Liebster Nominations... WOW!

On Monday morning I found a wonderful message from my sweet bloggy friend Rosie from Rosie's Rambles that she had nominated my blog for a Liebster Award. I had seen the Liebster Award badges on several blogs but wasn't quite sure what it was since I'm still very new to blogging. Rosie explained it in her blog post like this:

Liebster is German and means "dearest," "lovely," "cute," "beloved," and "welcome".  What a great word!  Since blogging is about creating community, this award is a fabulous way to spread the word about new blogs.

Then on Tuesday morning, while I was preparing this post, I found a second wonderful message from Melissa M. at Creations by Mrs. Mouse. She, too, had nominated The Teacher's Desk 6 for a Liebster Award. I decided to add Melissa's questions directly after Rosie's, but I didn't have time to work on them until late in the evening. It was around midnight that I finally finished all the requirements, but I wasn't planning on publishing this post until Thursday. I had scheduled a Wednesday post featuring my 100 Followers Giveaway.

Now it's Wednesday morning and again when checking my messages I found yet a third nomination. This one is from Carrie at First Grade with Ms. Dawley. Hopefully, it will be acceptable to her that I add her questions together here as well.

I am so fortunate to have such thoughtful bloggy friends. The wonderful people whom I have met these past five months are the best part of blogging!!!!

Here are the "rules" for accepting this nomination: 

1. Link back to the blog that nominated you.
2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers.
3. Answer the questions posted for you by your nominator.
4. Share 11 random facts about yourself.
5. Create 11 questions for your nominees.
6. Contact your nominees by commenting on their blog or sending them an email to communicate the nomination. 

The blogs that I am nominating are...

• Randi @ Teaching in an Organized Mess
• Carla @ Surviving Sixth
• Mrs. W @ Upper Grades Are Awesome
• Melissa @ Starting in Sixth Grade
• Jamie @ Sixth Grade Tales
• Vanessa @ The Educated Crown

Rosie's Questions for me

1. What was your favorite subject in school? Math was my favorite subject. There was only one answer to each question, unlike reading or English where there could be more than one depending on how you supported your response. Yet, in all my 32 years of teaching I have only taught math for two years.
2. What was your favorite vacation? My favorite vacation was to the Black Hills of South Dakota in 1992. I can still close my eyes and see everything in great detail: Mt. Rushmore, the caverns, the Needles. My original stay was to have been 7 days, but I ended up staying an extra five.
3. What is your favorite outdoor activity? I'm not really an outdoor person, but I do love going to Lake Shore Park (on Lake Erie) and walking along the shoreline, watching the sunset.
4. What is your dream country to visit? Australia and New Zealand. I've wanted to visit there since I was very young... and that's getting to be a looooong time ago.
5. What is your favorite college memory? I'm chuckling and shaking my head at the same time. Many memories are not fit to discuss here. LOL! However, one that stands out in my mind is during my last few weeks at Kent State, while I was finishing up student teaching, my roommates and I  were sitting on the balcony of our sorority hose (about three feet wide if that) and singing Jimmy Buffet songs at the top of our lungs, waving at everyone who went by, trying to get them to honk at us... silly, hunh?
6. Who was your favorite college professor and what did they teach? Richard Vacca, who taught Reading in the Content Areas as part of a graduate Reading Specialist program I was in, has to be my hands down favorite. I learned more from him in one semester than in all the other classes I took combined. He and his wife wrote the famous Content Area Reading textbook that is used at MANY universities. The textbook is in its tenth edition; I still have the original from 30 years ago.
7. What is your favorite part of back to school? My favorite part is the anticipation; it's right up there with waiting for Santa when I was a little child!
8. What United States city have you spent the most time in? I've only lived in one city: Ashtabula, Ohio.
9. What is your favorite movie? My favorite movie has to be "Fiddler on the Roof." I LOVE the music!
10. If you could be another profession what would it be? There isn't any other profession that I could be. I was born to be a teacher.
11. What is your favorite room in your house? That would have to be my newly renovated upstairs bathroom.

Melissa M.'s Questions for me

1. Do you have any pets? I have one 14 year princess cat named Daisy Mae. You can read all about her  at this post.
2. What grade do you teach? Is this your favorite? We departmentalize in the upper grades at my school. I am assigned as the sixth grade homeroom teacher, but I have lots of assignments. I teach 5th and 6th grade Language Arts, 6th grade Science, 6th grade Religion, and will be adding a section of 8th grade English this year. My favorite grade is SIXTH!!!!
3. Are you a night owl or do you go to bed early in the summer? I am definitely a night owl and not just in the summer. I generally dont' go to bed until after midnight even on school nights and I have to be at school by seven.
4. What season is your favorite and why? Fall is my favorite season for two reasons: School starts in the fall (kind of, we go back in late August) and my birthday is in the fall.
5. How do you relax? To relax I either read, play one of my instruments, or putz on the computer.
6. What is something that you wish you had been taught about teaching in college? I wish I had been taught classroom management techniques. I had to learn those on the fly.
7. What is your favorite sweet concoction? I am not much for sweets. I'd much rather have salty treats. However, one sweet I do like is ice cream, any flavor but banana.
8. If you could be a superhero, which one would you be and why? I think I would want to be Captain America. I love the era in which he is set, the 1940's.
9. If you could learn something new what would it be? I would like to learn how to be a carpenter then I could do a lot of the repair and renovation in my house by myself.
10. Do you have children? I have no biological children, but I have special nieces and nephews and a whole passel of adopted children (all my kiddos from school).
11. What is your biggest pet peeve? My biggest pet peeve is when people write "should OF" instead of the grammatically correct "should've."

