What An Incredible Journey!

Hi there!
Wow what a whirlwind of activity I have had in the last 72 hours!  When I got up Monday morning I never imaged that by mid-week I would have my own blog!  The whole journey that has brought me to this point has been mind blowing! 

Last July I discovered TpT and I was like a giddy kid at Christmas!  I came running down the stairs whooping it up telling my husband and daughter that I had just hit the jackpot!  Keeping in mind that I have been teaching 18 years ~ the discovery of TpT was like discovering that fairies are real!  Too good to be true!  I spent hours {and I mean hours!} exploring this new world of teaching resources.  I was simply blown away!  I had always made most of my own activities for my classroom but I literally cut and pasted units together the old fashion way.  What I was seeing on TpT were not units ~ they were works of art!  The fact that the units were creative, relevant, thorough and affortable blew my mind!  At that point I was feeling pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to use Corel.  I knew nothing about Power Point let alone graphic artists.  By Christmas I thought I might like to try making a unit on the computer but I quickly became discouraged because of course Corel could not do the things I needed it to.  I asked for a laptop for Christmas because I was tired of being held captive in the computer room 2 floors up from my family. 

During this time I had also discovered the world of blogs.  Incredible!  The discovery of blogs made my brain explode with inspiration!  It renewed my dream of how colourful and creative a classroom can be.   While blog hopping I read and took notes.  Power Point was a familiar topic and I quickly got the names of several graphic artists who you could by clipart from.  In the 2 weeks I had for Christmas break I taught myself how to use Power Point and I had bought my first set of clipart.  Keep in mind that my family calls me "technotard" {enough said!}.  I was pretty proud of myself!  From there things moved quickly and I was hooked!   I opened my TpT store on February 4, 2012 and crossed my fingers.  I screamed with delight when I made my first sale on February 6!!  I am hooked 100%!  I love teaching blogs and TpT because I found my passion again!  I want my classroom to be an oasis of discovery.  I want my students to love being at school.  I want them to feel proud of all their accomplishments!  I want them to dream! 

I have so much I want to share with you but I think I have already broken some blog rule by writing this much!  If you read to the end of this post ~ I want to say thank you because I guarantee that your students are lucky to have you!

I'll be back tomorrow to share my classroom theme with you!

Bye for now,
Natalie