It's that time again! Time for a new monthly freebie just for you. For January I am giving away a bingo board template. Simply drop in your images and go! This file is free to use for personal or commercial use. Make a holiday bingo bundle for your TPT store. Design a specialized bingo game for your class unit study! Make sure to check back and in and let me know what amazing thing you created! Love you bestie! Mrs. R
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If you were on social media at all, 2022 was ripe with negative teacher content. Posts and videos showing emotional teachers in their car crying over student behaviors or packing up their rooms as they not so quietly quit! Man, that was rough to watch! Admit it, we all have been there. I personally spent a few LONG nights thinking about my life's choices and searching the local job board for something I could do instead of being in the classroom. Then I snapped out of it! I do NOT want to be like that! I left my job on purpose nearly 8 years ago to get out of the toxic corporate work environment and be more 'present' with my young family. I certainly wasn't young, my kids were, but I digress. Now that I reflect, did I trade like for like and simply step into another circle of hell? It's possible. How do I improve the situation of teachers in general? I can't. Plain and simple. People come and go from this profession for a variety of different reasons. There is no shame. You do you Boo. How do I improve the situation for MYSELF and my teacher besties like you? That I absolutely can control. It starts with the work vibe. A good work vibe is essential. It really doesn't matter what "work" is. If you think back to a job you loved it was probably one of two reasons. You REALLY liked what you did...OR...you tolerated what you did and your co-workers made it awesome! Then you moved on because of money, family obligations, etc., etc. Rinse and repeat until you found what stuck. For me that was the allure of a pension and summers off. I won't lie. Again, as I did 8 years ago, find myself knee deep in problems, albeit different problems. This time it's not a long commute or crappy doctors yelling at me. It is unrealistic testing demands, pushy parents, crazy student behavior, and absent admin. Now what? Do I move on like the thousands who will this year? Absolutely not! The grass is NEVER greener on that other side. I want to stay. I want to create and maintain a vibe at school and on my platforms that promote positivity! Can I still blow off steam to my teacher bestie? (girl you know who you are!). That is a must! Can I make content that highlights what we need to improve in education with humor and a tiny sprinkle of seriousness, heck yes! Will I find myself in situations either complaining to complain or participating in online content that drags everyone and everything down in the process? Absolutely NOT anymore! My goals for the new year are simple. I will continue to spread joy through really freaking funny kindergarten stories. To make digital content that helps teachers who just need that extra boost to make it through the week. Show people how to work that side hustle on TPT or Etsy in a real and attainable way. Most importantly, I will NOT get caught up in the water-cooler drama anymore! This year I will walk away from anything that doesn't promote a positive vibe. Unsubscribe from it. Delete it (or them). Whatever it takes, in the name of positivity and good mental health. As always, I need awesome people like yourself along for the ride. Let's do it together and make 2023 a great one! Love you, bestie! Mrs. R If you are a teacher or really anyone with a pulse and a small bank account, you are looking for a side hustle. Over the years I have tried it all. From MLM's to face painting to cookie bouquets and I have seriously loved every minute. Even though I have a "career" I love what the side hustle does for me. It allows me a creative outlet, amassing a like-minded tribe of friends, and a side income! When I am done with one, I find another. Some call it crazy, I call it a good conversation starter. I have literally TRIED IT ALL. Now I want to share what actually works!
