So I'm Teacher of the Year. WHAT?!

Yeah.  Craziness.  December 5th we had a staff meeting to find out who was the new Teacher of the Year, and lo and behold, it was ME.  *Cue the shock & awe, folks.*

Little ol' me

My silly team nominated me, and so did one of our fab Kinder teachers.  I was so shocked, I just stood there!  Someone made the comment that it was the first time they'd ever seen me speechless.  So true.  I always have a comment for everything, lol.

My principal had called my parents, so they were there to surprise me, and while my hubs was out of town for business (bummer), one of my besties who used to teach with me came up, as well.  So neat.

My principal and me

My principal created a Pinterest board for the new Teacher of the Year reveal.  Pretty funny because she always jokes that my classroom looks like Pinterest threw up in it.  LOL.

When she displayed the Pinterest board on the screen, I slowly started to realize that all the pictures she had pinned were of things I had created for my classroom.  It finally started to dawn on me that the new Teacher of the Year must be ME!  Too funny.

The comments with the Pins were taken from the application my colleagues filled out about me.  Wow.

Unique personality?  Check.  It's part of what keeps my students awake, I think.  Haha.

O.K., I didn't create this poster!  I believe I found it on

Technology Rocks Seriously's blog.  :)

So it's possssssible that I could be overheard saying "Ain't nobody got TIME for that!" multiple times a day.  Just sayin'.  (So this was a fitting tribute to me, for sure, lol.)

So yeah.  Pretty dang cool.  And now come the writing of the 6 essays, the observation, and the interview by a panel.  Say HUH?!  Yikes.  Excited about the honor, but a liiiiiiittle stressed about the rest!  :)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying the remainder of your time off.  This is the first somewhat-school-related thing I have DONE since December 18th, and I applaud myself!  :)

Here's to a great 2014 that includes good friends, good health, lots of love, and plenty of chips & queso.

XO,

Gayla

Super Teacher?!

Who has 2 thumbs and was named a Super Teacher in her district???
THIS GIRL!  :)

Funny story.  We were in the middle of the week with the 3 days of state testing, in which every student has to be like SILENT all day long, and of course, the kids are about going berSERK by the 3rd day.  So we teachers decided that the kids deserved to watch a movie.  I know, I know.  It was only April.  Plenty of learning left, but dang.  They had worked so hard being SUPER QUIET.  So anyway (I'm long-winded), I'm the techy person on my team, and I headed down to the library to work on getting the Streaming DVD working.  (Don't get me started on this piece of junk, lol.)  So I called my teammate and said, "Hey, go down to my room and see if it's playing."  I waited a few minutes, and called my room, and my PRINCIPAL ANSWERED.  Um.  Yeah.  I about had a heart attack.  Times 3.  She said that I needed to come down to my room right now.  I was FREAKING OUT, Y'ALL.

THEN, when I turned into my classroom, not only was my boss standing there, but so was our SUPERINTENDENT.  HO-LEE.  COW.  I had no idea what was happening, and I'm sure I looked like a dadgum deer in headlights.

Come to find out, he was there to give me an AWARD!  I had been named a Super Teacher for the district!  They gave me a t-shirt, a magnet, and a notepad!  (My students thought I was super cool.)  Hehe.  Then on Friday our Superintendent took all the "Super Teachers" to lunch and gave us plaques. :)

So, our G/T Specialist nominated me--how sweet of her!  Super Teachers are recognized for creating 21st century, innovative, student-led lessons.  Here is her nomination letter:

Gayla Cockrell is a second grade teacher at Lakeside. She consistently creates her own projects and activities, rather than use pre-made ones. Gayla builds in authentic extensions for the higher-level learners, while still preserving the "fun factor" and student-choice for her below-level learners. This makes differentiation appear seamless within her classroom, and protects the student’s feelings about their abilities among their peers, which is paramount for all learners. For their February research project, she created a Famous African American unit using the Super 3 research method, and student choice. First, she selected age appropriate websites and then developed QR codes to ensure that her learners are successful in accessing these sites with ease for research. Then she created a high-interest, kid-inspired activity for her students to use when taking notes, as well as embedded a vocabulary study for her students to collect new words and locate definitions on their own. Each quadrant of the research activity has a guiding question to focus their research from facts about their birth and death, the important achievements, and the relevance to the present. For the student product of this unit, she provides a list of technology products, art based products, and I Pad product apps, as well as allows her students to propose their own product. Each list has 6 choices, and all have been introduced to her students through prior lessons/units. Perhaps most importantly, the kids conclude their unit with a self-evaluation which asks them to consider their own feelings about their work, and allows them to make their own suggestions for improvement. This initiates the important task of independent reflection of effort at a young age.  Gayla is truly a super teacher at Lakeside!

