Liebster Award!

What a wonderful surprise! I've been happily vacationing, soaking up some fun and sun, only to come back to the wonderful surprise of three of my fab teacher friends nominating me for a Liebster! Heidi  from Secondgradealicious, Jo from Tiny Toes  and Krystyne from Mrs. Richards' Musings -- y'all are too sweet! :) 

To accept the nomination I must:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated me

1. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers

1. Answer the questions posted for me by my nominator

1. Share 11 random facts about myself

1. Create 11 questions for my nominees

1. Contact my nominees and let them know I nominated them!

Here are my 11 facts -- 

1. I love purple and teal. 
2. I like dogs more than cats.
3. I have a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. 
4. I worked as a pastry chef for two years. 
5. Reading is one of my favorite hobbies. 
6. Photography is another one of my favorite hobbies. 
7. I've just discovered a love of Green Ginger Tazo tea.
8. My favorite childhood school mascot was a crocodile. 
9. I wish I had curly auburn hair. 
10. I never thought I'd be a teacher ...
11. but I love it! 

Here are my answers to Krystyne's questions  --

1. What is your favorite part about the summer?

Relaxation! Reading books, visiting with friends and having absolutely no time table.  

2. How do you relax?

Reading a good book. 

3. What is your favorite non-school related activity?

Photography! 

4. Why did you start blogging?

I LOVE reading others' blogs, and it's a great community to be a part of! 

5. If you could live anywhere, where would you live?

Finland. I LOVE their education system! 

6. What is one thing you want to try with your students next year?

Using QR codes for math centers. 

7. What is your favorite Pinterest-inspired meal/activity/etc. that you have made or want to make?

I LOVE this pasta/tomato/basil/mozzarella bake that I found there. 

8. What is your favorite blog? (Besides mine.)

HA! I love reading Hope King's blog. :) 

9. If you weren't a teacher, what would you be?

A photographer! 

10. What is one thing you are looking forward to next school year?

School supplies and decorating my classroom! 

11.  When was the last time you were on a plane and where did you go?

Just came back from Cartegena and Bogota, Colombia. :) It was great! 

Here are my answers to Heidi's questions -- 

1. How did you get started with blogging?

I've always loved social media. I have a bachelor's degree in Public Relations, and for one of my classes I kept a blog. It's silly and embarrassing now, but I loved writing and sharing. When I started teaching, several *wonderful* teaching blogs inspired me daily, so I thought I could share little from my own classroom too! 

2. What is your favourite season and why?

First, LOVE that Canadian spelling, Heidi! :) My favorite is fall -- the colors, smells, pumpkins, apple cider, my anniversary, the clothes ... :) 

3. What is the most exciting thing you've ever done?

Gosh! I don't know. I'd say one of the bravest things I've ever done was spend a summer in Oaxaca, Mexico by myself. I worked for a small zoo that specialized in rehabilitating injured animals and then inviting school-aged children to visit so they could learn about disabilities. I was scared to death to go by myself but I learned a TON! 

4. What are the three best words that describe you?

creative, independent, driven 

5. Favourite movie?

Sweet Home Alabama?! 

6. Are you a morning person or a night owl?

Night owl FOR SURE. I really, really struggle to get up earlier than 8 a.m., but can stay up all night! 

7. If you could have a dinner party with 5 famous people, who would they be?

Five of the founding fathers! I think it's fascinating how many genius thinkers we had in one space at one time, and I'd love to see what they were really like. 

8.  What is one piece of advice you would give to a new teacher?

Don't try to do everything at once! Pick one thing to change today, or this week, or this month. Change that thing and then move on to the next thing. Everything can't be perfect right away and even seasoned teachers have a million and one things they think they could do better. Be kind to yourself. 

9. What is your favourite thing about being an educator?

The chance to continually challenge myself and others. 

10. What is your most memorable teaching moment?

When my kids find their "reading personality" and start finding books they love without my input. 

11. What is your best childhood memory?

Making a gym in the basement, complete with a "vault" made from a trampoline and couch. I am Olympic gymnastics OBSESSED. 

And to Jo's -- 

1.  Are you married?  How long?  Children?

Yes, for two years in October. We have one puppy daughter - Cici. :) 

2.  Do you prefer a snowy winter or a hot summer?

Snowy winter, probably because I've never really had one, growing up in the south. ;) 

3.  How early do you do your Christmas shopping?

Thanksgiving? HA! 