For my 40th birthday I got a Cricut from my mom. She loves to support my crazy creative side and certainly I rose to the occasion. I immediately decided I needed to try to find a crafting side hustle using my fancy new machine. Briefly, like many before me, I tried shirts and mugs. Although fun and relatively easy, I really don't like the pressure of making things for strict deadlines or creating custom projects. Finding the right suppliers and most importantly the capital needed turned me off quickly. My idea had run cold. I had to pivot. I did some Etsy research and noticed a HUGE number of sellers who specialized in digital files. These files made specifically for the middleman, the side-hustle crafter. As I looked further, the market was what one might say is saturated. I kept reading it in user comments and blog posts. But was it really saturated? It looked like a lot of the same things at the same prices and people were selling thousands of files! At first my strategy was just to recreate things I liked for a lower sales price. It really was that simple. I would find a holiday themed file and recreate it with my own text and images using Adoble Illustrator. Using that listing for inspiration, but certainly not copying it. Make it my own style and sell it for $.99-$1.50, when others charged $2-$3. I was going for quantity while I built my shop up. Make one file, sell it thousands of times, sit back and collect. That is the theory anyway. I was shocked that it started working. It started working FAST! I began selling files like hotcakes! Did I have to funnel traffic from my social accounts? Absolutely not. Etsy was in fact doing all the work. Horray! I found out quickly that the day to day operations of a printable or digital file business is practically non-existent. I get MAYBE 3 emails a month all asking one of these two questions. 1. "Will you make A, B or C." To which I reply NO. I do not enjoy commissioned work. I am certainly not suggesting you follow in my footsteps. I am sure there is good money to creating commissioned files! 2. "I can't download my file." This usually means the Etsy user is on the App and needs to open a browser to see the appropriate "download" button. I usually direct my buyer to a post on the Esty site that goes step by step. You can find it here: How to Download a Digital Item – Etsy Help And that is it. No shipping, no returns, no lengthy customer correspondence, absolutely nothing other then making files and 15 minutes of customer service a month. Make, post, sell. Repeat! Note: I had zero experience with Adobe Illustrator prior to starting my Etsy shop. I am not particularly computer savvy. There are hundreds of tutorials on YouTube that can help you as you go along! As of January 27th, 2022 my stats are as follows: Total Views: 198.0K Total visits: 110.3K Orders: 16.8K Revenue: $22.5K I must be doing something right! Do you want to learn how to easily make money on Etsy with digital files? Then you are in the right company. I have a mini-course on the subject that will take you from idea to execution quickly and efficiently. Learn how to research high selling files, use proper key-words, make great titles/descriptions and much more. Literally everything you need in one spot to start tomorrow! Can't wait to teach you bestie! Love Mrs. R This past October I stumbled upon lap books. (A little late to the party, I know)
I had no idea these fun and creative activities even existed! I think back to my own girls and oh how they would have loved creating their own books. I am sure the hardest thing to do would have been to narrow down a topic! If you are not familiar, lap books are paper folders re-purposed to make what looks like a DIY tri-fold brochure. You simply create panels to write in, draw, color, etc. Really the sky is the limit with these! I have seen them on practically any topic with amazing end products that are truly treasures. As a teacher, being cost effective in my supplemental activities is my number one priority. Class parties, co-worker gifts, family obligations and so much more drains the old bank account this time of year. These lap books are the perfect solution as they really only need three things. Paper folders (1 per student), cardstock and glue. You could even go as far as using regular printer paper, but I wanted them to hold up to tiny fingers! The entire project cost me about $10 in supplies at Walmart and is printed in black and white at school (another big bonus). I love the idea of colored prints but having the students color their own saves your money, highlights their creativity and takes longer. IYKYK. I designed the 2023 New Year Lap Book to accommodate multiple grade levels. Not only is it visually appealing, but each section has also wide ruled lines that should not intimidate younger writers. (or hamper older ones) I know that in my classroom I would even need to accommodate some students further. I plan to use a highlighter and write the words they want and have them trace with pencil. It still gives them a feeling of ownership without the unnecessary struggle! The only other thing to consider is time. As we all know the weeks surrounding holidays are just weird. We have parties, fire drills, schedule changes and so much more that wreak havoc on our day. These lap books turn out to the best time fillers. I call small groups back to my table and direct them to write or draw in small spurts. You would be surprised at how quickly we can get through these in a few days! Make sure to check out the Tales From Kinder TPT store to get your hands on this printable for your own class. 2023 New Year Activity Lap Book: Creative Art & writing Activity for New Year (teacherspayteachers.com) If you create a lap book this season, make sure to share your thoughts and images! We would love to see what you create. Happy New Year besties! Love, Mrs. R Today after lunch, I smell (quite possibly) the WORST smell ever. Like someone has rotted and died from the inside out. Everyone is freaking out. I calmly ask my usual suspects if anyone needs new pants. No. Then I see it. The boy...sweating in his chair...frozen stiff like a statue. He is not making eye contact. I get closer. Cue the gagging students. I ask if he needs new pants, he nods yes but is frozen in fear. I lift him out of his chair. Poop floods the chair, down his pants, on his backpack, on the floor. Everyone SCREAMS. I quickly usher him out. Grab his chair and toss it in the hall. It is COVERED. A tsunami of poop flies over the edge of the seat. I fling open a neighbor's door and say something. At this point I'm pretty sure it's incoherent babble as I am panicked this kid is going to BLOW. I run said child down the hall as the poop trail hits the floor behind us, shove him into the nurse's station with pretty much zero explanation. #yourewelcome I jog back to my class and look in at the scene. Older kids now walk in from recess and fill the hallway. One screams "oh my God I can taste it!!! It's in my mouth!" Teachers are poking their heads out now as the shouting and rancid smell wafts down the building. NO ONE can escape poop-ageddon! It was my class. It's always MY CLASS. The caution sign left by janitorial pretty much sums up my life. Besties, we may never recover. Love Mrs. R |
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