Five for Friday {and a review}

Hey yall! Happy Friday!

 

I have less than a week before we officially have to report to work, but I feel like I've pretty much gone back already! It has been a BUSY week! And next week will be just as busy as I get my brand new classroom ready to go :)

 

I'm linking up with Casey to share about my week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been on a bit of a shopping spree this week! I have a new classroom to decorate, so I use that as my excuse to get my shopping fix :) I hit the motherload at Dollar Tree and got that cute teal desk at Big Lots!

 

 

 

 

 

I'm finally giving up the owls this year and replacing them with another bird...peacocks! I'm loving all the rich jewel tones and it's coming together beautifully! Thankfully, I've got wonderful friends and family to help me {including my friend's sweet baby girl Jule!}.







Today we had training for my new county. I was soooo excited to hear about our special guest speaker...Dave Burgess! I had already heard wonderful things about his book Teach Like a PIRATE, so when they gave us a free copy, I was over the moon! He even autographed it for me! And I got a pretty sweet shirt, too :)





Today was the fourth Friday of the month. That means it was Fourth Friday Freebies day! Head on over to my Facebook page to snag some back-to-school freebies from some of my best bloggy buddies.

A couple weeks ago, MasterVision and Shoplet.com sent me a 3-in-1 whiteboard planner to review. I was so excited for this product! It's a dry erase board with a monthly calendar, a spot for notes, and a little corkboard for adding reminders! I added some pretty purple washi tape to mine {it was previously silver} so it would match my room :)

I'm excited to hang this up by my new teal desk! I love how the calendar is large enough to write on and how the notes area is plenty big. The 3-in-1 planner even came with some push pins for the corkboard portion! It also came with a dry erase marker and little snap-in shelf to hold it. However, the marker is pretty dinky and I'm not crazy about how flat the snap-in shelf is. I feel like the marker would just roll right off! Overall, I'm happy with the clean look and can't wait to get it hung up.

If you're interested in ordering your own 3-in-1 whiteboard planner, head on over to Shoplet.com!


Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

Hey yall!

 

Well, I have some exciting news to share with yall today.

I've known for a couple weeks now, but I've been keeping it a {semi} secret until it was officially official.

 

I got a new teaching position! In a new grade. In a new school. In a new district.

Lots of changes for this school year.

 

 

 

I am so super excited about this new position, but a bit nervous as well.

I'll be moving to 3rd grade, which is unchartered territory for me!

 

I was able to check out my new classroom last week.

 

 

As you can see, I've got some work to do!

 

So I need yall's help.

What are some third grade resources that you couldn't teach without?

I'm not sure exactly what I'll be teaching yet, as third grade is departmentalized.

Definitely social studies, possibly language arts as well.

 

Any advice for this thirdie newbie?

 



52 card pickup? Not in this classroom!

Hey yall!

 

It's time for another round of Bright Ideas. My favorite time of the month!

 

 

Now, I know that we're all blissfully enjoying summer break.

But.....school is right around the corner! At least, it is for me.

 

So even though you might not quite be ready for all the back-to-school yet, its coming your way...ready or not!

 

When I was organizing my classroom for summer and packing up all my belongings, I ran across the decks of cards that we used this year. Cards can be such great learning tools, but can also be a pest to keep organized.

 

This year, I tried something a little different and it worked like a charm!

This is one of those oh-so-simple, why-didn't-I-think-of-this-years-ago ideas.

 

 

For each deck of cards, I used a different color Sharpie and made a little dot on the cards. Then I used the same color Sharpie to dot the bag they came in. Anytime the cards got mixed up, my kiddos could easily sort them out and put them in the right bag.

 

I think this year, I'll try to find some soap containers from the dollar store to store them in. I hear these little guys hold a deck of cards perfectly! And I could easily match the color of the Sharpie to the color of the container :)

 

 

To see more of my teaching ideas, please check out my FB page or follow me on IG @teacherytidbits.

 

Check out these links below for some more bright ideas!

