So its here! The end of dry January. Tomorrow I can drink again. I'm enjoying a nice cup of coffee at the end of the day. There is still time to sponsor me to help alcohol concern and I've done it now! :) Donate HERE

Hey!

So this is my post-BETT blog post! I had a great time at BETT if you managed to go yourself I hope you saw some of the fantastic things I did!

It was so big I didn't get to see everything. I totally missed the Minecraft area which is a shame as I would have loved to see that. But I did get to dance with a robot that had some very smooth moves....

It really was fun and I would recommend going next year to everyone.

I gave my talk at the TES stand and I was really nervous but I've been told I didn't look it (I'm sure people were just being kind...) in case anyone didn't make it and they are interested I re-recorded the talk with my slides and the video is on YouTube.

I hope you are all having a fantastic week and don't forget to follow me on bloglovin by clicking here:

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Happy Friday! It's Friday again YAY

Here we are with the wonderful doodlebugs linky party Five for Friday. Where I let you all know the  5 important things I have been up to this week.



Here are the five things I have been up to this week:



Well first of all I have injured myself some how in my sleep and now I give a little scream whenever I turn my head to the right. Which my daughter find highly amusing!




It could be worse I guess... (at least I'm not wearing those boots!)


On to happier things. Tomorrow I'm off to London to the BETT Conference at the Excel centre. I will be meeting lots of other teacher-authors and I am really looking forward to it! I have found it quite funny that they have listed me on the programme with just my first name and 'The Ginger Teacher'! (I feel like I should be wearing dark glasses or something!) I will be tweeting all day from the event so please follow me on Twitter if you would like to keep updated. I was pleased to be mentioned on the TES twitter account too, even if I hate the sound of my own voice.

Do you have any advice for new authors? Discover @IamCharlee's top tips https://t.co/tHwwjxHO7y #educhat #TESauthor pic.twitter.com/ql8bCvawOb

— tes Resources (@tesresources) January 18, 2016

I am still struggling through Dry January! It isn't actually that hard going but I have had a few days after work when I just wanted to sit on the sofa with a big glass of wine. But I am nearly there! I can do it!! There is still time to sponsor me and help me raise money for alcohol concern :) Donate HERE



Prosecco crisps don't count right???





This week I have also been planning ahead and thinking about next month (not just because I will be able to have wine then!) February brings Valentine's day :) and as I am always loved up it is a great time of year to bring a little fun into the classroom. I have a few worksheets in my new Valentine's pack to help with reading comprehension and punctuation, all based on the history of Valentine's day. So hop over to my store and check it out. TPT and TES 






And lastly I have realised I am a bit dumb some times! After all this time blogging I have only just realised I was not actually on Bloglovin! I thought I was! I thought I had an account and those pictures of people (The ones over there>>>>>> no up a bit) were my followers... Turns out I was wrong. I did not have a Bloglovin account. I did not have an easy way for people to follow me and this MAY have been why I haven't been collecting followers! DUH


Oh well we live and learn! So now I definitely DO have a Bloglovin account and you can follow me very easily by clicking here:

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Have a Fabulous weekend everyone :)

I am really excited because this Saturday I am headed to London for the BETT Conference with the lovely TES website!

I am really looking forward to meeting other teacher - authors and sharing great ideas as well as seeing all the other exciting events going on around the conference.

So if you haven't got your ticket yet... Come on what are you waiting for???

BETT

A while ago I listened to this TED talk:

This concept of a 30 day challenge really interested me. I do like to do things that have an actual end date because I feel like if I can get to the end the hard bit in the middle isn't so bad.

With this in mind I set myself a small 30 day challenge. As it started with a TED talk I decided I would listen to a new TED talk every day for 30 days. I have the TED app so I just chose random and each day listened to a new talk. It was really inspiring and I am pleased I did it.

Now that the 30 days are up, I still listen to them quite often (not ever day now) so I guess this guy is right if you do something for 30 days it becomes a habit.

