Liebster Award!

I am happy to announce that I have been nominated for a Liebster Award by Jackie at Neat, Sweet, and Hard to Beat! Thank you so much for your nomination! I was jumping up and down when I saw it :) - glad to know someone's reading!

If you haven't heard about the Liebster Award, it is awarded to blogs with growing audiences. It is also to acknowledge up and coming blogs and share them with the rest of our blogging community! 

So what exactly is a Liebster? Liebster is a German word and means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, pleasant, valued, and endearing.  

To accept this award I need to answer 11 questions. So here it goes!

1.  Why and how long ago did you start blogging?

I started blogging about 5 months ago. I decided to start a blog after I was done student teaching because I wanted to document my learning and growth as I began my journey as a new teacher. I also noticed how often I spent time finding ideas on other teachers' teaching blogs and I wanted to share my own ideas as well.

2.  What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why?

Love. I love my job, I love my students and all the families that I work with. I make sure to let my students know that every day and I think it is important that it come through on my blog as well. 

3.  Is there something you learned late in your blogging journey you wished you knew before?

I wish that I knew more about HTML coding when I first stared. Also the amount of time that it takes to post frequently was surprising to me. I like to make sure that all of my posts are meaningful and well put together and that takes TIME... more than I had originally thought!

4.  What is your favorite pastime other than blogging?

I love crafting. I have recently (over the past year) become very interested in Project Life. I just love it... but it is dangerous because it can get expensive!

5.  How many hours per week do you dedicate to your blog/TPT?

I try to dedicate at least 2 hours to my blog and/or TPT. More recently I have been spending more time on my TPT, but over the summer I am excited to be able to spend more time on both!

6.  What category of blog posts do you enjoy the most?

I love to see classroom tours with lots of pictures. It always gives me ideas for what might work in my own classroom. 

7.  Where does your blog inspiration come from?

My blog inspiration comes from Regan Tunstall's blog, Tunstall Teaching Tidbits. This was the first teaching blog that I started reading frequently and she was so inspiring to me!

8.  Which post that you've written are you most proud of?

I am proud of my Pinterest Overhaul post. It took me forever to re-do all of my boards but now it is so easy to go back in and add new covers when I create new boards. I am glad that I have a color coded, visually appealing system finally! The post goes over step by step directions on how to do it yourself. I hope that it can make the process go more quickly for others :) Check out that post here.

9.  Is there any post you have been planning to do, but have been postponing it for a while now?

I have been wanting to post a classroom tour! Maybe closer to the start of the school year it will be up :)

10.  What is your favorite aspect of blogging?

I love being able to share my ideas with others and being able to meet teachers from across the country and world. 

11.  Which idea from a blog would you like to try yourself?

I am currently using posts from multiple blogs to create labels and decor on my days of the week drawers. This might be my newest post.. look out for it within the next few weeks!

Now it's time to get to know some more bloggers!

I now nominate these fantastic teachers for the Liebster Award:

1. Kelly McFarland at Lattes And Lunchrooms
2. Janie at The Chalk
3. Lisa at iTeach Second
4. Jamie at Teaching Tidbits and More With Jamie
5. Courtney at Teaching in Paradise

The rules for receiving this award are to:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated you.
2. Answer the 11 questions posted by the nominator. 
3. Nominated 5-11 people (blogs with less that 200 followers) and link them in your post.
4. Contact the nominees and let them know that they have been nominated on your blog.

Walmart Classroom Haul! - Back to School Haul Series

Long time no blog! I have taken a hiatus from blogging for a month to give myself an actual vacation and time off from school! I am now coming back in full force to give you some back to school posts. During my time off I have also been working furiously on some TPT projects for the new school year so look out for those too! 

I have decided to create a series leading back to school with various hauls from different stores as I prepare for the new school year. Hopefully they will be helpful for you as well in finding great deals.

Yesterday I took a trip over to Walmart thinking I was only going to return something but I couldn't help but look in the clearance section and at the fabrics. I found a few great things that I wanted to share with you!

In the clearance section they had several Scholastic games. There were only 4 types and I picked up all but one. 

The first game is called Counting Learning Game. It consists of 12 plastic cookies, a spinner, and four plates with matching numbers. The students will have to match the numbers. There is even a self check on the back of the cookies which I LOVE! The best part is that it was only $3 - totally worth it in my opinion. 

 

The next two games were bingo games. One is a rhyming game and the other is sight words. I picked these up because they were only $0.25! I was really impressed with the quality. Each comes with four boards that are double sided, a caller card - which I am going to laminate (it is made out of very flimsy paper), and bingo chips. My only negative for these two are that there are not nearly enough bingo chips (I plan on using counters instead).

On my way out I decided to stop in the fabrics section to see if they had any clearance fabric to use for my bulletin board backgrounds. I found these two at only a $1/yard! I thought the red with white polka-dots would be great for back to school!

Head on over to your Walmart and see what you can find. Leave a comment below if you have found any other deals at your local Walmart.