Have YOU Ever Been...

... To One of SDE's National Conferences?

Over 6000 teachers came to Las Vegas this week for:

I Teach Pre-K!

I Teach K!

I Teach 1st!

I Teach 2nd! 

Differentiated Instruction!

&

Singapore Math

I was so fortunate to be invited to presents at both "I Teach K!" and "I Teach 1st!" this year!

If you have never been to one of SDE's National Conferences, you need to start planning now for next summer:  July 10-14 at the beautiful Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.

These are the Cadillacs of Teaching Conferences! Seriously, you will want to attend at least one of these. And they are held at the beautiful Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada!

If you teach Pre-K, there is an entire conference dedicated just for you! You will have so much FUN learning how to address the Pre-school Foundational Standards while providing meaningful learning AND fun for your Pre-K students.

Kindergarten teachers probably make up the largest group who attends Nationals. There is a "buzz" that resonates through all of the sessions, but it's the loudest at the "I Teach K!" sessions!

The night before my presentations, 
I set up my room with samples!

I felt so blessed to be asked to present a few sessions at "I Teach K!" again this year! My favorite session that I presented was all about Sight Words! We learned lots of new ideas, but my favorite was tracing over sight words, that were written on cute flashcards from Teacher Created Materials, with white glue. Then we sprinkled the glue with powdered Jell-o! When they dry you have "Scratch & Sniff" Sight Words! Not only are they tactile, but you can hear them as you scratch and you can smell them too! You might want to remind your "Littles" not to lick their sight words! Just sayin'...

K Teachers "Turning & Talking" 
about the things they just learned!

When you click HERE, check out the video. Get ready to pause it @ 2min, 5 seconds to see me in my favorite tutu apron from showandtellaprons.com .

I also got to present a few sessions at "I Teach 1st!" That was a 1st for me! I presented one of my favorite sessions called "Phonics, Sight Words, & Writing, OH MY!" Teachers got to "Make & Take" a phonics teaching tool, a sight word "craftivity", and experience my Instant Writing Kit which turns any child into an instant writer! We had tons of FUN! Kindergarten teachers can use these with K sight words too!

My dear friend, Kim, helped me (at 10:30 PM) 
set up my room for the next day.
Imagine my surprise when I showed up the next day to find 
all of the tables gone!!!
Oh well, teachers are flexible. 
We just did our "Make & Take" anyway! 
#Whoneedstables? 

Did I mention that we all got to stay at the beautiful Venetian Hotel? 

Well, we got to eat some amazing meals there too!

I think I gained 5 pounds this week, but it was oh, so worth it!

In between presenting, I got to present a mini-session at ESGI's booth! Oh, how I love the ESGI team! They even served yummy goodies from Carlos' Bakery. They called it "Pastries With Palma". I had so much fun at their booth and then Chris Pombonyo, from Famous in Fourth interviewed me! What FUN!

Attending Nationals is like attending a family reunion. I get to see so many presenter friends that I only get to see one or two times a year! 

So many hugs!
Do you recognize any of these beautiful faces?

And, did I mention the ginormous room filled with vendors? So many GREAT products & freebies for teachers!

My favorite vendors after ESGI, were Show And Tell Aprons, Sit Spots, and Teacher Created Materials. 

The SDE "Red Shirt" Team is the BEST! They make EVERYTHING run smoothly! Seriously, over 6000 teachers and it ran smoothly! Well, their Senior Program Planner, Kymra, is the BEST! I don't even know how she stays so cool and calm during an entire week of conferences all running at the same time! 

And, of course, we looked for Pokemons!

Looking for Pokemons!

And I was so lucky to have two of the BEST roomies. 

I stayed with Kim for a few days. She helped me so much!

Then, I roomed with Heidi from Heidi Songs, she writes the BEST teaching songs EVER! I always learn so much from her!

Kim and I rocking out and Heidi and I out to dinner.
That's a live "statue" behind her!

But in the end, it was time to go home. I don't know if you heard about Southwest's computer glitch, but many flights were cancelled and almost everyone was bumped to another flight. I don't know how all of those great SW flight attendants kept everyone happy, but their sense of humor really helped! 

Why do they stow magazines under the sign that says, "No stowing"?
Just asking! 

So, plan now, my friends. You won't want to miss SDE's National's next year! It will be July 10-14 in Las Vegas. You can register at SDE.com/Nationals and they even have an app for that! 

Visit this blog again next week and check out the thermal laminator I'll be giving away!!!