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People always ask me if I can make a tutorial for how to make cute cover pages, but I have hesitated to do it because it involves so many different aspects of PowerPoint and so many different tutorials!  I finally worked all of this information into a book, which you can find over a TPT! I reworked a number of my tutorials so that the fit perfectly on letter paper, and I added a number of new tutorials!  This book includes step by step tutorials with pictures on how to make an adorable cover page (just like the one below) in PowerPoint 2007/2010 for PC and PowerPoint 2008/2011 for Mac .  It shows you how to do this without spending any money on clipart (but still abiding by all copyright laws!!!)  Click the picture below to see the book... and grab it tonight only for 25% off! This book includes a number of highly organized and detailed tutorials on all of the following!  It will be useful for people who are new to PowerPoint, and people who are experienced with it as well! Now... for

I probably use this little tip at least 30 times a day!!!  How to quickly open a new tab in your internet browser! For those of you who are a fan of my Thursday Tips, I am sorry to say t hat this is the last one I can think of!  However, this does leave me some time to start a new regular feature: Fonts on the First!  Stay tuned this Monday, April 1st for my first collection of seasonal fonts for personal and commercial use!

I love how funny my students are without even realizing it! <div align="center"><a href="http://aturntolearn.blogspot.com/" title="What Did They Say!?"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OIhmtxluCS0/ULwEfazkl1I/AAAAAAAADpM/MMMzxm23B0Y/s320/What+Did+They+Say+Wednesday.png" alt="What Did They Say!?" style="border:none;" /></a></div> This is a story that goes to show how confused students can be about money! One of my girls was talking about her dad's new phone.  She said "I want to download Temple Run on it but I can't because it's 99 dollars!"   I tried to explain to her that it was 99 cents, but she insisted that since it had the dollar symbol ($0.99) not the cents symbol that it must be dollars! I don't even know how to begin to explain that concept of decimals and parts of a dollar to my class!  She was so adamant that it was 99 dollars I couldn't think of any way

Before I get to the fabulous cover for the final book in the Watersong series, I thought I should mention that the first two books - Wake and Lullaby - will be available in trade paperback for the first time on April 16, 2013. Thus far, they've only been out in hardcover, and I know some people prefer the feel of paperbacks. Right now, the pre-order for the Wake paperback is only $5.55 at Amazon and $5.37 at Barnes & Noble , so if you haven't picked it up yet, you seriously should. (The ebook for Wake is also only $2.99). Lullaby will also include the short story Forgotten Lyrics in the back. It's already out as an ebook, but since it's so short (some people have called it a novella, but it's actually shorter than that), it's not really feasible to release it on its own. By including it with paperbacks of Lullaby , it was a way to get it out to people who don't enjoy ereaders or reading on their computers. And if you've already purchased Lulla

This week's tutorial is one that many people have asked me about over time... how do I lock down clipart in PDF documents for TPT?  Well, the long-awaited tutorial is finally here! Here's the poll for those of you who are curious! I wrote up two separate tutorials... one for Mac users and one for PC users.  The steps are totally different on the two computers so it warranted two separate write ups! 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'll be adding how to save your files as ZIP files!

I have to say I think I have more fun making frames and playing around with shapes than anything else!  It definitely incorporates my love of math with my love of technology! I finally decided to put together all of my white bracket/bubbly frames and make a set out of them!  Check them out below!  There are 38 different frames, each with and without a border for 76 total frames!!!  They're normally $8 but the first person to guess which state I'm going to be traveling to this summer will win them for free! If you're not the winner, you can still grab the set while it's on sale for tonight only for $6 instead of $8! Happy guessing and be sure to leave your email address! Update 9:15pm: Congratulations to Liann at A Grade One Nut and Her Squirrelly Crew ! I'm heading to Alaska this summer on a cruise with the hubby for our anniversary: 10 years since we started dating and two years since we got married! Thanks to everyone else for all of your guesses!  As for everyon

Drawing Class Diagrams preemptive is sometimes nice to optimize your thought of design. But it will still most likely change in the development phase. Since your Class Diagram is part of your documentation it should be up to date all the time. There is no point in having a Class Diagram if the code does not fit it. You could keep adapting the changes to the Class Diagram by hand, but that can get very time-consuming and exhausting. You should rather automate that process, and there are several ways to achieve exactly that. You could for example search for a UML Class Diagram Tool supporting roundtrip engineering. There are some commercial, and even some free ones available. Not all of them work very well and it can be a frustrating task to figure out which way to go. You would probably try out some and throw them away because they are just not what you expected. Thats why i want to show you a different approach: Letting a Javadoc Doclet draw the Class Diagrams in build phase and embed

Here is yet another keyboard shortcut that i use all the time !  How to quickly switch between two (or more) open programs on your computer!