This really made my year (it was a really rough year for me) and made me feel so appreciated.  You know, as hard as we work, it just feels good for someone to say thank you sometimes.  :)

I hope you all are enjoying your summer as much as I am!  (Assuming you are on summer vacation...)

Thanks for reading!

Nominations (and more about me than anyone wants to know)!

Thanks to the awesome bloggers who (re)nominated me for the Liebster Award!  :)  I know I've been nominated in the past, but I thought I'd at least answer their fun questions!  Plus, it's a good reason to write a post since I've been so MIA lately.  :)

First thanks goes out to Sent From My iPad (great blog name, huh?)!
Here are her questions and my answers:

1. How long have you been blogging?  I started blogging personally when I moved to NYC back in 2002!  I started my classroom blog in April 2009, and I started this teaching blog in September 2011.
2. Why did you start a blog?  I started THIS particular blog because of all the amazing teaching blogs I had discovered.  It amazed me that I had never thought to use a blog that way before--to share ideas with fellow teachers.  Brilliant!
3. How did you come up with your blog name?  From the whole "Keep Calm and _____ On" phrase.  :)
4. What is your guilty pleasure?  Trashy tv.  My husband HATES all the shows I watch.  The only shows we watch together are Always Sunny, The League, and Louis.  I love the Vampire Diaries, reality tv, Parenthood, Modern Family...I could go on and on.
5. What is your "can't live without" teacher item? Smartboard and my Papermate Flair pens.  :)
6. Are your a morning person or night owl?  NIGHT OWL, big time.  It's a bit of a problem.
7. What is the funniest thing a kid has ever said in class or that you've overheard?  Me: "You look pretty in your make-up."  Student: "My dad says I look like a hooker."
8. If you had to pick one thing to eat for the rest of ever what would it be?  Chips and queso or nachos
9. What is your favorite iPad app? OR website?   Ooh, that's a hard one!  I LOVE Pinterest for discovering new ideas/blogs.  I love Educreations and Fotobabble for the iPad.  User-friendly for the kids!
10. How long have you been teaching?  This is my 6th year.
11. If you weren't teaching what would you be doing?  Performing musical theater, I hope.  :)

2nd Thank You goes out to Flamingos and Butterflies!  Here are her questions and my answers:

1. What grade do you teach, and how long have you been teaching?  I teach 2nd.  This is my 6th year teaching--3 in 3rd and 3 in 2nd.  :)
2. Where are you currently teaching?  Suburb of Dallas
3. If you were not a teacher, what would be your dream job?  Being a musical theater performer or a writer or professional blogger
4. What is your favorite adult book?  Just finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, and it was AMAZING.
5. What is your favorite kid book?  The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, The Wayside School books, and Skippyjon Jones books.  
6. If you could meet any author, who would it be and why?  Anne Lamott.  She's just cool.  And has the most creative way of saying things.
7. Why did you start blogging?  To record my experiences in New York.  (personal blogging)
8. How did you come up with the name for your blog?  From the whole "Keep Calm and..." craze
9. If you could have any super power, what would it be and why?  To fly!  Obvious reasons, right?  It would be AWESOME!
10. Are you an early bird or night owl?  complete night owl!
11. As you sit here blog hopping and answering questions from a random stranger, (just kidding) what are you thinking in the back of your mind you should really be doing right now?  Getting ready for bed.  :)

3rd and final Thank You goes out to Beach Lovin' Teach, who is obviously a kindred spirit of mine, what with the beach thing!  :)  

1. How long have you been blogging?  Personally since 2002!  As a teacher since 2009.  :)
2. What is your favorite type of music?  I like LOTS.  I'm not a big fan of country or rap.  I love musicals, relaxing stuff, singer stuff, vocal jazz, choral, some opera, some classical, some of the  top 20 stuff, a lot of the Indie stuff.  :)  I was a music major, so I could write a dissertation.
3. Where would you go on your dream vacation?  Back to the Virgin Islands, probably!  Maybe Hawaii.
4. What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?  spending time with my hubs and baby boy, reading blogs, reading, watching tv
5. Do you have any siblings?  3 half siblings; I am the baby and somewhat of an only child, since I was the only kid by the time I was 10 years old.
6. What's your favorite type of dessert?  chocolate cream pie.  yellow cake w/chocolate frosting.  i like chocolate pie and candy, but I don't like chocolate cake much.  or chocolate ice cream.  ??
7. What would you do if you won a million dollars?  Invest some, buy a bigger house, put some away for baby boy's college, give some to funding for childhood cancer and for the Backpack Buddies program.
8. What is your favorite color?  Blue, Teal
9. Coffee or tea?  usually coffee with cream/suger --or iced tea with lots of lemon
10. What is the last book you read?  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.  I'm almost done with The Birth Order Book, which has been really eye-opening.  
11. What is your most embarrassing moment teaching?  Probably the time one of my students said, "Mrs. Cockrell, will you please pull up your pants?  I can see your bottom."  LOL.  OR last year's formal observation when I went to pull up the Smart Notebook activity I created to realize I had emailed myself the WRONG file.  FUN!  Teaching is all about flexibility, right??