This TED challenge was quite a while ago for me so I think it might be time for another. I have decided that I will find and read a new teacher blog ever day for 30 days. I will try and comment on as many as I can and take away some good idea or piece of advice from each.

So to kick start me I hopped over to 123 Bilingual Maths This is a new blog that has just started and it is fun. It is a great blog to start me off.

Wish me luck.

Have a go at your own 30 day challenge, see what you can turn into a habit.

Hey everyone, so this week I am taking part in Happy Little Kindergarten’s flash freebie blog hop!

On the 7^th of January my complete lesson on Multiplying Decimals will be free until the 8^th of January! So hop on over quick and grab it while it’s free! Don’t forget to leave feedback J

So new year, new posts to read, but before we get 2016 off to n amazing start here are my favourite posts from the last year.

From May, my 'Go ahead complain' post - despite me looking like a drowned rat in the post it reminds me how far I have come with my running

My June, 'Just getting by...' post. To remind me to be happy and pleased with my job.

And finally from November, 'It's Freebie time!' Because who doesn't love a freebie

Happy New Year everyone. I hope 2016 is fab!

Happy New Year Everyone!

A friend of mine recently told me her new year’s resolution was to start selling teaching resources online. She asked me for some advice and I was happy to point her in the right direction. Then I realized this is actually a really good resolution and more people may want to start the new year this way.

So get started today on your new year’s resolutions. Start selling resources online and change your life!

There are more and more resources sites popping up but I only use TES and TPT if it were in my best interest I would only use one. At first it seems like a good idea to put your products everywhere but it just dilutes your brand and does NOT help sales. The only reason I use TES and TPT is because the TES American site is not as popular as I need it to be and the TPT English site isn’t as popular as I need it to be. So I cater for Americans on TPT and English on TES (change spellings and currency etc.) Later this year when TES Australia starts up I will be looking into that but for now these are my sites.

The first thing you need is an account on TES (get one here www.tes.com). I’m not going to go into details about how to sign up it is really straight forward.

You will also need a seller’s account on teachers pay teachers (TPT)  please sign up for one with my link I get credit for signing people up J https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Signup/referral:charleei

Once you have an account think about a good name for your shop. Don’t stress about this too much at first you can use your own name or think one up. You can always change it later if you change your mind but it is a hassle to go back and change the name on all your products!

The first product you upload to TPT has to be free. When I signed up I uploaded a simple (and bit rubbish if I’m honest) worksheet just because it was the freebie and I didn’t want to ‘waste’ something great on a freebie. This is really the wrong way to look at it. Make your first freebie fab because it will drive business. Just this morning I sold 3 sets of activity cards because one of my freebies is a sample of the activities. If you give people free bits which are really, really good they will want to come back and buy the whole package!

So make your freebie product. Something you have used in the classroom is always a good idea because not only do you know it works already but you can also use pictures of it in progress or the finished work (products with real life pictures really sell well).

Right, so you have made your product now turn it into a PDF and make a cover page. There is so much information on both these topics and I will come back and write a more detailed blog post on these later. 

Here is one of my cover pages but you will find your own style. Put yourself on the cover page somewhere, either your name or logo, so people know it’s you they are buying from.

Then in TPT click dashboard – add new product in TES click resources – new product. If you want more detailed advice on uploading to TES I have a video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQVY8YWKMvk

They is really how you get started at first. You need to get some products in your store and you need to make sure they are good quality. Once you have done that you can start marketing them. There are loads of ways to market products – pinning parties, link ups, blog hops, forums, email, conferences. The list is endless but you need something to market before you get on with that part. So try to get about 15 to 20 products ready and uploaded and then start marketing. If you do sign up with my link I send out regular advice to all the people signed up under me.

That’s all I can think of at the moment I didn’t want to throw too much into the first advice post or go over the top with steps, you’re smart people J

Please let me know if you have any questions.