Liebster Blog Award Fun

As a relatively new blogger it's always fun to see comments posted - it means there ARE real people reading this :)

Today Holly from Mrs. Ehle's Kindergarten Connections nominated me for the Liebster Blog Award. This is given to bloggers by bloggers as a way to acknowledge and encourage each other and to help get more readers.

I have to say I went and looked this up to see how it all started but the origin seems to be somewhat shrouded. It looks like it started somewhere in Germany but the numbers (how many followers, how many nominees etc) have changed over time - a bit like that Whisper game :)
Anyway it's very cool and I have enjoyed reading all the questions and answers that I've seen on multiple blogs so it's kind of fun to be doing it myself.

So as a recipient I have to

• post 11 random things about myself
• answer 11 questions that the nominator asks
• create 11 questions for the people I nominate
• choose 11 other blogs with less than 200 followers to nominate and link them to this post

I'm going to do this in 2 parts. So here goes with Part 1 - random things and answering questions.

11 random things: 

1. I live on an island in the middle of the Atlantic that is about 20 miles square. You have to guess which one it is :)
2. I have two children (22 and 23) two dogs (Bear and Panda) one husband (married 25 years) and one tortoise (currently hibernating)
3. My only sister is exactly one year and 5 days younger than me.
4. My entire extended family lives in Scotland - my parents are from Glasgow.
5. I love the cold and am not fond of the heat!! (sadly, the island of which I speak is pretty hot!)
6. I'm vegetarian (trying hard to be vegan but it's SO hard to give up cheese!!)
7. On my son's 17th birthday a tree fell on me while driving. This focused my faith and re-connected me spiritually. My faith is not something I talk about freely but it IS important to me.
8. I love - and I mean LOVE - hiking in Scotland! (even though I wheeze and gasp my way up every mountain)
9. I love Sound of Music (the mountains reminded me of it! :) )
10. I like to eat ice ( my daughter who is beginning pre-professional biology with a view to dentistry, the one who works as a dentist assistant every holiday, tells me it is a terrible habit and my teeth will crack. I figure if she's going to be a dentist I will be entitled to free dentures at some point! )
11. My second toe is longer than my big toe :) (It's a family trait - we all have it)

On to the nominator's questions:

1. What is your own educational background? Highlights: attended a United World College school in Canada (Vancouver Island) university in England (actually I did a BSc in Horticulture :) ) then came to teaching in a roundabout way through Montessori training.
2. Do you shop on TpT? If so what is your favorite product you have found? Well, of course I do! But I don't have a favorite product - there are so many things I love. I'm becoming slightly addicted to clipart I've noticed :)
3. Where are you from? Where do you live now? Born and raised and still living on the above mentioned small island - but we have bought a house in Scotland 30 minutes from my mother and my dream is to move there before I'm 50 :)
4. How many students are in your class? What is the average class size in your district? This year I have 16 students!! The normal class size in our school is 20 - 21; other schools can go as high as 25 students but that's about our limit.
5. What is your favorite tool to use in the classroom? Hmm.. in the abstract that would have to be the principle of "having fun". My philosophy is that since children spend so much time in the classroom it has to be a fun, loving environment. In practical terms I would be totally lost without my task chart clipboard.
6. How do you handle "show and tell" in your classroom? I have to be honest and say that this is the bane of my life - so much so in fact that I banned it this year. I know that sounds dreadful but now, unless it's an amazing thing related to Topic work or something super super special (like a new baby!) we don't do it. 
7. Do you give "rewards" in your classroom? We have a housemark system - given for effort and personal best work. I also give tiny rewards (pencils, erasers) for filling in a line on our Self-selected Genre Reading Bingo cards.
8. How would you describe your classroom management style? Eek - don't ask. I agonize over this every time I'm being evaluated!! I'm super casual, like to have lots of creative projects going all at the same time and can rarely see the surface of my desk - but I love my kids and we have a lot of fun. 
9. What grades have you taught? Only 3rd grade in the classroom but I spent 14 years running the school library and teaching PSHE to grades K through 3.
10. What's the last book you read for pleasure? The Chalet School series by Elinor M Brent-Dyer - a very old (written in the 1930s) children's series about a boarding school in Austria. I read it as a child and have spent years collecting all the titles again (most are out of print now) I re-read it constantly since it's such a "feel good" series.
11. What are your hobbies? I love reading, hiking, quilting (when I have time which is hardly ever now) and creating things for the classroom. Blogging is fast becoming a new hobby :)

So that's all about me. I will now start looking for nominees and post again shortly with my list of nominees and questions for them to answer in Part 2 :)