TPT Flock 2017 Recap and Giveaway!

Last weekend I had the privilege of hanging out with a bunch of
 AMAZING Teachers Pay Teachers authors!

We all flocked together!

TpTFlock17 was a meet up of teacher-authors/bloggers in Rochester, NY.  It was organized by a team of upstate New Yorkers and a few others with roots in the NY region.  These women pulled together an amazing workshop filled with teaching advice, business advice, and even some TpT "celebrity" sightings! 

I want to send a shout out to the organizers: Literary Sherri, Tricia's Terrific Teaching Trinkets, A Double Dose of Learning, Brain Waves Instruction, Miss V's Kindercrazies, Selma Dawani,  Worth a Thousand Words, and The Classroom Nook!

Thank you for putting on such a great event!

The event was held at the beautiful Woodcliff Resort and Spa in Fairport, NY.  We had a group dinner Friday night, then Saturday was filled with workshops on Pinterest, Instagram, Blogging, product creating, and more!  I feel like I need to take a week off from school to sit at a computer and make new products and pins and blogs!!!

For me, the best part of the weekend was meeting new people.  I had the opportunity to get tips from successful TpTers like Danielle from Study All Knight, Tammy from Juggling ELA, Tabitha from Flapjack Educational Resources,  Jamie from The Not So Wimpy Teacher, Erica Bohrer, Karen Jones, and Hallie from Speech Time Fun.  These women are all so helpful and just fun to be around!  Staffers from the TpT HQ in NYC were also in attendance!  Amy and Elliott led a panel where we were able to ask questions about TpT as sellers and buyers, and they were really listening to our suggestions and concerns. 

Dinner at Champps

Hanging after the conference with Amy from TpT HQ and Tricia from Tricia's Terrific Teaching Trinkets

Chatting with Danielle Knight

  Jenny from Art with Jenny K was the keynote speaker and led us all in an incredible group art project that was revealed at the end of the day!  How cool is this creation??

Everyone at the conference made one little square and it turned out THIS cool!

Besides taking away TONS of ideas and tips, the gifts and giveaways were amazing!  Many of us participated in a gift exchange- items that we all use to make products or our lives easier.  I received this fun bag of goodies from The Teacher's Cat filled with Flair Pens, Post It Notes, and a waterbottle.

We also received a "swag bag" filled with donations collected from Teachers Pay Teachers, Starbucks, Tailwind, and generous TpT sellers such as Melonheadz, Illumismart, KB3 Teach, Poppydreamz, SillyOMusic, AlinaVDesigns, and Pigknit...just to name a few!

I loved everything about this meetup...it was honestly as good as the full Teachers Pay Teachers conference in the summer...just in a smaller dose.  If you are interested or involved in TpT in any way, you HAVE to check out this conference next year.  It was well worth my trip from Michigan, and I've already got it on my calendar for April 2018!

Giveaway Time!

I'm still on cloud nine from all the fun and I want to share the love with you!  Comment below for a chance to win a $10 Target gift card by April 30, 2017.  Write a comment about what kinds of things you'd like to see more of on TpT, your favorite resource from my store (or anywhere on TpT:), topics you'd like me to blog about in the future...whatever!  On May 1, I'll choose a commenter at random and he/she will win a $10 Target gift card!

One Little Thing Wednesday Link Up!

Laura, at Enchanting Elementary, does this fun thing each week called "One Little Thing Wednesday".  She asks a question or offers a topic and asks other bloggers to link up with their responses.  This week's topic is Book Reviews...one of my FAVORITE things to talk about!  So, I linked up with my Book Review tab where I've shared review about Tangerine, Gooney Bird Greene, and But I Read it on the Internet.  Click here or on the "Book Reviews" tab above to read the reviews.

Check back soon for new reviews...now that summer is almost here, I'm stocking up on new books!  Hopefully, there will be a lot of new book blog posts coming from me soon!

Don't forget to check out Enchanting Elementary to read all the reviews posted by many different bloggers!

Tips for Dealing with Stress!

I want to share a great blog post written by Jewel Pastor!  She asked lots of bloggers for their thoughts on ways to deal with the stress of teaching.  I'm so excited that she chose my tip to include in her Top 10 Ways to Destress for Teachers!

Click on the picture above to read some great ideas to relieve stress and make it to the end of the year without pulling out your hair or screaming!

