Why I Love TPT & Blogging {w/Tickled Pink in Primary}

I am so excited for this topic this month because TPT and blogging are a huge part of my life now and I am so thankful to be a part of this community of teachers.  Get ready for a bit of a long post, so I can share with you my passion and love for our TPT/blogging community!!

I have always loved making activities for my classroom and would share my resources with my other K colleagues. One time at a corporate wide Kindergarten staff meeting, I showed them something I had made that went along with what we'd be teaching soon. One of the teachers told me I should it on TPT. I had heard of TPT a little bit and gotten a few freebies on it, but I had never thought about selling on there and had no idea where to start. I also hadn't been following any teacher blogs, so I had no idea how popular TPT was. I decided to take the plunge and start selling on TPT.  

For my first year I added some things to TPT, but still had no idea what I was doing. I had no blog, no Facebook...nothing to help people find my resources. I finally joined Facebook at the end of my first year and found some FB groups to join with other TPT sellers. It was AMAZING to find other teachers that loved creating as much as I did and would share tips/tricks with me. So, when I heard about the 2014 TPT conference, I still didn't know anyone that well, but decided to take the plunge and go! Thankfully, I found some roommates from our Facebook group: Kristen (Easy Teaching Tools), Beth (A Kindergarten Life for Me), and Courtney (Ramona Recommends). My family thought it was incredibly odd and a bit scary that I was flying to Vegas and staying in a room with people I'd never met before. :) These girls were incredibly sweet and let me tag along with them everywhere since I didn't know anyone. They introduced me to new people and convinced me to create a blog! I even met Deanna Jump!! She asked what my blog was and I was so embarrassed to say I didn't have one yet - I knew I had to get my butt in gear and start blogging! :)

At the conference, I went to Hadar's (Miss Kindergarten) session on blogging since I had been considering making one anyway. She had a TON of tips on how to get started and gave us here e-mail so she could help us after the conference. I took full advantage of that and we e-mailed back and forth a bit about getting my blog going. I was extremely excited to meet her again at the 2015 conference and tell her how much she has helped me this past year. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that this TPT community is all about sharing and helping each other, no matter how much of a "celebrity" they become. :) 

I started my blog in August of 2015. I knew I wanted polka dots and lots of pink (obviously), and this is what Blogs Fit for a Queen helped me come up with. 

Melissa (Mrs. Dailey's Classroom) contacted me and asked if I wanted to be a part of a collaborative blog that she and Jessica (Mrs. Plemon's Kindergarten) were creating. I happily agreed and knew it'd be a great way to meet even more teachers that loved to do what I do. I cannot even tell you how much these girls do for our EE blog! They are beyond AMAZING and have created a family atmosphere for our EE bloggers. I love how supportive we all are of each other whether it's school, TPT/blogging, or family related. 

I have become incredibly close with Melissa and Jessica this past year. We got to meet up at the French Lick Blogger Meet-Up in Indiana last Spring and then we got together in Wisconsin at Jessica's house. It's crazy that I can be closer to these girls than some of my best friends and colleagues that I worked with. We just get each other on so many levels! 

I was also able to meet some of our other EE bloggers at French Lick and again in Vegas at the TPT conference! There were big hugs all around when we finally got to meet each other in person instead of just "online dating" all year LOL!

There was a lot to learn at the TPT conference, but of course we had to save room for some fun! Here's a bunch of us bloggers that went to see Michael Jackson LIVE! 

Besides, all the connections I have made, I love the fact that I can share my resources with teachers across the world. I like to make engaging activities for students so they still enjoy learning. I like that I can help teachers spend more time with family, friends, or whatever they enjoy doing by giving them a place to buy resources instead of spending hours of their own time creating something. 

Can you tell how much fun it is to be a part of this community of teachers? Yes, the money of TPT is nice, but I think we'd all agree that the friendships we've made is SO much more impactful! If you are considering blogging or starting a TPT store - DON'T WAIT! We are all here to help you! To get you started, we are celebrating our 1 year blogiversary by giving away a FREE blog design from Alexis at Laugh, Eat, Learn! 