An InLinkz Link-up



Teachers Take Vegas {Part 2}

Hey yall! Happy Friday!

 

I've finally had some time to rest and I'm ready to finish telling you about the big trip to Vegas.

Yes, it took me a full 5 days to catch up on my rest....seriously.

This girl was T.I.R.E.D.

 

So Friday was the first ever Teachers Pay Teachers conference at the Venetian.

 

 

We started out with some breakfast, where I got to meet the lovely ladies from Fluttering Through First Grade!

 

Tammy and Christy from Fluttering Through First Grade

 

Please excuse my wet hair and squinty eyes. It was early, yall.

 

After breakfast was the keynote speech.

Yall.

These speeches were INCREDIBLE.

 

We got to hear Amy, John, and Paul from TPT speak.

Yes, Paul....as in Paul Edelman aka founder of TPT.

 

Paul's speech was beyond incredible and made me so proud to be a part of Teachers Pay Teachers. He truly believes in the company and in every one of his buyers/sellers. His passion for education was evident in his speech and he even got a bit choked up {so did I!}.

 

 

Then Deanna Jump spoke.

I'm sure you've all heard of Deanna. The 3 million dollar teacher.

It would be easy for Deanna to be cocky and pompous.

I mean, she is THE Deanna Jump!

 

But....the girl is HUMBLE, yall.

Thankful.

Inspiring.

Amazing.

And SWEET!

 

Her speech had everyone in tears and I think I was just in awe of how incredible she is.

She is such an amazing role model for ALL teachers.

And....she's from Georgia, yall!

 

Credit to Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd for the poster

After the speeches, we went to the sessions.

Each attendee got to choose 4 sessions {2 morning and 2 afternoon}.

 

The task of choosing sessions was not an easy one, but I'm happy with the ones I chose. I got to see more inspiring ladies, like Deanna, Deedee, Kelly, Cara, Erica, Rachel, and Laura.

 

I was so into every session that I totally failed about taking pictures.

Well, except this one.

 

 

And this one!

 

 

I got to meet Paul, yall!

He gave me a big ol' hug and I expressed my gratitude for his vision.

We even talked about how blogging/TPT have made such a huge difference in classrooms and I told him about my thesis on that very topic. He asked me to send it to him! Which reminds me...I still haven't done that yet!

 

Between the morning and afternoon sessions, I had lunch with these sweet girls! We all really hit it off and have some fun things in the works!

 

Top row: Chrissy from Buzzing with Ms. B, Angela from The Daily Alphabet, LaToya from Flying Into First Grade, and CaseyJane from Wiggling Scholars
Bottom row: Cheryl from Crayons and Curls, Tamara from Mrs. Russell's Room, Katie from Kindergarten Craftiness, and Haley from My Silly Firsties

 

After the conference came the TPT happy hour! This was so much fun and I got to meet even more amazing folks.

 

Kristin from A Teeny Tiny Teacher and Cheryl from Crayons and Curls

Yes....this is what you think it is. A duck-face selfie with TPT's CEO John.
I know...it rocks!

Some of the sellers got together and presented the members of TPT with a thank you gift. I was so glad I was able to be a part of that!

 

 

 

 

Even though we had all been up super early, we were on a TPT high so we decided to keep going and hit up Fremont Street!

 

It was....interesting...but fun!

We met some very intriguing people :)

 

 

 

 

Saturday morning came early and I had to say goodbye to my roomies :(

I did get in one last lunch and some gelato with my newfound friends, though!

 

Haley from My Silly Firsties and Jennifer from Rowdy in First Grade

 

Overall, this trip was one of the best trips of my life.

I learned, I laughed, I cried.

But best of all....I made LOTS of new friends that I will cherish forever!

 

 

Teachers Take Vegas {Part 1}

Hey yall!

 

So I've been back from Vegas for about 2 days now and I'm already thinking about next year's conference. This past week has truly been one of the best weeks of my life.

 

I'm linking this post up with Deirdre at A Burst of First.

I got a chance to meet her in Vegas and she is pretty awesome :)

 

 

I've got lots of pics to share, so let's just jump right in.

