Feeling Appreciated!

WOW! Today, after babysitting and a kindergarten meeting at Chili's, I came home to some surprises.

Ashley from The Resource Room Teacher and Mrs. Mc from Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! gave me the One Lovely Blog award! (My first one ever!) I wasn't sure I'd get this award because my blog is so new, but I'm so honored that they thought my blog was worth this award!

  My other news was that I received the Versatile Blogger award from Heidi at My (Not So) Elementary Life! 

While I could give the award to 30 different bloggers,  I feel that it would mean more if I give BOTH awards to the same 15 bloggers. So here's the deal. I'll follow the rules of the awards, but I don't want to overwhelm you with a crazy amount of award winners. Here are the rules for each award. One Lovely Blog Award: 1. Follow the person that gave you the award
2. Link back to the person that gave you the award
3. Pass the award on to 15 new bloggers 

The Versatile Blogger Award:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.

2. Include a link to their site.

3. Include the award image in your post.

4. Give 7 random facts about yourself.

5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award.

6. When nominating, include a link to their site.

7. Let other bloggers know they've been nominated.

Well, if you must know, here are 7 random facts about myself:

1. I graduated with a second major in Spanish! It was hard work, but it's so worth it to be able to speak to Spanish speaking parents and have them understand what is going on in their students' education.
2. I am a procrastinator. And not a huge planner...So teaching can be hard for me at times because I wait till the last minute to plan lessons. I need to work on that.
3. I'm a Christian! I love my Lord, and I hope to show God's love through teaching sweet children and working with their parents.
4. My favorite color is...what do you think? If you are the first to guess it right, I'll feature you in one of my status updates on my Facebook page!
5. My summer destination of choice is on an island called Dominica. It's the Nature Isle of the Caribbean, and it's home to many of the people I love. (Mainly one man!)

      6. I drive a truck! Yes. And I love it. :) It's so beautiful.

      7. I keep a 5 year journal. It's the easiest way to journal ever and it's going to be so worth it in 5 years!

 Now for the FUN PART! The award winners!

I know some of you may already have the award, but I wanted to honor you and let you know that I appreciate all the work that you do on your blog. You inspire me!

 

 Thank you so much for your hard work! Remember, you received BOTH awards! The One Lovely Blog award AND the Versatile Blogger award! If you want to accept them, make sure you follow the rules of the award to put the button on your page. Spread the love around. :)

One more thing. I wish I could keep up with the Daily 5 book study posts! I may put up chapters 2 and 3 soon, but I may just read them and post about chapter 4 when it comes up. I've been so busy, and doing that has been a struggle. Hope you understand! Love you all!

Web 2.0 Tutorials for Teachers #3!

It's Saturday! This is my third week of web 2.0 tutorial videos, and today is special because I'm featuring...

Wait for it...

Storybird!

I'm really excited about this one. I apologize for apologizing so much in the video. I was tired (it was 11pm when I recorded), and I kept losing track of my words. I hope that the video still helps you even though my brain felt a little out of sorts.

Storybird is a tool that can be used to create beautiful illustrated books without having to hire an illustrator! The artists that contribute have done an amazing job with their artwork so that we can write to our little hearts content! I think this would be such a fun way to have a shared writing lesson instead of just using a boring anchor chart. Below is the book that I created for you to look at. I tried to use all the different picture positions that Storybird offers so you can see all the ways you can do it.

The Monsters In My Closet! by sadams22 on Storybird  Okay well here you go! Below is the embed for the VIDEO TUTORIAL! I love making these and I hope that you enjoy watching them. Feel free to pin, share, comment, like, whatever you feel like doing! I'd love to help as many teachers as possible with these tutorials. I know that technology may seem like a scary monster to you at times, but just remember that the monster may turn out to be your friend like the ones in the book did. :)

If you would like to start your Storybird account and receive a FREE PDF download on sign-up, just put your email address in the form below. YOUR EMAIL IS NOT REQUIRED FOR THE FORM, but if you do include it, the PDF that would normally cost you $2 would be free instead, and I would receive one free PDF download as well! If that's not a win-win, I don't know what is! :)

UPDATE!

Here are the QR codes for the Mystery Blog Hop! Scan one of them to jump to a new page. Leave a comment first before you go! :)

Updates and Joy!

I know it's been a while since I've written a blog post. Here are my reasons!

1. I have a big post coming up soon! So my brain has been obsessing over that.

2. Today was Guided Reading and 6 Traits Writing training at my school. I can't wait to start those! I especially know that guided reading will be fun. I love small group work with kinders. They always have the funniest comments ever.

3. My new video tutorial will be up on Saturday morning, so get your vote in before 7pm on Friday so that you can have a say in which one I record on Friday evening.

4. Life has been normal (which means BUSY!)

I left off a fifth reason just to bother some of you more perfectionist blog followers. :) I hope you don't unfollow me for that! Honestly, I couldn't come up with a good fifth reason other than the fact that not much is new. It's summer time, so my teaching brain is just waiting for next year. I can't get into my classroom to decorate yet because the lady who taught in that classroom still hasn't moved out yet....and I'm SO ready to move in!

Here's the few updates I do have for you:

1. Joyful Update - My DIPLOMA came in the mail yesterday. I pranced around the house and couldn't put it down. It's amazing to me that I now have my Bachelor of Arts Magna cum Laude! :D

2. Vote! - My poll is up on my Facebook page and on the sidebar on the blog! Make sure you vote for either Storybird, Xtranormal, Glogster, or Erly. Also, comment below if you have a request for a technology tutorial of any kind! I'd love your feedback so I know your needs!

3. Go participate in my sweet friend Maria's giveaway and follow her page! She has such amazing ideas. If you like my blog, you'll love hers too! She reached 300 followers and is giving away a 25$ gift card to the best store on Earth....Target!

4. I was contacted by two people recently! One person was one of the FOUNDERS of BEECLIP! He messaged me on Google Plus and commented on my video tutorial saying that he enjoyed it! I was blown away by the fact that he watched it. The blogging world is too cool. Also, I was contacted by Technology Tailgate and asked to be a contributor to the new blog effort! It's going to be technology central for all blog posts relating to tech. I can't wait to be a part of it. Go check it out at:

  You all are amazing. I'm blown away daily by the fact that you all decided to follow my blog! You truly have blessed my life, and I hope that my posts can bless yours as well.  Leave a comment letting me know what you think about 6 Traits Writing and Guided Reading!

Prezi Tutorial for Teachers!

It's here!

My web 2.0 tool tutorial that you all voted on! I had a fun time preparing the Prezi show for the tutorial. I hope that you get a lot out of it! I wish I could have gone even longer, but I know people don't like watching long videos. 

It's a tad shorter than my Beeclip video, so that's a good thing. :) I tried to edit down my video length by taking out mistakes I made, but I'm not sure how to do that without losing video quality. Any suggestions?

Should I put the next poll in the sidebar of my blog or on my Facebook page wall? Or both and say that people may only vote once on each one? I don't want people voting over and over again. Let me know in the comments! I'll put up the sidebar poll now so you can get to clicking!

Enjoy the video and scroll down for freebies! 

I've never done this before, so I hope it works. 

If not, please don't be upset!

Make sure you fill out this simple form so that you can get your freebies...

2 simple/editable Prezis made by me!

Even if you don't want the freebies, I'd still love your feedback in the form below!

Go download Dropbox if you don't already have it!

VOTE!

Storybird and Prezi are tied and there are only 3 hours remaining! Cast your vote so I can make a brand new video tutorial for you to watch! :)

Storybird

Prezi

I'm excited to see which one wins!