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

Teachers Don't Need Capes to Be Heroes

"Teaching is the profession that creates all other professions." 

Where would you be today without your favorite teacher?  You know, the one who believed in you.  The one who didn't give up on you.  Even when you pushed them away and gave them all the reasons to not want to help you...  Where would you be without your teacher hero?  I'm scared to think about how different my life would have been had I not had the wonderful and inspiring teachers I had most of my school career.   But one in particular will always stand out.  

When I was in fifth grade, I was as awkward as it gets.  Braces, series of unfortunate fashion choices, awful short hair cut.... (Mental pictures will just have to do...) It was a time of uncertainty and insecurity.  It didn't help that 5th grade was our first year out of elementary school, when cool and uncool become EXTREMELY transparent.  As you can guess from my description earlier, I was not part of the cool crowd.    I was teased all the time, and I didn't have any friends.   My emotions got the best of my studies. I began to not care about my grades or organization.  I didn't care about participation or completing any work.  I was even hiding my progress reports that showed my declining grades.

My teacher hero stopped my downward spiral with one comment.  

"YOU ARE TOO SMART TO BE ACTING LIKE THIS."  

She kept me after class one day and made me clean out my desk.  We went through every single paper and she showed me that it wasn't a question of how smart I was.  It was a question of how bad I wanted to succeed.  

She also listened to my story.  I unleashed all the feelings I'd been holding in all year and she just listened.  

When I was done we made a plan to help me with organization and helped keep me accountable for things.  

By the end of the year I'd turned things completely around.  I was getting As and Bs instead of Cs and Ds.  When it came time for the end of the year awards she saved my award for last.  With tears in her eyes she announced that the last award went to someone who had to learn this lesson the hard way but never gave up.  She gave me the perseverance award.  I gave her a gigantic hug and walked away proudly.  

It has taken me over 11 years of school and 4 years of my own experience with teaching to really comprehend how much of an impact she made on me that year.  

What if:

She'd ignored my signs of help?

She'd let me keep slipping by with awful grades?

She'd not listened to my side of the story?

She'd not given me a plan of action and kept me accountable?

Would I be the woman... no the teacher I am today?!

Thank you for spending your precious free time and own money to make your room and class a more engaging place for learning.

Thank you for pursuing higher ed and professional development because you want to be the best at your profession.
Thank you for giving that parent a positive phone call that makes their day because you praised their child.  
Thank you for sharing and working collaboratively with your coworkers to ensure all kids get a wonderful education.

Thank you for coming in when you're feeling under the weather sub plans are nearly rigorous or motivating as yours are.

Thank you for your joy and excitement that you bring to learning.
Thank you for loving each and every student... even the ones that ask for it in the most unloving ways.
Thank you for your hugs, high fives, and words of praise to kids who don't always get it at home.

Thank you for believing in all of your students... 

because you never know which of your students could grow up one day to be just like you!

Teachers Pay Teachers is thanking all teachers today, and I am too!  In my store, Ride Away With Mrs. Ridgway, items are 20% off, but even more exciting news you can save an extra 10% in any store when you type in the code HEROES at the check out.  

Make sure you take the time to thank your teacher hero!  Share your inspiration because teachers sometimes need to be reminded about just how wonderful they truly are.  

A Look Back At 2014

As I sit here watching the clock tick down from 2014 bringing in 2015 I'm amazed at how much God has blessed me all of this past year.  I was going through all of my pictures from 2014 and couldn't stop smiling.  

In the past year I've gotten engaged, moved jobs, and become a TPT seller.  Talk about life changing experiences!  I've been SOOOO lucky to have spent this year engaged to Mr. Right.  Switching from one school to another, I took a major risk.... but it has paid me with so much happiness and support.  I went to my first Blogger Meet Up and reconfirmed why I became a teacher.  I now am working with an amazing teacher and wonderful friend, Ciera from Adventures of Room 129. 

Random Acts of Kindness Parent Gift

Hi there!  I'm so glad you're joining us on the Holiday Blog Hop sponsored by The Elementary Grapevine.  Hopefully you're hopping over from Miss V's Busy Bees.
 Can you believe it's only 3 weeks before Christmas?

