Hello from Colorado!

Hi everyone!

My name is Nichole and I am a blogger from Colorado! I am honored to be a part of One, Two, Three: Math Time. One of my very favorite things about blogging is the collaboration that can occur between teachers from all over the world! I'm excited to be a part of that on this collaborative blog. :-)

A Little About Me
I live in Colorado with my husband, two Golden Retrievers and a cranky tabby cat. I have lived here most of my life and I love it! We live on the plains, but the mountains are only a short drive away and we spend lots of summer weekends there to escape the heat.

Last weekend near Rocky Mountain National Park...it's a moose. :-)
I have been teaching for eleven years, mostly in 4th and 5th grade. This year, though, I am teaching 3rd for the first time. Yikes! It's been quite an adventure so far, but I'm figuring them out. And they are figuring me out. It's all working out. (I think if I keep saying it, it will come true.)

Nichole + Math = A Rocky Start
During my first year or two of teaching, it became abundantly clear that my teaching skills in math were sorely lacking. I hated math as a kid. I HATED teaching it. And I hated that my students were most likely hating it too.

After my second year, I snatched up an opportunity to take a 2 week math course in the summer all about number and operations, and it literally changed everything about the way I was teaching math. One thing led to another and that one class turned into several more about different math topics and eventually a master's degree in middle level (4-8) mathematics teaching. Now, math is my favorite favorite favorite thing to teach! I always tell my students that I would teach math to them all day if our principal would let me.

I hope that I can share some helpful ideas with you through this blog and I can't wait to read some new ideas from the other wonderful collaborators! Thanks so much to Nicole for this great opportunity. :-)

~Nichole from The Craft of Teaching

 The Craft of Teaching