A New Liebster Award!

Thank you to Carrie at Kindergarten in Ms. Horn's World for nominating me for the Liebster Award!
                                     
The rules of the award:
So here is the scoop about this award: The rules for receiving the award are as follows:

- Link back to the original nominator's website

- You must post 11 random things about yourself

- Answer the questions the nominator set for you

- Create 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate

- Nominate 5 - 11 blogs (with less than 200 followers) and link them in your post

Eleven random things about me:

1.   My school "uniform" typically is made up of a pencil skirt, top, and a cardigan.  I wear pants of super cold days, but I love my skirts!

2.   I love blueberries.  We usually pick them around this time of year at a nearby farm.  Last summer I ate most of them, so we didn't have any to freeze to use for blueberry pancakes in the winter.

3.   I am terrified of spiders.  Creepy, crawly, way too many legs!

4.   I was born in West Virginia, but have lived in Indiana for most of my life. 

5.   I love Mexican food.  Yum!

6.   I have curly hair, but prefer to wear it straightened.  (I have a straight haired friend who wishes she had curls.  Go figure...)

7.   I was in 4-H as a child, and currently am a 4-H volunteer.  (My daughters were all very active in 4-H.)

8.   I cannot carry a tune.  Why do some people have beautiful singing voices, and I sing like I do?

9.   I like to do cryptogram puzzles.  I like crossword puzzles, too, but cryptograms are my favorite.

10. I get irritated if I don't win Scrabble.  (I'm not a sore loser, I just like to win that game.  lol)

11.  I will soon be Mimi to three little girls.  (We are on Baby Watch & jump every time the phone rings!)

Eleven questions from Carrie:

1. How do you balance your teaching life with your personal life? 

That's tricky.  It seems that my teacher brain is always working on something.  I spend lots of time with my family.  When I'm with them we try not to talk "school" (kinda difficult with my oldest daughter and one of my sons-in-law being teachers!).  The little girls help to keep schoolish thoughts out of my head!

2. How do you use technology in your classroom? Tell one great thing and one not-so-great thing (if there is one: what would you change about technology in your classroom, or what doesn't go the way you want it to, etc.).

My favorite techie tools are my Elmo and interactive white board.  I use them everyday in nearly every subject I teach.  We have two classroom computers,  which is great because our amazing computer teacher puts together a bookmarks page for us.  The Kinders know how to use it, and I don't have to search the internet for appropriate sites.  If I could change one thing, I would put 4 - 6 iPads in every classroom.  We have fifteen iPads in the library that can be checked out - which is better than no iPads - but, I would love to have my own classroom set.

3. How do you balance your spiritual beliefs with your teaching career? Do you talk about it? Keep them separate? How do you handle those tricky spiritual situations when you are confronted with balancing what you believe with what is okay to discuss in school. Maybe a student asked you a question or wants to pray aloud as a group. Have you faced this and how do you handle it (with poise and grace)?

I believe my spiritual beliefs shape the person I am, and how I conduct my life, both personally & professionally.  I have a quote by St. Teresa of Avila hanging on the bulletin board by my desk, and find myself reading it at the start of each day.  My school is in a small rural community that is pretty open to spiritual matters.  Being a public school, we obviously don't pray, but I don't feel nervous if a child asks a spiritual type question.

4. What is your favorite children's book? 

Hmmm... That's a hard one.  I love so many children's books!  One of my favorites is Three Hens and a Peacock by Lester Laminack.  It's a fun story written by an amazing author.  I've had the pleasure of attending two of his workshops, so my copy is autographed!

5. What is your favorite just-for-pleasure book or series? 

I have several authors I enjoy:  Sophie Kinsella writes very funny, laugh-out-loud books, Joan Hess writes funny 'light' murder mysteries, and my daughter, Emily Goodwin, (baby watch daughter) has written several good books.

6. What is your next step in this professional adventure? (Add your Masters? A specialty area? Move into administration?) 

My next step?  I have some graduate level credits, but don't really think I'll finish my masters.  (But, who knows?  Maybe I will.)  This up-coming school year I will be the senior Kindergarten teacher. 

7. Where did you go to college?

Boiler Up!  I went to Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN.