Ok ok... so it's not all just crowd control.  You're still expected to teach standards, social skills, and if you're in 3rd grade like me prepare for state wide standardized tests.   Thankfully I've been able to try to plan in engaging seasonal activities that correlate with what we're learning.  

But tomorrow I will help my students in passing on the best lesson you'll ever learn:  Showing random acts of kindness to others.

Tomorrow my students will receive the mission to brainstorm acts of kindness they can show their family.  They must have at least one of the following:  Something to say, do, give, write and show.  This will come in handy when they receive the pieces to this craft.

Once they've brainstormed, the students will need popsicle sticks, a permanent marker, and something to store the RAK sticks in (I chose a dollar store stocking!)

They will label the colors they want to represent the type of kindness they can show.  

 They can then take the list they brainstormed and write them out on their popsicle sticks.  They need at least 10 to put in their stocking.

 When they're finished I'm having them write their own Christmas card explaining how their parents can use this as a way of asking their child to show them a Random Act of Kindness.

I'm so excited about this activity and will be editing this post purely so you can see the wonderful ideas kids can come up with!

Alright, there will be much more wonderful holiday goodies if you keep hopping along!

Up next is Something Sweet for Someone Soup-er: Snowman Soup by the 3rd Grade Pad. 
  

Cyber Monday, Marshmallow Fractions, and Sentence Fluency

Happy Cyber Monday Everybody!  

Get your carts ready to be filled with wonderful products from teachers all over.  TPT Cyber Monday and Tuesday are the perfect time to purchase the wishlisted items you've been saving up for!  Everything in my store is marked down 20% and TPT is GIVING (early holiday cheer I suppose!) and additional 10% off the total in your cart!.  

When you check out, use the code:  TPTCYBER

I've been up to lots of things in my classroom.  My unannounced observation window opened about a week and a half ago, which makes me up my game a bit more.  I'm not saying that I slack off, ever, but I've definitely been putting in some serious hard-work into my lessons and activities.  This past month we've been working on on sentence fluency and fractions.  That means we've been playing with marshmallows and coloring.

No... REALLY. 

As a person who has always loved to write, I think I struggle with teaching kids how to write.  The 6 traits are wonderful, but how does one explicitly teach what sentence fluency is?  I didn't even know what that was until I became a teacher.  So over a night of planning with one of my teacher buddies, my idea for Coloring & Sentence Fluency. Click here for the anchor chart I created with dos and don't for writing with Sentence Fluency.

When I did this lesson I had my students read examples of all the mistakes we make with sentence fluency.  They watched as I modeled how to highlight and gave feedback about how we could change it to make it better.  Then they broke off into groups and had to work collaboratively.  Finally I wanted to give them a chance to reflect and assess their own understanding.  Now... the most exciting part about this lesson is that the next day, I had my students write to a prompt "Cats Vs. Dogs, Which One is the Best?".  After our timer went off they traded and provided feedback based off sentence fluency.  Holy smokes was I floored by how comfortable they were with applying their knowledge!!!  These 3rd graders surprise me daily.  Check out the activity during my lesson and the feedback one received during the free write!

Check the whole product out at my store on TPT.

 Besides coloring we've also been playing  learning with fractions and marshmallows.  

Raise your hand if you like fractions of a group/set.  Raise your hands if you like multi-colored marshmallows.  Raise your hand if you like both at the same time.  If you raised your hand at-least once you'll love the activity I made to teach my kids about fractions in a group.

After modeling the smart steps of identifying fractions in a group

FREEBIE ANCHOR CHART

I modeled how to sort and create fractions using the marshmallows as manipulatives.  Holy smokes were my third graders impressed.  Once we'd completed the partner activity we took turns using the marshmallows as talking chips for feedback time and self assessed.  Talk about engaging!  I wish I could teach that lesson everyday.  I took lots of pictures and even videotaped the process just so I could remember how to do this activity for next year.

Check it out in my store!

  Happy shopping and goodnight all!

Halloween Freebies and Fall Break Update!

What have I been up to these past 2 weeks?  

Two wonderful words.  

FALL BREAK!  

As sarcastic as that meme might be, I feel kind of proud of what I've done the past two weeks.  My goal was to spend one week working on wedding stuff and one week on school stuff.  Guess who got almost all of her to do list done!

