Spend a Week Bird Watching with Me in Maine

Come spend the week with me in Maine!

This trip definitely wasn't for the birds! Come along with me as I finally partake in the bird watching adventure awarded to me by the Missouri Audubon Society and my school district! In 2020 I submitted a bird watching resource I created for my students to the Missouri Audubon Society and school district. I was selected as a winner and recently traveled to Maine to watch and learn about birds! If you missed the video where I talked about the product that helped me win, click here to watch now!

A few months ago, I did a video about how a Teachers Pay Teacher's product helped me win a birdwatching trip to Maine with my school district.  In that video, I explained how I created the product and ultimately how I got sponsored by my school district and by the Missouri Audubon Society to study birds in Maine.  You can watch that video here.  If you're curious and didn't get a chance to see it, it's worth watching, because it'll probably inspire you to start creating TPT products and maybe you can win a trip too.  I just got back from Maine and I wanted to break down the trip for you so you could come birdwatching with me and learn about all the cool things I got to do. 

The day we left, our flight went out early. My dad and I decided to go to St. Louis the night before so we wouldn’t feel rushed in the morning and enjoy some of our favorite Ethiopian food.  We were at the airport before 5:30 AM. Our flight got canceled an hour later so we were stuck in St. Louis until at least 4:00 PM.  It was a long day but I’m glad my dad was with me.   We didn’t arrive in Portland, Maine until 12:00 AM.  That really stunk because then we had to get a hotel room and stay the night in Portland.  With our flight delay, we missed almost a full day of the camp, which ended up being kind of awkward because then we were known as the people that were late.  We had to explain that story probably 25 times because that's the first conversation point that people had with us.

It started with a bird watching unit I sold on Teachers Pay Teachers

It all started with a bird watching unit I created for my kindergarteners which later became a best selling TpT product

A few years ago my dad encouraged me to set up a bird feeder outside the window of my then kindergarten classroom.  The window was ideal because it was at ground level and was easy to open.  I agreed and he made a bird feeder for me with a platform that would be easy to feed the birds as well as observe them.  I quickly learned my kindergartners were crazy about bird watching!  Oftentimes they would interrupt me during a lesson to shout out they had seen a bird.  I never minded the interruptions because I was so happy my students were learning about nature and enthusiastic about becoming birders.  

If you would have asked me a few years ago if I thought a TPT product would help me win a trip, I wouldn't have believed you.  I always thought I wasn’t creative enough to make products for TPT and I could just buy them myself instead.  I couldn’t find anything exactly like what I wanted for my kindergarten class on birds, so I started creating my own resources.  Slowly but surely the product came together and I thought “Hey!  Maybe I can do this!”  It all started with a passion for teaching science, creating a resource that would actually work for my class and getting it noticed by another teacher.

I never thought I would win a free trip because of a TPT product

I never thought I would win a free trip because of a teaching resource I made

I noticed that my students loved the hands-on activities that I was creating for them and each day they were excited to get out their birding journals and see what the birds were up to.  I knew by how my students were reacting and learning, that I had created something special.  From there, I was inspired to write a letter to apply to win the birding trip to Maine.  When I got the phone call that I had been chosen I was overwhelmed with excitement and couldn’t believe that it all started with a Teachers Pay Teachers product that I had created!

It doesn’t matter what level of birder you are to get started!

 Birding wasn’t something I was good at, but I learned a lot at camp to take back to my students

I always enjoyed watching birds as a kid because of my dad. Now, as an adult, I enjoy having a full bird feeder and watching them in my backyard. One of the activities that we got to do was a whole day of field ornithology that was the camp that we chose to go to. I learned things like how to actually spot birds. Many of the birders that were there, were very advanced. I felt like such a newbie, because I'm not insanely into bird watching. I had just created the bird watching unit with my students, and they loved it.  That’s what helped me decide to enter the contest with my school district to get to study birds.  The whole point for me was to learn more things about birds that I could take back to my students especially now that I'm switching to fifth grade. 

There were times that I felt kind of like a fish out of water, but they made it easy for you to kind of understand things.  The teachers were all employed by the National Audubon Society and a professor from a school in New York who teaches field ornithology.  We got to learn about what it looks like to go into the field and actually study birds and observe them. I had to buy a pair of binoculars before the trip which was fine because I do like to use them when I'm out in nature anyways.  It was neat to actually learn how to use binoculars and find birds and identify them.

I can’t wait to teach my 5th graders about birding!

I’m excited to bring nature into my 5th grade classroom and teach my students about birding

One of the biggest takeaways I had from this trip was all the knowledge I can bring to my fifth grade class! Not only did I soak up so much information about birds and bird watching, but I also have a new appreciation for nature. One of my goals for teaching 5th grade is to make science fun and engaging for everyone in my class.

The more passion you incorporate into your lessons, the more engaged your students will be!

Make teaching resources you’re excited about and your students will love learning things you’re passionate about

If you’re considering making your own teaching resources to sell on Teachers Pay Teachers, I highly recommend this. You likely have countless resources that you’ve already created and could be making extra income as a teacher. Who knows, maybe you could win a trip like I did too!

Want to learn how to make your own resources and start earning more money as a teacher? Join my FREE 4-day challenge where I’ll teach you the 3 secrets to selling on Teachers Pay Teachers…even if you’ve never created a product! Click here to learn more about the free challenge!

Learn the 3 secrets to selling on Teachers Pay Teachers even if you've never created a product

If you could win a trip because of a Teachers Pay Teachers product, where would you want to go? Tell me in the comments below!