GoNoodle Detroit Meet-Up!

Last night I was lucky enough to be a part of the amazing GoNoodle Detroit meet-up! I was so excited to help bring some positive energy to Metro Detroit teachers!

 

Teachers often feel beat up here in Michigan. We have little support from our governor and have faced major loss of funds because of this lack of support. School districts are struggling and teachers feel that negative energy every single day.

GoNoodle is a huge highlight of our school day! It makes us move our bodies, act silly and laugh with our kiddos. It brings out students personalities and makes them comfortable to be who they are! The Detroit meet-up helped teachers celebrate these small moments of our day!

Hosted at the Museum of Contemporary Art on Woodward in Detroit, it was the perfect scene for a festive night mingling with fellow teachers. A fun industrial space with an artistic flair! Teachers from all over Metro Detroit came together to share their experiences using GoNoodle in their classrooms.

Of course there was dancing to Pop See Ko and the Nae Nae! Watching educators let loose what exactly what I hoped for. No one cared what they looked like, they just had fun!

Squatchy Berger made an appearance which made for great photo opportunities! My new friend Sitaara Jones who is Regional Community Manager for the Mid-West, came to my classroom on Tuesday and danced with my kiddos. They loved doing the Dino Stomp with her and were so excited to see pictures of us together with a GoNoodle friend!

The photo booth was the high point of the night! You could dress us with silly pops and become a part of GoNoodle in a whole new way! Sitaara and I made Squatchy Berger join us for a great memory of a fun night! I just want to get a big thanks to anyone who voted for GoNoodle to come to Detroit. I also want to thank Mary Corder Meagher for letting me help set-up and participate in the event! I felt so lucky to be a part of such a great event with a great company!

Do you GoNoodle? Check it out for FREE!

Free Blog T-Shirt from A+ Images

I was introduced to A+ Images by Jon from The Teacher Touch on a fun educator Blab. He had on his own blog shirt that he was able to have printed for FREE! Free shirt promoting my blog, of course I was interested! I checked out the A+ Image website to create my custom shirt. 

http://www.teachershirts.com/custom-teacher-blogger-shirts

It was so easy, especially if you already have images from your blogs setup! Since my graphic designer had given me copies all of my images, all I had to do was upload and position my graphics!

Check out my blog shirt!

I absolutely love how it turned out!

But wait...

A+ Images has even more cute shirts on their Teacher Shirts site!

http://www.teachershirts.com/

Last year I helped my school order these superhero shirts in the beautiful Cardinal Red and the staff loved them! We even ordered shirts for our principal and secretary!

Check out what A+ Images has to offer! They are very friendly, shipping was extremely quick and their shirts are high quality!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aplusimages

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/aplusimages

Instagram: https://instagram.com/aplusimages/

GoNoodle Detroit Meet-Up!

I am super excited to announce that the GoNoodle Detroit Meet-Up is 

September 30th from 6-8pm
at the Museum of Contemporary Art!

Click the link below to register for the event! 

GoNoodle Meet-up!

I am excited to be helping set up the event and

I would love to connect with Michigan educators from all over the metro area. It will be a great opportunity to make positive connections and have some fun sharing our GoNoodle experiences in our classroom!

Back to School: Setup!

The last two weeks I have been working non-stop in my classroom to get everything set up. I feel like I have been out of the blogging, Periscope, Blab, Twitter world for too long!

While I wanted to keep up with everything it became too overwhelming! I had to take a step back and focus on my classroom, PD and work. I finally feel like I am in a great place to start the 2015-16 school year. Two more days of relaxation and planning before my wonderful kiddos show up on Tuesday!

I didn't want to leave my blog hanging, so I decided to give you some pictures as a quick overview of my classroom. I promise I will go over some of the areas in more detail as the school year begins!

I hope that you enjoy this little overview of my class. Happy new school year to all the Michigan teachers just heading back to school! I hope all the other teachers already back in school a wonderful September!

Popping in Freebie & Joining TPT...What?

My goal is to make connections with amazing educators all over the world! I want to share my ideas and creativity the easiest way for all of us to enjoy!

I truly appreciate everyone who is interested in downloading my back to school lollipop freebie from last year! Some of you had trouble downloading the file from Google drive so I opened it up for editing.  But that caused even more problems with changes being made to the original file.

I just couldn't win! I wanted to make the file easily accessible for everyone in an efficient way! But how? That's why I decided that it was time to take the TPT plunge and post the Popping in Freebie on Teachers Pay Teachers! WHAT???

Thanks for "Popping" IN - Freebie on TPT!

I have wanted to join for so long but felt intimidated by the amount of amazing products already created. I watched Sheila Jane Teaching on Periscope last night, and my world changed! Check her out on Twitter, Instagram, Periscope and Blab if you haven't because she is amazing.  She talked about not wanted to be left out of TPT just because you might feel overwhelmed. Sheila spoke about using TPT as another form of social media for educators to connect. Thinking of TPT in that way made me feel much more eager to jump in and get started, even with only a freebie!

 I don't know how quickly I will be able create projects, but I promise to add all of my freebies to the site for easy downloading!

Thanks for being here for the start of my TPT journey!

BTS 2015: Virtual Teacher Friends!

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This year I feel the most confident, ready and excited to get back into the classroom!

It isn't because I am finally done with my masters. It isn't because for the first time in my career I am teaching the same grade level for 3 years running. It isn't because I have been working to make this year the best yet. While those reasons are helpful, I really feel like this summer has been about making connections with amazing educators through professional development and social media!

Attending the Cue Rockstar Teacher Camp was the start of something great for me this summer. It was three days full of the best professional development I have ever experienced! Next, I attended EdCamp Global online. I met lots of new people and got many new ideas. Edcamp led me to Periscope and Blab where my list of virtual friends has flourished!

I love making connections and seeing each other in person on these wonderful sites! If you haven't checked them out already you NEED to!

Click links for Periscope and Blab!

BTS 2015: Makerspace Creation & Freebie!

I have one week until I can get into my classroom and I am so pumped! Ever since attending Cue Rockstar Teacher Camp in July, I have been so excited to create a classroom makerspace for my second graders.

I have been collecting items, making lists of things I already have available in my classroom, and designing a creative space in my mind.

A few days ago I came across a photo of makerspace banner that someone created for their own classroom. I loved the design of the letters because they were made out of tools! I decided to hit the interwebs and trusty old Google to find the font.

Low and behold I came across a font called Sketch Tools!
Check out the example of the font below:

  I decided to print off the letters two to a sheet in Keynote in black and white so that I could color them in! 

Here is what my makerspace sign looks like completed! 

I colored it in with  Twistable colored pencils, cut out around each letter leaving a little white around the edges. I then backed the letters using a black poster board from the Dollar Tree. 

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Getting ready to laminate them with my heavier Scotch lamination to keep them from curling. I wish It was August 25th so that I can get everything set up in my room!

I would love to share my PDF file with you wonderful educators!

Makerspace Sign Freebie!

If you are thinking of creating a makerspace this year or you already have an amazing setup that you would like to show off, please feel free to download the PDF and make your own sign come to life! 

Please share your makerspace sign creations with me on Twitter or Instagram. I would love to see your creative makerapces!

I promise to share mine as soon as I get everything set up in my classroom!