Wedding To Dos Completed:

Cake Tasted

Guest List Finalized

Bridesmaids Asked

Engagement Pictures Taken

School To Dos Completed:

Week Back Planned

Grading Papers

Activities Created

Halloween Activities Planned

Next week is my favorite holiday!  Halloween comes once a year for regular people, but for teachers it is a month long affair!  We spend all October planning activities that keep our kids engaged and learning despite sugar crashes and late nights.

AND I LOVE IT... That's why I'm participating in Freebie Friday!!

Check out my Roll and Write A Story:  Halloween Edition HERE

If you like what you see check out my Doomed Division activity too!  I can't wait to see my kids faces when I give them stickers to practice equal shares! 

I'll leave you with a clip from my FAVORITE Halloween Movie!

Everything Is Awesome.....

Have I mentioned I love my new classroom?!  This new position has been exactly what I needed to reignite my passion for teaching.  So what have I been up to these past 9 weeks?  Instead of just telling you about it, why don't I show you!

Reading:
My school allows teams to split their students based off of individual needs (based on NWEA and other data) for reading instruction.  So after our morning routine, pledge, announcements, and lunch count my homeroom rotates to their reading class for the next 90 mins of the day.  My classroom is geared towards challenging the on and above level students on our team.  This group has been SOOO much fun to work with and is always up for a crazy project or mini lesson.  Below is a picture of an example of a crazy mini-lesson that my students took a step further than I was expecting!

  During the introduction of types of nouns and how to identify them I had my students watch Brainpop Jr. video about Nouns.  After that I gave them each 3-5 post-its with the instructions to identify at least words that they knew were nouns.  I intended to bring these post its back together and have them help me sort the nouns into the correct category.   With the timer started for 3 minutes, they all got up and began labeling the nouns in the classroom.  Everything was going well when all of the sudden several students began staring at me and furiously writing down words and then STICKING THEM ON ME!  I began noticing there were two labels in common on these specific post its.  Miss Wilson and teacher. *Cue Light Bulb Ding*  #teachablemoment!  This ended up leading us into a classroom discussion about common and proper nouns.   
Me:  "What's the difference between teacher and Miss Wilson?"
Student: "There are all sorts of teachers, but there's only one Miss Wilson!"

Math:
As a former struggling math student I never want my students to feel as frustrated as I did when I was in school.  How do I do this?  LOTS of modeling, hands on, kinesthetic, and musical activities.  Oh  and a ton of enthusiasm.  Unlike reading, I keep my homeroom with me the entire class period and utilize small groups, classroom aide, and differentiation to meet my kids needs.Each lesson starts with the word problem of the day which is glued into their math notebook.  Then we follow it with a quick review of the unit vocabulary in our journals.  At this point I start up the hook for my lesson which varies from a quick video connected to the lesson at hand to a preview of the activity usually in the form of a game, manipulative, or reward.  The rest of the lesson follows the gradual release model.  I have come to love teaching math this year!  We have had so much fun and every single post test we take we're making progress.  What more could a teacher ask for?

Sample page and activity in my students' notebooks.  Yes, I let them use M&Ms or Goldfish Crackers to have hands of practice with creating arrays!

Writing:
You can probably guess I love writing, since I write a blog for fun!  That being said it's sad I only have 30 mins a day dedicated to my writing instruction. Much of that time has been spent reviewing writing basics, introducing my students to the 6 traits of writing, and instilling the love to write.  Not many students enjoy writing like I used to, so I've had to be creative in my writing lessons.  When I was teaching them about complete sentences and fragments I came up with a cheer that students still use whenever I give directions.  I even came up with a song to the tune of "The Cup Song" to help with introducing the parts of a paragraph.

The most fun activity to date though has involved dice, Halloween, and transition words. In order to model the activity expectations the whole class created a story.  In case you were wondering it was about a witch who couldn't fit on her broom.  Then, students were given a die and told to roll it 3 times.  Each time would help them choose their character, setting, and problem (all Halloween themed OF COURSE!)  They then began figuring out how their characters would solve their problems using transition words to describe the steps taken.  Download a copy of the activity for yourself here.

Be on the look out for some really big news soon!! Until then, I'll leave you with some positive vibes.