An AMAZING blog! You need to see this...

Have you met Jennifer yet? Well, I just LOVE her! You must go check her out at Mrs. Laffin's Laughings. She has SO MANY great and fabulous ideas! 

First of all, I'd like to give a great big thank you hug to Tina for asking me to be a guest blogger!  Isn't she wonderful???

I have been writing my 4th grade blog since the end of March.  Blogging is something that I had been thinking about for quite awhile, but I wasn't sure I would be able to write anything that would be helpful to others.  Boy, I am so glad I changed my mind because I LOVE blogging and have met so many great people in blog land -- like Tina!  :)

My personal history:  I have been teaching 4th grade for 5 years.  Before that, I was a stay-at-home mom for about 10 years.  I went back to school to get my teaching certification (I already had a BA in English) after I realized I was comparing myself to the mothers in my kids' cartoons.  Crazy, I know, but Caillou's mom was so perfect and never lost her cool, how could I ever measure up??  :)  Seriously, after my kids were safely and happily settled into school, I decided it was time for me to go pursue my dream of becoming a teacher.  Next to marrying my husband, it was the best decision I've ever made!

What do I love about teaching?  While I have high expectations for EVERY one of my students, I also try to make learning FUN to help it sink in.  I try to put novelty and activity into every day so that my students remember....and they do!  The end of the year is a time that we all look forward to because we need the break, but it is also a time to see just how far my learners have come over the past nine months. 

What subject do I love to teach?  Without a doubt, writing!  I will be participating in the National Writing Project's Summer Institute to learn more about providing professional development in order to help other teachers feel more comfortable with teaching writing.  (Check out my blog for these posts in July.)  I use a writer's workshop format and I think it is one of the BEST things I have ever done in my classroom.  It is so rewarding to conference with my young writers, see them set goals for themselves as writers, then achieve those goals.  WOW!

Well, I could go on and on, but I will stop there.  I hope you will head over to my blog at www.mrslaffinslaughings.blogspot.com and say "HI!".