WHO!

I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' for their annual Back to School Teacher Week Linkyl!

Each day a different topic will be posted. It's a great way to find new blogs to stalk. Plus great new ideas to use in the classroom. Just go to Blog Hoppin' for the link.

Today's topic is WHO! This is where I tell you all about myself.

Mmmm! If you'd read my blog before there is really nothing new to tell. You can skip to the end of this post. But if this is your first time on my site then here goes:

 I'm married to the love of my life, my BFF and my high school sweetheart!

 I have 4 awesome children!

 I have 10 grandchildren soon to be 11.

We have two Miniature Schnauzers- Bella and Sammie.

 I love to vacation in the beautiful mountains.

Actually, I LOVE to vacation anywhere!

 I LOVE my alma mater Brigham Young University Cougars! 

 I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was in the first grade!

 I've been teaching for 37 years and still LOVE it!

Well, there you have it, a few facts about me.

Head over to Blog Hoppin' and find some more incredible blogs and fantastic teachers!

Who Am I?

I don't know about your kiddos but mine LOVE pictures of their teacher especially when the teacher was a kid like them. I guess it helps them connect to you. I'm not that keen about flashing my mug shots around but if it pleases and helps my kids feel connected I'll do it.

One of my favorite things to do on the first day of school is introduce myself to my little darlings. To do so, I read a book about myself that I wrote. It's a very simple little book that I made on the computer in word before I knew anything about publisher. I uploaded some pictures and added some text. I bound it with the plastic comb binder. It's pretty 'Mickey Mouse' but my kiddos love it. It's an easy enough text that most of my firsties can read it. Their favorite part is the picture of me when I was in first grade. It's the one on the cover page. Here's a few of the pages from my book. It's about 12 pages long.

I leave it in our class library for most of the year. I love to refer to it when I'm teaching about writing and becoming authors. It's also my springboard for autobiographies and biographies.

We also play a little game on the first day after we read this fun book.

The game is called, 'Don't Eat Mrs. Peterson'!

Again, I made this on the computer by uploading some of my 'YOUTHFUL' pictures.

It's a fun one to play on the first day. I put the kids in groups of 3-4. They place a small candy like Skittles or M&Ms on every square. Then one player turns around and covers his eyes while the rest of the group chooses a square to be 'IT'. Then he turns around and starts taking the candy pieces off each of the squares. When he touches the candy on the square that is 'it', the other players yell "Don't Eat Mrs. Peterson". Then his turn is over. He gets to keep all the candies he earned. Players take turns. I let my kids play for a certain amount of time. They LOVE it!

What do you do to introduce yourself to your class?
I'd love to hear about it.


P.S. Don't forget you can now follow me on facebook by clicking HERE