Spring Blogger Meet-up Blog Hop & Giveaway

I am linking up with 

Join the fun from the start HERE

So back in January, Holly from Mrs. Ehle's Kindergarten posted this on her Facebook

I was home recovering from surgery, and hurried to google the directions. Hmmm.....only a 4 hour drive.....easy peasy :) Then I forced recruited my friends/coworkers to go with. (Thanks Sue and Andrea)

Going to be honest, Google maps said 4 but it was 5+ (forgot the time zone difference there Google) but we made it.......First of all, if any of you have a chance to go to French Lick...........The place and staff is WONDERFUL!!!

Now, I can't say enough about Holly. She went above and beyond to make sure all of us enjoyed ourselves.

Here is a peek at some of the goodies she lined up for us

Wonderful name tags from Schoolgirl Style
Bags for each of us from Vera Bradley
Hot off the press (not in stores yet) Markers and pens from Scentos
(that was JUST the tip of the iceberg, let me tell you) 

Here is my table mates :

L to R: Em, Amanda, me, Sue, Andrea, Hilary

Just at our table clipart, uno were topics of discussion :)

Now, we were asked to bring an item to exchange with each other .  Here is what we got :

me: Easy Button (ideas found HERE) Sue: Base Ten Pool Noodles 

(Greg did a post HERE) and Andrea :Ink Joy Pens

This was so much fun! I met a fellow container hoarder (we won't say what she called herself, but we were in stitches) I am known to have my own container store in my basement :) 

Then Holly not only line up the goodie bags she also had door prizes.

Andrea and I won great prizes from Crayola (See Holly's post HERE)

My friend Sue won a gift certificate from Crystal Springs (she snuck by Greg w/o getting her picture taken)

So, if you follow you know I am anxiously awaiting returning to VEGAS....my poor friends and coworkers

have been hearing about it since last year.  Holly had mentioned she was giving away a certificate to one of the SDE National Conferences....... Woohoo!

Now I am not a classroom teacher, so I kept telling everyone that would listen at school, that I hoped one of the gals going with me would win. As I was already going for the annual blogger meetup and they would LOVE the conference. Well that was a separate drawing. When Greg was about to pull the name......I said (of course everyone was quiet so it was heard) "Hey Greg do you take bribes" (jokingly I swear) ......Guess what 

My friend Andrea is going to Vegas with me! She is a 

first grade teacher, so she is going to I teach 1st! 

There is not a more deserving person to win this! Thanks to SDE and Holly! Andrea and I have braved new territory lately (we BOTH got our gallbladders out weeks apart) and so many road trips we call ourselves Thelma and Louise ..... LOL.....

When you go to a blogger meetup, you meet so many talented and wonderful people. We talked about clipart, ways to use uno cards for sight words. The other two learned about blogging and powerpoint, clipart.....We are STILL decomposing what we have learned! 

Now the GIVEAWAY ...... one winner (pictures below) will win all of these prizes and MORE(follow the hop and enter at the rafflecopter at the end of the hop)

Head over to my table mate Hilary's Blog for the next stop  (Thanks again Holly! Thanks Greg for sharing your pictures....as for that bribe.....LOL)

What's Working Wednesday (Finally) and catch up

I have been meaning to blog but life has been so crazy.....

A few years back I started using this in computer labs with my 3rd Graders ......

Math Magician

Then the days of print restrictions hit, and I wanted a way to keep track of their scores ......Found THIS on TPT......

When the students get 100%

I have them fill out the level and I sign off

Then I decided I wanted to motivate them to pass so I created this:

When students pass Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and/or Division (1st grade thru 3rd) they get a hat on the board along with a certificate !

 The kids love it, (Thanks Krista and Mel for great clip art !!)

In other news went to THIS conference ......OMG the ideas and things I learned ......

Eric Litwin , Kim Asdit, Deanna Jump, and Deedee Wills

I learned soooooooo much, my coworkers and I are still planning out how to incorporate everything. That goes to show what a great conference it was! 






Hope to be back sooner next time!!!

VIVA LAS VEGAS......

Back from Vegas and just wanted to share some of the fun.......We flew out Sunday and came back Thursday.....so without further ado.....the highlights

The view Sunday night from the hotel .......

Monday, we toured the strip......

 

While it was  short lived wins at the mirage and 4 Queens (more on that later) it was fun while it lasted! My two friends/coworkers kept me laughing the ENTIRE trip.......and I need that!

Now on to Tuesday......

During the day we went out, I put the do not disturb on my hotel door, put my winnings in a different wallet in the room, and left ....Only to return for blogger meetup to find it had been stolen....and my room had been cleaned......Security was called....have to keep calling Risk Management, but not sure
they care, they told me that someone had $25,000 stolen too! Do they not realize that was my only money I brought(and I was AHEAD), I was trying to be careful, brought one credit card, which was in case I had to pay resort fees on the comp'ed rooms (which was another nightmare) Thank God my friends had some as I was stuck.....

But on with the reason for this trip to Vegas........It did make my day better really......

SDE brought in Elvis as a surprise, and we hadn't had our picture together yet! Score! 

Then in the drawings, Val (on left) won a gift certificate from SDE to use at the exhibit booth, 

Marcia (middle) won a Gift certificate to Clever School Teacher and me while I won a gift certificate to Erin Conden! Woo to the Hoo!