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Why I Love TpT and Blogging { with Mrs. D's Corner }

Teachers Pay Teachers. Where do I begin with how you've changed my life? Not only as a teacher, but as an individual with a love of learning, a friend, a collaborator... the list can really go on and on.

My journey started back in December 2011. At the time, I was a newlywed who quit her job in Virginia to move to Maryland with my husband. I hadn't found a job to replace the one I left and I had just discovered teaching blogs. WOAH! Mind blown. Somehow I came across the TpT website, not knowing anything about it besides it saying "PAY TEACHERS." Hello, I was an unemployed teacher!

So I signed up. I made some calendar something in Word, uploaded it and made a few pennies off of it. After that, I had found a job, so I put less time into it. Fast forward to the BTS sale of 2012. I kept getting emails that I sold a product, little did I know it was because of the sale. That August I made $34 and you seriously would have thought I won a million on a scratcher. That was it.

This was back when we got quarterly checks... my very first check and actually the last time paper checks were issued. January 2013.

Since then, I have met SO MANY AMAZING PEOPLE! I had to caps that because, seriously, amazing people. Let me share some pictures with you!

 The very first TpT conference in July 2014. Notice anyone?

Just a few short months after the conference, I drove to Dallas with Jeffrey (who was an absolute trooper and sat with all of us girls for 2+ hours at lunch) to meet up with some amazing bloggers.

This was also the first time I met all of these people, including Destiny (Terrific Teaching and Learning; lower left picture) who is now my blogging BFF. It was meant to be ya'll.

 We had dinner together before Christmas in Houston last year.

We painted together in Houston! (Noticing a trend... Houston blogger meetups are where it's at!)

...and we got painted together!

In all honesty, whenever someone asks me my best piece of advice for new sellers to TpT, my advice is ALWAYS collaborate with other teachers and bloggers. The friendships I've made through TpT are amazing... and some of them live right down the street from me (like Katie from Mrs. Decatur's Little Gators).

It truly is amazing and I feel so blessed to have met so many inspirational and creative people! They all make me want to be a better person and teacher :) Meeting them would never have happened if it weren't for TpT!

For our 1 year blogiversary we are giving away a blog design by Alexis at Laugh Eat Learn Designs. If you haven't seen her amazingness yet, prepare yourself to be blown away. She is super talented ya'll!

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Why I love TpT & Blogging {w/ The Sunny Side of Second Grade}

Hey y'all! It's Amber again from The Sunny Side of Second Grade. Can you believe we have been at it for a year already?! I cannot think of better people to have spent my blogging time with. Seriously we have an amazing crew here at The Elementary Entourage.

I started selling products on TPT a little over a year ago, and while I haven't created as much as I would like to date, I am happy with the feedback on the products I have completed. TPT has opened a new window in my life that has served as an outlet for my creative side. It is so relaxing for me to sit down and create products to share with other educators.

TPT is a win win for me. While it costs me money to create the products for other educators in need, I am also giving back to some of the same educators by purchasing their products. The items I purchase through TPT adds so much to what I do inside my classroom daily. I reckon you could said that TPT has made me a better teacher. Thank you TPT and teacher authors!!

In celebration of our yearlong blogging extravaganza, we have a very special giveaway for you! Please enter for your chance to win a super cool blog design. Who wouldn't want that?!



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Why I Love Blogging And TPT (From The Kindergarten Smorgasboard)

It's Mr. Greg from The Kindergarten Smorgasboard and I am so excited to share why I am thankful for blogging and Teachers Pay Teachers!

When I sat down to write my post, I felt that a video would be more appropriate because reading words just wouldn't convey my feelings about blogging and TPT!   So I hope you'll spend about 10 minutes listening to me pour out my heart!

