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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Reading Strategies Book Study Kickoff and Giveaways

If you teach K-8 readers, you need to run not walk to your nearest book store, (or online retailer of choice to get this book!  The Reading Strategies Book : Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers by Jennifer Serravallo is hands down one of the best reading instruction resources I have ever read!  

A group of bloggers and I are spending our summer diving deeper into this incredible resource, and we will be sharing our thoughts and ideas with you through weekly posts.  If you scroll down a bit, you will be able to win your very own copy of this book, and find out how you can participate in our book study!

Each week we will be going through a chapter and sharing some of our own thoughts, ideas, and resources.  You can follow along with us by just reading or posting your own thoughts on your blog and linking up with us!  I will also have some discussion posts on Facebook and Twitter as well, so you can join in with us however you would like!

If you would like to sign-up to host one of the chapters on your blog please click here.

This book is a bit different from a traditional book in that it is set up kind of like a menu.  As you discover the needs your students have as readers, you find that section in the book and then have a list of strategies broken down step by step to address that need.  If you've ever struggled with what to do during a "strategy group" this book covers you from emergent to advanced readers.

Today I am going to share with you a little bit about how I set up my book to be more user-friendly. Here are some of the supplies I used:

I did not use all of the tabs, but I wanted to show you that you could do this in a variety of ways depending on what works best for you and what you have on hand.

The book is divided into 13 goals (you will not use all 13 goals with every student as not every student has the same needs).  I created a label for each section and then placed it in the book where that section is.  This way, I can easily find what I need as I plan my lessons.

During the school year, I am all about easy!  If something is hard to find or difficult to manage I don't always end up using it.  This resource is one that I have definitely wanted to use, so I made it easy for myself!

 As you can see from the picture above, I can easily find the section I need without having to look through the table of contents or index.

Some other teachers have rebound their books with spiral binding to help it lay flat, but I still need to take that step.

This is an example from Nancy at Teaching My Friends.

Jennifer Serravallo Reading Strategies Anchor Charts

The next thing that I did was to prepare a mini toolkit for the anchor charts that are included for all of the strategies.  For this, I used a sketchbook.  I chose this because it is very durable and the pages don't fall out as easily as they do in a binder.  

Because I don't know what needs my students have yet, I decided to prepare a few charts that tie into our standards.

I chose to look through goal 6 because we begin the year talking about characters.  I flipped through a few lessons and decided to start with this one.

Each strategy tells you: 

* What level the strategy is appropriate for

* What genre

* The Skills

*Teaching Tips

* Prompts

Serravallo also includes anchor charts or sample student work for each strategy.

I checked through this and decided it would definitely tie into my lessons about character traits.

I recreated the given anchor chart in my sketchbook (using pencil first in case I made a mistake!).

I left sections of it blank so that it could serve as a sample graphic organizer that a student could use for any text.  Sometimes students falsely believe that graphic organizers are created for a particular book or lesson and don't transfer their knowledge to other assignments especially independent work.  I am hoping that this will be a better reminder that this strategy can be used again and again.

To again make my life easier, I used a tab to identify this anchor chart in my sketchbook to make it easier to find during lessons.

I color-coordinated the tab to match the ones in the Reading Strategies book, and as you can see, I labeled it with the corresponding unit and page number.

I hope this helps give you some ideas to set up your book to use!  If you don't already own a copy of the book we have a giveaway to help you win one!  Enter the Rafflecopter below!

AND.... If that wasn't sweet enough for you.... we are also giving away a $35 Starbucks gift card (separate giveaway) so that you can sip away at your favorite drink while you peruse your new book.  Be sure to enter both giveaways!  Giveaways are now closed, check here for our current giveaways.

 

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

Prize: Reading Strategies book by Jennifer Seravallo

Co-hosts : Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher), Samson's Shoppe, Mrs. Roltgen, The Craft of Teaching, The Chocolate Teacher, and MM Bilingual.

Giveaway Organized by: An Apple for the Teacher

Rules:  Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 6/23/16 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?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

We're also giving away a week of Starbucks to one lucky reader!  The winner will receive a $35 Starbucks gift card - enough to treat yourself to a week's worth of caffeine goodness!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

Prize: $35 Starbucks Gift Card

Co-hosts : Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher)  The Chocolate Teacher, Ms. K, A Teacher's Idea, Mrs. Roltgen, Debora Marines (Teach Magically), Schoolhouse Treasures, Samson's Shoppe, Minute Mommy, MM Bilingual, Jackie Crews, and English Oh My.