Carrie's Questions for me

1. What made you decide to start blogging? I had hosted a website called The Teacher's Desk from 1996-2012. It featured lesson ideas and a writing program called Paragraph a Week that were designed for 5th and 6th grade teachers. I spent my own money to pay for the domain name and hosting. I was only vaguely aware of blogging and its growing popularity. When my curiosity got the better of me, I began looking around the blogging world. To my surprise, I could do the same and MORE for free via blogging. Away went The Teacher's Desk and The Teacher's Desk 6 Blog was born.
2. Have you always wanted to be a teacher? Yes, I can remember teaching my dollies their numbers before I even went to kindergarten.
3. What is your favorite non-teaching website? My favorite non-teaching website is Facebook. I admit it, I am addicted!
4. Do you have pets, children, or both? I have one four-legged furry child: Ms. DaisyMae.
5. What goals do you have for summer? My summer goals this year are three-fold: 1. To finish the painting on the first floor of my house (a three summer project). 2. To add more products to my TpT Store (I'd especially like to finish the Paragraph a Week writing program). 3. To read, read, read for pleasure.
6. What was the year, make, and model of your first car? My favorite aunt gave me her gently used car, a 1967 Ford Galaxie 500.  Although it was nine years old at the time, it had less than 27,000 miles on it. By the time I got rid of it two and a half years later, it had 75,000 miles on it. Of course, the price of gas ranged from 28-35 cents per gallon then as well.
7. Have you always taught the grade that you teach now? Except for my first year of teaching that I spent substituting, I have always had a sixth grade homeroom. During my 32 years of full-time teaching I have taught various subjects in 5th-8th grade.
8. What do you like to do when you are not teaching/grading/lesson planning? In my spare time I like to read, play on the computer, play my musical instruments, visit with family and friends, or watch TV.
9. Out of all the places that you might have lived, which is your favorite? I've only lived in one place. However, if I had my druthers I would like to find a place that has all four seasons, but NO SNOW! I live in what's called the Snow Belt of Ohio. It is not uncommon for us to have multiple days off from school due to excessive snow fall.
10. What is your must have accessory for your work outfits? A comfortable pair of shoes!!!!!!
11. What has been your least favorite vacation destination? Why? Please do not be offended, Oregon Bloggers, but I was miserable when I visited the Portland area. It is so beautiful there, but I didn't realize that there are soooo many pine trees in the area or that logging/paper manufacturing were the prominent industries and that the air is saturated with fine pine particles because of this. I knew I was allergic to pine; we were never able to have a live Christmas tree. However, during my week stay in Portland I discovered just how much I am allergic to pine. I turned into a giant hive. It was a good thing that one of the friends I had gone to visit was a family doctor. He gave me a shot of Benadryl and enough allergy pills to last the week. 

11 Random Facts about Me

1. I play many musical instruments: flute, piccolo, recorder(s), banjo, guitar, oboe, dulcimer, and I'm working on piano.
2. I love to sing and direct choirs. I used to be the music director at my church and the director of an amateur choral group at our local arts center. I'm taking some time away from this part of life so that I have time for family and more time for school.
3. I am a Coke fanatic.
4. I've lived in the same house for 51 years.
5. I went one school year wearing a different outfit each day... this was a dare/challenge.
6. I have almost 1200 books in my Kindle.
7. I do NOT like chocolate candy.
8. If I do not have to go out of the house, I don't get dressed. I run around in a muumuu.
9. I hate socks and shoes and would wear flip flops everyday if I could.
10. I am definitely a cat person.
11. I'm hooked on HGTV.

11 Questions for my Nominees: Randi, Carla, Mrs. W, Melissa, Jamie, and Vanessa

1. What made you decide to be a teacher?
2. How would you describe your teaching style?
3. Do you have siblings? If so, please tell a little about them.
4. If you were a color, what would you be? Why?
5. What was your favorite grade in school and why?
6. What gives you inspiration?
7. What is your favorite book? Why?
8. What kind of vehicle do you drive? Does this say anything about your personality?
9. Do you play any musical instruments?
10. If you could meet any historical figure who would you choose?
11. What do you enjoy most about blogging?

Happy Blogging,

Happy Teaching,

Angela

The Teacher's Desk 6