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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Adrienne Got Me!


I always thought I was pretty stealth when I had to be...I always thought I was pretty aware of my surroundings... so imagine my surprise.....when.... I got tagged!!  Adrienne over at Wiggins World got me....and I'm so excited!! :-)  Yea, I'm the weird girl who gets excited to be tagged ...Hooray!  As I've said before this new teacher blog world is so much fun, I'm loving it.  So, thanks, Adrienne!! 
Here are the rules:
1. You must post the rules.
2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create 12 new questions for the people you tagged.
4. Tag 12 people and link them on your post.
5. Let them know you've tagged them!

12 facts about me...hmm...hope I don't bore you to death! :-)


1.  I am an only child.  Although mom is from a family of 6 and dad from a family of 12.
2.  I have lived in the same house all my life, except for the years that I was in college in Florida.
3.  I could eat cereal all day...everyday!  I seriously love the stuff!  It is pretty much my after school snack every day.  My theory is if I eat cereal as a snack before dinner, it will give me the sugar fix I need so I won't feel the need to have dessert later. (That works most of the time, lol.)  Honey Bunches of Oats and Special K are my faves!  I actually mix Honey Bunches of Oats or Special K with strawberries and Special K with chocolate bits...it's like having chocolate covered strawberries for snack each day...yum!
4.  I love animals!  Pandas are my all time favorite animal, but dogs are my favorite domestic animals.  I'm not sure where that love comes from because neither one of my parents liked animals at all.  Mom was afraid of dogs and dad afraid of cats.  I was only able to have fish and newts growing up, but when I got my own classroom, I could actually have "real" pets such as gerbils, hamsters, and green anole lizards (even had a small snake for a couple of weeks).
5.  After waiting about 30 years, I finally got my first "real, real" pet...my dog Bella!  Love her!  By the way, mom likes loves dogs now. :-)
6.  I have held a skunk before!  It was a descented baby one, and oh so cute!!  Bucket list....hold a baby panda!
7.  I have wanted to be a teacher since I was in 4th grade...I loved my teacher!
8.  I play the flute, have played since I was in 5th grade.  Love to play, but get super nervous!
9.  I love winter, and really love snow! (It's been a disappointing winter around here this year!)
10.  One of my favorite times of year, besides Christmas/winter is March Madness!!  I love college basketball...Go UCONN Huskies!
11.  I really love shopping, it makes me very happy!  I love to buy jewelry, especially rings, you can see a picture of most of them here.  Sparkly things make me very happy!  I also have a serious thing for shoes...such love!
12.  I absolutely, totally LOVE blogging!!  It also makes me quite happy!
Phew...that's done...is anyone still here? (crickets chirping)  Told ya you might get bored!

Now here are the questions I am supposed to answer.