I think I could write a novel with all of the funny things my kids say each week!  But... since I don't know a publisher I'll do another linky party instead! <div align="center"><a href="http://aturntolearn.blogspot.com/" title="What Did They Say!?"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OIhmtxluCS0/ULwEfazkl1I/AAAAAAAADpM/MMMzxm23B0Y/s320/What+Did+They+Say+Wednesday.png" alt="What Did They Say!?" style="border:none;" /></a></div> This is possibly a story that only tech geeks will appreciate, so it obviously made my day!! In class we were reviewing words with "w" at the beginning and one student said "windows."  Another student excitedly calls out: "I have Windows 7!" I wanted to reply with "I do too and I love it so much more than I liked Vista!"  I honestly don't think he would have understood that response though! Now... it's time to share yo

This week's tutorial is one of the most requested things people ask me... "How do I find free clipart to use in my commercial items on TPT?"  Well... this tutorial will hopefully answer that question! This option won in the poll, but how to print on envelopes was a close second! Here are the links to the websites I mention in the tutorial!  You can read the notes below to learn more about the websites and to see some tips as well!   Now... here's the descriptions and tips/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! As for next week's tutorial, I'll add another TPT oriented option: how to lock down clipart in a PDF!

Believe it or not, my Kindergarten students can name what a composer is and why they are important!  They also can tell you what classical music is and talk about how it makes you feel!  And the best part is... I haven't taught any lessons on either of those topics!!!  I use a simple routine with my class that I call the "Composer of the Month."  Each morning while the students are unpacking, I put on classical music from a different composer each month.  When I turned off the music, I initially told them "The composer we were just listening to was ______.  He/She is important because composers write music."  After a few weeks, I asked "What composer are we listening to? What is a composer?"  It was so simple and made our unit on classic music far easier to teach! 13 cute signs to hang up to go along with this routine are included: - Johann Sebastian Bach - Ludwig Van Beethoven - Johannes Brahms - Frederic Chopin - George Fredric Handel - Joseph Haydn

Change In Software Development there is no such thing as stagnancy. Everything you develop now is just another version of a component that will probably change in the future. Change is the most common thing in Software Development, and you're better of accepting it as a fact. Expect future changes to everything you develop, and therefor design your Code more modular. This makes changes more easy and increases the Quality at the same time. Adapt the concepts of DRY and YAGNI . You will often come to the Situation, where you look at your Code and imagine that you could have done that "better". Don't let this thought prevent you from sleeping. Take action immediately and Refactor ! If you don't do it now, you will probably never do it. The longer you wait, the harder and more costly it gets. And you slowly grow up a mess you cant deal with anymore. "Good code is code that is easy to change. Code tends to change until it is no longer easy to change. All code bec

This is quite possibly the coolest thing I've ever seen!  It can be time consuming to find the perfect combination of fonts and text effects for your document (e.g. bold, font color, outer glow, bevel, etc). If you found that perfect combo in Word or PowerPoint (particularly if you used fancy font embellishment s) and want to use it elsewhere in your document, this will copy the text's formatting without copying the actual text! Just highlight the text that is formatted and do Control + Copy + C, then highlight the next section of text (that you want to change) and use the second keyboard shortcut! I promise you'll love it!

I just love all of the silly things my kids say! <div align="center"><a href="http://aturntolearn.blogspot.com/" title="What Did They Say!?"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OIhmtxluCS0/ULwEfazkl1I/AAAAAAAADpM/MMMzxm23B0Y/s320/What+Did+They+Say+Wednesday.png" alt="What Did They Say!?" style="border:none;" /></a></div> My class is heading out on a field trip next week, and it reminds me about a funny story from last year! On a field trip last year, we drove past a cemetery.  One student says: "Oh no that's where all the zombies live!"  To which another student replies, "No! That's where the undertaker lives!"  They watch way too much TV! Now... it's time to share your cute kids story from this week! Rules for the Linky Party: Share a story that one of your kids said on your blog!  If you don't have a blog, leave a comment with your story! Use the HTML code at

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably saw the link I posted yesterday, but in case you missed it, here it is: Terri Tatchell Aims to Make the Trylle Novels Her Next Movie Project . You should read the whole article for all the details. But here's the breakdown: In early 2011, Terri Tatchell (the co-writer for District 9 ) approached me about adapting the books for a movie, and I told her yes. As a fan of her movie, I was especially excited about her working on it. She contacted Media Rights Capital , and they bought the rights to all three books in the trilogy. (Here is the article in the NY Times talking about the deal: here .) In my emails with Terri, I feel like she's the absolute best person to adapt it, and she understands my vision for the series. She's far more brilliant than I am. I sold my rights to MRC because I trust them and Terri, and I'm certain they'd do a better job on it than I ever could. Terri is set to produce the movies with Simon Kinberg ,

I am just in love with the font options in PowerPoint!  I used to do so many of these things in Photoshop, but doing it in PowerPoint makes it so much easier! This was a definite winner on the poll! For those of you who saw my previous tutorial on placing a pattern over your text, you can add these options on top of the pattern to make your font extra special!  You can view that previous tutorial below: Now... onto 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! As for next week's poll, I'm going to add a question that so many people often ask... how can I find "royalty-free" clipart, pictures, and textures for free?  Be sure to vote for your favorite choice on the poll!

