A Student Funny

We made these adorable pirates from Abby's Learning /ar/  with Pirate Mark unit this week.

 Does anyone else think they look like they are doing the robot?

This pirate looks like she just got back from the beauty salon!

  I added hair templates to the pattern and overheard some students discussing which direction to glue the boys hair; pointy side up or down? I laughed out loud when the answer was, "Down in his face like her son." Not sure which son they were thinking of but either would be true.

Both my boys walk over to my classroom at the end of the day and my students have a serious case of hero worship. It is adorable to watch!

Speaking of watching, I need to get off this computer and head to the baseball field for 3 games today!!! Gotta love those double-headers!

Making an Editable File

Have you ever wanted to make something editable but your product included clip art that needed to be protected? I had this problem with my Common Core Assessment Checklists and I finally figured out a way to do it. I thought I'd share in case it helped anyone else out.

 My original file was already saved as a pdf so it was secured. To make it editable, I needed to get the PDF into PowerPoint but I could not see how to export or import it. Finally I realized that if I opened the PDF with Preview, then clicked View as thumbnails, I was able to drag each page into a new PowerPoint slide. Then I simply made a text box with sample names. Now my customers can simply edit the names for their class and copy and paste onto each page before printing!

If you already own this packet, you can go download the editable version for FREE! You do need to have PowerPoint. If you are not used to PowerPoint DO NOT BE SCARED. It is just as easy to print the PowerPoint slide as it is a PDF. 

If you don't have a tool for tracking your CCSS assessment data, come take a look (click on the picture.) I also have packs for K, 2 & 3 made. Grades 4 & 5 are on my To Do list.

I hope my quick tutorial may be of help to someone else who has wanted to make an editable product.

Happy Thursday!

Earth/Arbor Day and a winner!

Friday we celebrated Earth/Arbor Day at my school. We are an environmental science magnet so we do it up pretty big. There is an outdoor assembly in front of our class garden beds and all the classes  sing songs related to Earth Day. Then the classrooms are open for other classes and visitors to view our Earth Day projects. We made recycled insects since it goes along with our huge insect unit we are doing right now.

The third grade rooms are always impressive because they make these amazing totem hats to represent the animal they did their report on. They have a closing ceremony and all the kids wear their hat and parade around.

Can you believe how huge this hat is?

Taller than a first grader (well, when it is on the desk.)

There were so many more terrific ones but I think this post is going into picture overload already so I will stop.

The whole school also got to help plant a tree for Arbor Day. I think that will be kind of cool when they are older and remember that they helped plant that tree.

Congrats to Lorena for winning my updated Mother's Day Gift Ideas packet! Thanks to all that  entered and follow me!

Mother's Day updated!

So I had a sweet follower ask very nicely if I could add some alternative pages to my Mother's Day Gift Ideas packet. Seems there are certain areas of the country that coffee is taboo so she was hoping the coffee could be changed to cocoa in the If You Give a Mom a Muffin booklet. {Note to self: never move wherever that is!}  I thought that wouldn't be too hard so I agreed. {I have posted all about how I do this project with my kiddos here and here.}

 HA, I should have know better! 

This file is old and it seems that the old version of Word doesn't play nicely with the new version I have. So after fighting it for awhile I remade the whole thing in PowerPoint (my new love.) Of course, I had to use some new cuter frames. Then I got ambitious and tried my hand at making my own muffin clip art for the cover...we have an ink shortage and my students love to color.

Since I had so many pictures for the illustration ideas I had to reduce the file size, but that made the frames blurry. Grrr...

I figured a work around that but then the pdf would print with extra white space which made the pages not perfectly aligned when you cut them in half.... ARG!!!!!! Isn't technology supposed to simplify your life? I guess some of it is me being very particular but darn it, after all the time I spend making something I want it to look like I intended when it prints out!!

After much searching on Google I FINALLY figured out how to fix this annoying problem once and for all! I danced around the house chanting, " I did it, I'm awesome, I fixed it..." My 5th just laughed at me. My 7th grader waited until I stopped my strutting and then said with a straight face, "How did that go again?" Wise guy!

Anyways....the point of this long story is....I have revised my packet so if you already own it you can go download the update for free.  If you don't have a plan for a Mother's Day gift yet, you can check it out here. I think making their mom in bed might be their favorite part...maybe I'll take a poll this year to see if I am right.

They are always SO proud to take this gift home. It is adorable to watch them decide which flavor of muffin they think their mom would like the best. I've even had some admit they are really hoping their mom will share the muffin with them! LOL, gotta love first graders!

I love sharing with my loyal followers so enter below for your chance to win a FREE copy!
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FREE Pizza Fractions Craft

Fractions make me hungry. So many of my explanations and word problems had to do with food this week! As we delve into the Common Core,  we are finding the need to supplement more. I felt my students were understanding fractions pretty well but that the vocabulary of fourths and quarters needed reinforcement. I remembered seeing a pizza craft on Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten so I adapted it to fit my standard.

CCSS.Math.Content.1.G.A.3 Partition circles and rectangles into two and four equal shares, describe the shares using the words halves, fourths, and quarters, and use the phrases half of, fourth of, and quarter of. Describe the whole as two of, or four of the shares. Understand for these examples that decomposing into more equal shares creates smaller shares.

I provided a template for the crust and cheese but not for the toppings. I demonstrated how to make all the toppings and let them loose with 1 1/2 x 12 strips of the correct colors. They did a great job.

To get a FREE copy of my templates and more detailed directions click {HERE.} I changed the frame on the writing piece so it would pop more.

Congrats to Julene on winning my Fly Guy Book Club 2 Pack!

Have a great week!