Tag, I'm It!

Tag You're It!

So here are the rules:

1.  Post the rules.

2.  Post 12 fun facts about yourself.

3.  Answer the questions the tagger set for you in her post, and then create 12 new questions for the ones you tag.

4.  Tag 12 people and link them in your post.

5.  Let them know that they have been tagged

Michelle at Teach123 tagged me!

1.  Do you prefer chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla?

-depends on the day, depends on my mood

2.  Who is your favorite recording artist?

-Micheal Jackson

3.  What is your favorite cereal?

-Golden Grahams

4.  What color is your vehicle?

-White

5.  Name 3 songs on your iPod.

-songs from Kindred the Family Soul, Mariah Carey and Ciara

6.  Do you prefer winter or summer?

-spring... but if I had to choose, summer

7.  Do you prefer mountain hideaway or beach house?

-lived in Colorado for 4 years... love a mountain hideaway

8.  Who is your favorite book character?

-Junie B.

9.  What is your favorite t.v. show?

-The Cosby Show

10. What are you really afraid of?

-not teaching my students effectively

11. What is your favorite restaurant?

-Longhorn Steakhouse and Capt. Georges

12. What is the best thing about teaching?

-the CHIRREN!

Angie at Myers Magnificent Moments tagged me also.

1.  If money were no object, what is the one thing you would splurge and get yourself?

-a huge wedding
2.  What is the title of your favorite book?

-God Don't Like Ugly by Mary Monroe.
3.  How do you handle a child who is throwing a fit?

-ignore them
4.  What is your favorite pinterest idea?

-all the recipes they show
5.  If you could be anyone for one day, who would it be and why?

-Oprah, because she's Oprah!
6.  What is your favorite topic to teach?

-Reading
7.  What is your favorite restaurant?

-Longhorn and Capt. Georges
8.  What is your least favorite thing about teaching?

-Math
9.  What is your favorite television show?

-The Cosby Show
10.  Why do you blog?

-to inspire others
11.  What is your favorite candy?

-Hairbo Gummy Bears
12.  Why are you a teacher?

-because it's what I was called by God to do!

Fun Facts about Me

1. I love to eat!

2. I'm generous.

3. My fondest memories with my mom is laying in the bed with her in high school and watching Law and Order SVU, before that show it was Matlock or Murder She Wrote.

4. My fondest memories of my daddy is him picking me up early in elementary school to go fishing.

5. My great grandfather was the first black sherriff of Princess Anne County (now Virginia Beach, VA)

6. I can't dance.

7. I can sing.

8. My most valuable items I own include my many teaching supplies from Lakeshore.

9. I'm a really good cook, I just choose not to.

10. I've always wanted to be a teacher.

11. If I couldl live anywhere in the USA, it would be the state of Maine!

12. I took 8 years of French and I don't remember any of it!

Questions for anyone who isn't tagged yet!

1. What would be your dream vacation?

2. What's the best dish you can cook?

3. What is your favorite book?

4. If you could teach abroad, where would it be?

5. What is your most memorable teaching moment?

6. What is your favorite subject to teach?

7. What you be for or against year round schooling?

8. What is your favorite beverage?

9. What is an ideal class size?

10. How many states have you lived in?

11. What is your weakness as a teacher?

12. What is your strength?

10 Commandments to Working in a Hostile Environment

I absolutly love this book! It is written by T.D. Jakes. Every Christian should read it!  Unfortunately I've worked in many "hostile" environments and the stress that comes along with that coupled with the stress of teaching period, sent me over the edge. A friend of mine in another school recommended I read this book. I read it a couple of years ago and it changed my life.The commandments are as follows...

1- Know that you are anointed for the job position that you hold.
This is one that I struggled with for a long time. God has truly blessed me with creativity and talent. But since I am a minority I've heard too many times "she only got the job because she's black". In the four schools I've taught in, I've heard it at at least three of them. After reading this book I realized that God had blessed me with what it takes to teach children and those qualities had gotten me the job... not my skin color.

2- Don't expect to be appreciated.
Teachers are already underappreciated as it is... this allowed me to refocus my energy into what my calling was and stopped dwelling on the fact that I live in a society where teachers are undervalued.

3- Embrace opportunties for change.
This was huge for me... I thought I would DIE a second grade teacher... but here I am in the fourth school of my career teaching third grade.

4- Do the job well while remembering the vision.

5- Don;t let the environment get inside of you.
I have to remember that "greater is he that is in me, then he that is in the world." 1John4:4

6- Increase your capacity to work with difficult personalities.
Lord knows I've had plently of opportunities to do this! And I must say, the more tolerance I have for people like this, the better I feel inside.

7- Where you are is not where you're going.

8- Achieve optimal results with minimal confusion.

9- Do not pledge alligence to cliques and groups.
This is huge! With my newest teaching assignment I have chosen to seperate myself from the negativity that can come with cliques. This is why I do NOT eat in the teacher's lounge at school and try to keep socializing about nonwork related items to a minimum.

10- Always keep your song near you.
I took this literally... I have a collection of inspirational and gospel music in my classroom. Before school, during lunch and resource and after school I love to listen to my music.

Don't get me wrong... I'm cordial with everyone and I can laugh and joke with the best of them. But at the end of the day I have to remember my purpose and my purpose is to teach those children to the best of my ability and I don't have for anything that is going to interfere with that.

Valentine Giveaway!

Can't believe I've reached more than 400 followers! It's time for another giveaway. This time I'm giving away my Valentine Book Reports and Conversation Heart Math. To enter all you have to do is become a follwer and comment on this post with your email address. I will choose a winner or winners :) on Tuesday.

Valentine's Day Scrapbook

I got this idea online a couple of years ago and finally was able to do it with my class last year. I took five pieces of construction paper (white, purple, pink, red, white) one stack for each child and bound them together on the binding machine. First I had each child decorate their scrapbook cover anyway they wanted. Then I gave each child a sheet of valentine headers copied on green construction paper. The students cut apart the headers and glued one header on each page. Then the students read through their cards and taped/glued them on the page where they thought they belonged. At the end they had a nice cute scrapbook to go home and show their parents!

cover of scrapbook

inside of scrapbook

inside of scrapbook

students working

students working

What do your students do with their Valentine Cards?

Happy New Year Part II

I throughly enjoyed bringing in the new year at my church Faith and Family last night! I will spend the day cleaning and catching up on work that I should have been doing while on my two week vacation, but then again, it wouldn't have been a vacation would it?!

Wishing you many blessings in 2012 and like I learned last night... "It's my time and I'm next in line for a blessing"... and you are too!

Pictures we took after church....

Me and my good friend Jardena.

Me and my good friend Katrina. (I can see my boyfriend's head behind ours...LOL)

Was super excited to get dressed up, I never dress up or wear heels!

2am, back home and ready to go to bed... Happy New Year!