Teacher Tool Swap Linky

I am SO excited for my very first linky! This school year has been full of many firsts for me. I am a first year teacher. I am a first-time TpT seller. This is my first blog. This is my first linky. Lots of firsts for this girl! Last weekend I was able to meet and collaborate with some of the most passionate and amazing teachers I have ever met. I will blog about my experience at the #SpringTeacherBloggerMeetup2015 next week, but I couldn't wait to link-up and share about all of our amazing teacher tools we received.

Click the link above for the original linky post! :) 

For those slightly confused right now... 

here's the 411 on the teacher tool swap!

We were able to bring a small gift that was either a manipulative or something you felt you just couldn't live without as a teacher. When we exchanged these gifts during the meet up, we were grouped into grade levels. Since some teachers brought a manipulative, it only made sense for use to be split into K, 1, 2 & 3, and 4-6 groups. I was so lucky to be sitting with some amazing upper elementary teachers. I remember sitting with my teaching friend and neighbor, Alex, and asking her "Do you think we're the only upper elementary teachers?" It was such relief to see a solid upper elementary group! :) 

Look at this great Upper Elementary Teacher Tool Swap group! :) 

When we met with our groups, we sat in an organized circle, which is clearly expected out of educators. :) Amanda Pauley, from Mrs. Pauley's Kindergarten, came up with the CUTEST gift-passing story. Every time we heard left, we passed the gift we had in our hands to the left. Every time we heard right, we passed the gift in our hands to the right. I received the absolute sweetest gift from Heather at Smack Dab in the Middle. I am pretty sure my whole face lit up when I opened this:

I told Heather this had been in my Amazon cart just sitting there. It was clearly fate that I received this book! :) I CANNOT wait to start reading this! The adorable gift was also accompanied with a pretty cool Jamberry kit! Teachers know other teachers almost too well! 

For my portion of the Teacher Tool swap, I thought long and hard about what I absolutely cannot live without as a teacher. There were so many obvious (but still so amazing) choices to give: Flair pens, Post-Its, marker, etc. I knew I could give (and receive) those types of things and they would be absolutely ADORED by other teachers. I wanted so badly to think outside of the box. My idea was literally sitting a foot away from me on my desk. Hello, LIGHT BULB moment! Three words: task card organization. 

These have recently come into my life and I am so glad that I found them! At one of far too many Target hauls, I came across these containers made for photos. It then donned on me that these would fit my task cards perfectly! I am such an organized teacher, but when it came to task cards, they were everywhere. Some were here, some were there and some were nowhere to be found....I never knew where they were when I wanted to pull old task cards to use for intervention time. I needed a solution and I needed it NOW! Since I have found these boxes, it has made my life so much easier when storing and using these task cards. 

Happy clicking! :)

An InLinkz Link-up

The whole weekend was pure teacher heaven! 

What teacher tool can you absolutely not live without?

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