VA Teacher Bloggers Meet 2015

Last Friday a group of 30 fabulous Virginia teacher bloggers {including myself!} descended upon the Jefferson Lakeside Country Club for an afternoon of networking, laughs, food, drinks, and some incredible swag and prizes! It was such an experience meeting all of the teachers that I have been chatting with online.  It is so nice to finally put a face with the blog button!

Some of the VA Teacher Bloggers who made it out to Vegas, shared their advice and knowledge with us and of course gave us handouts. 

Our sponsors were fantastic! I could not belive all of the stuff that they contributed.  Just amazing how supportive of teachers they are.  There were over $4,000 in prizes!!!  I won a 10 teacher site licsence for ESGI.  Soooooo excited to get started working with it.  I had thought about checking it out and writing  a grant or trying to convince my special educaiton director that we need it.  Now I get to trial it for a year (along with some of my team mates) and really get some good feedback. 

A HUGE thank you goes especially to Educents (one of THE best companies around!) for helping with the costs of the meetup and providing some FANTASTIC swag! Make sure you check out their new Educents Wallet feature to get all of those resources for your classroom at a steep discount! If you sign-up for a new teacher wallet account you'll receive $10 to spend on your classroom -- who couldn't use $10?!

Check our our FANTASTIC sponsors:

[Educents] [GoNoodle] [ESGI] [Learning Resources] [Ellison] [A+ Images] [Science4Us] [SNAP! Learning] [VocabularySpellingCity] [SitSpots] [Classroom Friendly Supplies] [Kasefazem] [Really Good Stuff] [Planbook.com] [Teacher Created Resources] [Jessica Saunders, ThirtyOne]

And some AMAZING TpT sellers that contributed raffle prizes or digital swag:

[Teaching in the Tongass] [Janiel Wagstaff] [Kimberly Geswein] [Polka Dots & Pals] [Laugh, Eat, Learn Designs] [Whimsy Workshop] [Jewel's School Gems] [The Joy of Teaching] [The Teacher Studio] [KristyBear Designs] [Chalk & Apples] [Teaching in Progress] [There's No Place Like Second Grade]

1. I loved walking in a seeing all kinds of familiar faces that I have never seen in person.  It was great meeting all of these different ladies that I share the educational blogging world with.  I got to drive there and hang out with one of my best friends which made it all that much better. 

2.  I loved the raffle!  It was so much fun watching everyone win something.  Desiree (who I talked about in #1) was the first number drawn.  She won some awesome stuff to really get her blog up and running.  Of course, I was super excited when I won the ESGI license.

3.  Taking pictures was another favorite moment of mine.  We had so much fun with the photo props and even broke out a selfie-stick (Note to self, I need to get one of those!!)

You can see more fun meetup photos by looking at the hashtag #VATeacherBloggersMeet on Instagram, or by looking at the photo album!

Some of the fantastic Virginia teacher bloggers from the meetup are linking up with Sarah from There's No Place Like Second Grade to share their favorite moments and photo memories from the meetup, as well as share their swag and prizes! Be sure and check-out their posts!

ESY Fireworks

I saw this awesome post on Praying for Parker where Parker worked on a painting activity for the 4th of July to represent fireworks.  I loved it and thought, “What a great idea for ESY!”  My co-teachers loved the idea also so we planned on doing this activity outside the Monday before the 4th.  We were going to tape the paper to the side of building or put it on the ground depending on ability levels.  Well, it rained, so our plan changed a bit.  Here is what we did.


We gathered our supplies which are porcupine balls, WASHABLE paint, paper plates, and paper.  We put the paper on the floor, on top of a bit piece of bulletin board paper, but a sheet or table cloth would work great also.

 





The kids took turns squeezing the paint onto the plates. 

 


Then they all stood behind a piece of paper and waited for their turn with a color. We put a few of the balls in each color and the kids dropped the ball onto their paper.

  


So these are the finished products.  Overall it was fun, but a bit messy.  We had lot of adults helping out, but a few kiddos still managed to get pain on their clothes.  They would get it on their hands, not like the feel of it and wipe it on their shirt or shorts.

  

I am going to be going to visit family and pick up B (He has been with my mom since June 24!) tomorrow, so I have some great guest bloggers lined up for the next few days!  You are not going to want to miss their excellent posts.  Make sure you are following through email, bloglovin, or one of the other options!

