Liebster Award!

I am happy to announce that I have also been nominated for a Liebster Award by Rachel at Music with Mrs. Tanenblatt!

The Liebster Award was created to highlight blogs with growing audiences.

The rules for receiving this award are:

1. In your post link back to the blogger who nominated you as a thank you and a 'shout out'.
2. Answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you've tagged to answer. (The questions I have answered please)
3. Nominated 11 people (Blogs with less that 200 followers) and link them in you r post.
4. Let your nominees know and provide them with a  link back to your post (so they can see the rules)
5. No nominating the person who nominated you, however send them a thank you :)

The Questions:

1.  Why and how long ago did you start blogging?

I started blogging about four years ago, when I had a student teacher and some time on my hands. My blog used to be hosted here. My original plan was just to share thoughts about teaching elementary music, and share suggestions with anyone who came across my blog. Now, I find myself using it for networking and sharing ideas, as well as a sort of running record of my career. I need to get more consistent with writing, though.

2.  What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why?

Random. Although my original goal was to share teaching strategies, I've found that I love Linky Parties, and that they give me inspiration to write. I'm not always sure what to write about, since it seems everyone is blogging these days and I don't want to be the 100th blog to say the same things, especially if I'm not using them in a unique way. Maybe I'm too hard on myself.

3.  Is there something you learned late in your blogging journey you wished you knew before?

Not really learned, and my blog is still very new, but I wish I would have been better at at least titling a blog post and sketching ideas in a draft as soon as I had new ideas. I feel like I lost several opportunities over the past two years especially to really dig into some things.

4.  What is your favorite pastime other than blogging?

I love playing vintage video games - nothing beats Duck Hunt, Mario, Sonic, and Donkey Kong! They are also a fantastic way to blow off steam and stress.

5.  How many hours per week do you dedicate to your blog/TPT?

Not nearly enough! Sometimes I will go several weeks without doing anything on my blog - writer's block is the worst! I don't have a TPT store just yet, and don't know if I'm going to pursue that end of things - there are already so many amazing and creative sellers out there!

6.  What category of blog posts do you enjoy the most?

I love reading about manipulatives that work well in the classroom. I don't know that I particularly like one type of writing post over another, I usually just write about whatever strikes me.

7.  Where does your blog inspiration come from?

My inspiration comes mainly from day-to-day happenings in the classroom and from seeing linky-party topics that interest me.

8.  Which post that you've written are you most proud of?

I think I'm most proud of my classroom setup post because it connects to many TPT sellers that helped make my room an awesome space this year.

9.  Is there any post you have been planning to do, but have been postponing it for a while now?

I've been planning to do a series on using Responsive Classroom techniques in the music room. I feel like it got postponed over and over as this year and last year have been crazy!

10.  What if your favorite aspect of blogging?

My favorite aspect of blogging is linking up to other bloggers through linky-parties and learning from lots of different bloggers, both music and general classroom.

11.  Which recipe, project, or idea on my blog would you like to try yourself?

I just ordered my stretchy band so I can't wait to try ideas from this post!

Here are my nominees:

1.   Patrick at Songs from the Dawn Treader
2.   1st Grade Fireworks
3.   Jackie at Neat Sweet & Hard to Beat
4.   Rachel at Mrs. O Knows
5.   Karen at Smarticle Particles
6.   Kate at Songbird Serenade
7.   Amy at Treble in the Classroom
8.   Melody at The Plucky Pianista

Whew, I had to really dig to find even 8 bloggers who haven't already been nominated (or that I didn't just nominate for the One Lovely Blog Award! Hopefully I did't re-nominate anyone - if I did - kudos to you!