Friday, September 16, 2011

A "How-To" And A "Ha-Ha"

     First, the "Ha-Ha."  One of the things that makes me laugh the most is when one of the kids sees something with their unobstructed, five-year-old view of the world and then says something so completely unfiltered and true.  For example...  Last weekend I got my hair colored (a few too many grays have been popping up lately!) and cut, but it was really just a trim and barely noticeable.  One of the girls in my class noticed the change however and asked me if I had gotten a haircut.  Pretty impressed with her observational skills, I told her that yes, I had.  After a sweet compliment from her, one of the boys (who is super literal, btw) standing nearby chimed in, "You did?"  He looked and looked at me, trying to see a difference then said, "What did you do, just cut out the white ones?"  I was rolling on the floor!  Note to self - don't go so long before heading to the salon next time!
    Now for the "how-to."  I promised a little tutorial on how to make the sign I have on my classroom door.  (Click here to enter my giveaway if you'd like a chance to win one for your classroom - you have 'til Sunday.)  
     It's super easy.  You can do it in Powerpoint or Notebook software (and probably a bunch of others but these are the ones I know).  I started by inserting a shape, a big black circle in the middle of my page.  Then, I added a text box with a large font with the word "kindergarten."  Just make sure you have the text box formatted as "no fill" and the background will stay transparent.
     Then, I changed to a smaller font and added a text box for each child's name - the quickest way is to choose a color for your first name (let's say pink) and cut and paste it three or four times so your font size stays the same.  Then change the name in the duplicates so you now have four pink names.
     Change one of these to your next color and repeat.  You can rotate the text boxes and scatter them all over the circle. (I had to play a little to get them evenly spaced.)
     When I had those all positioned I went to even a smaller font and using the same cut & paste/color change trick as above, I added "kindergarteny" words like reading, crayons, recess, etc. Scatter those and ta-da!  All done.
     Then, save your page as a jpg and you're ready to print.  Make sure that you save it with a high resolution if you're planning on blowing it up to poster sized.  I had mine done at Walmart - who knew they made posters in their one-hour photo centers?  It was only 10 bucks and totally worth it I think!  If you give it a try and have any questions, let me know, I'd be happy to help.  I'd love to see a picture when you're done!   Happy Creating!

16 comments:

  1. Donna,

    Have you heard of Wordle? It's the same idea, a "word picture," but the website does all the work for you ... and you can randomize the results and create several versions of the same thing. I use it with my first graders everyday during "Writing warm ups" ... they love it!

    www.wordle.net

    Betty

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  2. Thanks for this idea. I made it this morning and then blogged about. If you check this post out you can see my final product. I thought it turned out well and was easy.
    http://mskerriandherkrazykindergarten.blogspot.com/2011/09/random-post.html

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  3. Kerri - i just checked out your blog and your sign looks terrific! Thanks for mentioning my blog in your post!

    Betty - What a great idea to use Wordle for writing warm-ups! What kinds of activities do you do? I tried using Wordle and Tagxedo for my sign, but I'm so darn fussy that I didn't love the colors/shapes I was coming up with so I gave up and made my own. (We teachers can be a little difficult to please sometimes...)

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  4. Donna, the font I used for kindergarten was MTF Jumpin Jack. I tried to figure out what website I got it from because it was free. I think it was miss tina's fonts or something like that.

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  5. I just added her button to my blog so you can see it there. Sorry to keep commenting. I just figured it out.

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  6. Can't wait to make this poster! I received a Versitile Blogger Award and wanted to pass it on to you. Thanks for being an inspiration. http://scrapbunny.blogspot.com/

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  7. Late post. But just saw this idea. It is supe cute! I certainly intend to try this. But what do you do if a student moves in or out of your classroom? Just curious, as this happens alot at my school.

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  8. Love this idea! I just made one for my 3rd graders this year. They will be so excited! Thanks

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  9. I love this idea and just made it for Kinders! I was thinking of making a copy for each of them for their homework folder!

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