Liebster Award

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! :)

Did anyone go crazy with Black Friday shopping?? I didn't really this year. My usual Black Friday store is Target (go figure) but the 9pm opening on Thanksgiving night was too early for me to want to go so I skipped out this year. But I did go to the mall Friday morning and got some stuff at Old Navy (my other usual store) so yay to that!

Another wonderful thing that happened on Friday was that I checked my email and saw that my blog had received two nominations for the Liebster Award! How exciting! Thank you Thirsty Firsties and Miss King's Enchanted Kingdom for the nominations! I am so honored!

The Liebster Award is given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. It is to show new bloggers that they are appreciated and to help spread the word about new blogs.

The rules:

- You most post 11 random things about yourself.

- Answer the questions that the nominator set for you.

- Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.

- Choose 11 blogs you love (with less than 200 followers) and link them in your post.

- No tag back (but please leave a comment on this post with the URL to your Liebster post so I can learn more about you)!

Here it goes!

11 Random Things About Me:

1. I look much younger than I really am. People are always mistaking me for a high school student. Makes dressing for work very important!

2. I grew up as a bilingual child. I speak Mandarin and English.

3. I have dual citizenship. I was born in Taiwan so I am a citizen there. Received my US citizenship later sometime as a kid.

4. I want two dogs. One small and one big. I've been wanting this for a while. Hopefully I'll be able to make this happen soon.

5. I always knew I wanted to work with children for my career. Among becoming a pediatrician, child psychologist, or teacher, I chose teacher.

6. I am the oldest child in the family. I have two younger brothers with the youngest and I being 12 years apart.

7. My goal in life has always been to make a difference in other people's lives by helping them in some way. I sure hope I am doing that right now. 

8. I secretly love singing. But definitely not confident about it. A secret wish is to record a single or an album. Just one. Nothing more.

9. I would like to teach abroad in Taiwan for a time period to see if I like living and working there. 

10. I would also like to get certified to teach Chinese. I am considering taking classes for that next year after I am done with BTSA.

11. When I was a kid, I played piano and violin.

Questions asked by Thirsty Firsties:

1. What are your favorite things about blogging? Sharing ideas! I also love it when people leave comments!

2. What's your favorite blog? Oh man, that's a tough one. I guess Classroom Freebies has been really helpful lately with getting me ready for the winter!

3. How long have you been teaching? This is my second year teaching. So...one year and three months? :)

4. What is your favorite vacation spot? This is very cliche. But I really loved the environment and atmosphere of Hawaii both times when I visited. Also love going back to Taiwan.

5. What is your favorite thing to cook? I've recently been getting into trying different recipes with my slowcooker so I guess whatever thing that can be cooked with that!

6. What is your favorite store? I love going to Target for the dollar deals and Old Navy for the clothes.

7. What has been your best TPT purchase? All of them! Ones that relate to literature circles have been really usual for my reading groups.

8. Coke or Pepsi? Actually, I prefer clear soda so neither.

9. What's your favorite Christmas movie? Hm. I don't really know. Haven't really seen many. Does Home Alone count?

10. What's your favorite TV show? Uhoh, I watch too many tv shows to have a favorite! I like the musical shows, crime shows, medical shows, cooking shows...almost everything! One type of tv show I can't handle is reality tv (non-competitions).

11. What's been the hardest thing about blogging? Keeping up to date! There just never seems to be enough time to accomplish everything I want to get done in a day!

Questions from Miss King's Enchanted Kingdom:

1. If you could live anywhere, where would you live? I love living in California! But I do want to give living in Taiwan a try too!

2. What is one thing in your classroom you can't live without? My bulletin boards! I wish I had more!

3. What is your favorite food? Noodles! Just about any type of noodles/pasta!

4. What is your favorite holiday and why? I love Christmas because I love giving people gifts and it's the perfect time to do so!

5. What was your first car? Still driving it! Green 1999 Volvo S70

6. What do you like to do in your free time? Read and watch tv.

7. When did you start blogging? August! Four months ago!

8. Have you always taught the grade you teach now? In my full-time teaching career? Yes. As a student teacher, I taught second and fourth grade.

9. Do you prefer books on electronics (ipads/nooks/kindles) or reading a real book? I much prefer reading a real book. I look the feel of holding a book and turning the pages.

10. Have you ever taught in another state or country than where you teach now? No. I would like to give it a try though!

11. Who do you most admire? Hm. Right now, Jeremy Lin. He really had to get through some hardships to get to where he is now. And even now, he still has to go through a lot of criticism because of his ethnicity. I really admire how he was able to overcome all the obstacles set in front of him. I believe that he completely deserves all the admiration and positive attention he has been getting from everyone.

Phew! That was long! But wait! There's more!

Blogs I Am Nominating:

1. Fun in K/1

2. Resource Room Rules

3. The Lower Elementary Cottage

4. The Cornerstone Classroom

5. Ais for Apple B is for Blog

6. Oodles of Teaching Fun

7. Daisy Days for Learning

8. Down the Learning Road

9. First Grade - California Style

10. First Grade Fingerprints

11. First Grade Journal

My Questions for My Nominees:

1. What did you want to grow up to be when you were a kid?

2. Last good movie you saw?

3. Have you always been a teacher or was this a career change?

4. What's your best piece of advice for a new teacher?

5. What else do you do during your spare time?

6. What is your favorite school break?

7. Are there other grades you would like to teach?

8. What's your favorite gift from a student?

9. What's your favorite snack?

10. Black and white or color?

11. If you had an unlimited supply of money, what would you do with it?

Don't forget to leave me a link to your blog when you've answered! I can't wait to read more about you and hope you enjoyed learning a little something about me. :)