Thanks again, lovely ladies, and happy December!  :)

More Awards!!

Oh YAY.  It is so fun to get awards, and even MORE fun to get new followers!  So yay and thank you to all of you who are following my little ole blog.  :)

Am I allowed to claim these awards if I've already been given them?  Well, it's the thought that counts, right?  :)

OK, so first off, The Versatile Blog Award.  Thank you to Danielle of Scrappy Teaching for nominating me!

Versatile Blogger Award:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.  (Thank you, again!)

2. Include a link to their site. (See above.)

3. Include the award image in your post.

4. Give 7 random facts about yourself. 

1.  I am obsessed with chips and queso.  I could eat it every day of my life.

2. Tonight I had a singing engagement (haha) at the Elks Lodge where my dad's a member.  My mom's in charge of "ladies fun night," so I was the "fun" this month.  HA.  But no, it was fun, and the ladies loved it.  I sang 8 songs and talked a lot in between.  I love singing, and I love talking: win-win.

3. I met my husband on Match.com.  Sort of.  He actually emailed my BFF and roommate at the time on Match, and then she set him up with me instead.  It's like she KNEW.  She was our maid of honor at our wedding, too.  :D

4. I have worked many jobs, including lots of temp jobs when I lived in NYC.  The worst was working the 3-11 pm shift at a hotel front desk, then commuting back to Queens that late at night when the subway/buses are practically abandoned. SCARY.  Lol.

5. My son is named after the Hudson River in New York.

6.  If I was a boy, my name would have been Evan.

7.  I was hired by the school where I student taught in the same grade level.  I have been at that school ever since!  This will be my 6th year, and I LOVE the people I work with.  Some of my best friends are my co-workers.  We are like a big family.

Next, the One Lovely Blog award.  Thank you to Karmen of Karmen's Kinders of Room 103 for nominating me!

For receiving this award I have to...

1. Follow the person who gave me the award. Yep.

2. Link back to the person that gave me the award.  See above.

3. Pass to 15 new bloggers and then let them know they have received the award... Well, I feel like I just did this, so I certainly can't come up with 15 new bloggers since a week ago, LOL!!  I'll try to come up with a few new blogs to honor!

And finally, a big thank you to Jennifer of Darling Little Learners for nominating me for TWO awards!  The Versatile Blog Award (above) and the Liebster Blog award!

This award is named for the german word "Liebster", which translates to  "beloved" or "favorite" and is given to a "new, up and coming blogger".

Here are the rules:
1. Link back to person who gave it to you
2. Post the award to your blog.
3. Give the award to at least 5 bloggers with less than 200 followers.
4. Leave a comment on the five blogs to let them know that they have been offered the award.




OK, here are a couple new peeps I'd like to nominate for the above awards (any and all!):

and

Today In Second Grade:

Thank you ladies so much again for nominating me!  It always feels good to be recognized, and it is so great to meet more fellow bloggers.

-Mrs. C.

You like me! (Bloggy Awards)

What a great day--I was given awards by 2 different blogs!

Thanks so much to Dede at A Series of 1st Grade Events for giving me The Versatile Blogger Award and to Emily and Antoinette at 4321...Teach for giving me the One Lovely Blog Award.  As a newbie blog, I'm always ecstatic when I get a comment, but a comment AND a blog award in ONE?  That's some serious awesome-ness in my day, folks.  So thanks again, lovely ladies!  I do appreciate it.  :)

Now let's get down to brass tactics.

First up,

Why, thank you, I'm feeling rather lovely today.

Here are the rules for this award:


1.  Follow the person who gave you the award.  (Gladly!)
2.  Link back to the person that gave you the award. (See above.)
3.  Pass the award on to 15 new bloggers.  (See below.)




 Next up is...

Yeah, baby.  I'm versatile.  I can blog a little this, blog a little that.  Whoo!

Here are the rules for this award:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.  Thank you, again!!!

2. Include a link to their site. (above)

3. Include the award image in your post.

4. Give 7 random facts about yourself. (below)

5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award. (below)

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

7. Let other bloggers know they've been nominated. (will do)

OK, here are my 7 random facts:

1) When I was in 4th grade, my best friend from down the street accidentally hit me in the head with a sledge hammer.  True story.  I have the scar to prove it.

2) I grew up in Texas and graduated from college in NYC.

