Budding Bloggers Showcase {Amna from Teach Two Reach}





Hi everyone! I'm Amna over at Teach Two Reach: 2nd Grade Happenings. 


I was born and raised in New York. My parents came over from Pakistan back in the 70's. I was born in Brooklyn and in third grade, we moved to Long Island. My parents felt that the suburban life would be better suited for their kids than the hustle and bustle of a busy city. I lived near Chicago, IL for about 8 years when I was in my early 20's. I had my two older kids back to back in 2001 and 2002. We moved back to Long Island in 2009. 


Then, in 2012, I had my third. Talk about change!! I feel like I was a better mother at 20 than now. She gets away with everything!! She has us wrapped around her little finger. Besides all that, so much has changed in a decade with baby stuff! I mean, baby food pouches with sippable openings? Yes please! 


My husband is from Montreal, Canada, but his family currently resides near Toronto. I love to visit there. I kind of feel like Canadians know what they are doing in terms of EVERYTHING - hello free health insurance, a longgg paid maternity leave AND paternity leave, and just overall living. But I don't think I'd ever move there and away from my parents and sisters here in NY... :)



And I do love my family! I have three younger sisters.  My cousins below in the pictures grew up around us my whole life, so they are like siblings too. 

Family game time
Our version of the Oscar selfie

I am animal obsessed. I love, love, love them. I used to have cats but had to give them away due to my husband's allergies.. :( and I miss them every day! Seriously, why can't he just get allergy shots!! 
Look that that cute baby!!

OK on to teaching!

I've been teaching for 8 years - all in 2nd grade. I love that I know it like the back of my hand and am scared of ever changing grades. What's going to happen to the hundreds - um maybe thousands- I've spent on resources for this grade!? I don't even want to think about it. 

I think my favorite subject to teach is Science. I say, "I think," because I'm not sure if I really have a favorite. I was always like that in school too though. All the subjects were kind of equal to me and I did the same in all of them. 

If you were to pop into my classroom, you would find my kids doing some hands on activity or some sort of craft to go along with a learning activity. That's what gets kids motivated to get through the nitty, gritty of the actual work. If they know they get to do some fun activity afterwards, they are more apt to do the work. 






When I have "one of those days," I just gulp up another cup of coffee! I know I'm addicted, but there truly is a relaxing effect! I also like to vent to my close teacher colleagues/friends and sharing experiences also always helps. 

A teaching resource that I can't live without are Expos! Seriously, they have so many uses. The obvious being able to use multiple colors when you are teaching. But besides that, I love having the kids show their learning on white boards or on their desks. It serves as a quick, fun, and easy assessment and the kiddos love it! They get to write on their desk???? They never would have thought!!



My favorite type of classroom activity goes with what I've already mentioned- when I can do a "craftivity" associated with a learning goal. Below is an example of students learning to sequence and write a "How To," piece. They taught each other how to blow bubbles by chewing actual gum, then wrote out the steps, and finally made this craft to go along with it. I try to incorporate this type of stuff as much as I can throughout the week and across all subjects. 

I love this adventure that I have been on for a year - the TPT/Blogging/Instagramming/Facebooking adventure. But I have plenty of goals I still need to hit. One main blogging goal is to be more consistent and do posts about my teaching tips and processes MORE than posts about products. I'm going to bust out that SLR camera that's been sitting idle for about a year since I got my Iphone to take pictures with, and actually take good quality photos to enhance the look of my blog posts. 

I hope I get to be in touch with all of you soon!

You can click on the blog button below to take you directly to my blog!! Thanks for visiting!




2 comments

  1. Yay Amna! I loved meeting you in NYC- hope to see you this summer too!

    -Maria

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was sooo great to meet you too maria! We need to definitely have another get together in the summer for sure !

      Delete

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