Remember, kids get stressed at this time of year, too.  Try to relieve their stress by playing learning games and doing calming activities, like coloring!  I've got some great games and coloring activities in my TpT store to keep your kiddos working until the last day!  Click the pics for more info!

Color By Code Activities

Score 4 Games and Task Cards

Math Games for Elementary Kiddos

Grammar Games

The Countdown to Summer is ON!

 I'm joining up with a few other bloggers to share some end of the year tips and give away some summer goodies!  

If you are new to my blog, thanks for hopping over!

I'm finishing my 16th year of teaching...wow!  In those years, I've taught everything K-8 except 1st and 7th, so I've been through my fair share of goodbyes!  I've also been a part of "graduation" ceremonies with students moving up to middle school or high school.  I've tried a bunch of different things to end my school year on a high, happy note - and some have worked better than others!  Here are my two favorite ways to wrap up the year!

1. Celebrate Your Graduates!

• I'm not the person who believes in trophies for EVERYTHING, but I do think it is worth celebrating the move from elementary school to middle school, or middle school to high school!  I've been a part of some wonderful "graduation celebrations" at the end of 5th grade and 8th grade.  Here's what I love most: PREDICTIONS.  Yes, this means work on the teacher's end, but the result is so much fun! This works best for 5th grade, because you have one whole group of kids you get to know really well. I write a story, set sometime in the future...mine usually take place at a Michigan State University football tailgate...where I end up running into a former student who tells me all about his or her classmates and what they are doing now.  It is tons of fun to create futures for my students and they love hearing about how one of them is "now" a famous football player, or that one of their own has discovered the cure for cancer, or just finding out how many kids they have!  I always tie their future to something they are currently into.  It makes for a really fun end of the year read aloud!  I print copies for each student as a graduation gift, too.   
• 8th grade celebrations are a bit tougher to make personal since we share so many kids with so many teachers!  At my school, we do a big presentation whole group, but I like to give my own kids a little something on our last day together.  Thanks to the Target Dollar Spot, I can make mini-diplomas for each student! I use Pirouline rolled wafers and just tie a ribbon around each one.  Then I attach it to a certificate I print out thanking them for their hard work all year or congratulating them on surviving middle school.  Super easy and affordable when you've got 100+ students!

2. Keep Kids Learning All Summer with Summer Fun Packets!

• When I taught elementary and knew I'd been seeing my students back at the same school the next year, I often made summer fun packets for them to do over the summer.  Doesn't sound much like fun at first, but when they realized that the contents of the packet were really fun and that they could earn a prize from me in September for completing them, they LOVED the idea!  (Parents were big fans, too!)  I'd put in activities like my "Color By Code" grammar practice sheets, a list of board, card, dice, and domino games that practice math skills, a list of my favorite books, and a list of local field trips for families.  Parents would sign off on the activities, then when school started again, my former students would come back to visit my classroom and show me their completed packet.  I always made a big deal about them coming back to visit and congratulating them on their productive summer, then I'd give them some fun dollar store goodie.  This was fun for me, and great motivation for my new students to see that learning can be fun!  Click the picture below to grab a FREE "Color By Code" activity.

If you like that one, I've got many more Color By Code Activities covering many different ELA topics.  You can get them all individually in my store, or save money by buying the bundle! Click on the picture to find out about all the "Color By Code" activities!

You can find a list of fun ways to practice math at home here!  Parents love these activities because they probably have all the materials at home already!  Plus, these games are fun for the whole family! Click the picture to find out more!

Good luck making it through the final stretch of the year!  I hope these ideas get you excited and ready to end your year on a high note!  For more fun tips and freebies, click the picture below to hop to the next blog!

Secondary Giveaway Time!

It's GIVEAWAY time!

I've joined up with some AWESOME secondary TpT sellers to help celebrate Kim at English Oh My! reaching 50 followers!

Click on this picture to link up to Kim's blog "English Oh My!" and to find out all about this fun giveaway!

I'm giving away one of my favorite products- my Punctuation Color by Code Activity!  This (and all Color By Codes) is a great teaching and reviewing activity for middle grade kids.  These activities would be AWESOME to use as end of the year activities to keep kids learning and engaged until the very last day!  Parents may also like these as summer packets...but don't tell the kids!

When you participate in this giveaway, you'll be eligible via Rafflecopter to win my product, as well as products from 14 other TpT sellers!  Don't miss out!  Click on the link to "English Oh My!" or the giveaway picture above to join in the fun.  Good luck!