Spring Teacher Blogger Meet-Up: The Best Weekend to Be A Blogger!

Two weeks ago, a group of almost 100 teachers figuratively literally flooded the small town of French Lick, Indiana.  I got to spend the weekend with some of my closest friends (and meeting new ones) who have the same passion for teaching, creating, and blogging.  And I walked away with tips, tricks, and some AWESOME  teacher swag!

Friday
 First and formost, how many people can say they work with one of their closest teaching and blogging buddy?!  For weeks Ciera, from Adventures of Room 129, and I had been counting down the days before this meet up.  As soon as the bell dismissed our kids, we hopped in her car and began the 3hr trek from Indianapolis.  We were so excited, we only made a single pit stop on the entire trip and that was to pick up the wonderful Brenda from Primary Inspired.  The drive down was spent mainly buzzing about how excited we were to get to see all of our old friends from last year and stalk blog crushes meet new friends.  Especially getting to know my final roomie Brandy from Firstie Kidoodles.

Check out the rooms and amenities this place has.  It's seriously amazing inside and out! http://www.frenchlick.com/hotels/frenchlick#

Beautiful right?!
From there we took a trolley over to the West Baden Hotel to see the "Light Show".

The night ended with us getting asked to leave because we were talking and laughing so much.
We even got to use Greg from Kindergarten Smorgasbord's selfie stick.

Saturday
After some much needed rest and errand running we got to go in and get a sneak peek at all the hardwork that  went into this meet up!

The room was decorated with adorable poms, personalized name tags, and stationary all thanks to School Girl Style!

(Aka: the best teacher/wedding decor company ever.)


The afternoon started out with lunch and introductions, which make this gal become Nervous Nelly, but somehow I persevered!  After everyone had been introduced it was time for our teacher tool swap.  So much fun!  Check out my last post if you wanna know what I got!  Coolest part was I even ran into another blogger that I'd been collaberatively blogging with for months!
Absolutely loved meeting and getting to know Debbi from 3rd Grade Pad.

One of my favorite parts was when we broke off into 3 sessions for small table discussions.
I was lucky enough to listen to veteran teacher bloggers give advice about teaching, blogging, and how to balance both!  Like I said earlier it's so refreshing being surrounded by people who are as passionate as you are.

Before I go any further I've really got to give a major shout out to the two ladies that made this weekend possible!

Holly Ehle  from Mrs. Ehle's Kindergarten Connection and Brittany Banister from  Mrs. Banister's Kindergarten Kids really out did themselves.  Can you say awesome??!  How about breathtaking??!  These women really worked their tails off organizing, facilitating, and running such a fun weekend.

While I'm doing shout outs, I've got to say so many thanks to all the companies that were able to donate/sponsor gifts and door prizes for us teachers.  I actually was moved by how generous and thoughtful this was!

 Thank you to our amazing sponsors:
* TPT (TeachersPayTeachers.com)
* GoNoodle
* SDE (Staff Staff Development for Educators)
* Lakeshore Learning Materials
* Scentos (Love these markers!)
* Creative Teaching Press
* Sit Spots
* Scentsy - Ciera Harris
* Orgami Owl - Brenda Hart Frady and Corporate office
* Tallahassee Sunday
* Erin Condren (EVERYONE GOT A PLANNER!!!!!)

*Vera Bradley (EVERYONE GOT A BAG!!!!!)
* Schoolgirl Style
* ESGI
* Hue Animation Studio
* Claire Marie Designs
* Brain Pop
* Seat Sack
* Younique by Dana

Want some TEACHER SWAG of your own?  Keep reading!

Now you're probably thinking we had already had enough fun... but the meet up wasn't over yet!  

We all put on our pajamas, t-shirts, and slippers to have the most EPIC and memorable teacher sleepover ever.

It actually had it's own hashtag.
I'm pretty sure we blew up instagram with #gonoodleteacherdanceparty

Thanks TPTand GoNoodle for sponsoring our fun!!

There was pizza and brownies, crafts and games, and of course TPT and GoNoodle activities.  We chose our own Champ and rocked out to our students favorite songs and brain breaks.  If you haven't
Yours truly is officially famous and made an appearance fumbling the dance moves to my favorite GoNoodle Brainbreak Pop-see-ko by Kangaroo Krew.

 My absolute favorite part of the sleepover events?  Being silly and having fun with some of my most favorite people ever.  I mean... who doesn't like photobooth props?  Or posing with your blogging besties?

Check out my buddy Amy from Math, Science, and Social Studies Oh My!

Absolutely adored meeting these Texan teachers. Lisa and Amy from All Y'all Need

The epic night concluded on a slightly inspirational and encouraging note. Many of us didn't want this encouraging feeling and attitude to end so we anonymously received buddies to send notes and presents of encouragement to throughout the year.  

Amy from Math, Science, and Social Studies Oh My!, Brandy from Firstie Kidoodles, Nicole from All Things Apple in 2nd, Brenda from Primary Inspired, Jenny from Luckey Frogs Lilypad, ME, and of course Ciera from Adventures of Room 129

Sunday
Like all good things our Spring Teacher Meet Up had to come to an end.  But not before we all met up for brunch in the morning to exchange hugs, emails, and promises to come back again next year.  If you're ever questioning whether it's worth it to go to a blogger meet up... check out the rest of our stories on this linky.

   

     

rel='nofollow' href="http://new.inlinkz.com/luwpview.php?id=508317" title="click to view in an external page.">An InLinkz Link-up

   

And since you may not have been there...

We’re giving away THREE Swag Bags!

Three people are going to win their own Spring Teacher Blogger Swag Bags!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway