Ways to Save Money on Teachers Pay Teachers

Are you looking for ways to save money on Teachers pay Teachers?

I have been buying and selling products on Teachers pay Teachers since 2009, so it is safe to say that I have learned a trick or two about how to save money on my Teachers pay Teachers purchases! Today I am going to share with you some things I have learned.  AND... if you  read along to the end, you will have a chance to win a $25 TpT gift card which will save you even more money!

Leave Feedback

Did you know that Teachers pay Teachers gives you credit for leaving feedback?  You earn 1 credit for each dollar that you spend (and they even round up!) when you leave feedback for purchases you make. Every 20 credits = $1.00 to spend!  You can find more details about the TpT credit program here.

I have a few tips about leaving feedback as well.

* If you don't remember if you've left feedback for a purchase, you can check your purchases tab.  If you haven't left feedback you will see this message:

Just click on the provide feedback link and you can rate the item you purchased.  You will see a form that looks like this:

* Please, please, please read that message before you leave feedback (all of the TpT sellers will appreciate this)!  It asks you to contact the seller before leaving feedback if there is an issue.  We are all human beings and sometimes make mistakes.  There may be a typo or two that a seller missed even if they had several people proofread it.  They may have an incorrect answer in the key.  If you contact them, most likely they will fix it as soon as you let them know.  Then you can leave feedback based on the corrected product.

* If you have trouble downloading a product, contact TpT directly before leaving feedback.  

* Leave thoughtful feedback.  If you rank something lower than a 4, you might explain to the seller what was lacking so that they can fix it (again, contact the seller first to see if they will fix it BEFORE leaving feedback).  "Thanks" does not accurately let the seller know that you loved (or hated) the product.  I try to point out what I did like about the product such as "I appreciate that you made this editable, or that you included black and white versions as well as colored."  This kind of feedback lets a seller know what they should include in a product which makes TpT products even better!

Follow Your Favorite Sellers on TpT

Many sellers list their brand new products at a discount of 20 - 50% off for the first 24-48 hours.  By following your favorite sellers, you will be notified of their newest products first and can take advantage of these great deals!  Sellers will often send out newsletters or posts on their blogs when their are site-wide TpT sales or when they throw their own personal sales.  You can follow sellers directly on TpT by clicking on the star under their store name on TpT.

Follow TpT on Facebook

Teachers pay Teachers has their very own Facebook page (you can find it here) where they showcase various different products, blog posts and more.  They also share freebies! Many of the freebies are only available for a limited time, so you want to make sure you are watching that page!  While you're at it, follow some of your favorite sellers on Facebook as well as they often share freebies for their followers.  I have shared flash freebies on my Facebook page, and often ask for editors to look over my new products in exchange for the completed product for FREE!

Follow Sellers on Social Media

Many sellers have social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube.  They often use these pages to not only share resources, but to announce special sales, giveaways and freebies.  

Join Your Favorite Sellers' Newsletter Lists


Many sellers use their newsletters to share teaching tips, resources, and ideas, BUT... they also share news about upcoming sales and giveaways.  They often give subscriber freebies as well!  You can sign up for my newsletter by filling out the form below:

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Team Up With A Friend

Teachers pay Teachers has an option for you to buy multiple license for an item at a reduced rate.  So, if you find an item that your friend or whole team would like, you just need to buy a multiple license to share it with them.  When you make your purchase, you will see this:

If you click on the edit link, you will see a screen like this:

It defaults to the one purchase, but if you need additional copies you can change that and you will be charged the reduced rate.

To save money by teaming up, you would ask your friend to share the price with you.  So.. in the product above the price would be $1.25 for the first license, and $0.63 for the second license.  The total would be $1.88 which divided by two would be $0.94 cost for each of you.  If you are purchasing for your team you would save even more by splitting the cost multiple ways. The above item is not super expensive, but think about how much you could save by sharing on a larger purchase or bundle!

Have Your Principal Sign Up for TpT for Schools


Did you know that Teachers pay Teachers has a new program where you can order TpT resources using school funds?  Principals can sign their schools up for free here.  Once your school is signed up, you can choose resources that you would like to use in your classroom.  Your principal approves the purchase, and then you have access to the resource!  How amazing is that?

Find Giveaways

TpT sellers are by nature a generous group and LOVE to have giveaways!  You can win products or TpT gift cards from a variety of different sellers.  This is why you want to FOLLOW your favorite sellers on their social media and blogs!  I have teamed up with an amazing group of bloggers to offer giveaways on my blog all the time! We give away a $25 TpT gift card each week and a $100 TpT gift card each month!  You can knock a whole lot of items off of your wish list when you win!

For more money saving ideas, check out these deals for teachers! 

And speaking of those giveaways, it is time for our weekly giveaway!

This giveaway has ended :(  Please head over to our giveaway page to enter our current giveaway.