3) I have been in LOTS of plays/musicals.  Mostly musicals.  I haven't done one since I got preggo with baby boy 2 years ago, though.

4) My degree is in music, not education.  And I don't want to teach music.  (People always ask me that.)

5) I started blogging personally when I moved to NYC in 2002.  Yes.  I've been blogging for 10 years. That's a third of my life.  And I totally blogged before it was cool.  LOL.

6) I am addicted to reality trash t.v.

7)  I don't like the number 7.  And I don't think it's lucky.

Now, here are my 15 peeps I'd like to send out the Versatile Blogger Award AND the One Lovely Blog Award to!  Ahem, here are the 15 peeps to whom I'd like to give the awards?  I think so. Ugh, grammar.  Anyway, go check out these blogs:

1) Surfing Through Second

2) Inspired by Kindergarten

3) Thinking Out Loud

4) First Grade Delight

5) First Grade Found Me

6) Grade ONEderful

7) Kindergarten Korner

8) Lessons Learned

9) Swimming Into Second

10) Teaching Fashionista

11) Flip Flop Teacher

12) Third Grade Rock Star

13) Pattie's Classroom

14) The Bubbly Blonde Teacher

15) Kids Rock

Whoo hoo, I even found some new blogs in this process!  

Of course, don't forget to stop by the lovely blogs who awarded me and made my day!

A Series of First Grade Events and 4321...Teach

Holy Cannoli Google Reader and My 1st Blog Award

HOLY HORSEY SAUCE, BATMAN!  I am usually big on checking my Google Reader DAILY to keep up with my teaching blogs (my home/DIY/personal blogs have taken the back burner since baby H was born), but I have completely slacked during the holidays.  Yes.  I am not exaggerating here.  Until this evening, I had not checked my Google Reader in probably 2 weeks.  And would you like to know how many new posts I had sitting there, just waiting for me to read them?!  You would?!  GOOD, because I am here to tell ya that I had 679 new posts!!!

(Click to see image larger)

Holy Horsey Sauce is RIGHT!  So yeah...probably going to have to mark lots of them as read without reading them, but what can ya do?  I have to like, take care of my son, and stuff.  :)

Moving on...

Yay for getting my very first ever BLOG AWARD!

I am so excited.  I LOVE blogging and have been doing it on a personal level since 2002, when I moved across the country to New York City.  Yep, that's almost a 3rd of my life.  WOW.

Anywho...

My new friend, Chrissy, over at First Grade Found Me, passed on the Liebster Blog Award to me.

I met Chrissy through Holly Bloggy Christmas when I got her name!  I got her gifts mailed off LATE (I know, I felt terrible, but I wanted to make something personal for her and not just buy something random, so I figured as long as it got there on time, it would work out ok).  I really hope she likes her gifts!

Please go check out Chrissy if you are not already a follower!

This award was created to spotlight up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers. If awarded you must:

1. Copy & paste the award on your blog.

2. Thank the giver & link back to them.

3. Reveal YOUR picks & leave a comment letting them know.

4. Hope your followers will share the love.

Oh boy, so picking 5 blogs to award--so hard; I follow SO MANY, so I had to search for ones that are newer with fewer followers, which is surprisingly hard!  Man, you teacher bloggers aren't kidding about your 8 billion followers, geez! LOL.  Here are my TWO picks to pass on the Liebster Award to--I had to give up on finding 5, sorry:

1) Sarah @ Waiting on the Butterflies  (she is hilarious, which you know is one of my fave qualities in a teacher/blogger/human)

2) Ms. Nicole @ Today in 2nd Grade (love her Invisible Elf shenanigans--cute idea!)


I seriously can't say how inspired I've been by so many awesome teaching blogs, and these are no different--be sure to check them out if you aren't a follower!

Happy almost New Year!  Can you buh-LEEVE it's almost 2012???

I loves me some Pinterest!

Yes.  It's official: I'm a Pinterest Addict.  This is why I never tried smoking or hard drugs: I have such an addictive personality!  Lol.  Anyway, I have come across SO many amazing ideas for my classroom, and here's one:

The "You Rock" frame.

What a quick and easy way to give recognition to your sweet kiddos, huh?

My kids think this is the COOLEST THING EVER.  When they come back from Specials and see the frame on someone's desk, they love it.  I only do this once a week, for the student who is chosen as our class's "Longhorn of the Week--" (the longhorn is our mascot), so it's easy for me to remember.  I just have to keep remembering to take a picture each week!  I printed photos of each to send home with them--I'm sure the parents will love getting a pic, too!

A big "THANK YOU" to fellow blogger and creator of ALL things (freebies) AMAZING: Sweet Blessings

If you haven't checked out her blog, you MUST.  She creates amazing posters; I have printed SEVERAL for my classroom already.