Professional Printing Success

This is the WHOLE order! (Including my classroom rules found here)

       This year I decided to do something I’ve never done before-Professional Printing!  Yep, I took everything to a real printer. Why you ask?  Cost effectiveness and quality control.  But I also learned some things along the way.  Here’s a rundown of things to know.

1.     Call around for pricing.  My prices ranged from $.98 to the low of $.39 a copy, on cardstock.  Be sure you specify that you want cardstock or regular paper.  That matters in the cost of everything.  One store that I called said that their price was based on the lowest quality cardstock, so you may even want to decide on what type of cardstock you want.  No matter how you look at it, shop around for price!

2.     Look at the local, small printers.  That’s who I went with.  Two things came into play:  they were fast and I knew the manager.  They offered me the $.39 price.  Use who you know and use that you are a teacher.   I actually wish that I had shopped around some more with the smaller printers.  I was at my school yesterday and one of the teachers mentioned the shop that prints our newsletters.  I had never thought of them!  They are our business partners too!  I bet I could have negotiated a lower price than $.39!   So, look for every avenue to get the best price!

3.      Know about how many pieces you will have done.  This can affect your price in two ways.  First, the more you print, the lower the prices can go at some locations.  Over 100 copies can change the price (I had 167ish copies!)  Second, you can then estimate the cost for yourself, so you have a ball park figure in mind.  This will run high, but it was still cheaper than if I went to a teacher store and bought everything myself!  And, remember this is all tax deductible because it is for your classroom!  Keep your receipts for everything you spend on your class!!!

4.      Know your FONTS!  Yes, all those cute fonts are great, but you will run into a problem.  I realized this later in the night, after the shop was closed.  I had used a cute font and it struck me that that font would NOT be on the printer.  That means it defaults to a font, whatever the font on the printer is. Then there is the size issue.  All of the editable products you buy are sized according the maker.  If it goes to default, this can mess up your product.  (See Below)

Now, I realize this is my fault, and luckily it only happened on one of the many things that I had printed.  It is a very easy fix for me to remake these and print on my own printer.  That is one thing to know-errors like this are the fault of the customer, not the print shop.  Here is how you fix that!  Save the editable document as a .pdf again.  This is easy on a Mac.  When you go to print, there is a button on the bottom that asks what you would like it saved as. Choose .pdf and this will lock the fonts into place.  One simple step, and you have your fun fonts in place.  I think this was the first big lesson I learned.

5.     Know the SIZE OF THE PRINTED DOCUMENT!  I just assumed that all documents would fill the page, just like it does on my computer.  This is not true.  I had pulled a bunch of cute items from the internet that I couldn’t find the original on to download.  Well, those items printed the size of the pic online.  Here is an example. 

This looks like it is the correct size, but I trimmed off a large amount of white.  Same with the picture next to it.  The March is half a sheet of card stock turned landscape.

Again, this is my fault, not the fault of the printer.  Before you decide to print something, go into your printer and check the actual size, as this is how the printer will print it.  There wasn’t anything that I sent that I can’t print again on my own.  That’s the nice thing. The mess-ups were on single page items in general.  Nothing that I printed from a TpT product were the wrong sizes.  They were the correct size. 

6.     Put everything on a Flash Drive/Jump Drive.  This is how they will transfer the documents to the printer.  Make sure you have everything ready to go and all of your documents are there.

7.     That leads to the next one-write it down too.  The copy girl was able to highlight as she went to be sure that she had everything. Because I didn’t follow #6 at home, I actually missed two documents in my flash drive folder.  She caught this, and now I know what I still need to print.

8.     Expect the best! Wow!  That’s all I can say, over and over. What I printed looks just like what I would get from a teacher store!   The same teacher at school who mentioned the business partner also mentioned the great quality of the materials.  No smudges, vibrant color, and no icky printer lines like you get on your at home printer. She was so impressed, she was trying to figure out what she could go get printed! I am so impressed that when I change my theme again, this is what I will do.

9.     Prepare to cut!  This is the one downfall.  Not only do I have to cut it apart once, I have to cut twice.  Yes, once for the product and once for laminating. No pop-out products like you get at the teacher store.  Now, what I should have done is gone earlier in the summer when I knew what I was doing as a theme, then I could have done a lot of the cutting.  But, isn’t that what this is all about, lessons learned!  