Pictures from left (Cheryl/Primary Graffiti )

Deanna Jump 

 and some of our table from the night:

Kim Asdit, Shari Sloane, Kim Jordano, Kim Elam 
and Debbie Clement

(go check out everyone's blogs, they rock)

Here is one with a funny story....

On the right is Tanja from Journey of a Substitute Teacher

and left is Hadar from Miss Kindergarten 
You see I had been talking to Tanja (I know no strangers) fellow blogger, then
Cheryl pointed out her blog, and I screamed, bellowed as I just put it together....Yep, I made her deaf I'm sure.....then when Hadar's name was called I screamed again, as I found her....I could go on as to how many I wanted to get pictures with but my friends were getting hungry.....so if in the future I scream no biggy:) Check out their blogs too!

Here is the photo with all of us

Now I won't go on about the rest of the week, as it was not much to it bloggy related fun though, fighting the hotel daily that NO I did not have 3 rooms, and YES the 2 were all comp'ed ....wait I am still doing that at home. You can see some of these here



 But I can tell you start saving for next year, as I am already looking forward to next year's ! Thanks to everyone that made it possible besides my cohorts (Marcia and Val):

Rachelle and Natalie, Deedee, Kathleen, Hope, Erica, Kim, Deanna, and Cheryl! You So Rock!

A huge thank you to our sponsors who made our Vegas meet-up possible!

SDE (Staff Development for Educators)

TeachersPayTeachers

Thank you to those who donated some fabulous prizes! 

Check out these links to see some amazing products just for TEACHERS!

SDE (Staff Development for Educators)

TeachersPayTeachers

Erin Condren

MPM School Supplies

Clever School Teacher

CR Toys

Lovey Dovey Creations

Erica Bohrer

The Price of Teaching

DoodleBugs Paper

Valshi Boutique

Kim Sutton

Intelli-Tunes

Heidi Songs

Debbie Clement

Shari Sloane

Paper and Vegas graphics from www.wmsquared-designs.com

Vegas Anyone???

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Sign up here !!

So I TRIED to win tickets to I teach Kindergarten as it is just not in the budget as I paid for THIS one(named in pic below) in the spring.....but I have free hotel rooms so I think a trip to Vegas is in order for the blogger meetup! So who all is going ?? I am excited to meet all the bloggers I stalk follow......The picture below is from the blogger meetup in March.....I Adore these women and they have helped my coworkers and I so much with resources on TPT . and their blogs. We came back from this conference with soooo many ideas........(Ignore the tall overweight person in the middle ....working on that...need a retake in Vegas ...LOL)

L to R (Heidi, Kim,me, Deanna, Kim)

I learn so much and find such great resources from not just the ladies above, but TONS of bloggers (I am going not only buyer of the year for TPT also Teacher's Notebook) LOL....

So who is with me? I so need a vacation and just trying to find decent airfare from Chicago ......Would love to meet up with you......

I want to go back

So as I have been talking about I went with friends to Vegas on MLK weekend......

I so needed this break ....hired someone to stay with mom, and just went to see Tim and Faith, and played the slots for the first time.....how did I do.....

Can we say hello TPT buyer of the year fund.....LOL.......

Right before we left, I walked into the Kindergarten room to drop something off, she was looking at a conference brochure .....(now remember I am the QUEEN of links, I send my coworkers links to blogs, TPT, and TN stores at least twice a day....little behind with trip) so she says she is filling out her form to go, I look down and see this.....

Kim Adsit, Heidi Butkus. and Jim Gill all in one place, I was dying....I had to go, then she flipped to the next page and I saw this......

I screamed.....That is THE Deanna Jump.....So as fast as my feet could take me, I went to the boss and requested told him I was going . I had a plan see we are only allowed x amount of profession development money per year. And coming up is my annual trip to IRC  ! So I knew he would a) ask me to chose one or the other b) say no but I had a plan c) use personal days and pay for it out of pocket! That is how excited I am to go see these people. I think of them as the go to people when I am working with Kinders/Firsties ! Even better look what they are having.....

None of the others from work are even interested in going.....that is so fine by me. If you are from IL and interested HERE is the website for more info. Drop me a line so we can meet up if you go! There is also a Container store AND IKEA near by.....this just may top Vegas!







Speaking of Vegas, the title of this post is I want to go back (we didn't wear coats all weekend 5 degrees at Chicago when we got home....blech) just a great place to go and have fun.....Look what is coming in July....Hmmm.....thinking of going Anyone else????

Well there you have it! Be back soon with some things I am using in the classroom......Thanks for letting me share my excitement in conferences!!!

Shopping My options

I was reading THIS post from Deedee over at Mrs. Wills Kindergarten. It got me thinking, (scary I know) the closest Walmart and Kmart (big stores in mapdot, IL) are about 1/2 hr away (25 miles). But I keep talking about my closest Target and how I am DESPERATE OBSESSIVE wanting to go to IKEA. But how far are they from me.

OK, Deedee you win, 200 miles is more than I have to go! BUT, no quick trips for me either. SIGH...Now you see why the UPS man claims I was the reason he got his new truck. He has not advised me what he gets this year, considering I have bought TONS of shelving for the basement.....LOL....Now, how close are your Target etc......leave me a comment and let me know.

PS......Can you help another blogger out .......Click on the above link to help Jessica at Mrs. Standford's Blog You can find out more info HERE......Thanks!