meomeoim

I have so many exciting things to write about today! First things first, I created another set of monthly frames (similar to my September/Back to School Frames).  This time, it's a set of 22 frames... and they're all FREE!!! On a side note, this is the 75th product I have posted at TPT and the 38th freebie !  Click the picture to grab them at TPT (and be sure to check out my other products and freebies while you're there!!)   I have so much making these frames and I'll definitely be making another set for November! On another exciting note... yesterday was my birthday!  I took some time to relax and enjoy myself with some of my favorite people!  I made this fun e-card as a birthday present to myself.. and it was much more fun than cutting out the lamination that I'm still avoiding! While I was making that fun e-card I got an email from Charity over at Classroom Freebies to let me that I've been moved up from Classroom Freebies Too up to the "big league...

Sometimes my worst fears come true. Like that time that I had a nightmare that Inception didn't come with audio commentary by Christopher Nolan, and then when it came out, it didn't have audio commentary. (The dream entailed me looking at the DVD, becoming enraged, putting it in, and then scrolling the Special Features menu and swearing with a Hans Zimmer playing.) One thing I have legitimately been afraid is cleaning a fish tank. Not because it's scary, but because one time, my friend had these goldfish named Kyle & Steve, and I liked them a lot. She had them for a couple years, and then the last time she cleaned their fish tank, they got really sick and died. And every since then, I've been terrified of owning fish, because they're tricky and they can die if the water is the wrong tempature or has too much chlorine or the pH is off or just something is off and you don't even know what it is, and then you can't do anything. But I got goldfish in May o...

It's time for another little tip for "Technology Tip Thursday!" This one is a gem... it can be used in so many programs!  Use it in Word and PowerPoint... or use it in Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari or Firefox!  As far as I've been able to find, it works in almost every program!  So... if you want a quick way to find a word or phrase in a document or on a website, this is the perfect tip for you! Try it out and let me know how you like it! 

Here we are again... it's Technology Tuesday!  The winner of this week's poll was How to Embed Fonts in Word and Powerpoint! More than 2/3 of you voted for this option in the poll! Unfortunately this is currently not possible to do on a Mac (unless you save as a PDF), but I included directions for how to do it on a PC and will keep my eye out for an update on the Macs that allow for it to happen!  Here are the directions: You can download this tutorial as a PDF by clicking this picture! Note: This tutorial is hosted on Google Docs.  To save it from there, just open the file and click File > Download to save onto your computer! To grab a freebie I posted with an embedded font, click the picture below! I have had so many requests come in on the "Technology Tuesday Request" above... thank you everyone!  I'm going to try to knock out as many of these requests as I can!  For next week's poll, I'll add one that's been requested by a few people... how to ...

This idea is actually a gem that one of my students thought of a few years ago!  One of my classes' favorite YouTube videos was this one... "If You're a Boy" from Harry Kindergarten.  Well... my kids were chatty one day and I said "If you're a boy zip your lips."  One of my girls said "If you're a boy, a boy, if you're a boy zip your lips!"  And so a new tradition was born! When my kids get chatty, all I do is start to sing the song! If they're extra loud, I have them do actions that will get the other students attention (e.g. ones that make them move more or make more noise) such as: pat your legs, jump up and down or clap your hands. If there's only one or two students chatting, I usually do more silent action, such as zip your lips, fold your hands. I actually also use this to get my students to clean up at the end of their writing period.  I break it down step by step for them (since they're kindergarten), so I'll sa...

It's time for another little tip for "Technology Tip Thursday!" This one is also for Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, but it might just work in other programs as well!  Basically, justified means it touches both edges of the paper (left and right).  When you look at a lot of chapter books the text is "justified."  It's definitely one of my favorite because I just love the look of paragraphs when they're justified!  Try it out and let me know how you like it! 

I have good news and horrible news you guys. First the good news: I updated my FAQs and the Watersong page. Now the horrible news: I saw the cover for Tidal (the third book in the Watersong series), and it's the most amazing cover. When I showed it to my mom, this was her reaction: My mom has never used the phrase "OMG" before. So you may be asking yourself, if this cover is so awesome, how is this horrible news? Because I can't show you yet. I want to show the whole world, but I still have to wait a little bit. But if you have even tepid feelings about Wake , trust me when I say that you'll dig this cover so hard. Tidal is also one of my favorite books ever to write (probably tied with Ascend or Torn ). (Not that I didn't enjoy Wake or Lullaby - because I did, but Tidal was just extra fun.) When I write serieses (is that plural for series? is there a plural for series), I tend to think of them as steps. The first book in the series is the bottom level,...