Anyways, I can honestly say that I am very happy with this decision.  I would totally do it again, and probably will before I know it.  It saved me time simply because I didn’t have to stand there and do all the work myself.  And, it saved me from having to purchase multiple ink cartridges at $26.00 a piece and, then, the cardstock at around $4.  That alone was totally worth the $.39 a copy I paid!

Back-To-School SALE!

TPT is throwing it's annual Back-To-School Sale!  My store is an additional 20% off!  Rocket over there and get some great stuff for your classroom!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Best-Days

I'm headed back today to move my classroom!  I'll be having a new theme this year, so I will post pics when it is finished!

I'm Back

            Today I decided to pick up my pen and write a blog post.  Oh, I’ve written about ten this summer-all in my head!  You know how summer is, run around, do things, relax, try not to think of school, think of school CONSTANTLY, and avoid it like the plague, all at once!  I have thought and thought about what to write, have dozens of ideas, and get side tracked by family and fun.  This summer fun included something I’ve haven’t done in year, and something simply for me-sewing.  I have currently created 4 skirts, 1 shirt, 1pair of pants, and one dress.  Up on deck-1 jacket, 1 skirt, and 4 dresses!  Will I be finished before August 12^th-yes!  That’s my goal!  My first official day back is August 12^th, so I better get going on some blogging!  As you can see though, there is now some fun and beneficial competition for my time!  (And my wardrobe is going to be awesome!)

            First, I’d like to share that I am going to be moving to first grade.  Wow, there it is.  There has been a part of me who doesn’t want to share that yet, or make it official.  I didn’t ask for the move, but part of me is very grateful.  I have taught it for one year and I don’t feel like I’ve completed that cycle in my career.  I don’t think I’ve finished my fourth grade cycle either.  To be honest, I was just getting my grove on!  I have figured things out and had gotten a game plan together.  My test scores came in in a BIG positive, and I’m grateful for that.  And, at the same time, I’m very grateful not to have to have that pressure again this year.  It is a LOT of pressure.  I also wasn’t thrilled about teaching to the test. Yes, let’s just put that out there.  We, as a society, are definitely teaching children simply to take the test.  I swore I wouldn’t do it, that it mattered more for kids to learn simply to know and have knowledge.  To push them further than what was needed to pass a test.  I can now tell you that is an impossible feat in todays education game.  What matters to everyone is how they score, what that means for the school and the district and the state.  That is a sad reality of today.  So, to be honest, I’m not sad about stepping out of that.  What I am sad about is that I don’t get to test run great products that I have developed for next year.  I’ll share more on that in a moment.  What it does mean is that I get more opportunity to create great things that I’ll leave up to my now Book Buddy teaching partner, Lisa!  I’ll just get her to do the hard stuff, take some pics for me to post, and go from there!  Thanks Lisa!

            Now, let’s talk reality!  This year Florida will be getting on the bandwagon with Common Core writing activities and testing.  They recently released their Test Specification.  If you are from Florida and haven’t viewed them yet, you MUST!  You want to know the secret to knowing what to teach, you have to go there, get them, and study them!  Here’s the bad news-there is no rubric yet!  That’s right!  They have no idea how they are going to grade these.  I would suggest looking at Utah-click here-because we bought $5million dollars worth of their test data bank!  Anyways, back to Common Core and the writing tests that goes with them.  Here is what I noticed when I checked each one-Smart Balance, PARCC, and AIR (FL consortium).  They ALL have 3 reading parts to them.  Now this can vary.  What this means is that it can be two readings and a video or three straight out reading pieces.  This means that you can have informational pieces or narrative pieces that kids have to read.  They ALL require kids to take notes.  While they are reading, they have to gather information.  From what I’ve seen, this is done in the computer-based activity.  Read and type at the same time. (Holy Cow right!)  They ALL have write for information or opinion writing.  Notice there wasn’t any narrative.  I haven’t seen a testing sample of a narrative prompt yet.  This, I believe, is expected to be mastered and perfected before 4^th grade (GULP for me!) and they want the students from 4^th grade and up to be growing and mastering opinion and informational writing.  When we look at what is expected in the higher grades, this makes sense.   But, again, WOW!  They ALL are timed, yet not!  That seems weird, I know, but that’s what I’ve discovered.  The time expected on these seems to be around 70 minutes, but some say that kids can take more time than that.  This seems open ended.  (There is no indication on FL time amount yet.)  They ALL focus on content, organization, and grammar/spelling.  This is an all-encompassing assessment.  The rubrics I’ve looked at are heavier on the first two, but the convention piece is still a key component to the work! 