Giveaway Organized by: An Apple for the Teacher

Rules:  Use the Rafflecopter to enter.  Giveaway ends 6/23/16 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?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome group of bloggers!

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Favorite Read Alouds for Upper Elementary

My students and I LOVE read alouds.  If I have to give up any part of my day due to a crazy schedule, I refuse to let our read aloud go.  Here are a few of my favorite books to read aloud to upper elementary students.  

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.  

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

I love to start out my school year with Wonder. It really is a great way to teach students empathy and kindness for one another.  I also love the way that it is told from multiple viewpoints and that the characters are very rich and complex.  Both are important reading comprehension standards for upper elementary students!

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

This book is always one of my students' favorites!  They love how a cold-hearted bunny learns to love despite all of the obstacles he faces.  I am always impressed by the symbolism that my students find as we read the book and I love the looks they get at the very end of the book.  Pure magic!

The Tiger Rising

Kate DiCamillo has got to be one of the best author's of read alouds for upper elementary!  Every book of hers that I have read to my class has become a fast favorite.  This one was actually the first read aloud suggested in Lucy Calkins' reading units for fourth grade, and it did not disappoint!  It is a great way to teach about characters and how they change throughout a story. It is also a great conversations starter with so many themes including: bullying, fitting in, keeping feelings bottled up, loss of a parent, and whether wild animals should be kept in captivity, and more.

The One and Only Ivan

The chapters in this book are short and easy to read, but there is so much that goes on in each short chapter.  My students always fall in love with Ivan and root for him right from the beginning.  This is another book that stimulates great conversation about animals and how we treat them. It also ties beautifully to upper elementary standards with first-person narrative, literary devices, perspective, character change, and so much more!

Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin

Jack: The True Story of Jack & The Beanstalk

Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood

I have been looping with my students for the past several years.  During a round of 3rd grade, I purchased Rump to go along with our Lucy Calkin's writing fairytale unit.  My students ate it up!  When I found out that the author had other versions, I had to get them.  My 4th graders loved the idea of reading another one of Liesl Shurtliff's amazing books when we read Jack.  I have ordered Red and am excited to read it this summer!

How to Steal a Dog

I love using read alouds with characters that my students can relate to.  The main character in this story, Georgina Hayes finds herself in the situation of choosing between doing what would be best for her, or doing the right thing.  The situation in the story is not exactly black and white, and I love how my students wrestle with the idea that doing the right thing is not always the easiest thing to do.  I teach in a Title 1 school, and many of my students have been in the situation of homelessness just like Georgina.

What are some of your favorite read alouds for upper elementary students?  

This Giveaway is Over!  Please visit our Giveaway page to enter our current giveaway.

Now, time for the giveaway!  Thanks to my some of my generous blogging buddies, you can win a $25 Amazon gift card to purchase any of these great books, a summer read for yourself, or ???  Decisions, decisions!

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

Prize: $25 Amazon Gift Card

Co-hosts:  Kelly Malloy (An Apple for the Teacher)  The Chocolate Teacher, Ms. K Math, Schoolhouse Treasures, Samson's Shoppe, Jackie Crews, Sliding Into 1st, and The Literacy Garden

Giveaway Organized by: An Apple for the Teacher

Rules: Use the Rafflecopter below to enter.  Giveaway ends 6/22/16 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?  Click here to find out how you can join our totally awesome groups of bloggers!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Explore Like A Pirate Book Study Chapter 2

Today I am linking up with Sweet Sweet Primary for our book study of Michael Matera's book Explore Like a Pirate. Join us each Tuesday as we share our takeaways from this book that is all about engaging your students.   If you missed my previous posts you can find them here:

Chapter 1

If you would like to read along with us, you can find the book here.  It is also available for free on Kindle Unlimited right now.

If you missed my first post on chapter 1, you can find it here.

Chapter 2

Tall Tales: Dispelling the Myths of Gamification

Chapter 2 is all about reducing your fears (or perhaps the fear of others including administrators, parents, and students) about game based learning.

