And it starts...I mean, BEGINS!

During our annual Back to School welcome gathering for the whole district, our Superintendent mentioned differences between the word "start" and "beginning". 

I always considered them synonyms before, but she really gave me pause to consider each word and all its meanings.

I took away from her talk that to "start" something was to give it a sense of urgency, or to do something in a hurried fashion. 

If the word "start" had a personality, it would probably be impetuous or careless. 

To do something quickly and without much thought is to "start" something.

In contrast, to "begin" something is to plan and prepare. 

If "begin" had a personality it would be relaxed, unhurried or carefree. 

You begin a new school year, because you've put a lot of time, energy, and thought into the process.

Now, I know most of us aren't really feeling relaxed or carefree as we prepare for a new group of students (or is that just me feeling really a little stressed?), but I hope we can all admit that we've had weeks of summer to plan/PIN/prepare for a new school year, in addition to resting & recuperating from the previous one:)

With that in mind, I want to share an awesome YouTube party being hosted by the wonderful collaborative team that is Primary Chalkboard.

They are handing out many fun and relevant tips and tidbits for you to have a successful BEGINNING to your school year.

Click on the image below and you can check out 6 great videos today. 

They're not very long; I watched them all in under 15 minutes...that's less time than those silly health videos your district makes you watch:)

If you watch the videos, you can listen for a code word at the end and then enter a Rafflecopter with those code words to win one of 3 fabulous prizes, like:

$100 to Amazon

$100 to TpT

or a Michael Kors purse!

I'm not much of a bag-lady, so I hope one of you wins that:) 

I'll take either of the Gift Certificates, thank you very much.

Honestly, though, the prizes aren't really the reasons to watch. 

The tips and tricks are worth their weight, I promise you! 

I feel like such an idiot for never using my teacher's desk the way Katie Knight uses hers! Genius!!!

Go watch the videos (there will be additional videos posted each day all week long) and good luck to you all, with regards to the raffle.

Have a FANTASTIC beginning to your school year:)

Mine starts this Wednesday with students. I can't wait!