Very Inspiring Blogger Award

Recently, we were nominated by a fellow blogger, Omaira of Black Board White Chalk, for a Very Inspiring Blogger award.  We here were all pleasantly surprised and it was a great reminder that we are read by others outside of our local community.  That was one of the main goals when starting our blog, so thank you Omaira for your warm words and nomination!
We are happy to participate so that we can show where some of our inspiration comes from.  It's so hard to narrow it down to 7, but here's how it's done:

1. Copy and place the award in your post.(I couldn't save the picture, so I wasn't able to share that part.)
2. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.
3. Tell 7 things about yourself.
4. Nominate fellow bloggers you feel are deserving of the award, tell them by posting a comment on their blog.

Our Nominees Are:
"Good Job" and Other Things You Shouldn't Say or Do: One of our very favorites for it's punch you in the face honesty and approach to RIE through the words we use with children.  
Janet Lansbury: RIE parent educator who inspires us with almost every article she writes.  Her work is directly in line with what we do every day, especially in regards to our interactions with children and the RIE method.
Abundant Life Children: Emily Plank has a great perspective in her interactions with children, encouraging respect, authenticity and supporting the development of a child who is a self-advocate. 
Teacher Tom: From project and material ideas, to ideology and inspirational stories, we find many jewels that we absorb into our culture from the work Teacher Tom shares on his blog.
Learning for Life : Inspiring work and ideas from a preschool in Ireland.  Also one of the participants of our pay it forward exchange from last summer. 
Play at Home Mom : One of our very favorite places to gain inspiration and ideas for provocations and materials to collect and offer. 
Core Parenting : Darci and Julie inspire us with helpful advice and stories from their work and lives with children.  We are also blessed to have them as parents at Tumbleweed!


7 Things about Tumbleweed Infant and Preschool Houses
1. We draw our inspiration from the life the springs around us and follow the interests of the children.
2. Every change of season inspires us to explore the natural world even more: Spring is new plants and seeds planted, sprouting and blooming; Summer is water play and sunshine and every moment outside possible; Fall is leaves falling from the Maple and leaf pile mazes; Winter is the dream of snow and cracking ice sheets. 
3. Our teachers take great ownership over not just the organization of their spaces, but the beauty and bring and leave a bit of themselves throughout the schools
4. Observation and giving the gift of space to a child as much as possible is how we learn, grow and push ourselves in our wisdom as a teacher.
5. We take self confidence to the next level, by supporting the children at Tumbleweed to be self advocates through being emotionally intelligent and self aware. 
6. We have a VERY hard time throwing anything away.
7. Often our staff meetings last 3 hours and we still feel like we have hours of things left to discuss. This is especially true if there is good food around. 

Thank you again Omaira for this fun exercise!