Sunday, December 9, 2012

Liebster Award!

Guess what? I was nominated for a Liebster Award from Mrs. Barcomb at Get in the Game http://getinthegamewithmrsbarcomb.blogspot.com/ This is for new bloggers that have less than 200 followers. I am very excited to be recognized and hope for new bloggers to join.


Once you receive a nomination, 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 whom you nominate.

11 Random Things About Me:
1. I ran a 5K today.
2. I am registered to run a MARATHON, so hopefully I don't chicken out.
3. I am an only child.
4. I enjoy playing golf.
5. My birthday is 2 days after Christmas.
6. I had a really difficult time deciding on my blog name.
7. My hometown is over 700mi from where I live.
8. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday.
9. This Christmas will be my first one in SC.
10. I have a bull mastiff, named Gigi. 
11. I love having company.

My Answers from Mrs. Barcomb at Get in the Game:
1. If you had lots of time and no financial worries what would you do?
Answer: I would travel! If money was no object, I would travel around the world and visit as many places that I could.

2. What is the best part of teaching?
Answer: The best part of teaching for me is to know that I actually taught a child how to do a skill, and then they are able to apply it on their own. 

3. What hobbies do you enjoy?
Answer: I enjoy golfing, reading, shopping, and creating fun ideas for the classroom.

4. Are you ready for the Holidays or a last minute shopper?
Answer: I am more a last minute shopper. I do get gifts here and there, but I always think that I will find something better if I keep looking.

5. What was the best vacation/trip you ever took?
Answer: The best vacation I ever took was to the Italian Lakes in Europe. I traveled to Switzerland and Italy. My favorite place was Venice. I stayed at the Danieli Hotel, where movies have used as their set. Another favorite trip was to Yosemite National Park.

6. Share the funniest kid story you have since teaching.
Answer: As a second grade teacher, I have never officially had "share and tell," however in the same school year, one student brought a day old kitten in their backpack and another kid brought an old grenade.

7. Do you have any pets?
Answer: Yes, one bull mastiff 2 1/2 yr old dog named Gigi

8. Do you have any tattoos?
Answer: No

9. What kind of music do you listen to?
Answer: Anything on the top 20, oldies, pop music

10. If you could invite someone to have lunch with you who would you invite?
Answer: My parents

11. What do you watch on TV?
Answer: Currently, I am watching the Pittsburgh Steelers play football! I also watch a lot of reality TV.

Questions for you:
1. When did you know you wanted to be a teacher?
2. What is the hardest part of teaching for you?
3. How late do you stay at school at the end of the day?
4. How often do you change your bulletin boards in the hallway?
5. Do you have any other paying jobs, besides teaching?
6. How do you include parents in the classroom?
7. When do you do your lesson planning: during the week, the weekends, daily?
8. Where do you find cool graphics/ideas for your blog?
9. Do you eat with your students at lunch?
10. If you could wear a school uniform, would you rather that than deciding what dress clothes to wear each day?
11. What gets you through a long school day?

My nominated blogs:

***Please leave me a comment on this post to your Liebster post. Looking forward to hearing from you***

Tuesday, November 27, 2012






Fire Prevention Week


Our class picture of 1st nine week honor roll students! Keep up the great work.



 This was the first year that our school held a 5K walk/run to benefit Autism research. The children in the school raised over 1,500 to donate. Our class had a great time!



We were lucky enough to have a set of grandparents read aloud to our classroom! They even brought a guest with them and performed like a ventriloquist!

Exploring with base ten blocks. Check out the Lincoln Memorial! How creative!


Our class the 1st day of school 2012.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Catching up ...

We have been busy this week in 2nd grade! The students have been learning about nonfiction vs. fiction and the many elements that make up both genres. Today, we discussed how readers can use what information is in the book and combine your schema to make a prediction of what is going to happen. Readers can do this in both fiction and nonfiction. We used an inferencing sheet from SpeechRoomNews. Pictures will be posted soon!

Monday, September 10, 2012

Reading in Action




In reading, the students have been learning how to read to self. While they do this, they have learned several strategies to help them in their reading including: check for understanding, cross check, reread, tune in for interesting words, and monitor and fix-up.

Odd and Even Song


We have been learning the difference between odd and even numbers. One way to help us remember was singing this catchy tune we learned on schooltube. Have your child share it with you at home.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Reading in Action

Pictures of our Read Across America Day!
Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss' Birthday was Friday March 2nd this year. The students really enjoyed listening to a variety of read alouds from different teachers. A big THANK YOU goes out to all of the teachers to helped to make the day a great success.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

It's been a while ...

Read Across America is March 2nd. My elementary school is participating in a school-wide reading day. The students are able to switch classes to hear different read alouds from that the teachers choose.http://mcbeereaders.blogspot.com What are you doing to celebrate?

Gotta Start Somewhere....

Teaching is something that I am very passionate about, as well as golfing, shopping, technology, children's books, and now blogging. The truth is, I really enjoy a lot of things and like to combine my interests if ever possible. I started a class website a few years ago on shutterfly.com. It was a really great way to build a quick and easy site showing parents what we were doing each week. Templates were already in place for me to put events on a calendar, upload photos, documents, and videos. Then, a few months ago I came across several teacher blogs on this site. They were filled with student activities, and teacher ideas while still showing the teacher's personality and standing out. I enjoyed searching the sites so much that I thought I would finally give it a try. Shutterfly.com has been really good to me, however, I think its time to give this a go. Hopefully, this site will not only serve my students' parents, but also many teachers who can take just as many great ideas from me, as I have learned from them.