8. What grade do you teach? 

Kindergarten!  Yay!  I love the Kinders.  I have also taught preschool, fourth, first, and was a reading specialist. 

9. What grade would you like to try out or teach?

I'm pretty happy in kindergarten.  I've tried enough other things to know that my heart belongs to the little ones.

10. What is your favorite professional book that you've read?

I just finished reading The Daily5 for the second time.  I've only dabbled with it so far, but I want to put it in action this school year.

11. Do you do anything special for students for their birthday? If so, what?

I have a birthday poster where students' birthdays are displayed.  We sing "Happy Birthday," of course.  The Birthday Boy/Girl gets a special crown to wear all day.  So far, our school still allows students to bring in birthday treats.

Here are my questions for my nominees:

1.    What grade do you teach?

2.    What do you enjoy about your grade level?  What do you find to be frustrating?

3.    What is an average class size for your school?

4.    How late do you stay at school once the students have left?

5.    If you weren't a teacher, what would you like to do?

6.    Does your classroom have a theme?

7.   Do you have a Teachers pay Teachers store?

8.   What prompted you to start a blog?

9.   What do you like to do that is not school related?

10. What would you do with $1,000,000?

11.  What are you going to do once you are finished with this posting?

Here are my nominees:

A Sunny Day in First Grade

Always an Adventure in Kindergarten

Apples, Books & Crayons

Coast to Coast Kinder

Enchanted Kinder Garden

Fun in PreK-1 & Kinder

Hoppy in Kindergarten

Hurray for FDK!

Please check out these great blogs.  Tell them Linda at Kinder Doodles sent you!

After I posted this I got another nomination from Leslie Tally of Tally Tales.  Here are her questions for me:

1. Where is your favorite place to visit?

I love Disney World, and would have to say that it would be among my top choices if I won an all expense paid vacation to anywhere.  (I haven't been to Hawaii, but I would say that is one of my favorite places to dream about visiting.)

2. How do you like to spend a Saturday morning?

I love the fact that Saturday mornings have no commitments.  After breakfast, I do the puzzles in the newspaper - the cryptograms are my favorite - and generally be lazy until about 9:00.  

3. What is your favorite memory?

My favorite childhood memory is of the time my family went camping in Florida for six weeks!  (My poor mother...)  We (Mom, Dad, younger sister & brother, and I) were in a pop-up camper and traveled all over the state.  We had lots of fun and got to experience and see so many things.  About two weeks after returning, the pop-up was traded in for a camper with air conditioning and a bathroom!  

4. Why did you start blogging?

My teaching partner (and friend) were talking about all the wonderful blogs and she said that I could do it.  At first I wasn't so sure of my ability and didn't share the fact that I was a blogger.  But, now I happily tell people about my blog!  It has turned out to be lots of fun!

5. Coffee or not? If so, what kind?

Yes, please!  Starbucks Verona every morning (brewed at home).

6. What is your favorite book?

This is hard, there are so many great books.  I really loved When We Were Strangers by Pamela Schoenewaldt.  I also loved Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.

7. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? Did that dream become reality?

I have always wanted to be a teacher, so yes, I guess that dream became a reality.  (I also entertained the idea of becoming a fashion or interior designer from time to time.)

8. Are you a pet-lover? If so, how many pets (and what kind) do you have?

We have had soooo many pets over the years, I guess I am a pet lover by default.  Most of the pets we have had were the result of daughter Emily's affinity with animals.  We currently have: two house cats (Ella & Sweet Little Kitty), Chihuahua Macie, barn kitty Clementine, and five horses (Mystery, Sundance, Bob, Alice, Spirit).  Also living in the barn are a slew of ferrets which belong to Emily, but didn't move in with her after she got married.  (PS  Don't worry about the ferrets being in the barn - they are in the heated/air conditioned tack room.)

9. What is your favorite TV show?

I really enjoy shows like American Idol & America's Got Talent.  I am sad that What Not to Wear is over.  And, it's a little embarrassing to admit, that if The Brady Bunch happened to come on, I would watch my favorite childhood TV show. 

10. Winter or summer?

Summer, definitely.

11. Share a great bit of advice you have received at some point in your life.

KISS! = Keep it simple, stupid!  I think people tend to make bigger deals of things that really aren't that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.   And, sometimes (many times) simple really is better.