LIEBSTER AWARD WINNER! No WAY!

Sunday, November 23, 2014
OMG!!!!  I can't believe it has taken me THIS LONG to get this blog post up!!!!  It's been a CRAZY 2 weeks, between being totally sick, getting report cards done, and planning our NorCal Teacher Meet Up!  I don't even know where to begin!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to Aileen at Mrs. Miracle's Music Room, Misha at Frantastic 2nd Grade, and My favorite Texas girl, Ally at Loopin' Littles!!!!!  You ladies seriously know how to make a girl smile!!!!!  I love all 3 of you!!!!   I love that each one came with a different design too!  :)




As part of the award, I am asked to share a little more information about myself and this little blog of mine. Afterwards, I am asked to nominate 11 other bloggers that deserve this award! 
Here I go!  

1.) Why and how long ago did you start blogging?
A few summer's ago, I was living back at my parents house because my condo was flooded by a broken sprinkler system.  I wasn't able to sleep and didn't have access to all the things that I usually did when I was wide awake, so I began searching for new ideas for the following school year.  I found a blog that had a link to Lessons with Laughter and things spiraled out of control from there.  The next thing I knew, it was 4am.  I had started my own blog called "From Behind the Lavender Door" and was SO excited.  The blog named changed, but the rest is history…here I am…still blogging and LOVING it!

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

Whole-Hearted.  Ok, so technically this is 2 words, but it's hyphenated to make it 1.  :)  I have really put my heart into my blog.  I know I am still a new blogger and have a LONG way to go, but when I post, I post with my heart.

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

I wish I had known that it's never good to change the name of your blog.  When I left my last school, they deleted my email account and my blog went with it.  I had to change the name of my blog and lost all my followers.  

4.) What is your favorite past time other than blogging?

I think my favorite past time other than blogging would be spending time with my family and friends.  I love my family and friends to the moon and back!  

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

I honestly don't spend enough time on my blog.  Some weeks it's hours and hours, and other weeks I am lucky if I get on here at all.  I really need to set aside some blog time each day!
6.) What category of blog posts do you enjoy the most?

I think the best part of exploring other people's blogs is seeing what the other classrooms looks like, things they are doing in the classroom, and seeing how much you have in common with people you don't even know!  

7.) Where does your blog inspiration come from?

Molly at Lessons with Laughter is my inspiration!  I fell in love with the idea of blogging after looking at hers!  So many creative ideas!

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

I wrote a post about our "I Am" projects not to long ago.  This is a project that I really enjoyed having my students do and it led to a really nice compliment from a fellow teacher.  After seeing them up on the wall, she came to me and said she really liked the idea and what it promotes and that we should all do them next year (meaning everyone on the upstairs level 5th-8th).  That meant a LOT to me coming from her.  

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

This one!!!!  I have been thinking about it for 2 weeks!!!!  I have just been so swamped!  

10.) What is your favorite aspect of blogging?

I love the networking aspect.  There are teachers on here from all over the world!  I actually connected with a teacher in my district through blogging!  We sit in the same meetings all year long.  Who knew!?

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

I really want to try making QR Codes!!!!  This is something I am going to need to learn and try!


Now it's time for me to nominate 11 other well deserving teachers!! Check them out!



To those nominated, here are the rules:
1. In your post, link back to the blogger who nominated you as a thank you and "shout out."
2. Answer the 11 questions given to you (the ones I answered above).
3. Nominate 11 blogs of your choice that each have less than 200 followers. Provide them with 11 questions to answer or have them answer the questions above.
4. Let your nominees know that they've been nominated and provide them with a link to your post so that they can accept.
5. Send your nominator a link to your post so that s/he can learn more about you as well! (You can just put your post link in the comments below!)




FInal Details for NorCal Teacher Blogger Meet Up!!!! #NCTBM2014

Thursday, November 20, 2014
I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am right now!!!!!!!!   We have all the final details planned for our NorCal Teacher Blogger Meet Up!  I am so excited to meet the bloggers that I have followed for a long time, and some that I am a new follower of.

The biggest challenge was finding a place. I called Cheesecake Factory near me and they were SO RUDE!  Once I got off the phone, I began thinking outside of the box and remember a great place that my friends and I went a few months back.  I called and told them what we were planning and the manager said, "Ohh…it's gonna get crazy up in here!"  Haha….Teachers?  Crazy?  I have NO idea what you are talking about!  :)  Ha!  So, he booked the party room for us to use!  Here are the details!  If you haven't received an email from me, then you aren't on my list, so leave a comment and I can forward info to you!  Otherwise, read below and get signed up!!

Here are the FINAL details!!!  :)  We have finally booked a place and have a time!  

Date:  Still December 6th!  

Location:  Firehouse #37 in San Ramon!  Address:  250 Market Pl. San Ramon, Ca 94583

Time:  4:30pm-Whenever!  

