Tuesday, July 23, 2013

New Teacher Blog Tuesday & Freebies

Welcome to New Teacher Blog Tuesday! If you are a new blogger and would like to be featured, email me at dml8609@gmail.com

Our first blogger is Lisa from

1. Name of blog and link:

Alwaysan Adventure in Kindergarten

2. Tell us about your blog and why you started it.

I discovered the world of teacher blogs last summer when I began looking for ideas for my new classroom. I was switching to Kindergarten after being a reading intervention specialist for the past 8 years. I knew it was a world I wanted to be a part of! I love the collaboration and all the great ideas that are shared. It has made me a much better teacher and keeps me excited about my job. If my blog can do that for others who read it, then I’m thrilled.

3. Tell us a little about your teaching background.

I have been teaching for 14 years. 9 of those years were spend as a reading intervention specialist. I also taught 1^st grade for a few years and am currently a Kindergarten teacher. During those years as a reading specialist—I was trained as a Reading Recovery teacher which is FABULOUS training!

4. What songs are included on the soundtrack to your life?

I’m a country girl. That’s what I listen to most of the time. However, I do love Aerosmith and Bon Jovi, too! I love my Sirius Satellite Radio. I’m always listening to either The Highway, 80s on 8, or Hair Nation!

5. What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?

I’m really not sure how to answer this. I’ve actually been very blessed in my life. Of course, there have been hard things, but I’m certain there will be harder things yet to come! Some of my most helpless times were when my kids had to have surgery-just minor things like tonsils and ear tubes, but watching them wheel your children into an operating room is a pretty helpless feeling.

6. What’s your favorite TV show?

I have several! I’ve seen every episode of Survivor ever! Right now I also love Duck Dynasty. Those guys are hilarious! My husband doesn’t share my love for reality TV so when we watch together it’s usually Justified, Game of Thrones, and The Following. Plus, we are big sports fans so we watch a lot of sports together.

7. What is your favorite item of clothing and why?

Uggs. I have boots and slippers and they are the bomb! I also love to be at the beach and just wear my bathing suit all day long. There’s sometime relaxing about that!

8. Number of candles that appeared on your last birthday cake?

I’ve reached an age where I always have to stop and think about it! There were 37 last year—YIKES!

9. What was the last book you read? What are you going to read next?

I recently finished The Millennium Trilogy and they were fantastic. I’m currently reading Steve Jobs’ biography, but I’m looking for something lighter for my vacation. Maybe a Stephanie Plum book? Love those!

10. What was the last thing that you ate that you really shouldn’t of?

That bowl of chocolate peanut butter ice cream at 11:45 last night!

11. Give us some links- Twitter, Pinterest, Teacher’s Pay Teachers, Facebook, a free teaching item etc.

TpT--http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Lisa-Feikert

Facebook--https://www.facebook.com/AlwaysAnAdventureInKindergarten?ref=hl

Instagram--@alwaysanadventureink

Freebie--http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Digraph-practice-worksheets-683557

Our next blogger is

• Name of blog and link:

Teachingin the Tongass

• Tell us about your blog and why you started it.

My blog is about my life as an Alaskan teacher. I live in a pretty amazing place and want to show that through my teaching blog. The Tongass National Forest is a temperate rainforest in Southeast Alaska. Lots and lots of rain, mountains in every horizon, a few glaciers, a world class ski area, cruise ships all throughout the summer, spruce trees everywhere, blueberries (yum!), rivers, ocean and miles and miles of rocky coastline, salmon, halibut, crab…this is home. If you want to keep updated and see photos, go to my blog and start following!

For the last couple of years, I have been following other blogs simply by bookmarking and checking in on them once a week (I didn’t know any other way before I had my own!). This last February, I had an epiphany, and realized, hey, I could do this. Maybe nobody would read my blog, but I didn’t care. I wanted to record my career and my life somehow (without writing in a diary!) and this seemed to be the way to go. Turns out, I was right! I have only been blogging for a few months, and it’s still cool to go back and look at what I wrote a few months ago. I can’t wait until I’m a few years in and I can go back in time. If you haven’t already started your own blog, go for it! There’s nothing to be afraid or ashamed of J

• Tell us a little about your teaching background.

I student taught for a year in a 4^th grade class, had my heart set on teaching 4^th grade (my own personal favorite grade and oh how I dreamed of reading Where the Red Fern Grows…). However, life had a different plan for me. I graduated in May, and had several interviews set up. I only got to go to one interview, and was offered a 2^nd grade position before I could interview for other schools. I asked how much time I had before I had to give my answer: until the end of the day. I hung up and cried. 2^nd graders don’t know how to zip their own coats! 2^nd graders don’t know how to get in a line or a circle! 2^nd graders pick their noses! I was devastated. THIS was not how I envisioned myself as a teacher. But, I had to take the job not knowing if the other interviews would work out. THANK THE LORD I DID. I may have cried at the end of the day like a crazy person on my first day of teaching, but within a few weeks, I had the hang of it and was just fine. Who needs Where the Red Fern Grows when you have so many other great stories?! My eyes were opened and I am grateful. That was 5 years ago, and even though there have been plenty of opportunities to change grades, I just love 2^nd and couldn’t imagine teaching anything else!

• What songs are included on the soundtrack to your life?

Remember When by Alan Jackson describes my life:

Remember when the sound of little feet

Was the music we danced to week to week

Brought back the love, we found trust

Vowed we'd never give it up

Remember when

Remember when thirty seemed so old

Now lookin' back, it's just a steppin' stone

To where we are, where we've been

Said we'd do it all again

Remember when

Got to Be Real by Cheryl Lynn describes my personality. I am super blunt, and don’t have the decency or the energy to be fake to people. I am real. If you ask me how something looks on you, I’ll be honest, but gentle of course!

• What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?

Giving birth was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I was induced and in labor in the hospital for 4 whole days, which ended up not really working and I need an emergency cesarean anyway. A rollercoaster of emotions and in the end, the most rewarding gift of all was wrapped up and laid beside me. We call him Cheeks since he has chubby cheeks, but his name is Gavin and he is of course, my life.

• What’s your favorite TV show?

Oh man, I watch a LOT of tv. Some of my favorite shows have ended, but they are still worth mentioning! Here is my embarrassing list in no particular order: Rescue Me, Grey’s Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother, Friends (still watch reruns and they are still funny!), The Office, 30 Rock, Parks and Rec, SNL, Modern Family, Desperate Housewives, and Chelsea Lately.

• What is your favorite item of clothing and why?

My favorite thing to wear are my Xtratuf boots. They are pretty ugly to anyone who doesn’t live here, but in Southeast Alaska, they are as common as high heels. Like I mentioned before, it rains a lot. There are plenty of cute and colorful rain boot options out there now, but these brown boots have become a fashion statement and seriously, it would be embarrassing to wear any other boot! They are so popular, it is a common theme among the wedding party (including the bride and groom) to wear them along with tuxedos and dresses! A typical pregnancy announcement (not mine!) might include the boots also…