How many years have you been teaching?  I have been teaching for 16 years.  At least three students from my very first class that I still have contact with have gone into teaching!  Yay! 
2. If a student was going to get you a gift card to somewhere, where would you want it to be from?  Ooh, that's a tough one, but I just got some great ones for Christmas!  One to Chili's and the other to Charming Charlie's...LOVE both of those places!
3.  What is the best $1 item that you have bought for your classroom?  I love the stars that I used for my synonym/antonym review (earlier post).  Also excited about a magnifying glass I just got last night, along with some smaller ones.  I plan to use it/them as we learn to add and subtract measurement problems soon.
4. What is your ideal class size?  I would say about 15-22.  I loved my class of 22 that I had about 4 years ago.  The classes have been much smaller since then.  It's not as easy to play games and have challenges with just the 2 that I have this year. :(
5. What is one thing you would like your co-workers to say about you?  Wow, good question...I guess that I strive to be a good teacher, who likes to have fresh, fun ideas in the classroom, but also that I am a friend...ready with a smile or kind word.
6. What is one thing you would like your students to say about you?  That I was tough, challenged them, always expected the best from them, always expected and taught them to do right, but that they knew I truly loved them.
7. What is the best lesson you have ever taught?  This may sound a little odd, but one year I had about 3 girls who got pretty close and actually formed a little sort of clique between them.  They wouldn't include some of the other students, and were even starting to be unkind to them.  I didn't like what I was seeing and wanted to do something to make them realize what they were doing.  I had the girls leave the classroom to go see another teacher and told the other students to ignore them throughout the day, not sitting near them or playing with them.  It took about half the day and the three girls finally started to notice something was odd and started to complain to me that the other kids weren't being nice to them.  We had a class discussion about what I told the other students to do.  The girls were a little surprised that it was my idea to make the other students do that, but I explained to them that their behavior of late had been very similar to that.  I then left it up to the other students, they could, with my blessing, continue to ignore the girls for the rest of the day if they wanted.  I told them I definitely wouldn't blame them if they chose to do that.  I also gave them the choice to go the girls' desks and shake their hands and tell them they did want to be friends and hoped they all could be.  The other students said they didn't want to ignore the girls anymore because it made them feel bad to do that to them.  Each of the other students got up and went to each of the girls' desks and shook their hands and said they wanted to be friends.  The girls, and class, learned something that day about forgiveness and friendship and love...and I must say with tears in my eyes from the sweetness of that moment...so did I!
8. What is the worst lesson you have ever taught?  Not sure, though I'm sure there are many, but a funny story I always share with every class is from about my 4th year of teaching.  I was teaching that water, soil, air, and the right temperature are the 4 things a seed needs to grow into a plant.  We repeated it several times, and I had the kids plant some seeds in a cup.  The kids saw the Miracle Gro soil and asked about it, I mentioned that it was good soil that helped seeds to grow into good healthy plants.  I was so proud of my repetition and then the reinforcement of planting the seeds.  The next day, I couldn't wait to ask what 4 things it takes for a seed to grow.  When I did, my big head soon deflated as I called on one boy to give the answer and he said.....Miracle Gro!  Wow, epic fail for me! :-)
9. What grade do you teach?  I teach third grade and love it!!!
10. What is your favorite way to spend summer?  I love to just relax, go visit a few nice local places with mom.  Ideal would be to travel, but with mom and no money, that can't happen right now.
11. If you weren't a teacher, what would you be?  I think I would be a world traveler and photographer.
12. If you could be a teenager in any time period, when would it be?   I have always wanted to go back to the days of Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I love Little House!  But, I would definitely love to go back to the 80's!  I loved the 80's!!  We had 80's day last year for Spirit week, and I was the happiest girl! :)

 Now for my questions to answer. :)
1.  What are your hobbies?
2.  What is your favorite TV program?
3.  What is your favorite thing about teaching?
4.  Who was your favorite teacher?
5.  Who or what influenced your decision to become a teacher?
6.  What is a favorite book you have read lately?
7.  What is your favorite movie?
8.  What is your favorite subject or lesson to teach?
9.  What famous person did/do you have a crush on?
10.  Where would your dream vacation be?
11.  Do you have pets?
12.  How long have you been teaching?


Now for the fun part, I get to tag people...hee hee.
1. Adventures of Ms. Smith
2. Fantabulous 4th Grade
3. From College to Classroom
4. Inside the Classroom
5. It's Elementary My Dear Teacher
6. Miss Knight's Khronicles
7. Miss Third Grade
8. Tales of a Third Grade
9. Teach, Pray, Run
10. Thoughts of a Third Grade Teacher
11.  Teaching First
12. The Bubblegum Tree
Phew, well that was fun!!  Enjoy everyone!

2 comments:

Unknown

Hi Stacey,
I finally got around to answering your tag...what a week! It was really fun playing. Thanks for tagging me! By the way, I'm a new follower and I love the pic of your dog!
Dianne
Hopelessly Devoted to Teaching

Stacey

Oh yay!! Thanks for becoming a follower!! Heading over to your blog now to check out your post! Aw, thanks, I do love my little dog! She's such a doll! :) Have a great rest of the weekend and a great week in school! :)

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