Since my last blog post, a lot has happened - namely, I was sick. And not sick with one, not two, but three seperate illnesses. (Well, to be fair, the doctor isn't completely sure that Illness Two and Illness Three weren't connected, since he's not completely sure what Illness Three is.) From last Friday to Sunday, I slept. Like literally, I was slept roughly 20 hours a day to combat pain. Then on Sunday, I began to feel better. Until the flu hit me, and I was laid up with that until Wednesday. I was awake more after that, but I did not like it. From Thursday until Saturday, I enjoyed three glorious, pain-free days, and I spent time hanging out with friends who were celebrating a mass of March birthdays, including one who was visiting from out of the country. I will say this - despite being sick for the better part of a week, I managed to feel good on the days when the fun was happening. For once, my body seemed to work in my favor. And then on Sunday, I ended up in Urgent

Growing up, I wasn't a big fan of St. Patrick's Day... but last year, I fell in love with it!  I had my students make traps so that we could catch a leprechaun and then a leprechaun visited, leaving our classroom a mess !  The leprechaun even left us clues, sending us on a wild goose chase around the building... only to find out that the gold was in our classroom the whole time.  It was AMAZING! As one of my first items on TPT, I shared those clues as a freebie, but looking at them now, they are not so cute!  So of course, I had to fix them up!  Look at how cute they are now!    Click any of the pictures to download them for free! I also made a cute St. Patrick's Day handwriting book, which is only $2.  Be sure to check that out as well!

The Decorator Pattern Class Diagram: Decorator Pattern is one of the most powerful Design Patterns, and its important to understand why. It allows you to add functionality to a Class without changing it. You use delegation instead of inheritance by just wrapping the existing Class in a "Suite" of your choice while the Interface stays the same. This way, you can even wrap a Class into multiple layers of Decorators where every Layer has its own and different purpose, and the Original Class even stays the same. Other than that the Layers are completely interchangeable and removable, because they all have the same Interface. You can use your naked Object in the same manner as a decorated one with multiple Layers, and the rest of the Application wont even notice. Other components dont need to know whether a Class is decorated or not, because the only thing they care about is the Interface. The following Graphic should clear things up: Just follow the Steps: In the first example th

I never realized how much I use this week's technology tip until the scroll button on my mouse stopped working today and I couldn't do it!!! This tip lets you zoom in/out on a document or a website so easily.  It works in PowerPoint, Word, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Preview, Adobe Reader... and so many more!!! Try it now and see how you like it!!!!

Today i want to show you another way to use the Builder Pattern . From what i ' ve seen there are tons of examples of the Builder Pattern online. But they do all have one thing in common: They are used to create an Instance of an Object and "replace" its constructor. This way you can create a complex Object in a very clean and readable fashion using a Fluent Interface . Other than that, there is also a slightly different way you can benefit of the Builder Pattern. Think of a Method with like 10 Parameters. Thats not quite nice, and should not ever happen. Robert C. Martin recommends a maximum amount of 3 Parameters in his book: Clean Code . You should rather use some kind of a Config Object holding those 10 parameters, to clean it up. But lets say, you have a BookService Class with a find(..) method, that allows to search by 10 different parameters, and every single one of them is optional. You could use the Builder Pattern with some kind of Query Object to solve the pro

Kids say the darndest things! <div align="center"><a href="http://aturntolearn.blogspot.com/" title="What Did They Say!?"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OIhmtxluCS0/ULwEfazkl1I/AAAAAAAADpM/MMMzxm23B0Y/s320/What+Did+They+Say+Wednesday.png" alt="What Did They Say!?" style="border:none;" /></a></div> This week's story really makes me question how well my children actually comprehend the stories I read to them! The kids were listening about dinosaurs which discussed possible causes for extinction.  One theory is that a storm came and killed all the plants, which then left the dinosaurs without food.   The teacher who was reading the book asked, "Who remembers how the dinosaurs became extinct?"   One of my students replied, "A giant storm came and it was really windy, and the wind blew off all of the dinosaur's skin so all that was left was bones!" I really question her

Cute fonts always seems to catch my eye!  This week's winner on the poll was how to find and install new fonts.  And... I added a little bonus... how to find free fonts for commercial use!!! Here are the poll results: Here are the links to some of the sites you can find free fonts: Click the picture below to download that font as well!  Click here if you need to download 7-Zip (Optional) For those of you looking for some new fonts that you can use in your commercial products, check out the website below!  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!   As for next week's poll, I'm adding how to make fonts look fancy in powerpoint!