            So, where am I going with this?  Creating opportunities to practice this form of writing is key to generating successful writers!  And, how do we do that-by creating products that can help.  That’s the other part of my summer!  I’ve been busy writing in a different format, and I LOVE it!  I mean the writing is fun and informative to me as the writer.  Plus, I get to make them available to you as a buyer too!  Here is what I have currently available in my TPT store to help you out. 

Back-To-School Pretest:  This product is created to help you get a good handle on how the students perform in the area of writing to inform.  The reading is super easy-they range from a 2^nd grade reading level to the beginning of 4^th grade.  The idea is to see if they can take notes, synthesis the information, and create a writing piece-and it’s FREE!!! 

My Super Hero is Super:  This product is designed to practice the skills necessary to be successful in the area of opinion writing.  Plus, there is a fun craftivity to go with it!  They read a piece called What Makes a Hero, watch a video on the Hero’s Journey Myth, and hear a super hero story.  They are responsible for taking notes and then, here comes the fun part, make that super hero AND a comic to go with it!  They then write an opinion piece proving their super hero IS super!  (I will be doing a blog post to share the process with pics too!)

What is a Prairie?:  This product correlates to the Florida Standards Assessment and is a companion piece to A Land Remembered.  (If you don’t use this book to teach Florida History, you are missing out!)  Students need to understand the prairie that Tobias and Zec are traveling on.  This three-piece reading and writing activity will build background and allow for students to practice the important steps needed for the writing FSA in the spring! 

So, you can see, I’ve been busy!  I am working on two more right now-Interesting Animals-an opinion writing activity and Pioneer Women of Florida-a write to inform piece that goes with A Land Remembered as well.  Tons of ideas are floating around in my head, and I’d love to hear what you might need too!  So, leave a comment if you are interested in have a product created that might fit your, and other’s, needs!

Knock, Knock, Who's there? William Shakespheare!

     It has been, well, months since I have blogged.  I will share more about why later, but right now I'd like to share a quickie!  Did you know that April 23rd is William Shakespeare's birthday?  Until this morning, I had no idea!  On my way to work, the DJ's on my local station started talking about this and how many phrases we use today that are from Shakespeare himself!  I thought, "How fun would it be to share with my kids!" And so I did.  

   

     After a quick search, I located this fun post: 

Top 10 Popular Phrases from Shakespeare

and away I shared.  The kids really liked this.  They knew a lot of them and we were able to discuss what the figurative language meant, which was a bonus to this whole discussion!  The best part, when they heard the #1 most popular phrase, which I won't reveal here on my page.  

      This was also a great chance to do some throw in history.   I was able to explain to my students, very briefly and lightly, what Elizabethan England was and how important the time period was to history-a history we just learned about when we looked at explorers in Florida!  Here's a quick peek at what we did with explorers!  

     Anyways, I'll be back quicker than you know to share what's held me up, what's been going on, and all the real teaching we get to do now that the high stakes testing for the year is over!  I'm just happy to be back!

The Project that I Love-2013/2014 Version!

     I have to admit, I LOVE my Native American Mall project!  It is so much fun for the kids and for me.  I am always amazed at what they produce. Here's what this year's kids made for the tribes found in Florida.

These are from my teaching partner's class.

And this is how it looks when I put it together in my hall!

Like I said, I just love this project!  We will be working on Explorers next.  I've cooked up a little Venn Diagram activity that includes a timeline along with it!  I can't wait to get the kids involved in it!  In the meantime, here is the link to the Native American Mall project! 

New Year, New Me, New Ideas About Complexity!