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

Prize: $25 Teachers Pay Teachers Gift Card

Co-hosts:  Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher),  The Chocolate Teacher, A Plus Kids, Third Grade Giggles, Kamp Kindergarten, Stephanie Rye - Forever in Fifth Grade, Mrs. Irvin's Toolbox, Jackie Crews, Jewel Pastor, and It Happened in 3rd.

Giveaway Organized by: An Apple for the Teacher

Rules: Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 6/26/16 and is open worldwide.  

Are you a Teacher Blogger or Teachers pay Teachers seller who wants to participate in giveaways like these to grow your store and social media?  Check here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers!

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5 For Friday - Oct. 30, 2015

It has been awhile since I've joined in with DoodleBugsTeaching for Five for Friday, but since I have the day off today in honor of Nevada Day, I really have no excuse not to!

In Nevada, we celebrate Nevada Day the Friday before the official Nevada Day (October 31st).  So, since today is a day off of school, we had our Halloween celebrations yesterday.  The kids had a blast!  I am not going to lie and say that Halloween is NOT my favorite day of the year as a teacher, but I do enjoy seeing them have a good time.

Because today is a holiday, we took our weekly math tests yesterday morning.  You could imagine my students' surprise when our principal (dressed as Sandra D), vice principal (dressed as a T-bird) , school secretaries (Pink Ladies), and school counselor (T-bird) burst into our room singing and dancing.

They had a little speaker with them that was playing You're The 

One I Want from Grease as they came in.  My students just sat there in shock.  As they walked out one of them said, "I think that song was from a movie." LOL!

I was able to attend the NSTA (National Science Teachers Association) conference last week and learned so much!  I can't wait to share the ideas with my students and also with you here on the blog. Stay tuned to Sunday's blog post for the science lesson I used with my students this week.

We have had a crazy few weeks as a family as well with Tyler's first Homecoming and Cody's first band concert.

In honor of Nevada Day, some of my fellow Nevada sellers have gotten together to throw a sale at our TPT stores.  My sale is running today and tomorrow.  You can visit my TpT store here.



Hope you have a great weekend and a Happy Halloween!

Reluctant Writers Lesson Idea and Giveaway!

We are using the Lucy Calkins Units of Study for our writing program, and she really encourages lots of free time for students to just write.  While I love this idea, some of my reluctant writers absolutely do not!  They spend the entire time hemming and hawing over not knowing what to write about, and end up with a sentence if I am lucky after 30 minutes of writing!  

I know that students become better writers by ACTUALLY WRITING, so I am constantly trying to think of ways to spur my reluctant writers on. 

One thing that I have been working on is giving my students mini-lessons with strategies for developing ideas to write about.  One strategy that we use often is the use of a mentor text.  I found this book, I Didn't Do My Homework Because... and I knew my students would LOVE it!

It looked like it might be a fun read, so, I purchased it, but when I read it, I knew I hit a writing mentor text gold mine.

When you open the text it begins with a teacher asking her student why he didn't do his homework.

He begins to list a variety of outrageous excuses.

My students roared with laughter as we read each of his reasons.  When we finished the book, I asked them to think of additional ideas they could add to the book if they were writing a sequel.  My students actually jumped at the chance.

Their ideas were hilarious!  Here a just a few examples...

And one of my favorite pics... look how proud of himself he is!  A full page of writing!  Woo Hoo!

And... before you go, make sure to head over to our giveaways page to enter our current giveaway!

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love.  

Product Swap and Giveaway!

One of the best things about going to Vegas was getting to meet some of my blogging/TpT friends in real life!  We often collaborate and email each other and along the way become great friends.  One of the people that I got to meet this year in Vegas was Nichole who blogs at The Craft of Teaching.  You can find her store, The Craft of Teaching on TpT here.



While we were in Vegas we talked about a few of our products, and we decided to do a swap.  I tried out her Questions to Encourage Mathematical Thinking Posters, and she tried out my Math Journals for 5th grade.

For this swap, I am blogging about her product, she is blogging about mine, AND you have the opportunity to win them both along with a $10 TpT card! 

Do you ever find yourself struggling to ask students just the right math questions to get them thinking WITHOUT giving them the answer or telling them how to solve it?  Nichole has solved that problem with her questions to encourage mathematical thinking product.

I absolutely love that she has included both the posters for the wall and the small task card size ones!

I have the posters hanging on the wall that I can point to while teaching lessons, and I keep a set with me as I conference with students and work in small groups.  I have also given them to my students to help them coach each other. 

After using them for a few weeks, I have been amazed at how my students have started automatically using these questions not only with each other, but also in their written and verbal responses.  They are now saying things like "I know my answer makes sense because.." or "I solved this problem a different way by ..."

 

If you would like to try out this product for yourself, you can find it here, or enter to win using the Rafflecoptor below.  We are selecting two winners! 

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