Last Friday a group of 30 fabulous Virginia teacher bloggers {including myself!} descended upon the Jefferson Lakeside Country Club for an afternoon of networking, laughs, food, drinks, and some incredible swag and prizes! It was an incredible time, and well worth all of the planning and logistics that went into it. I want to share some of the experience with you!
First of all, I have to tell you how absolutely AMAZING all of our sponsors were to work with. If you are making any back-to-school purchases this year, I really urge you to consider purchasing from these businesses and individuals -- they truly value teachers and aren't afraid to show it!
A HUGE thank you goes especially to Educents (one of THE best companies around!) for helping with the costs of the meetup and providing some FANTASTIC swag! Make sure you check out their new Educents Wallet feature to get all of those resources for your classroom at a steep discount! If you sign-up for a new teacher wallet account you'll receive $10 to spend on your classroom -- who couldn't use $10?!
We had over $4,000 in prizes thanks to these fantastic folks! It was so much fun to see the excitement on each of the winner's faces!
Check our our FANTASTIC sponsors:
[Educents] [GoNoodle] [ESGI] [Learning Resources] [Ellison] [A+ Images] [Science4Us] [SNAP! Learning] [VocabularySpellingCity] [SitSpots] [Classroom Friendly Supplies] [Kasefazem] [Really Good Stuff] [Planbook.com] [Teacher Created Resources] [Jessica Saunders, ThirtyOne]
And some AMAZING TpT sellers that contributed raffle prizes or digital swag:
[Teaching in the Tongass] [Janiel Wagstaff] [Kimberly Geswein] [Polka Dots & Pals] [Laugh, Eat, Learn Designs] [Whimsy Workshop] [Jewel's School Gems] [The Joy of Teaching] [The Teacher Studio] [KristyBear Designs] [Chalk & Apples] [Teaching in Progress] [There's No Place Like Second Grade]
Also, a GIANT THANK YOU goes out to Sarah from There's No Place Like Second (And now Third!) and Nikki from Teaching in Progress.
Sarah worked night and day (seriously, Sarah, did you sleep?) to do everything from gather donations to create adorable name tags and create super cute programs. Sarah was truly the backbone of this meet-up and I hope she knows how much we all appreciated her efforts. And without Nikki, we wouldn't have had such an amazing venue two years in a row. These two ladies rock my world!
Also, a GIANT THANK YOU goes out to Sarah from There's No Place Like Second (And now Third!) and Nikki from Teaching in Progress.
Sarah worked night and day (seriously, Sarah, did you sleep?) to do everything from gather donations to create adorable name tags and create super cute programs. Sarah was truly the backbone of this meet-up and I hope she knows how much we all appreciated her efforts. And without Nikki, we wouldn't have had such an amazing venue two years in a row. These two ladies rock my world!
1. Nikki (from Teaching in Progress) and I worked the front table, which meant that we were able to meet and greet each and every teacher blogger. I challenged myself to recognize each face before they reached the table. It was super fun to guess who each person was as they entered! I got them all correct, too! Each person was so impressed by all of the goodies we had for them, especially the awesome name tags that Sarah from There's no Place Like Second Grade (And now Third!)
2 Lunch. The food was fabulous, but I'm talking about the company. I don't think I went a minute without laughter, especially with the crew that was sitting at our table. Carla, Karen, Nikki, Haley, Heather, Erin, Sarah, and I had the BEST time during lunch. In the moments that we weren't being silly, we had great chats about blogging and creating. We had a wonderful time together and it wasn't superficial at all. I consider each of these women my real life friends and I know I can count on them. That's pretty special, y'all!
3. Being in a room with so many talented women. There was a moment where I stopped talking (shocking, I know) and just sat back and took in the fact that I was in a room with so many creative women, all of whom share the same goal of improving education by sharing our ideas, resources, and expertise. In the time that I've been connected to these women, I've learned a ton about creating, teaching, and handling life outside of it all. I'm lucky to be a part of such a knowledgeable, inspiring group and I know that I'll forever be a part of this awesome group, even if I'm not in Virginia forever.
You can see more fun meetup photos by looking at the hashtag #VATeacherBloggersMeet on Instagram, or by looking at the photo album here:
Some of the fantastic Virginia teacher bloggers from the meetup are linking up with Sarah from There's No Place Like Second Grade to share their favorite moments and photo memories from the meetup, as well as share their swag and prizes! Be sure and check-out their posts!
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