Meet the Chalkies: From Beaches to Deserts, It's Corinna and Marie!

It's the best of both worlds. One of us lives in the dry, hotter than hot desert of Arizona....and the other escaped Arizona and moved to a tropical paradise in Hawaii. 

For those of you who don't know, Marie would be the one that lives in Arizona, where half the year is unbearable, but the other half makes it totally worth it! Corinna is the lucky lady who spends her days teaching and free time surfing!

We hope you'll stick around to get to know us both a little better below:

Meet Me (Marie)

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1. What is your ACADEMIC STRENGTH? I am a passionate math teacher. I love teaching, but I absolutely ADORE teaching math to my Firsties. I did not have the strongest/best math teachers growing up, and I didn’t appreciate math until I took a college course on how to teach math to young children. Ever since then, I cannot get enough of learning new ways to teach math to kids!

2. What is an intangible that you have that makes your classroom environment special? I am known for being “warm and fuzzy”, and once had a student write an essay on her hero. I had this student in 2^nd grade, and in 3^rd grade her teacher asked her to write about her hero. She chose to write about me. One line in her essay that really hit home was this: “Mrs. Cote was always there for us when times were tough and she understood us.” I try my best to get to know each of my students enough that I can love on them and let them know I mean business at the same time.

3. Which of your products is your FAVORITE to use with your students? Oh, my BRAG BRACELETS, for sure! I love seeing the look on their face when I tell them they have earned a brag bracelet! 

       

       Click HERE to see the Brag Bracelets! 

4.What is your favorite freebie from your store? One of my favorite newer freebies in my store is this fun set of colorful backgrounds!

Aloha! I am so glad you are here and happy to be teaming up with my blogging buddy Marie.  I began my teaching career in 1993 in Mesa, Arizona.  20 years later I have ended up teaching 2nd grade here in Hawaii.

 When did you know you wanted to be a teacher?

School was always hard for me when I was young.  I wasn't super smart and I was very shy.  We were one of the only hispanic families in an all caucasian neighborhood in the 70's.  Needless to say I often didn't fit in and got picked on a lot.  In 5th and 6th grade I had the same teacher, Miss Bresnahan.  She was young and funny and pushed me to work hard.  She made me feel special and smart and I will never forget that.  She inspired me to want to become a teacher.  I love all my students, but I am always out to support the "underdogs" in my classroom.

 What is your academic strength?  

Although I really love teaching math and science, my teaching strength is Language Arts/Reading.  I love reading and sharing books and my library is jam packed full of them.  I have a pile in my living room that still need to be labeled and taken to school!  At school I read aloud to my kids EVERYDAY and share my favorite books from when I was a kid along with my latest purchases.  I love guided reading and I pride myself on taking even the lowest of my readers and making them excited about books and reading.  I love using the Daily 5 in my classroom and it has done wonders for getting my students to Read, Read, Read! Second grade is such a wonderful age to really see them grow and develop over the year.  

 What is your literacy routine?

Each morning my students come in and begin their Daily Morning Work.  On Mondays I give a pre-test for Spelling using my Differentiated Spelling program.  We then have our Surfer Of The Week share about themselves and we all write a letter to that person.

Tuesday through Friday we have our Daily 5 schedule.  I try to meet with the lowest groups 3 times per week and I usually have time for 3 rotations per day.  I also have Writer's Workshop 4 days per week.

I am so happy that you have stopped by! I have an exclusive freebie for you:

This is my Playful Pronoun Pack.  It is only free for those of you stopping by here.

Just click on the picture to grab this in Google Docs.

Please visit me anytime at my blog Surfin' Through Second

And you can visit Marie at The Hands On Teacher In First