French Lick Teacher Tool Swap

Last weekend marked the second annual French Lick Meet Up in Indiana.  And I got the opportunity to spend the entire weekend with two LOVELY women: Amanda from A Very Curious Class and Jennifer from Stories and Songs in Second.  After reflecting on the weekend, I realized that I learned a great deal from both of them through our dinner talks, long car rides, and sleepover time.  I am so THANKFUL for the time that I got to spend with them.

But more about that in a later post.

Today, I want to share the teacher tool swap with you.  This year we broke into grade level bands to swap tools.  Each teacher had the chance to watch their tool be opened and then got to explain it.

Just to set the scene (a little)...I was sitting in a large group of first grade teachers that each had a small gift waiting to be used in a first grade classroom.  Oh!!! I just love teacher stuff.

I brought some colored masking tape, sharpies, and chocolate.  But I also stuck some Mavalus tape in the bag.  This was a new product to me that I discovered at the EdExpo.  The guy LITERALLY hung up a steel iron on a wall with this tape.  It seemed like a must-have teacher tool to me!! :)

When I opened my gift bag I found the perfect gift from Stacey at Teaching Ever After:

So I took a little shopping trip this week.  First of all, I really needed a new binder to hold all the leveled passages that I bought but had no "home" for.  Why do I love new binders?  So clean, shiny, and pretty!

Second purchase with my gift card...balloons.  These are for our Zoology Writing Celebration on Friday.

And last...but ABSOLUTELY the most important...purchase was chocolate.  I think these are my new dangerous love.  Twix eggs.  I do not understand what makes them so amazing.  But they make me happy!

I hope you find some more teacher tools through the link up.  I know I havena "must-have" list just from watching my group open their little packages.

An InLinkz Link-up

Meeting Up...Georgia Style

Alarm went off at 3:30 am on Saturday.  Yep...A.M.  Jenny, from Luckeyfrog's Lilypad, and I were headed to Atlanta for a quick 36 hour trip.

 We were super excited to meet up with other bloggers, check out some new products at the EdExpo, and explore the city a bit.  But our drive to the airport looked like this:

Thanks for the pic, Jenny!

7 inches were expected to fall and this was just the start of it.  We were pretty confident that our flight was going to be delayed, cancelled, something.  And we were actually not convinced otherwise until we were in the air and on our way!

But...

And when we got there we were amazed!  The Hyatt was so....Tall, fancy, and pretty!  Best of all...we got our own rooms.  Yes...OWN!

Our first 12 hours in Atlanta were filled with so many greetings, introductions, hugs, and fun!  There was lunch, sightseeing, and a BIG Georgia meet-up!

 I had dinner with a whole group of bloggers that I had not met before.  Many of you probably do not know that this is a huge deal from me!  I would be your student that is in the back of the class listening intently, doing my work, but not raising my hand. These were my table friends:
Lory from Lory's Page
Megan from I Teach What's Your Superpower
Lana from Prepping for the Primary Gridiron
Jen from Hello Mrs. Sykes
Kelly from First Grade Fairytales

After dinner, the welcoming reception started for the EdExpo.  I really think this picture says it all:

I pretty much could have stood at this table the WHOLE night!

The EdExpo was filled with so many products and ideas.  It was a teacher's dream come true to be able to walk through.  My brain is just filled with ideas, products I NEED, and goals for lessons I want to complete.  I am still sorting through all these thoughts but will share my top 10 products (with ideas) on Friday!

Please check back!!

Vegas...with a Dual Purpose

Quite a few months ago, my friends and husband encouraged me to take the trip out to Vegas to meet all the fellow bloggers out there that have helped me to learn and grow.  Honestly, I went back and forth on this idea for weeks.  I am a quiet girl--eager to learn and try but not quick to jump into a crowd.

But I also love a challenge.  And this was a personal challenge for me, just like blogging and selling on TPT have been.  Putting myself out there.  Jumping in.

I booked the tickets.  Registered for the conference.  And then my parents and sisters decided to go. WHAT! An adult family vacation....no kids, no husbands.  Just two parents and their three adult daughters.
Vegas just turned into a trip with two missions: spend time with family and meet some amazing bloggers (and can I throw in--win thousands of dollars!)

Well....I am so happy to say that my mission was accomplished on both accounts (but not the money winning)!  I met so  SO many people and walked away with such a great understanding of the community within the blogging and TPT world.  I feel honored to say that I am a part of these worlds.  They have changed me.  Helped me to grow.  Pushed me out of my comfort zone.  And resulted in me becoming a stronger educator--my ultimate goal!

I wanted to share some of the people that I had the pleasure to finally meet face to face. 

I am in the middle :)  But Amanda is on the left.  She is from A Very Curious Class and I could NOT wait to meet her!! We have been sharing and communicating for months now.  I had to hug her the moment I saw her!  And Jenny, on the right, is from Luckeyfrog's Lilypad.  I was very happy to see her--she is a fellow Cincy blogger and we get to have lots of fun together!

Lisa from Growing Firsties has been a blogging buddy of ours from day 1!  I couldn't wait to finally see her face to face!