{Although these are not all my Vegas pictures, you can see those over on my IG @teacherytidbits}

 

I arrived on Wednesday morning, hours before any of my roomies, and full of NERVES yall! I have never done anything like this before, so to say that I was a bit nervous is the understatement of the year.

 

Flying halfway across the country to meet hundreds of people I've spoken with online, but never met in person? Yikes. Talk about anxious.

 

But here is the one of the reasons this week was so amazing, yall - within minutes of arriving at the airport, I had already met two adorable teachers that shared a shuttle with me to the hotel.

(Oh man, I just realized I never took a picture with these two!)

 

 

Karen from Mrs. Jones Kindergarten and Karen from Kennedy's Korner

 

Because my roomies weren't scheduled to arrive for several hours, the Karens sweetly offered to let me store my bags in their room and then we all went to lunch.

 

After awhile, my sweet roomies all showed up and hugs were passed around. I've been talking with these ladies for months online, but we'd never actually met in real life! Somehow I ended up with a room full of Texans, yall!

 

Cheryl from Crayons and Curls, Farrah from Mrs. Shipley's Classroom, Katie from Keep Teaching and Planning, and Chrissy from Buzzing with Ms. B

 

That night was the HUGE blogger meet-up hosted by Rachelle and Natalie from What the Teacher Wants (with a little whole lotta help from their friends!).

 

There were over 500 blogger/followers there, so it was a bit overwhelming. But I got a chance to meet some of my very favorite teacher bloggers!

 

Rachelle from What the Teacher Wants, Amy from Step into Second Grade, Deanna from Mrs. Jump's Class, and Cara from The First Grade Parade

 These ladies have all been such a HUGE inspiration to me!

 

Cara was the first blog I really followed and she is just my bloggy idol! And talk about a doll! The best part was when I stopped her to say hi, she squealed my name and gave me a big hug! Made my day, yall!!!

 

Rachelle is such an inspiration with her fitness journey. I want to be just like her when I grow up :) I told her that next year, we'd both be skinny minnys!

 

I didn't get a chance to talk to Amy very much, but I did tell her how we shared the same last name (Lemons is my maiden name). I like to think that we are long-lost cousins or something :)

{And yes, I realize that's just her married name, but a girl can dream, right?}

 

Do I really need to tell yall how amazing Deanna is? I already respected the heck out of this lady, but after this week, I took it to a whole nother level. But we'll get into that in another post... :)

 

Hadar from Miss Kindergarten, Katie from Teacher to the Core, Jenny from Luckeyfrog's Lilypad, Tessa from Tales Outside the Classroom, and Shelley from Teaching in the Early Years

Tanja from Journey of a Substitute Teacher, Kelley from Teacher Idea Factory, Stephanie from Falling into First, and Dana from Prepping for the Primary Gridiron

 

I also got to meet the amazing Amy from TPT!

 

 

The next day we checked out the SDE booths for the I Teach K and I Teach 1st conferences. We got some awesome swag, and met even more friends!

 

I found myself some Georgia girls....finally!

 

Tara from And They All Fall Down and Stacy from Funky Fresh Firsties

 

We went down to do early check-in for the conference and picked up our swag bags! Of course, we ran into even more of my bloggy buddies!

 

Tamara from Mrs. Russell's Room, Haley from My Silly Firsties, and Vicky from Teaching and Much Moore

Jennifer from First Grade Blue Skies.....I was BEYOND excited to meet her! She was one of the first ones to ever follow my blog and I'll love her forever for that! Not to mention she's a pretty great blogger herself :)

Angela from The Daily Alphabet. We started blogging around the same time and she is just too funny!

 

That night, we went to a nice dinner and then to see the Beatles Love Cirque du Soleil show!

It. Was. Amazing.

 

 

You notice how I put a little {Part 1} in that title up there?

Well, too much happened for me to cram it all into one little post, especially the conference itself, so I decided to split this baby up.

That means there's also a {Part 2}...coming soon!