This week's technology Tuesday post was another hit in the poll... which didn't surprise me since so many people have asked me about how to do this! For those of you interested, here was the final tally of the poll! Before I start the tutorial, I do have to post a slight "disclaimer" on this post!  PowerPoint itself does not allow you to have both portrait and landscape slides in the same presentation.  Since so many of you asked about this, I wanted to be sure to address your issues... even though I can't change the limitations of the programs itself! I pretty much detail this in the tutorial, but you'll need to think about the reason you would want both portrait and landscape slides in a presentation.  Personally, I could think of two reasons: To make an actual presentation (e.g. using PowerPoint for what it was meant to be used for) To make printables for your classroom (e.g. the "teacher" way to use PowerPoint! lol!) I've come up with workaro...

It's Thursday again... which means it's time for another quick little technology tip for "Technology Tip Thursday!" Just like the past few tips, this one is for Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, but you should definitely try it in other programs as well... it just might work! Try it out and let me know how you like it! 

This week's technology tutorial is something that is easy but SO awesome!  I have to give a big shout out to my friend Katie for showing my this one!  She's one of my lovely co-workers and has the most amazing ideas!  And she absolutely needs to start a blog!  (Hint, hint!!!)  :) This tutorial was by far the most popular on the poll this week!  Before I start the tutorial, I just want to take a quick moment to think about all the lives that were lost eleven years ago today.  Being from NY (north of the city), the attack really hit close to home.  Two weekends ago I went down to the city and saw some of the new towers that they're building.  They're absolutely amazing, but it's unfortunate to think of the events that led us to the new construction.  I'm sure you already have already, but just take a moment to think about the lives that were lost. Now, here's the tutorial for the week... You can download this tutorial as a PDF by clicking ...

Several people have asked for my opinion about the whole "fake review" scandals that are buzzing around lately. So I decided that I'd share my thoughts on it, and you can make of it what you will. If you're unfamiliar about what I'm referring to, it's really two separate things. There's authors paying for reviews of their books (John Locke being one of the more prominent names thrown about), and then there's RJ Ellory and faking reviews on Amazon . (Here's a link about paid reviews: here, and here's a link about the Ellory scandel: here They're really two separate issues, so I'll start with the paying for reviews. I have personally never paid for a review, and as far as I know, none of the authors I associate with have paid for reviews either. I have and continue to send out Advanced Reading Copies (ARCs) of books for review. If you're unfamiliar what an ARC is, it's an uncorrected proof of a book usually sent out before it...

It's time for another quick little technology tip for "Technology Tip Thursday!"  This one is also for Microsoft Word and PowerPoint, though you should definitely try it in other programs as well... it just might work! Try it out and let me know how you like it! 

When did writing blogs become so hard? I think it was when I became aware that people were actually reading them. Pro-tip: Writing is much easier when you don't think anybody will ever see what you write. Words just comes out, and who cares what they say as long as they were fun to make? Anyway, before I forget, all the winners for the Under the Seapalooza have been chosen, and emails have been sent out to notify the winners. So please check your emails. We've sent out some of the prizes, but some we're still in the process of getting together, and there's several that we haven't heard back from the winners yet. Ideally, I'd like to have everything out by the end of the week, so I need the addresses to make that happen. Now back onto what will most likely be a slightly rambling post, but I don't care. Oh! Good news! The first chapter for Lullaby is up now. It is a bit spoiler-y if you haven't read Wake yet, but if you have, there's a link for the ...

It's time for another technology tip, and this one is actually surprisingly easy!  If PowerPoint is your go-to program for creating teacher resources then you'll love this one! More than half of you voted for this in the poll, but the other options were definitely still contenders!  Don't forget to vote on next week's poll! Here's the tutorial! You can download this tutorial as a PDF by clicking this picture! Note: This tutorial is hosted on Google Docs.  To save it from there, just open the file and click File > Download to save onto your computer! For next week's poll, I'm going to add how to make easy page borders in Microsoft Word!  Here's an example of one....

Happy Labor Day!  What did you all do to celebrate the Monday off?  I ended up spending my whole day making curtains for my giant 20' window (yes, that's 20 FEET!)  I had so many problems with the sewing machine and will definitely be writing a post up about it at some point this week!  There are truly so many things to blog about and there is so little time! In the meantime, I've been working on a cute little game to use in my class to work on syllables in the fall!  I wanted something that I could use whole group or at centers... so I came up with one set of cards and two sets of directions!  I can't wait for the school year to start up (my kiddos start in one week) so I can get to playing this game!  We'll be addressing one of the common core standards (K.RF.2b) the first week of school! Click the picture to get it at TPT!