Catherine is another blogger that I have been reading since I discovered blogs.  She is from The Brown Bag Teacher and I am excited that she will be joining the first grade world this upcoming year!!

Jenny and I got to meet Susana from Whimsy Workshop and Shelley from The Write Stuff.  This was a big deal because I really admire the work they do.

Molly was one of the last people that I met!  She is from Lucky to be in First and I have enjoyed reading her blog along the way!  And I can't wait to share about her new app she let me try out!

And this is Elizabeth, my new blogging friend!  We spent much of our TPT conference day together!  She is from Seconds at the Beach and I can't wait to hear about her journey in first grade this year!!

These are my fellow Ohio bloggers!  I am so happy to have met them!  I am proud to be an Ohio teacher along side all of them.

As a side note...SDE had 4 different conferences going on at once.  I could not go.  But seeing ALL the teachers collaborating, going to sessions, collaborating, going to sessions, repeat...it was killing me not to be along side them brainstorming and learning!  Okay...side note is done. Maybe next year.

First purpose to Vegas-meet blogging friends...CHECK!
Second purpose to Vegas-spend time with family...

My parents took us to Vegas 13 years ago.  My sister found that old photo and we compared it to our trip this year!

We really enjoyed our time together eating good food, seeing "Love," eating cupcakes, gambling (not a big winner!), Red Rock Canyon, Hoover Dam, eating more cupcakes, and relaxing!  So here are a few shots from our little adventures together!

I also have a few Vegas "favorites" now! 

 I could have stared at the glass flowers all day long!

 Sadly, Gordon's burger was not better than my husband's burger.  But I was still excited to go there!

Yep!  I went to this cupcake place, Sprinkles, 4 times. I'm not ashamed :)


First purpose to Vegas-meet blogging friends...CHECK!
Second purpose to Vegas-spend time with family...CHECK!

Paper, Meet-Up, App, and some Random!

I am feeling that this post is pretty random.  So why not link up....right!?

I wanted to share with everyone that I drove up to Toledo, Ohio (first timer there) for an Ohio Blogger meet-up!  It's about 3 hours from Cincy.  So my little family made it a fun day trip.

I was so lucky to meet all of these wonderful ladies! We enjoyed a nice lunch, good conversation, and shared some great teaching tips! (thanks to Kate for the picture).  We'll start from the left:
Alyce from Mrs. Bartel's School Family
Me :)
Julie from First Grade Critter Cafe (thanks for setting this up!)
Jessica from Tales of a Teacherista
Kate from EduKate and Inspire
Brittany from The SuperHERO Teacher

It was a week of "meet-ups" for me.  I got to hang out with my Curious Firsties gang this week too (except Karen, who was at the beach!!)  I did not get a group shot of my teaching pals.  But we got some cute pics of our girls all dressed up!

Natalie and I got together the next morning and started planning our year of math.  And I have to say...WOW!  That will have to be a whole other post.

LOVING Writers Workshop!! Ohio Blogger Meet Up!

I am LOVING writing with my firsties.  Yes.... it is the only thing I'm teaching, BUT I just LOVE it!  We have been working on our small moments stories since last week and of the children I've met with, their stories are GREAT!  Here are some of the things we've been working on:
1.  Crossing out instead of erasing.  This way I can see what's being changed/worked on. 
2.  Writing one thought per page. This way we can add, delete, and change MUCH easier. 
3.  Adding details to our writing.  With my blue firsties, I've taught them how to use a carrot when adding words/phrases/etc. So fun to see them actually do it in their writing!
4.  Making sure our illustrations match our words.
Here is one of our firsties work.  Pay attention to his pictures.  They are so adorable AND they match his words!!!!!!

"When I was 4 I had a net. I (I think he erased this one) went to the beach with my mom and dad and my net"

"When I put the net in the pool, I was scared."

"When I lifted the net up I found a crab!"

"I was surprised.  I went to my dad and he was surprised too so we went to the ocean."

"I took the net to the ocean and the crab crawled into the ocean."  I LOVE his crab crawling back!  :)

This is one of my higher guys writing.  He added A LOT of details after our conference, but I realized he took out MOST of his punctuation.  This is what I like to call... Job Security!  :)

If I had three school wishes, one would be to have extra teachers in my room during writers workshop to meet with firsties.  I know this will get much better as we continue to build our stamina.  It's just... I don't know how much stamina I have to wait for stamina to be built.  :)
My two other school wishes are yet to be determined. 


We also read this story  .  Have you ever read this????  It is soooo funny!!!! 
We worked this week on supporting why we like a story or why we don't like the story.  Here are two samples. 

I LOVE inventive spelling!!!!!  :)

Finally, Em and I traveled to Columbus today for an Ohio Blogger meet up!!!  It was a GREAT time and we were able to meet wonderful bloggers who were SO helpful and gave us a TON of GREAT information!!! Head on over to Miss V's Busy Bees to see our new friends!  Thanks soooo much to Sara, Debbie and Nancy for getting this together!!!  :)  Can't wait to see you again soon!!!!!! 

BE CURIOUS this week!!!
Maria