Currently July!

I just realized that I forgot all about Currently for July. I really do love these little monthly diddys that Farely does. It gives me a chance to meet new bloggers and remind me of ones I have checked out before and forgot to go back to. So, without further delay, here it is!

Listening:  Yesterday, Heather over at Teaching Through Turbulence posted about autcraft and A is super excited to get started.  It is a version of minecraft (a popular computer game right now) specifically for kiddos on the spectrum.  How cool is that?

Loving:  I love teaching, but I need a break for a week or 4. Of course I will still be doing teacher related things, just in my living room and not my classroom.

Thinking:  B has been in PA for over a week now spending time with my mom and dad.   I know he is loving it, but it is so quiet without him.

Wanting:  Organization is something I want, but am so bad at.  Anyone want to come help me invent the perfect household and classroom system?

Needing: A's 7th birthday is Friday and I still have not planned his birthday party.  I usually have this all done a month ahead and this year it just got away from me.

Tips, Tricks, or Hints:  If you have a question or need help, just ask!  All of the teacher bloggers I have talked to are super friendly and always willing to help out.


Head over to Farley's blog to discover more great blogs!





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A new Special Sparkle!

Check out these giveaways!

HI all!
 My friend Heather over at Teaching Through Turbulence is having a huge giveaway for her 1st year blogging anniversary.  I wanted to share the links with you as there is some amazing stuff up for grabs.  She has 4 seperate giveaways going on, primary, clipart, upper elementary and video.  All of the giveaways end on Wednesday.  If you  click here you can find all of the giveaways.  Good Luck!

 

A great website!

I wanted to share with you today one of my favorite resources for finding new materials for our work boxes (I really need to do a post on work boxes so ya'll know what I am talking about.) I wandered onto 1+1+1=1 this summer while looking for stuff for my classroom. Since then I have fell in love! Carisa has a ton of printables on her site and most of the them are free. Yes, FREE! (You all know I love free!) Some of my favorite things to use in the classroom are the Clip & Learn wheels. This not only work on the targeted skill but also fine motor. Recently I printed off the Angry Birds pack and was so excited to begin using it. When we pulled it out, one of my students could not say thank you enough. He was so excited to see Angry Birds in our learning materials.   Here is the link to my favorite page on her site. So sail on over to 1+1+1=1 and let Carisa know I sent you!






 

Low tech assistive technology for writing

My latest blog post on TeachHub is live and I really wanted to share it with all of my readers. It is about using low tech assistive technology to help students with writing. Head on over to TeachHub and check it out by clicking here. Enjoy and let me know you feedback and what you use!!

Versatile Blogger Award

Ok, so last weekend I was awarded the Versatile Blogger Award from Fun 2B in First. Thank you!!! Yes, it has taken me this long to acknowledge it.....Life has been busy!!


This award comes with three rules. 1) Thank the person who gave it to you and link back to them in your post. 2) Share 7 things about yourself. 3) Pass this award on to 15 recently discovered blogs.

Ok, 7 things... lets see where shall I start...

1. I grew up on a farm in NJ. Well, it was actually my grandparents farm and we lived next door. I spent most of my time there however. My grandparents sold/sell Christmas Trees and pumpkins. It is a huge part of my childhood and I love taking my kids back there.


2. Speaking of kids... I have 2 boys... A is 5 and B is 2. And SURPRISE!!! I am pregnant with number 3. I am due April 3rd. This baby was a HUGE surprise to my husband and I.

3. I am a band geek. I started playing the flute in 4th grade. In 8th grade I joined the marching band and began playing the melophone (a marching french horn). I also play the piccolo and a little bit of cello. I am also a member of the National Honors band Fraternity, Kappa Kappa Psi.

4. I love exercising... it just seems like since I became a mom I can not find the time to do it. I have always wanted to run in a 5K... but I think it will be a while yet..

5. I love scary movies, yet I am easily scared. I just at the slightest noise in the dark.

6. I have been best friends with my bf since we were 5. She and I have been through a lot together and really grew up to different lives, but remained friends throughout! I just wished she lived closer!!!

7. My husband was always a bowler and when we got married got me onto a league. I never thought I would like it as much as I do. Unfortunately we can not bowl as often as we used to due to cost, but it is still lots of fun!!
Now for my 15 blogs....    ok... I know I have more... but the computer and I are not getting along, so I will add more later!!