            I have to admit, I miss fun crafts from my primary days.  Especially when we return from a break.  I also have to admit, I did the bare minimum for Christmas.  It was really upsetting to me, honestly.  I don’t ever just ignore holidays.  It’s half the fun of school-creating those crafts and hanging them up in your house.  My kids are in middle school and our fridge still reflects this theme.  If they do anything fun, it still goes up there.  So, I’ve been feeling a little bit lonely when it comes to crafts and fun. We did do our Charlie Summary, and, that was fun, but I wanted something to start our year off better, to remind me to remember that students need these memories. 

            I started with Pintrest.  There are some fun things.  I really liked this idea of “Toasting the New Year”, but I just couldn’t come up with the complexity that I needed.  I know that I will eventually come back to this idea and try the complexity bump, but I couldn’t find it this year.  Then I found this-New Year’s Resolutions and Good Fortunes. 

I didn’t think it was primary, because it had the looks of a more intermediate type of activity, and it is actually listed for 2^nd-5^th.  When I looked at it closer, it was definitely a stretch for 4^th grade.  I decided though, that it could be tweaked a little.  My thought was to play off the balloon idea.  Originally, I was going to cut the fortunes and place them in balloons for every kid, but the idea of a.) filling balloons at a store was too pricey, and b.) blowing up those balloons would have made me winded and dizzy, I decided on a different route.  I took balloons and put enough fortunes into them to meet the needs of the table group.  I had 5 balloons, 4 with 4 fortunes and 1 with 3.  Perfect! 

            Here’s how it worked.  Besides the fortune balloons, I copied the balloons on 6 different colors.  I did not copy the white writing page.  I wanted to save the paper and, as it came out, they looked fine with just the writing on them.  Once I had everything copied and blown up, I passed out the balloons to each group.  I made them stop and come up with a plan of how they were going to pop the balloon without sitting on it.  I allowed them to talk about it. This simple act of stopping and thinking saved a lot of hardship.  It made them cooperatively decide who was doing what and come up with a safe plan (no scissors!)  Amazingly, pens and pencils did a great job of bursting those balloons! 

            Once the balloons were broken, the kids each picked a fortune.  

This is when the magic happened!  It wasn’t long before someone said, “I don’t understand what this means.” And out of my mouth came, “These are metaphors for life.  You make them what you want them to be.  It is comparing two things, you have to fill in the connection!”  Holy cow!  We finished figurative language before break.  I could make this connection for them.  They began to roll with it!  They were able to go with it and complete some pretty amazing things.  

This got me thinking-Why, oh why, haven’t I hit the idea that some of these primary “fun” stuff have much deeper meaning.  The complexity is there; we just have to see it!  I’ve got to start taking my own advice (Shades of Meaning) and start calling these things what they are!  It’s given me a different perspective on how to put the complexity back into things and make them count for more!  We finished up the balloons by cutting them out and adding some ribbon I have been hoarding in my closet for making jellyfish for an ocean unit I never got to!  So, not only did I use complexity, I used hoarded supplies! 

            Now, you will notice, I didn’t include the resolution in my work with the balloons.  Last year I stumbled upon the 2013 (updated for 2014) New Year, New Me activity. 

I loved it so much, we are doing it again this year!  Tomorrow we will work on filling out the written parts of the mobile.  Today, we colored!  It was actually nice.  They were able to communicate to one another their holiday fun stuff.  I heard about presents, trips, family events, and an impromptu lesson on who Ben Franklin was!  If there’s one other thing I’ve learned about doing these projects now, it is that sometimes you have to stop and  take time to be together as a class.  That’s what has been missing, that’s what racing to get curriculum covered and worrying about every assessment under the sun has done.  It has robbed us of the opportunity to just breathe and be.  And it’s robbed us of the chance to see fun activities as the complex being that they can be! 

            Now, for a freebie!  Like I said, we were working on figurative language.  We made this great foldable that I saw on Pintrest one time. (Here is the link: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/111604896985892846/_ ) 

It is an all about me project.  But I like that it had figurative language in it, and thought I could adapt the layout to fit figurative language only.  So, as a freebie, I will include all of the insides for the foldbable. 

  

Figurative language:   Page 1

                                    Page 2

                                    Page 3

Feel free to think about how you might change this and make it more complex for your class!  Then let us know how you might do that in the comment section below!