I'm Thankful for the Past Year

Last Thursday, was our last day of school for the 2014-2015 school year. It was really bittersweet for me this year, because I had such an outstanding class! There were kind to each other, showed grit, put forth effort, and were just plain nice to each other. It's sad to think that that group of students will never be all together to like that again and it worked so well. Sometimes, I think that if we have a class that just gels so well together, we should keep them together through high school!On top of a super school year, I am also coming up on my TpT anniversary! I can't believe it was almost a year ago, that I decided to give this adventure a try. I have enjoyed every part of it for sure! The blog (which is so cute, right?!), Instagram (@mrs.peyerksporcupinepals), FB, and my love for Pinterest has grown even more! I have had some great experiences during this first year on TpT.

First, I was chosen to be a part of the TpT blog in April. Here's the link if you want to read all about it! TpT Loves Books: A Celebration of School Library Month. The following month, I had a freebie featured in the newsletter! You can find that featured freebie here: Newsletter Freebie. I also had my post on regrouping in addition and subtraction showcased on Teach Junkie's Website a couple of weeks ago! The last year has been super, but the last two months...EPIC!

So then, yesterday, I open up my email and find out that I've been nominated for the Liebster Award by Diane @ Spreading Joy One Giggle at a Time. I was like, "What's that?" The blogging world is all still very new to me. I'm about five months in is all, so I did a little of looking and a little bit of reading and found out that it's an award to welcome new bloggers, who are in the process of building their followers, feel excited about entering the blogging world! I am really excited and honored that Diane @ Spreading Joy One Giggle at a Time, found my blog and nominated me. Thank you, Diane. 

As part of the nomination, Diane sent me a few questions to answer about myself, so that all of you can get to know me a bit better. Here we go! 

1. Why did you start blogging and how long have you been blogging? I started blogging as a way of sharing my ideas that I use in my first grade classroom. We all do things or have super strategies to share and I wanted to share mine! I started blogging in the spring of 2015.
2. What one word sums up the heart of your blog? Useful! I hope that the topics I blog about are found useful to someone {other than just me}.
3. How many hours a week do you dedicate to your blog/TPT/social media? I would say that I probably spend about 20 hours a week between the three. I plan on going back and revising some earlier files and adding more this summer.
4. Where does your blog inspiration come from? The inspiration from my blog comes from everyday classroom life. We might be working on something and it is turning out very cool and I think, I have to blog about this. It's great!
5. What category of blog posts do you like to read best? I like a lot of topics, but classroom organization is probably my most sought after blog posts!
6. What is your favorite aspect of blogging? I love that I can write everything down {I love writing} and I learn that I can do a lot of self-reflection when I blog. I think it has definitely made me more reflective on my practices this year.
7.  What idea from a blog would you like to try yourself? I have a Must Make and a Must Do board on Pinterest. Yep. There's a lot of things I want to try!
8. What do you like to do when you are not blogging or teaching? I am a wife and mommy to a toddler, so when I have down time, you can find me doing laundry and cleaning the house. I do enjoy yard work and reading if I can make it all work!
9. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? Well, I've been to Europe and a good portion of the US. Five years ago, we packed up and moved from Michigan to Alaska and I have to say that I am pretty content here in the great north. Oh, Hawaii. I've always wanted to go to Hawaii and as of right now it's in the plan for the summer of 2016.
10.  If you weren't a teacher, what career would you choose? I think I would have tried my hand at being an author. Someday, I will write a children's book....someday :-)
11. What is your favorite grade to teach? My teaching background is two years of pre-kindergarten and five years of first grade. I have to say that first grade has been my favorite of the two. I love seeing the growth; academic, social, emotional, and just figuring out how the world works. It's an Ah-mazing year!

I would like to nominate the following teacher-authors for the Liebster Award!

Kristin @ Teaching in a Nutshell
Jill @ First Grade Made
Brittany @ Tickled Pink in Primary
Ha @ Happy Days in First Grade
Kristy @ Primary Ideas Reading Room

I would love for these bloggers to answer the following questions! Thank you for reading!
1. Why did you start blogging?
2. What one word or phrase sums up the heart of your blog?
3. Where does your blog inspiration come from?
4. What is your favorite topic to blog about yourself?
5. What is your favorite topic to read about on other blogs?
6. What types of social media do you use and what's your favorite?
7. Have you ever been featured on another blog? If so, please link back to that blog post. We would love to read it!
8. What is one topic you plan to blog about over the summer?
9. Fill in the sentence. To me blogging is.....
10. What is a hurdle for you when it comes to blogging, marketing, and/or promoting your ideas and resources?
11.  If you weren't a teacher-author-blogger, what would you be?
  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

• Provide them with 11 Getting To Know You Q &A's (the same you were given, or some of your own)

• Contact the nominees and let them know they have been nominated

Thank you again to Diane at Spreading Joy one Giggle at a Time for nominating me! Until again, I wish you well!