Liebster Award

I was nominated by my friend Diana from My Day in K for the Liebster Award. The award is a way for newer bloggers (with less than 200 followers) who have great content, to link up, meet other bloggers and share a little about themselves! Thank you so much Diana for nominating me!

Here are the answers to the ten questions I received:

1. Why and how long ago did you start blogging?
I started a blog for my husband and I in 2010 when I moved to Chicago after our wedding. Then, in 2011 I started a classroom blog. I realized that I could not keep up with both of them. I decided to abandon my personal blog and put more into my classroom blog. The blog was meant for parents to see what was going on in the classroom. It has evolved over the years though and I am now making it more of a blog for teachers!

2. What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why?
Sharing. I am the only first grade teacher in my school. Although I do like this, I do not have a big team like others do. I like to use my blog to share ideas that I have used in my classroom that may help or inspire others.

3. Is there something you learned late in your blog journey that you wished you knew before?
Do not be afraid to reach out to other teachers. I started as a “lurker” and have since changed my ways. It opened up a whole new world for me!

4. What is your favorite past time other than blogging?
I love to run. I have ran three full marathons and plan on running many more. I inherited my love from running from my Dad. We ran a full marathon together last year – he was 71! I also love decorating my home and *trying* to garden!

5. How many hours a week do you dedicate to your blog?
It is hard to say how many hours I spend on my blog. It varies from week to week. Some weeks I have no free time to even touch it. Other weeks I spend a lot of time writing posts!

6. What category of blog posts do you enjoy the most?
I love reading about how other teachers are using technology in their classrooms. I specifically love seeing other ideas for 1:1 iPads.

7. Where does your blog inspiration come from?
My students! I love writing about what we are doing. I am so proud of them!

8. Which post that you’ve written are you most proud of?
My class fell in love with Night Zookeeper this year. I wrote a blog post about our experience and passed it on to the people behind the site. They have been BEYOND wonderful to myself and my class. We interact with them on Twitter often and feel like they are our friends. They were touched by the post and it was so nice to know that I was able to communicate my feelings and also give other teachers a good picture of what my students have done on the site!

9. What is your favorite aspect of blogging?
My favorite part about the actual blogging process is the reflection it brings me. It is nice to sit down and think about what happened in detail. I do not do this often enough. My day to day life is crazy busy! My favorite aspect about blogging in general is the community. I love all the friends I have met through it!

10. Which idea from a blog would you like to try the most?
Hmm…I love getting ideas from others all the time. I am not sure I can pick just one! I am going to try to use others as an inspiration this summer to refine my year-long planning. I want to work smarter this next school year, not harder!

Now it is my turn to nominate inspiring teachers for the Liebster Award! I would like to nominate:

To those who have been nominated, here are the “official” rules for accepting:

1. In your post, link back to the blogger who nominated you as a thank you and “shout out.” (Follow their blog if you haven’t already!)
2. Answer the 10 questions given to you (the ones that I answered above.)
3. Nominate 5-11 blogs of your choice that each have less than 200 followers. Provide them with 11 questions to answer or have them answer the questions above.
4. Let your nominees know that they’ve been nominated and provide them with a link to your post so that they can accept.
5. Send your nominator a link to your post so that s/he can learn more about you as well! (You can just put your post link in the comments below).