My best friend Shyra over at Junior High Core Values, and I are SUPER excited to meet everyone!!!!!  We are looking forward to enjoying dinner, drinks, and stories!  

We are asking that each person chip in $10 for prizes, goodies, and a couple appetizers we can share!  :)  The remaining food will be on each of us to order.  Here is a link to the menu:  Firehouse 37 Menu

If you can't pay the $10, email me and we can work it out!  Please send the $10 via PayPal with your name and email address to this email:  brianne_walterhouse@yahoo.com  (that's my personal email). This will also be your final RSVP (for those who were still unsure because of time).   

I know a couple people have said they are willing to bring raffle prizes, so THANK YOU!!  

In the spirit of the holiday season, we are asking that each person bring a White Elephant gift for an exchange!  I think this will be super fun!  

Again, I can't WAIT to meet you all!!!!  We have some GREAT surprises in store!  Yay!!!!!!  

#NCTBM2014 is our official hashtag!  heehee!  


Northern California Teacher Meet Up!!!

Friday, November 7, 2014
ATTENTION ALL NORTHERN CALIFORNIA TEACHERS!  

I am currently working on a NorCal Teacher Meet Up and I couldn't be more excited!!!  I have a great place picked out and I am now working on the location (they have 2 locations, well 3...but...)!  I am so excited to spend some time meeting with fellow teachers from the great state of California!!!

If you are interested in attending, or want more information, please click on the link below and fill out the form!  More information is coming soon!!!! 


Happy Friday!!!


Currently: November

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Listening:  I am listening to the end of last nights True Tori.  I was always a huge 90210 fan and really love Donna Martin!

Loving:  I love Fall.  It's my FAVORITE time of year!



Thinking:  I am planning a NorCal Teacher Meet Up!!!  I have been wanting to do this since I was in Vegas at the TpT Conference!  It's happening!  I can't wait!!!!!  If you are interested, please let me know!  Click on the link above!  :)

Wanting:  I really want a Starbucks red cup, filled with peppermint hot chocolate, and my blankets!  They are all part of my whole Loving Fall theme!  :)

Needing:  My house is a disaster!  I have too much stuff.  I really need to go through it all and get it out of here.  Thankfully, this coming weekend is a 3 day weekend…anyone want to venture a guess about what I will be doing?  :)

Reading:  Nothing.  I just brought a book, so I am hoping to start that soon.  It's been SO busy!  




Totem Pole Project, Red Ribbon Week, and October Book Reports

Tuesday, November 4, 2014
My students have been working away on projects this year!  One of the projects that they completed a couple of weeks ago was their Totem Pole Project!  They came out so well!  This idea was passed down from a previous 5th grade, now 1st grade, teacher.  She did this with her class and I decided to do it with mine as well.  Man am I glad I did!  They came out great.  Each student created a totem pole and brought it into class.  We used this as a way to kick off our Native Americans unit in Social Studies.  Here are a couple of my favorites!!!


One thing that I really enjoy is that our librarian and I switch off months for book report assignments.  I had the month of October and I assigned my class a fun book report project!  I found it on FirstPalette.com and decided to assign mystery as the genre for the month.  Hmmm….I wonder why?  :)  This book report came out better than I expected!  We now have a pumpkin patch in our classroom!!!




Red Ribbon Week is a really important week.  At our school, we had themes that the kids followed.  Monday was wear a red shirt day to kick off Red Ribbon Week.  Tuesday, we turned our backs to drugs and wore our PE shirts backwards.  Wednesday, students wore red socks.  Thursday, students wore hats to put a cap on drugs.  Friday, students wore costumes to scare drugs away!  Our school campus was decorated with red ribbons on trees, poles, and tables.  I also found this idea from The Sharpened Pencil and LOVED the idea.  So I went to work with the help of my amazingly artistic assistant and got the ribbons cut.  I ran to Michael's (twice) to get the letters and printed the pledge!  I put them together on Sunday night and on Monday of Red Ribbon Week, all of the students signed their classes ribbon.  These hung all week and parents that came for parent-teacher conferences were able to see them.



On a totally different note….how cute are these????  This was a little goodies from our Principal and Vice Principal for the week of Parent-Teacher Conferences and Halloween!


 I hope you all have had an amazing October!!!



State Reports

Monday, November 3, 2014

State Reports are done, graded, and stored for our accreditation coming up!!!  I can't wait to put them out to show the team that is coming to look at our school!  They are going to love them!

I found this project on Pinterest.  I came from The Library Patch and it was a huge hit with my class!  I made a form that accompanied the project, that my students used to take notes about their state.  They then used that information and transferred it over to their project.



Once the information was transferred, the kids couldn't wait to start coloring their flaps.  They took so much time on them and they truly looked amazing!!!  I really liked this project because it wasn't your typical state report.  Students had the opportunity to use creativity and work hands on to create something they would be proud of!  We are going to be using these in a smaller scale later in the year to create a book that will be submitted into a book contest!  Watch for that post in the Spring!










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