
2. Answer the questions that the nominator set for you.
3. Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.
4. Choose 11 other blogs with fewer than 200 followers to nominate and link them in your post.
5. You cannot “tag back” the other blog, but leave a comment on this post with the URL of your Liebster post so I can learn more about you & see who you nominate.

About myself:

1. I have been married to my husband, Jesse, since 10/1/05.
2. We met while working at McDonald's.
3. Our daughter, Elizabeth, is 4 years old.
4. Our son, Austin, is 2 years old.
5. I have a 3 way tie of must see places before I die: Disney World, NYC, and Europe.
6. My favorite singer of all time is Reba.
7. My favorite music group of all time is Boyz II Men.
8. I love to go to concerts and I typically average 2-3 per year.
9. I have a dog named Kaycee. She is 3 years old and is a Yellow Lab mix.
10. I am a HUGE Kansas City Royals baseball fan.
11. I have lived in the state of Missouri my entire life.

Here are the questions I was asked to answer:
1. What is one of the craziest lessons you have ever taught?  I remember when I taught 4th grade, we made topical maps with salt dough. I happened to wear black pants that day, which was a bad idea due to all of the white powdery material that we used in making the dough.

2. If you could teach anywhere in the world, where would it be? Ooooh, this is a great question. It would be interesting to teach somewhere in Europe, maybe England?

3. Who was your favorite teacher in school and why? The one I always state for this question (even though there are many that are on my favorites list) is Mr. Starks. He was my 8th grade Pre-Algebra teacher. He was strict, but very funny and ornery. He made learning challenging and a bit fun and always went above and beyond for all students.

4. What do you do to stay motivated at report card time? I think about the fact that I don't want to be doing grade cards at home, on the weekend, or on a large break. I think about my own kids at home, so I get as much done at work as I can.

5. What kinds of incentives do you use with your students? I teach elementary computers. They can earn up to 2 stars for the class per period for good behavior. Once the class hits 10 stars, they get a game day. This means they are allowed to play any pre-approved computer games for an entire 45 min. computer class. They love it!

6. What are the different grades you have taught? Library/Computers (1st year teaching as a foot-in-door type position), 2 years in 4th grade, 3 years in 5th grade, and now I'm in my 2nd year teaching Elementary Computers.

7. Do you participate in any outside groups? No

8. What do you do just for you? Not much sadly

9. Have you ever had a different career? Briefly I was a Student Advisor for an online school. While I loved the students and employees that I worked with, the job was not for me as there were too many "sales" type aspects to it.

10.What is your favorite subject to teach? Elementary Computers!! I also LOVED teaching 5th grade Social Studies!

11. What technology do you use in the classroom? Our school doesn't have much, but we use desktop computers with Windows, Internet, I have a laptop, plus we have a projector. Oh how I miss my SMARTboard that I had for 3 years when I taught 5th grade. (sigh)

Here are my nominees:

1. Coconut Cutie's Classroom
2. Crayon Box Learning
3. Enchanted with Technology
4. Foodie Patoodie!
5. Fun Integrating Technology
6. Loose Shoelaces
7. Mind Full of Literacy
8. Tales of an Elementary Teacher
9. Teaching Little Apples
10. The Polka Dot Owl
11. Your Smarticles

Here are the questions for my nominees to answer:

1. What is your favorite comfort food? 

2. What is a song that always makes you happy when you hear it? 

3. What sound do you love?

4. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?

5. What do you like to do in your free time?

6. What is your least favorite chore to do?

7. If you could be any animal for just one day, what would it be and why?

8. What are you thoughts on the direction of education in America?

9.Do you have any pets?

10. What is your favorite, non-educational, website that you just cannot live without?

11. What is your favorite color?