4.  What is the one thing you've always wanted to do but haven't been able to?

Get a tattoo! I can't decide what to get, but I WILL get one. 

5.  Which gift certificate would you most want to receive?

Visa - or cash, baby. LOL! 

6.  What drink (alcoholic or not) do you most order when you eat out?

Water? (boring!) but I'm most likely to order a hard cider like Woodchuck or Angry Orchard. 

7.  Have you ever wanted to learn to sew, crochet, or knit?  Can you?

I learned to crochet at one point, but don't remember how. I think I'd like to knit but I don't know if I'd have the patience. 

8.  What does you ideal date night look like?

Great dinner, great location, and a chance to dance! 

9.  If you could bring your act to X-Factor... what would you bring?

HA! I'd sing. Mirrors would shatter. 

10.  Are you a night-owl?

YES! (see above) 

11.   On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest ability...where do you put your technical abilities at school?

I'd say I'm pretty technology-inclined, so ... 8. Was this the question? 

My nominees are: 

1. The Elementary Math Maniac - http://theelementarymathmaniac.blogspot.com/
2. Mrs. Price - http://mrspriceskindergators.blogspot.com/
3. Bridget (Hardcore Teacher Resources) - http://www.hardcoreteacherresources.blogspot.com/
4. Heather Langley - http://www.learningwithmrslangley.blogspot.com/
5. Mrs. Storey - http://magicmistakesandmayhem.blogspot.com (she's slightly above 200, oops!)

My questions (I'm cutting them down to five, oops!) are: 

1. What is your favorite lesson to teach? 

2. What is your perfect "teacher outfit"? 

3. How you spend your Saturdays? 

4. What is your favorite color? 

5. What do you eat for breakfast during school?

It's coming - May 1 - 8 ... MEGA Giveaway!

Shoo! My little fingers are tingling because I've been working all night on setting up this MEGA giveaway ... more than 70+ wonderful, darling, fabulous TpT sellers have donated to the giveaway. I cannot WAIT to have it go live THIS Wednesday. Come back soon! 

Hello TpT Friends!

Hello TpT friends! If you're stopping by to learn more about my peace window, welcome!

The peace window post is located here.

Also, feel free to check out my posts on several other character education and problem solving techniques I use, here with my Motivation Madness blog post and TpT item, and my "Choose Your 'Tude" post and Maya Was Grumpy Read-Aloud craftivity. There's also a fun little activity I spotlighted that uses "The Crayon Box That Talked."

Poke around, leave a comment and "follow" me here (using the Google Friend Connect widget in the sidebar) or on TpT (by clicking the red star) if you'd like - I'm glad to have you!

Ms. BBZ

New Design!

Whoop whoop!

I was tired of the old design ... it felt thrown together {and slightly out of the 80's?} ...

.... so I re-did my header, background and button {which still isn't working correctly}? I used graphics from the AMAZING Collective Creation {I bought more than I needed, it was all SO CUTE} AND Marla Dee.

I don't know if this one will stick, but I'm pretty happy with it for now ... who knows, maybe Collective  Creation will agree to make me my own personal clipart avatar ... with a puppy and some bees? That would be AH-mazing.

Peace Window

How do you help your kids learn to manage their own conflict? I've heard of several options - the tattle jar, comment bucket, read-alouds, etc. I like those, but I've found that they sometimes enhance the problem, if that makes sense - they allow the child to "tattle" and expect that the adult will handle it without having to think through the situation on their own.

We use something called a peace window - based on the Montessori idea of a peace table.  Ours has a different name because I ran out of room to put an actual peace table ... so I grabbed some window markers and off we went!

The concept is simple; there are only a few rules:

• You have to go to the peace window if you're invited, but you can't invite someone in the middle of a lesson - only during group or individual work time (or play time). 
• The person who did the inviting starts, and you can't interrupt. 
• You  start by saying, "When you ______, I felt _______." 
• The other person can explain their side.
• Then you have to use the sentence started, "I'd like ______," and tell the other person what will resolve the situation from your perspective. The other person is free to accept or try to compromise. 

It has made a HUGE difference in my kids. It took a lot of modeling and practicing our conversations, but now they leave me out of most situations, and I only get called in if a compromise isn't able to be reached, or if things are getting heated. I'd say 90% of the class uses it judiciously and 10% still needs me there for most conversations. That's a big improvement over the beginning of the year when I heard, "Ms. BBZ, he/she _____" ... all. day. long!