Category: News and Updates

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I’m back! News & Updates

Line drawing of woman at laptop with words"I'm back, news and updates".
Line drawing of woman at laptop and words "I'm back, news and updates".

For anyone who has checked in to this site over the last couple of years I apologise for neglecting it! Seeing the last blog post about dice games reminds me of the time I worked on that resource when I was caring for my mother in her last days. More recently I have been spending lots of time supporting my father. Moving home was a long drawn out process that meant I was unable to commit to long term work so it has been hard to focus. I say this not for sympathy or an excuse, but in recognition that we all have so much going on in our lives. This is why with Teachers Telling Tales I aspire to provide quality resources that are free or affordable; to ease the workload of educators, who have so many other demands on their time and energy.

It has been so rewarding to see that it has been self sustaining. The amount of downloads from tes.com has now surpassed 10,000, and although I don’t know the exact figure for Teachers pay Teachers, it will be much higher than tes; this makes me feel so proud.

Encouraging statistics from tes! September 2024

Although tes is mainly used by educators in the UK, it’s also interesting to see from the map that there are fans around the world.

Free downloads from tes over the last quarter, September 2024

Since starting Teachers Telling Tales in mid 2019 there have been so many changes globally and in my little world; when the pandemic struck I left my nomadic lifestyle in Asia to settle back in the UK and be close to family. After a series of temporary accommodation I rented a flat overlooking the most congested (and surely one of the most chaotic) streets in Bristol, then in July I moved to new home in Cardiff. My unsettled life meant a series of temporary work roles including support roles in schools, nurseries and a pupil referral unit. I worked as a tutor in schools, online and in an adult education centre with learners that were mostly refugees or asylum seekers.

Throughout all that time it has been reassuring to see the steady flow of visitors to this site and the Teachers Telling Tales social media and stores despite my lack of input recently. Thank you! I do hope to write blogs more often and add more resources. It takes time to polish them to a high standard for sharing, but now that I’m finally settling hopefully that will happen!

So what’s new?
I am launching my own tutoring service. I love the creative challenge of curating lessons to meet the needs of students, whether it’s to understand a maths topic, build confidence in exam technique or develop a love of creative writing. The satisfaction of hearing that a child you tutored had the pick of both schools they applied to after eleven plus tutoring or the student with ADHD doing a happy dance after the session because they didn’t think they would manage 30 minutes but completed an hour. I love how it’s possible to build the learning around their favourite subject, whether it’s axolotls, Disney princesses or constellations. It has been great to draw on some Teachers Telling Tales resources for my sessions and I’m looking forward to the tutoring sessions inspiring more resources to share.

A screenshot of a child's advertisement for an ice lolly. Features colourful drawing, persuasive language features and adjectives.
Persuasive language and adjective work using Teachers Telling Tales’ Delicious Description’ pack
A screenshot of a child's work featuring a phone with speech bubbles showing text messages created between the fairy godmother and Cinderella.
A screenshot of a child's work showing dialogue created between Elsa and Rapunzel first in the form of text messages, then converted to direct speech in a story.

The Teachers Telling Tales ‘If Fairy Tales Had Phones’ resource in action during online tuition to develop dialogue and convert speech bubbles to direct speech.

If you are looking for a tutor for child, or know someone who is, please take a look at my website http://fiona.tutorbird.com and get in touch.

Logo featuring a line drawing of a tutor at a laptop and the words 'Tutoring with Fiona'.

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Adapting to Digital Learning, try Easel by TpT

A child with a laptop on the sofa and title: Adapt to digital learning, it's easy with Easel.
A picture of a child on a sofa with a laptop. Text reads: Adapt to digital learning? It's easy with Easel!

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

  • The cover image of a teaching pack, Hooray for Fish pattern and shape tracing. Shows worksheets.
Free Teachers Telling Tales resources with Easel activities

All of these free activities have linked paid resources, many of which now have been updated with Easel files.

Updated Resources with Easel Files

  • preview image of resource showing screenshots of worksheets
  • Title: If fairytales had phones. Image of Little Red Riding Hood with mobile phone.
  • A picture of an octopus, spider and ladybug wearing socks
  • screenshots of teaching resources on positional language
  • screenshots of fish opposites teaching resources
  • screenshots of teaching resources
  • screenshots of sudoku and sequencing activities featuring minibeasts
Teaching resources updated with Easel files

Links to Resources:

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,.

New resources with Easel files from Teachers Telling Tales


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).
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BTS Sale August 4 – 5

Teachers Telling Tales on Teachers Pay Teachers Sale August 4-5 with promo code

Those three words come along all too soon every summer, so I won’t mention them here, the BTS in the promo code says it all!
This year planning is more challenging with uncertainties around how to teach next year with likely distancing and distanced measures in place.

Teachers Pay Teachers have introduced digital resources (where teachers can adapt PDF resources to be completed online (using Google Classroom).

The annual sale takes place next week with up to 25% off across the site. To support teachers and home educators at this difficult time all Teachers Telling Tales resources will be included with 25% off, use the code BTS20 at check out. Click on the star to follow and be the first to hear about new resources or offers. (New resources are 20% off when uploaded for 48 hours).

Check out the store at:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Teachers-Telling-Tales