Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash
Have you used Easel by Teachers pay Teachers for distance or digital learning? Although I taught remotely from January to July and share resources on TpT, I didn’t start to explore Easel by TpT until the summer holidays. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to use and impressed with its potential to create engaging resources.
Having spent a great deal of time searching for suitable resources and adapting them for online teaching, I was interested to see how Easel could make this process more effective and streamlined.
Some screenshots from my online sessions this year.
(see below for links to updates of these resources)
How Easel by TpT works:
Creating and Converting Resources.
Easel is a simple and straightforward way to create or convert worksheets or assessments. Simply upload a PDF or create a blank page, then add images, and text instructions. You can then add movable objects (words or images) or answer boxes. Students can annotate using type, pen and highlight tools. As work is set individually, it’s great for differentiation. For live lessons, it is possible to use the ‘view as pupil’ preview mode as a digital whiteboard through screen sharing.
If you share resources on TpT, you’ll see that there is the option to opt in PDF files.
For documents within a zip file you need to add Easel files, I tried and it’s easy to do.
I recommend watching this video and having a go!
Sourcing Resources
There are thousands of ready-made Easel activities and assessments listed on TpT, you can tick the box to filter for these in your search. You will see a tick and ‘Easel activity’ when you select a resource in the format section. You can customise the files to suit your needs.
Will Digital Learning Decline Alongside Covid?
Are Easel resources likely to become redundant as we recover from the pandemic?
I don’t think so. Of course, we’re all hoping for face-to-face teaching in the future, but should we need to teach remotely again, we will be so much better prepared. It’s certainly worth selecting resources that have Easel files in case. This article outlines how it is a good idea to have parallel plans; the in class resources and a parallel set in case learning needs to be completed at home.
Digital resources also have so much potential for use in a range of circumstances such as for homework, to be completed on tablets or computers in class (this may make learning more accessible for some children), for tutoring and sending work home.
If you would like ideas for teaching online and using Easel, you may find this blog helpful.
If you’d like to try out some Easel activities, here are some of my free ones, (links below):
Free Resources with Easel Files
- Fairytale who said it? matching activity
- Sublime Rhymes
- Pirates Anagrams
- Socks Repeat patterns
- Hooray for Fish Pattern and Shape Tracing
All of these free activities have linked paid resources, many of which now have been updated with Easel files.
Updated Resources with Easel Files
Links to Resources:
- Once said in a fairy tale writing frames (now with colour pictures)
- If Fairy Tales had Phones pack (revised format for Easel with prompts and answer boxes)
- Revolting Crimes poster templates
- Revolting Times templates
- Sock-topus and Friends counting activities
- Pirates in Position activities (with movable objects)
- Hooray for Fish Opposites
- Hooray for Fish Rhyming Words
- Minibeasts patterns (sequencing and sudoku)
New Resources with Easel Files
I am currently in the process of polishing the resources I created for online teaching to share; where relevant I will try to create Easel versions for all new resources.
Here are the first batch I’ve uploaded: Monster Balloon Party games, My Amazing Monster literacy lesson, Little Monster Balloon Party games, Count the Coins challenges, Place Value Problems,.
I’d love to know your experiences with Easel and online learning. Please share your thoughts or tips in the comments.
Teachers pay Teachers Tips
If you’re new to TpT, there’s a few features it’s good to know about:
- Follow stores. Many (like Teachers Telling Tales!) discount new resources by up to 20% when they are first uploaded.
- Earn credit. After trying a resource leave a review to earn credits for future purchases. (It also brings a big smile to the face of the creator and may even prompt a happy dance!)
- Subscribe to the newsletter. It comes every Sunday with 10 freebies, links to blogs and details of any sales (which happen quite often).