And to celebrate our 1 year of blogging, we're giving a complete blog design from  Alexis at LEL Design!  Make sure to enter using the Rafflecopter!

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Why I Love TpT & Blogging {+1 Year Blogiversary Giveaway!}

I am so happy and proud to be a part of this blog and the Teachers Pay Teachers community! Let me take you on a little journey through my decision to embark on this crazy blogging/TpT life.

Well, like many of you I'm sure, I started out as an avid "blog stalker."  Before I even discovered all of the amazing resources available on TpT, I began following some amazing teachers like Rachelle and Natalie of What the Teacher Wants, DeeDee of Mrs. Wills' Kindergarten, Cara from The First Grade Parade, and of course Deanna at Mrs. Jump's Class. (Maybe you've heard of these lovely ladies?) While I hd amazing teaching teammates at the time, I always hated how isolated teaching made me feel. I wanted to be a fly on the wall in other people's classrooms, not only in my school, but everywhere! So you can imagine, I just loved following along to see what all of these fabulous teacher bloggers were doing in their classrooms.

Reading all of these fabulous ideas, eventually lead to finding TpT to grab some of the amazing FREE creations they were making to help me in MY classroom! Then I started searching and finding even more amazing resources that I could buy to not only save me time, but to better engage and teach my students.  I found that these resources were just SOOOO much better than buying those books from the "teacher stores" that I'd photocopy 4 pages then leave the book on a shelf to collect dust for years.  I was in heaven.

Now I was in awe of the fact that these teachers could create and share so much all while continuing to teach.  We all know how hard it is to keep up with the day to day demands of the classroom, and I just couldn't fathom adding anything else to my plate. Well, fast forward 5 years and...

 That's right. Enter baby. Now remember what I said about not being able to add ANYTHING else to my plate? Well I'm pretty much a perfectionist when it comes to teaching and can't just "let things go" which meant 12 hour days at school followed by more prep/planning at home most days. I couldn't see how I was going to add a baby to the mix.  Luckily I have always dreamed of being a stay at home mom, and my husband fully supported me in this dream.  We were in a place that we could make this happen, but the burden of becoming a one income household would for sure mean cutting back on some things. Not to mention my fears of missing the classroom.

That's when I decided...why not try blogging and TpT? If I can make $100, that's $100 more than I'd had before.  And I could spend time creating all of the amazing things that I wish I had time to work on while I was teaching.  And so it began...

Now I never expected that this journey would give me the opportunity to meet some of those very same bloggers I first admired:

And bring me some of the most amazing friends that travel from all over to conferences and meet ups to talk about our passion for teaching:

And of course ease the financial burden of dropping my teaching salary.  I truly cant believe it, but here I am 2 years later, and surprise!

We are adding baby number 2 and I am so happy that I decided to begin this journey.  I've been out of the classroom for 2 years but I still feel so connected to the teaching community. I may not have a school to call home, but my classroom is my home and I plan/create during nap time and at night. Soon my little peanut will be playing school with mommy, and I'll be creating all sorts of preschool fun for her to enjoy. I can't imagine what life would be like if I hadn't found TpT and all of the fabulous teachers I have met along the way.

Okay speaking of those friends... My EE friends and I have been blogging here for a whole year! Can you believe it? When my blogging bestie Melissa from Mrs. Dailey's Classroom asked me to start this blog with her we had only known each other for a few months, but we quickly became closer than any of my "real life" friends. And we want to celebrate with you!

That's right, we're giving away a COMPLETE blog design from the amazing Alexis of Laugh, Eat, Learn Designs.  I had the pleasure of meeting this gorgeous lady at the TpT conference and she is just another one of my blogging turned real life friends.  

If you are just getting started blogging or thinking about a redesign for your blog you have to check out some of her designs. I love that they are all so unique and that she really listens and works with her clients to match their style. Good luck, and here is to another amazing year here at The Elementary Entourage!

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