Publisher Tutorial

Ok...so today I thought I'd put up a little tutorial to help teachers (and anyone else out there who wants to learn!) create some really fun signs for bulletin boards, class book covers - anything you can think of using Publisher!

Here's a sign I made in under 3 minutes using Publisher. If I mat it on cardstock and laminate it - it'll look professionally done!

For a fairly fast-paced tutorial click here. The video is a little under 5 minutes long. If you need something a little slower paced, I've broken it down step-by-step below. Just click on what you need! All of these tutorials are using Publisher.

Inserting and Formatting Word Art: about 3 minutes
Inserting and Formatting Shapes: about 4 minutes
Inserting Pictures as Fill: about 2 1/2 minutes
Inserting Pictures and Shapes as Backdrops: about 2 minutes
Aligning Objects: about 1 1/2 minutes

Divisibility Rules Foldable Graphic Organizer

After searching the web today, I decided it would take me less time to create a foldable graphic organizer to help my students learn the divisibility rules than it would take me to keep searching for one exactly like what I wanted. I'm super pleased with how well this turned out! Everything is even and lines up, just like it should - which just makes me as happy as can be!

To buy this graphic organizer, head on over to my TeachersPayTeachers Store!

I Am Thankful For....Class Book

Today we made a class book....each page said "Thanksgiving is a time when we are thankful for all the good things in our lives." Draw a picture of what you are thankful for. Then they were given the sentence frame: I am thankful for _______ because ____________.

Here were the responses I got from 10 & 11 year olds (and my daughter who came to school with me because she didn't have school this week).

*I am thankful for the food my parents provide because they make sure I don't starve.
*I am thankful for sports and food because I like food and I like to play sports.
*I am thankful for my family because they love me and I love them.
*I am thankful for bacon because it's tasty and good.
*I am thankful for the Earth because that is where we live.
*I am thankful for my family because they love and support me.
*I am thankful for books because I love to read and there are a lot of books I like.
*I am thankful for pecan pie because it's so yummy and my grandma always makes it for Thanksgiving.
*I am thankful for my family because we spend time together.
*I am thankful for a family because I could not get through life and get a good job.
*I am thankful for my teacher because she helps me learn and she makes sure I get a good education.
*I am thankful for family and friends because they feed me, care for me, bring me to fun places, and let me play.

I am especially touched by the one that likes books because she was what I refer to as a "disgruntled" reader at the beginning of the year. I'm also touched by the one who is thankful for her teacher. I am a little bit shocked by the bacon response and I'm also surprised no one wrote God, especially since I have several very religious students in my class. All in all, I think their responses will make a wonderful book!

Here's a picture of the teacher one...

Veterans Day Writing Project

This year for Veterans Day I saw the cutest little writing project on Pinterest. To my delight, after following the links I found it could be purchased on Teachers Pay Teachers for just $3! I immediately bought it and this is what we ended up with!

Even though the project was intended for younger grades, my fifth graders had fun putting it together. While we were working on the project, we took turns talking about the veterans we know in our lives!

Oh, and if you like the "Thank You, Veterans!" sign...I'll post a video later how to do that using Microsoft Publisher! It's SOOOO easy, you won't believe it!

If you teach the younger grades you might just want to check out Miss Kindergarten's website, too! She's the creative mind behind this fun project!

Shoal Watercolor Paintings

WOW! It's been over a month since I last blogged. I guess that just goes to show teachers ARE super busy!

So...here we are in November and we are up to our ears in learning! We're finishing up DARE, our unit on nouns, physical science, etc.

In social studies we've been studying different European explorers. One of our most recent explorers was John Cabot. Since I'm also required to teach art, I combined the two (thanks to the idea in Evan-Moor's Explorers of North America Pocket Books) and got this lovely display shoals!

One of the things I was most proud about is we talked about how the deeper in the ocean you get, the darker the water gets...you can see several of them really took that into consideration in their painting!

Here's a picture of the sign, close up.