#VATeacherBloggersMeet

Before I left for vacation, 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! {You may want to talk about a prize you won here.}

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]

1. These ladies truly have become my friends online, and its so awesome to be able to see them and spend time with them even if it's only once a year!

2. I ended up needing to bring my youngest with me at the last minute, but everyone was so sweet! Pam (SOL Train Learning) and Erin (Super in 2nd and Beyond) even "stole" him for a little while, which gave me a chance to socialize a little more.

3. Just before the meet up, I had tried to do a "stink-eye selfie" competition on my Facebook page (inspired by this video). So we ended up taking a mega stink-eye picture which I shared below! So much fun!

You can see more fun meetup photos by looking at the hashtag #VATeacherBloggersMeet on Instagram, or by looking at the photo album!

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!