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My Best & Brightest from 2012

December 23, 2012 Maria Manore Gavin 17 Comments

As 2012 prepares to come to a close, I am overwhelmed by how many blessings I have experienced this year. Many of those blessings are a direct result of this humble little blog, so when I saw that Christina from Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge was hosting a Best & Brightest of 2012 Linky (an opportunity to brag and share about blogging in 2012,) I knew I just HAD to link up!
2012's Blog Best & Brightest Link
The very BEST decision I made all year, was making the commitment to follow my heart and start a blog.  If you can believe it, Kinder-Craze has only been in existence for about 9 months, but WOW, what a wild ride the past nine months have been. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

Original Kinder-Craze banner header from March 2012
The original Kinder-Craze header from March 2012

 

My greatest Kinder-Craze accomplishment this year was having the INCREDIBLE honor of writing a guest post for the Pinterest blog in celebration of World Teacher Day on October 5. When I look back, I still can’t quite believe that happened to me.

Pinterest-Guest-Blog-pic
My top blog post for 2012 was Fancy Up Your Sterlite Drawers where I explained how to line Sterlite drawers with scrapbook paper. That single post has received nearly 200,000 page views.

polka-dot-sterlite-drawers
The runner-up was my follow-up post  that went a bit more in-depth and compared/contrasted using Mod Podge vs. clear tape. Apparently, people love themselves some fancy drawers.

Tape-or-Mod-Podge
The most suspenseful moment of 2012 was when my classroom was a finalist for The Schoolgirl Style Challenge. That week of watching the “online polls” was so intense but so much fun. As fate would have it, I didn’t win the Challenge, but I am so proud to have come within 11 votes of the winner!

Maria-Manore-Kindergarten-Classroom-pic-1
And my top product on Teachers Pay Teachers has been my Interactive Sight Word Readers. Teachers just LOVE that students unscramble letters to complete the missing word in each sentence. (I think they also love the affordable price of $1 each.)

Interactive-Reader-cover-Pic
here-is-st.-nicholas-sample-pic

And there you have it. What a year it has been!
I cannot wait to see what lies ahead in 2013!

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Comments

  1. Christina Bainbridge says

    December 24, 2012 at 7:32 am

    Thanks for linking up! I LOVE your blog design and will be signing up to follow you!

    🙂
    Christina
    *Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge*

    Reply
    • Maria Manore says

      December 24, 2012 at 11:40 am

      Thank YOU Christina! I loved your Linky idea!

      Reply
  2. Busy Bees says

    December 24, 2012 at 10:12 am

    I remember that post on decorating those drawers. I probably gave you 100 hits on that post! Thanks for sharing your creativity on those!
    Robynn
    BusyBees

    Reply
    • Maria Manore says

      December 24, 2012 at 11:41 am

      LOL, thanks Robynn! I was glad to have an audience to share with! Merry Christmas!

      Reply
  3. Miss Kindergarten says

    December 24, 2012 at 10:21 am

    You are awesome Maria!!! I absolutely adore you and your blog!

    Reply
    • Maria Manore says

      December 24, 2012 at 11:41 am

      Thanks Hadar! You are too sweet! I love your blog and all of your ideas as well!

      Reply
  4. Teacher and Life Long Learner says

    December 24, 2012 at 1:12 pm

    Merry Christmas! I look forward to your inspiring posts and watching your classroom grow to new heights via your pictures! SMILES!

    Reply
    • Maria Manore says

      December 27, 2012 at 6:51 am

      Thank you! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

      Reply
  5. Sharon Dudley says

    December 24, 2012 at 5:52 pm

    Maria, those Interactive Sight Word Readers look terrific! When the hectic holiday whirlwind slows down a little, I’ll be sure to take a closer look. In the meantime, I hope you and your loved ones have a wonderful holiday and a delightful new year!

    Sharon Dudley, NBCT
    http://teachingwithsight.blogspot.com

    Reply
    • Maria Manore says

      December 27, 2012 at 6:51 am

      Thank you Sharon! I hope the coming year is wonderful for you as well!

      Reply
  6. Annie Moffatt says

    December 25, 2012 at 12:19 pm

    I am so glad that you followed your heart and started a blog because I totally adore you!! Merry Christmas sweet friend:)
    The Moffatt Girls

    Reply
    • Maria Manore says

      December 27, 2012 at 6:52 am

      Thank you Annie! Merry Christmas to the Moffat Girls (and the Moffatt Man too!)

      Reply
  7. Ms.M says

    December 25, 2012 at 3:39 pm

    I love those interactive readers too! Well, it is obvious cause I purchased them all. 🙂

    Just stopping by to wish you a VERY Merry Christmas. Thanks for the inspiration.
    Melissa

    Reply
    • Maria Manore says

      December 27, 2012 at 6:52 am

      Thank you Melissa! I hope you had a WONDERFUL Christmas!

      Reply
  8. Barbara says

    December 26, 2012 at 12:12 pm

    I too love the interactive readers.
    I am curious to know what Reading and math series you use in the classroom?
    I love your “style” and you have become my “go to” blog of choice.
    Glad you had a good year..you have earned it!
    You must be a wonderful teacher.
    Merry Christmas and continue into 2013:)

    Reply
    • Maria Manore says

      December 27, 2012 at 6:55 am

      Hi Barbara, I’m honored to be your “go to” blogger! We no longer use a reading or math series in Kindergarten at my school. I do the daily 5 (at this point in the year it’s still the daily 2), guided reading, and just follow the standards in the common core to guide instruction. It requires more planning and prep, but the activities are more meaningful to the students and we were always recycling SO many filler pages from our current math series. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you as well!

      Reply
  9. Le@rning Out Loud says

    January 4, 2013 at 3:34 pm

    Well done on such a successful year! Such great resources and ideas. I’ve added your interactive sight word readers to my TPT wish list for when I am back on kindergarten!

    Diana :)-(
    Le@rning Out Loud

    Reply

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 Maria Gavin round Hello there and welcome!
I'm Maria Gavin - a kindergarten teacher, curriculum developer, educational blogger and founder of Kinder Craze.

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