Matera says that the most common question he hears is "What is gamification?"  He supplies this definition:

He says this definition is a great place to start the conversation, but there is so much more to it.  He says success comes when we are intentional about the ways we use gamification in tandem with curriculum standards.  You use this method along with other tried and true methods.  I definitely appreciate this, because it often seems that when new methods come along, we are asked to throw away everything else we are already doing regardless of whether or not it was already working.  I like the idea of this being an addition rather than a replacement.

Matera addresses several common myths about game based learning including:

Myth 1: Games are just for play.  There is no challenge or educational rigor.

Not so, says Matera.  He says the truth is that games are filled with a "motivational complexity" that can be used to increase content acquisition.  

He asks, why do students play games like video or board games?  No one makes them play, they choose to do so on their free time.  In fact, it is their number one use of time.  By the time students complete high school, they will have spent over 10,000 hours gaming! As educators, we need to meet the students where they are - with the games!

Myth 2: If I give them a badge or points, my class will be gamified.

Matera dispells this myth by saying that without an engaging setting or purpose badges or points are not incentives.  This makes sense to me, because I notice that most of my students are not motivated by grades - I think this is how they view them.

Myth 8: My classroom doesn't have enough technology to make this work.

I am FINALLY getting 1 to 1 ipads in my classroom this year - I say finally because all of my team mates have had them for at least a year or more.  I was last man on the totem pole so I have been patiently waiting. So, that means I get this if you don't have technology in your classroom yet.  Luckily Matera says that YOU decide what this looks like in your classroom.  It doesn't have to be electronic.  You can play ANY kind of game.  I have links of a few examples below.

Games to play in the classroom when you don't have technology:

Do you remember doing this when you were a kid?

As you can see from their smiles below, my kiddos LOVED doing it too!  Instead of just solving math problems, we turned it into a game when we checked the problems.  You can read more about it in this blog post.

Snowball fights

and water balloon fights are also fun ways to practice skills.

My students also love rounds of mental math.

What kinds of games do you play in your classroom?  Leave a comment below, and share any links as well.  We would love to see them!

Last but not least, head on over to my giveaway page to enter our current giveaways!

Explore Like a Pirate Book Study - Chapter 1

I am linking up with Sweet Sweet Primary for a book study of Explore Like a Pirate by Michael Matera. Join us each week as we share all of our takeaways from this book, that is all about engaging, enriching, and elevating your learners with gamification and game-inspired course design.  If you missed my previous posts you can find them here:

Chapter 2

If you would like to read along with us, you can find this book on Amazon here.  It is also currently available for FREE on Kindle Unlimited.

Chapter 1 

The Call of the Explorer: Discover the Adventure That Awaits

Are you ready to set sail and explore the idea of gamification or game based learning? Or are you just wondering what exactly is game based learning?  Either way, you will love this book!

In this first chapter, Matera gives a brief explanation of gamification and highlights the possibilities that are available to teachers and students when used in the classroom.

What is gamification?

Gamification is delivering your lessons and content with elements of game playing.

Why Should I Use Game Based Learning in My Classroom?

When Matera first started using game based learning  in his classroom, he wasn't sure what the experience was going to be like, and he was uncertain if it would be successful.  But, he remembered back to when he was a student that even if the subjects were interesting, he wasn't very motivated.  College seemed to be too far off and the threat of receiving a lower grade didn't seem to phase him. He knew his students were feeling the same way.

As he began using game based learning he discovered that "the power of play in the classroom activates the human spirit and leads to greater content acquisition and self-motivation."

 I know I have students who are also unmotivated - so I am definitely interested in finding out more! 

I have used game based learning in my class, and I definitely see huge gains when I do use these elements.  

My students LOVE learning their math facts, because we use my Kicking It Math System and they earn karate type belts as they progress through the levels.

I have also used games to review concepts we have already learned, like this fishbowl review game and Pie Face.

Even though I have already incorporated some forms of game based learning in my classroom, I am excited to learn even more ways to implement it into my classroom!

Are you interested in learning more as well?  Be sure to follow along with this book study!  In the meantime, I found a few articles about game based learning and gamification that you might want to check out.

What is the difference between game based learning and gamification?  I have often heard these two words used interchangeably, but there is a difference between the two.

Educator's Checklist for Game Based Learning  This article provides educators with a starting ground and list of ways to get started with Game Based Learning.

Game-Based Learning - Why Does It Work?  According to this article, people learn from games and they will learn MORE from games than other forms of learning.  The author lists all of the reasons why it works, and I have to admit that I definitely agree with all of them!