Tried It Tuesday (PowerPoint: Making Products the Easy Way!)

It's Tuesday and you know what that means! Another Tried It Tuesday!!
I am loving all the ideas linked up each week by everyone.
No idea is too small.
You know the sayings, "I learn something new each day" or "Why didn't I think of that?"
This linky has me thinking saying the above MANY times each week.
Like, literally, until I think my head may explode!
Thank goodness for Pinterest!

What is Tried It Tuesday?  Read more about it here.

<center> <a href="http://fourthgradeflipper.blogspot.com/"><img src=" http://i593.photobucket.com/albums/tt15/04fallingstar/3AM%20Blog%20Design/3am_triedittuesday_3_zpsd7a240d4.png" width=225 height=225 border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a></center> Awesome linky button above designed by the talented Michelle at The 3am Teacher! My Tried It: PowerPoint If I had to name ONE change I made in the last year that made the most difference (with the exception of starting a blog), it would be using PowerPoint to create products and resources for my class!  Disclaimer: I have only been using PowerPoint to create resources for about 8 months.  I am by no means an expert but keep reading if you could use a few BASIC tips:))

WOW!!  I can't even imagine my life before using PowerPoint for creating basically all my worksheets and resources!  I always used PowerPoint for, well, creating PowerPoints.  Which wasn't very often.   I was a Microsoft Word fanatic.   I knew all the tricks to manipulate pictures in Word except that it still didn't work that well!   My worksheets were pretty plain with a little graphic here or there.  Nothing too exciting.   When I started exploring the blogging world, I kept reading about teachers using Power Point to create products and thought I should give it a try. I'm so glad I did!!! I know that many of my readers already know about the miracles of powerpoint, but I thought there has to be some readers out there stuck in Microsoft Word Land like I was:) What is so great about powerpoint? 1.  Ease of Inserting and Manipulating Clip Art I use only png images when I can (jpeg often leaves the white space around the image).  It is super easy to insert pictures in powerpoint AND you don't need to worry about moving the image "to the back".  If you want a different image to appear on top, I just copy, cut, and repaste the image!   The images appear in the order you place them in the document. Also, there are these handy lines that line up images as you move them.  It is genius, I tell ya!

2.  Save your Power Point as Pictures When you save your power point as pictures, you can insert each slide easily into a new document as a picture for preview files on all your teacher's products!  How easy is that?

Once you save as images, you can insert the images into a new document to create a preview display.  

(Note: The screenshots below are taken on my Mac by pressing the shift+command+4 key at the same time.  Drag the little ball to surround your image and release.  The image is saved as a screenshot on your desktop automatically).

Add a border to each image to separate the pages by formatting the "object".  

This makes each page on the preview stand out as its own page.

 

One problem I have with PowerPoint is you cannot change the page orientation within the document (it would stay all horizontal or all vertical pages).  However I found THIS POST by Erica Bohrer's First Grade that describes how to merge PDF files with different page orientations!  

I haven't tried that yet but have it bookmarked for the future!

Here are the finished preview pages of two new centers on multiplying fractions by whole numbers!

Remember I said yesterday in my Monday Made It post that I would like to give away two of these sets?  I would like to try a "Pin It to Win It" (another first for me!).  Just leave me a comment with your pin URL of my new product and I will choose two winners by random number generator later tonight! Make sure I have access to your email:)

The WINNERS are:

Check your emails Ursula and I'm Lovin Lit!

What Tried Its have you tried lately?