Sunday, March 20, 2016

2016 Teacher Blogger Retreat

So I've started a tradition of  meeting up with some of the most amazing people ever in French Lick, Indiana.

Teacher BLoggers!


This year over 200 teachers figuratively literally flooded the small town of French Lick, Indiana. It was absolutely unforgettable! 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


Ciera from Adventures of Room 129, Brenda from Primary Inspired, and I all piled into Ciera's momma mobile and made a 3hr drive with no pitstops (thank you teacher bladders) down to the always breathtaking French Lick Springs Hotel.
Check out the rooms and amenities this place has.  It's seriously amazing inside and out! http://www.frenchlick.com/hotels/frenchlick#
Beautiful right?!
Our room was gorgeous and I got to stay with some of my favorite people.  This included two extremely inspirational teachers (Sara Cooper from Rocky Top Teacher and Nicole Swisher from All Things Apple).  Seriously ya'll!  These ladies are UH-MAZING! 
We grabbed dinner and ran into other teacher bloggers so of course we had to commemorate this moment with our first selfie of the night!  
Photo Cred:  Stacy Simpson at Simpson Superstars
A photo posted by Simpson Superstars (@simpsonsuperstars) on




saturday 

Started out wonderfully lazy.  I got to eat some delicious breakfast sandwiches and catch up with the always sassy and beautiful ladies Kristen from Top Knot Teaching and Whitney from The Crazy Schoolteacher.  Then it was time to head down and be amazed at all the wonderful things that were in store for us!

Shout Out Time
for the
Boss Ladies
in charge of the whole meet up!

 These women really worked their tails off organizing, facilitating, and running such a fun weekend.  They also had an extremely dedicated and hardworking crew of people!

The room was decorated with mason jars, wood blocks for table numbers, and beautiful agendas.  
Seriously made me wonder why these ladies haven't gone into the wedding planning business. 

The afternoon started out with a bit of collaboration and cooperation.  What do you expect from a group of teachers?!
Do you recognize any of the famous people at my table? 
Megan Wheeler from Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade Tidbits took this fun little snapshot of yours truly!
Each table got a letter/phrase that ended up spelling our motto for the meet up.  
#howprecious

 Next came some UH-MAZING 
videos about passion and why people should come to meet ups!  Both videos were created by the talented Chad from Male Kindergarten Teacher

Seriously I think every teacher should watch the passion video 
when they're in need of a reminder why how wonderful they are.

We did a Teacher Tool Gift Exchange.  
It's like Christmas only better because it's stuff for your classroom.  Given to you by like minded people.  My gorgeous giftbag came from the sweet and sassy Aimee from Taking on Second.  

I love those binder clips SOOO much!
We did round tables  where 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.  But have to say my absolute favorite part of the whole meet up was getting to make new connections with some pretty awesome bloggers.
My Texas Teacher Pals Lisa and Amy from All Ya'll Need
Heck I even got to meet the INCREDIBLE Vera from Tutu Teacher!
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!
These are the following sponsors that LOVE to support educators!

Image result for erin condren logo
 Image result for twinkle twinkle little jar
Image result for gonoodle

Image result for tieks   

Image result for osmo Image result for udderly smooth Image result for sit spotsImage result for the pencil gripImage result for kwik stix
Image result for stella and dot Image result for younique products Image result for silly mcgilly Image result for creative teaching press
Image result for scentsyImage result for vera bradley
Image result for hue document camera softwareImage result for hue document camera softwareImage result for hue document camera software

Image result for abc mouse
Image result for esgi

Image result for jamberry
Image result for lakeshore learningImage result for seat sacks

Image result for better life bags  Image result for classroom friendly supplies  Image result for perfectionate photo propsImage result for doodle bugs paper Image result for doterra
Image result for book creator  Image result for maria dismondy Image result for just plain adoorable

After the swag giveaways it was time to spend some quality time with my tribe before the biggest 80s party ever! 
Yep! You do see Tom Cruise and Richard Simmons in Front!
The night was unforgettable because of some amazing teachers planning and generous support from GoNoodle and TPT.  

What other party has 80s music, kareoke, and a professional photobooth?! The funny thing is I spent more time dancing and laughing than I did taking pictures.  Here's only a sampling of what I was able to pull from my phone and google!!

Oh yeah!  There was totally a Flash Mob that happened!  Outta no where Footloose starts playing and people start rushing the dance floor.   I even got pulled out at the last minute!
How many teacher bloggers can you name in this picture?!

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. 
It's always great finding a new teacher bestie. Check out this PASSIONATE Canadian teacher blogger Kristin from Traveling Teacher.
If you're ever questioning whether it's worth it to go to a blogger meet up... watch our intro video.  

And check out the rest of the linky!



http://www.inlinkz.com/new/view.php?id=617546" title="click to view in an external page.">An InLinkz Link-up


Don't forget to check out the giveaway too!  You'll love all the teacher swag as much as we did!



a Rafflecopter giveaway

1 comment:

  1. Your blog design is adorable! Next year we will have to chat. I was so overwhelmed with this being my first year that I didn't get to connect with as many people as I wanted to.

    ReplyDelete