Liebster Blog Award I was nominated by Science in the City for the Liebster Blog Award. This is an award to new bloggers to acknowledge them, encourage them and gain new readers. I appreciate your nomination, Tara! Thank you =) The rules are as follow: link back to the blog that nominated you (done up above); post 11 random things about yourself; answer the 11 questions posted by the nominator; create 11 questions for the people you nominate; choose 11 other blogs with less than 200 followers and link to them on this post.

Part I: 11 Random things about myself
I have 2 kids
I currently live in Western MA
I have my class B CDL and worked for public transit operating buses in college
I met my husband at UMass Amherst
I grew up on a horse farm
I don’t like to talk on the phone
I believe in ghosts
I am a hair under 5’8″, but everyone thinks I’m way taller.
I use sunscreen like it’s my job
I am sending my daughter to preschool within the upcoming weeks and I am so scared!
I like my penmanship.

Part II: 11 questions from Tara L at Science in the City:
1) What grades and subject(s) do you teach?- I teach freshman physical science and sophomore biology.
2) What made you decide to be a teacher? To be honest, I think I was inspired by teachers growing up that were fun, organized, and great at their job!
3) How long have you been teaching? 6 years
4)What type of district do you teach in (large/small, urban, suburban, rural)? I’d have to say a mixture of rural and suburban with an urban edge- but large (about 1900 students)
5) What do you think is your strength (or your favorite part) of teaching? I think my strength is the fact that I am always striving to do better, and I enjoy making lessons and get a lot of satisfaction from them when the kids have fun and learn.
6) What part(s) are your weakness or do you dislike? Grading and paperwork. There is too much of it.
7) What blogs do you really like? As far as teaching blogs go I like ones that offer less promotional items from TpT and more “raw” entries from their experiences- giving advice and providing tools.
8) What are you most proud of? Giving birth naturally without any drugs… twice =)
9) What hobby do you enjoy? Hobbies? Who has time for those? I used to run a lot and shop. Now I don’t have time for either.
10) What is the strangest food you have ever eaten? Hmmm. Good question. I would say something from a Thai restaurant called moshi (sp?). It was a dessert and it was delicious, but sort of had the texture of clay.
11) Why did you start blogging? At first I started blogging for my students, to keep track of all my lessons so that they had easy access. I have a couple websites since then, including biology roots.

Part III) My Questions for Nominees
1. What type of school do you teach in?
2. If you could improve one thing about your school, what would it be?
3. What do you currently teach at school?
4. What have you taught in the past (other than what you are currently teaching) and what is your favorite thing to teach?
5. How long have you been blogging?
6. What do you typically like to blog about?
7. What are your strengths as a teacher?
8. What are your weaknesses as a teacher?
9. What is a favorite student memory of yours?
10. Why did you choose the age group that you teach?
11. What is your favorite lesson to do with your kids?

Part IV) My nominess:
Primary Paradise http://www.myprimaryparadise.com/
A Perfectly Poetic Page http://perfectlypoeticpage.blogspot.com/
Math, Science, Social Studies, Oh My! http://amyalvis.blogspot.com/
A Lesson Plan for Teachers http://alessonplanforteachers.blogspot.com/
Science Teacher Resources http://scienceteacherresources.blogspot.com/