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Saturday, April 5, 2014

Spring Teacher Blogger Meet Up 2014



Hello Blog Hoppers!!
You will be hopping through many awesome blogs to pick up some great tips, tricks, ideas and a massive prize give away at the end of the hop.  Make sure you go in order so that you don't miss out on any of the blogs.  You will need to like/follow each blog as you hop along in order to enter the rafflecopter giveaway with the massive prize give away.  Have a great time and happy hopping!!

My Amazing Weekend in French Lick Indiana

I am so excited to share about my amazing weekend at the Spring Teacher Blogger Meet Up at the French Lick Resort and Casino in French Lick, Indiana put on by Holly Ehle, http://mrsehleskindergartenconnections.blogspot.com.

Here she is in the flesh!!!

I was so fortunate to meet Holly in December at another meet up and to get to come to Indiana to see her again.

This meet up for me was an amazing experience since I had finally started blogging officially. Hey, it may have only been three posts so far but it was a start.  I came away with a wealth of knowledge and some great new blogging friends.

There was a luncheon on Saturday, and Holly had so many amazing prizes and give aways from some very generous sponsors.  There was a favorite teacher tool swap and also a tips and tricks session.

One of the very generous sponsors was Vera Bradley, verabradley.com.

 Here is the Tote in Clementine.

Everyone also received Scentos chisel tipped markers that will be available this back to school season, and also a 10 color Scentos click pen, scentos.com.  My students are in heaven whenever they get to write with these markers or when I put a smiley face on their paper with my 10 color/scented pen.

Love these markers and pen!!!!!!!!!!

The beautiful decorations you see throughout the pictures were donated by Melanie at schoolgirlstyle.com.

Kaeden Books was also a fantastic sponsor giving teachers grade level appropriate books for their classrooms, kaedenbooks.com.

I love my Eric Condren lesson planner and she was nice enough to send everyone a $10 gift card to use in her store, erincondren.com.

Crayola also sent prizes for the raffles and catalogs with some great products that I think I will be needing very soon. crayola.com

The teacher tool swap was an excellent idea.  There were so many different products that I did not even know existed. I know I think I have been living under a rock lol.  We played a left/right game written by Amanda Pauley, http://mrspauleyskindergarten.blogspot.com, and passed our tools around the circle.  When the game ended you kept the tool(s) you were holding.  

I was in heaven with my teacher tools.  I received a pack of colored Papermate Flair markers. papermate.com These markers are the best thing ever for checking papers, writing thank you notes, filling in my Erin Condren lesson planner and writing anything you need to.  

My other tool just blew my socks off, this is where living under a rock comes in.  I received Post-it Notes and the whole note is sticky not just a the strip at the top.  post-it.com  Both of these tools have totally changed my life for the better. 

Until I can get to the store to stock up on both of these products, they stay by my side both at school and at home.  They travel well in a teacher bag.

I was so looking forward to the tips and tricks session and it did not disappoint.  These are all new to me since I am a newer blogger.

Tip #1 You must get Picmonkey to edit your photos http://www.picmonkey.com

Tip #2 If you are writing a blog post about your unbelievable "teacher binder", make sure that when naming your picture you give it a good name, "teacher binder," so that when people are searching for teacher binders your picture comes up.

Tip #3 The phonto app.  It allows you to add fonts to your photos and upload them.  

These 3 tips have started me on my way.  I am sure you will be getting many more as you hop through everyone's blogs.

I had the best time in Indiana and am looking forward to seeing my blog friends again soon.  

A huge THANK YOU to Holly Ehle for putting the Spring Blogger Meet Up together and also to Amanda Pauley for helping Holly to put together this amazing blog hop. My first ever blog hop.  Super Excited!!!

Your next stop is at Jenny's blog