VSRA Conference: I presented!

Wow. Can I just start with that? I went to the VSRA (Virginia State Reading Association) Conference this week from Thursday until yesterday, and I'm a little overwhelmed. In a good way! My husband told me that he needs me to move back into my classroom because I have SO many samples of resources in the back that it takes up almost the entire backseat area. And I have tons of notes. Basically, I have enough resources to blog about almost up to the time I go out on maternity leave!

Today, I'm just wanting to share a few highlights, and I'll get into the sessions later (after I have time to unpack everything and get my thoughts together). One of the most exciting things was that I had a chance to present with three other amazing women you may know (Andrea - Reading Toward the Stars; Carla - Comprehension Connection; Jessica - Hanging Out in First). We talked about the benefits of blogging and how to get started. I didn't think anyone would show, and we were all shocked when we saw the size of our presentation room (eek!).

But we ended up having about 30 people come, and some of them even had their laptops out trying the things we discussed! It was really fun, and I want to try presenting on something else next year. Who knew I'd be brave enough to want to try again?

Oh, and if you want to grab information about our presentation, everything is on Adventures in Literacy Land right now (the PowerPoint and handout). They're great resources!

I was able to see a lot of friends from my Master's program, summer committees, and blogging, which was a lot of fun! Of course, I was not very good about taking pictures, but I was able to steal a few.

Me, Carla, Andrea, and Jessica before our presentation (picture courtesy of Andrea)

Andrea, myself, Carla, and Tiffany (K Teacher Tiff) at the Jeff Kinney Brunch (picture courtesy of Tiffany)

And FINALLY, I was able to meet Jeff Kinney, author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series! He did a book signing and spoke at the final brunch yesterday afternoon. He's so down-to-earth and funny, and it was precious because basically his entire family came. His brother, Scott, kept interrupting (well, once technically) and asking questions during the Q&A session at the end. I need to catch up with all of his books and get them all in my classroom!