Fourth Grade Flipper: July 2015

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Tried It Tuesday {Matching Font Color to Clipart in PowerPoint}

Hi everyone! It's Time for Tried It Tuesday!
What have you tried at school or home?

If you've never linked up with Tried It Tuesday, just link up any idea school or home related and what worked or didn't work. Grab the button below. Simple!

My Tried It:

Matching Font Color to Clipart in PowerPoint

You know when you have one of those "aha" moments when you learn a simple trick and CANNOT believe it took you this long to figure it out? That was me last week when I saw this tip on Instagram. For the life of me, I can't remember whose page it was from on my newsfeed but you are a lifesaver! I was working on a PowerPoint document and frustrated as usual trying to get just the right color on my font. I always would go to choose "more colors" and click around on that color wheel for what seemed like forever TRYING to match the color to my clipart!
Most of you probably know this but in case you don't (like me!), here is a simple little trick. I have a Mac and use PowerPoint 2008 for Mac.

I would love to hear any other tips you have about color matching on Macs. I read somewhere about an app under utilities but couldn't find that. There is so much to learn! Have a great week friends!

An InLinkz Link-up

Sunday, July 26, 2015

B2S Teacher Faves Linky!

I don't know if I'm quite ready to think about B2S yet! So much to do still and but trying to just enjoy the time off with my family and be productive too. :) I am linking up today for a fun Back to School linky party that will last four weeks with a new topic each week! Thank you to the wonderful blogging friends at Fancy Free in 4th, Ramona Recommends, and Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher for hosting!

I LOVE my Scotch Advanced Tape Glider! I originally bought it for scrapbooking but nothing compares in value for double sided tape. You really get your money's worth on the refills. I make cards for math centers using this tape glider when students will flips cards over for a game and shouldn't be able to see right through the card. Like this set of cards from my pizza line plot game:

I usually make at least two sets of cards for my centers, each with a different colored back to keep them separate for more than one group to play at a time.

To easily get a colored back on the cards, I run a tape runner on the back of the cards paper before cutting them out. I place the paper on a colored piece of paper and then cut out the squares before laminating. It is tedious but is the best way I have found to make them sturdy and last. No taping the laminated edges that come apart with plain scotch tape!

I've tried many pens over the years and I always come back to my favorite, the Uniball Roller Ball Pens in assorted colors! They write so smooth, no bleeding, and no white streaks ever. I love the colors too (purple is my favorite!).

Having chocolate in what I tell my students is "my secret stash" is a must for me everyday! This is a favorite chocolate of mine that won't break the bank and is just the right size to satisfy my sweet tooth.

I know this seems like a no-brainer but I don't know what I would do with Elmer's Glue! No glue sticks, please! With all the gluing my students do for their interactive notebooks, glue sticks do not work well. There is just usually a learning curve in the beginning of the year about how to apply the glue. As my friend Erin from Lovin Lit says, "Never Toaster Strudel!"

Finally, nothing else compares to the standard composition notebook in my experience for interactive notebooks. Our team specifically writes this on the school supply list but some students still come with spiral notebooks. I keep extra composition notebooks on hand to give those students. Spiral notebooks don't fit as well in our book boxes, the spiral gets stuck on the cardboard edge of the book boxes, students play with the spiral, they try to rip out pages to use elsewhere since it is more the size of a normal piece of paper, etc.

What are your B2S must haves? Check out the linky below to see some other ideas Back to School! Check back next week for another topic for this Back to School linky party!

An InLinkz Link-up

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Tried It Tuesday {Writing in a Transparent Box}

Hi everyone! It's Time for Tried It Tuesday!
What have you tried at school or home?

If you've never linked up with Tried It Tuesday, just link up any idea school or home related and what worked or didn't work. Simple!

My Tried It:

Writing in a Transparent Box

Last week, I blogged about how I am loving how products are using photographs more now in their cover pages and products. I wrote a tutorial about that here.
Here is a picture of one the cover pages I updated on my Fall Nonfiction Themed Text Practice.

A reader asked how I made those boxes transparent so I thought that would be a good topic to cover this week. You see these boxes all over product pages and Pinterest. I love how my friend Joanne at Head Over Heels for Teaching uses them all the time like these two examples.

Here are step by step pictures for you to try this technique! I used Power Point on my Mac.

I hope these steps help if you want to try this technique! I'll be back next week for another Tried It Tuesday. I'm always open to suggestions if there is something you would like to see for another Tried It!

An InLinkz Link-up

Monday, July 20, 2015

iTeach 4th New Post: Math Workshop for Data and Differentiation

As we are settling into summer and planning for next year already, have you been thinking about using a math workshop model? Check out my post today at iTeach 4th for a couple websites I use during "At Your Seat" time for data and differentiation if you're interested!

Click on the logo below!

See you tomorrow for another weekly edition of Tried It Tuesday. What have you tried recently at home or school? I would love to hear about it!

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Tried It Tuesday {Using Photos in Cover Pages} and Two For Tuesday!

Hi everyone! It's Time for Tried It Tuesday!
What have you tried at school or home?

If you've never linked up with Tried It Tuesday, just link up any idea school or home related and what worked or didn't work. Simple!

My Tried It:

Using a Photo for Cover Page (PPT)

I love how products are using photographs more now in their cover pages and products.
So, after some tips from fellow bloggers at the TpT conference, I decided to update a couple covers. Everything has a learning curve and I wanted to share with you a couple things I learned in case you want to try this for yourself.

Where Do I Get Photos to Use?

One of the many awesome tips I learned from Ideas by Jivey's session at the TpT conference was how to search in Google for Public Domain images. Just click "labeled for reuse" under the search tools tab in images! Brilliant!

Matt from Digital: Divide and Conquer was also so helpful and pointed out some other sites he uses for free images including:

So much sharing and collaboration happening this past weekend! Love it!

When you insert the image you find into PowerPoint, it will most likely not fit the page exactly. I found a way to make my images work without distorting the picture. With my directions I had to crop the photo, but this still worked out for me. I'm sure there are many other ways to do this, but I am just sharing what I figured out with trial and error. See the steps below accompanied by screen shots.

So, from old…to new cover!

While I was on a roll, I also updated this cover. Aren't the photos gorgeous?

Since updating these two covers, I decided to participate in Two For Tuesday with

Chalk One Up for the Teacher!

Today only these two products (winter and fall themed nonfiction texts) are both 50% off!

They are each only $1.50 today!

I have MORE of these in the making and when I eventually bundle them, you will get a discount if you already purchased some of them separately. I can look up any purchases by your TpT username.

Here is the preview of the winter themed nonfiction text product.

Here is a preview of the fall themed nonfiction text product.

What have you tried recently? I will have this link up open for only one week and a new Tried It Tuesday up next week! I'm going to do WEEKLY linkups over the summer (rest of July and August!).

Have a great week friends!

An InLinkz Link-up