The meet up that we held in Vegas last week was AMAZING!! There really isn't many other words that could describe it. Picture 1100 teachers in a room together, having fun, meeting new people, and winning lots of prizes. We were all smiling so hard that our cheeks hurt. It was a great night and we appreciate all of the many teachers and bloggers who came and had a fabulous night with us.
First and foremost, we have to give a HUGE shout out to Teachers Pay Teachers, SDE, and GoNoodle! These sponsors not only donated generous amounts of giveaway swag, they also helped organize and make our meet-up extraordinary!
It's safe to say that in a mix of 1,100 educators, we all appreciate staff development that is fun, engaging, and inspiring. SDE donated several different staff development gift certificates... from online seminars to National Conference passes!
Not only did TpT host their very own conference, but they were also so generous when it came to our blogger meet-up! Who wouldn't get excited about FIFTY TpT gift certificates??!! That's right, FIFTY lucky winners went home with a little money to spend atTpT! Oh, and those drink passes? Those were from TpT as well!
I mean, what would we have done without those amazing GoNoodle swag bags?? Plus, they brought in the neatest PhotoBooth that you ever did see! AND, we can't forget Freckles, theGoNoodle mascot! How fun was it that he was running around snapping pictures with people all night long??
We had so many other sponsors that helped donate over $55,000 worth of swag, prizes, and goodies! Can you believe that?! I don't know about you, but to us... that's a whole lotta love for teachers! Let's take a look at these amazing prizes...
Who loves Scentos out there? Teachers AND students love the fun-loving smell of all theScentos goodies out there! Scentos gave markers and stickers to all of our attendees! Isn't that amazing?!
Who doesn't want a precious {and FREE} bulletin board set to start off the new year?! Creative Teaching Press sent bulletin board sets to every single person who came to our meet-up! A couple of lucky teachers went home with a Creative Teaching Press gift card as well!
Erin Condren sent products that were hot off the press! Have you seen their teacher posters, teacher bundles, and teacher planners? Erin Condren makes lesson planning a beautiful thing!
Speaking of beautiful things... check out these too cute to boot Vera Bradley gift baskets! Vera's bags are PERFECT for teachers, moms, and well... anyone who loves pretty things :)
Now, we all know how stylish all you teachers are out there! The Pampered Teacherdonated TWENTY Teacher Subscription boxes to our lovely attendees! These boxes are designed to help teachers keep up-to-date with the latest trends and styles without any hassle!
If there is something that we know... it's that teachers LOVE getting new tech-goodies for their classroom! So many times our schools, districts, and counties just don't have enough funds to outfit our classroom with the latest and greatest, but we sure are glad that oursponsors are willing to step up to the plate! Hue HD gave 11 different doc cams! Isn't that amazing?!
ESGI is all about helping teachers simplify giving meaningful assessments. They were so generous to donate a GRADE-LEVEL license! That's up to TEN teachers that get to use ESGIfor an entire year! Plus they even included a little gift basket of goodies!
Alive Studios' mission is simple: to equip teachers with engaging solutions that help young students become proficient in reading and math by 3rd grade. I mean, who doesn't want to get on board with that?!
Do you want your students to come to the carpet, line up, and transition in an organized andFUN manner?! Sit Spots knows how important spatial management is for teachers! That's why they sent FIVE $100 gift certificates to our meet-up!!
Now that we are talking about staying organized, let's focus on Seat Sacks! THREE lucky winners went home with different Seat Sack Packs! These teachers will now be able to have a classroom full of organized and tidy students!
Carson Dellosa has been in the business of making teachers happy for over 38 years! If you have taught for any amount of time you have probably purchased their classroom resources, decor items, or supplemental materials! Not only did they give cut-out accents to every attendee, they also donated three gift baskets!
It's no secret that the Ron Clark Academy has been positively impacting education for several years now! Well, now that our sweet Hope King and her precious hubby are teachers there, we are getting to see even more incredible things that are happening there! Several bloggers have visited over the past year, and now TWO more teachers will get to plan a visit thanks to the generosity of Ron and Kim! If you can't get to their Academy right away, you many want to check out their newest books: Move Your Bus by Ron Clark, Crash Course by Kim Beaden, and Inside the Trenches by Adam Dovico.
Have you seen the Ellison All-Star machines? These die-cutting machines are portable and easy to take on-the-go! Ellison generously donated FIVE of their AllStar SuperStar Machines! They also sent goodies for our swag bags... that every attendee was able to take home!
While we are on the subject of classroom goodies, let's talk about Teacher Created! They donated THREE gift baskets showcasing their very own classroom decor materials!
Do you teach about butterfly life-cycles in your classroom?? If so, you MUST check out Insect Lore! They are the original Butterflies-By-Mail company! Everyone went home with a package of 3D insect stickers at our meet-up!
Kaplan provides developmentally-appropriate educational products to families, early education professionals, and classrooms!
Looking to jazz up your laptop, phone, or tablet? Skin It makes those devices that we are so addicted to even better than before!
If you haven't heard of Kim Sutton's math materials, you must stop what you are doing and check them out NOW! She brings the fun into your math instruction!! Creative Mathematicsgenerously gave a Staff Development DVD :)
Lakeshore Learning is no stranger to education, right?! We all know and love their teacher-and-student-friendly products! Their STEM kits were the perfect gifts for our winners!
Who doesn't love a pretty notepad, desk organizer, and cards?! Well, we have all known that Krista Wallden brings her A-Game to clipart, but she's also knocking it out of the park with her new Creative Paper Collection! Of course, we just adore her new designs that make scheduling and planning such a pretty thing!
OHHHH, and if you love adding personal touches to your classroom, home, and well, pretty much anything... you MUST check out Silhouette America! You NEED this cutting system in your life! Silhouette donated a Portrait and Cameo to our get-together!
Are you a blogger?! Are you looking to start a blog OR revamp your blog-look?? Jumping Jax Designs offers printables, invitations, AND blog designs! We can't wait to see the look that our winner and Jumping Jax comes up with!
And, finally, we all just swoon over 's educational products. From teaching materials, classroom manipulatives, classroom decor, and management tools to all thingsorganizational... we just can't get enough! Thanks to RGS for donating an entire Math Kit to our meet-up!
There are literally a thousand pictures that we took that night and it would be impossible to share them all with you. Here are just a few pictures of the night.
(To see more pictures, please visit the What The Teacher Wants Facebook Page.)
As you can see, this turned out to be the biggest teacher and blogger bash of the century. Thanks again to all our generous sponsors who made the night possible and to all of you who were able to be there in person!
The last shout of of the night goes out to all those who planned and organized this event over the past year. These girls reached out to all the sponsors and helped make the night such a success! (Not to mention they helped fill over 600 swag bags…)
We'd love to hear from you! Leave us a comment telling us which of our prizes you would have liked to win. If you were there, please share with us one of your favorite memories from the night.
