5 Fantastic Tricks & Tips - Alignments

Welcome to my 5-part series of  "5 Fantastic Tricks & Tips". This series shows you some awesome tricks and tips for building your PowerPoint presentations. Posts go up every Wednesday. 

Today, I'll show you all about alignments.

What do I mean by alignments? In terms of PowerPoint, it's where objects, pictures, and text boxes are located on a slides. It can be on the left or right side, the bottom or top, or in the center. If you like to have all your objects perfectly aligned, this is the tool for you. Making sure everything is straight can be nerve-wrecking, but with a few clicks, everything will be as you like it.

To align objects, first select the objects you wish to align. Next, click on "Format" and choose how you wish to align your objects. There are many options to choose from.

There are several options to choose from. You can align objects to the:

• left, center, right
• top, middle, bottom

You can also distribute objects so that they are evenly spaced out horizontally and vertically. Simply click on all the object you wish to space out evenly and distribute horizontally or vertically.

Another way to help with alignment is to use guidelines on the slide.

Guidelines can be used to help place clip art and pictures onto a slide. The guidelines will appear on all the slides, but won't appear when you print out the slides or play the PowerPoint in slideshow mode.

To turn on the guidelines, click on "View" and check the box labeled "Guidelines". There's also options for a ruler (similar to the ruler in Microsoft Word) or a guide (1 vertical and 1 horizontal line).

I hope these tips come in handy! They're a big help when you create product covers, worksheets, games, and other teaching materials. Please share & comment if this was helpful Don't forget to check out Part 1: Selection Pane and Part 2: Using Sections.

5 Fantastic Tricks & Tips - Using Sections

Welcome to my 5-part series of  "5 Fantastic Tricks & Tips". This series shows you some awesome tricks and tips for building your PowerPoint presentations. Posts go up every Wednesday. You can also check out the replay on Katch.me or at the bottom of the post.

Today, I'll show you all about using sections.

Just what is sectoins? Using sections in PowerPoint can be very useful, for both your classroom and your teacherspayteachers store. A PowerPoint can be divided into sections, allowing for easy access to certain slides, especially when there are multiple slides.

To create a section, simply right click on the slide panel and click "Add Section" at the bottom of the list.

You can create as many sections as you like. You can also rename sections too. This helps when creating flyers for different social media platform or for creating different product covers for a set. 

Simply right click on a section. Select "Rename Section" and rename the section. Simple!

Here's a great example. I make covers of all my game sets. Instead of having multiple ppts with different covers, I can simply file them all in one single PowerPoint.

You can easily collapse all the sections for a quick search and expand them when needed. You move sections up or down, or just drag-and-drop sections where needed. This makes it easy when you have to move 10+ slides. Right click on any open section and choose your options.

I hope these tips come in handy! They're a big space saver when you have so many different projects to do on PowerPoint and you want them all in one PowerPoint. Please share and comment if this was helpful! Don't forget to check out Part 1: Selection Pane.

5 Fantastic Tricks & Tips - Selection Pane

Welcome to my 5-part series of  "5 Fantastic Tricks & Tips". This series shows you some awesome tricks and tips for building your powerpoint presentations. Posts go up every Wednesday. You can also check out the replay on Katch.me or at the bottom of the post.

Today, I'll show you a very under utilized tool know as the selection pane.

Just what is the selection pane? The selection pane displays all the objects on the current slide. Every object has a name, whether it's a text box, shape, or photo. 

The Selection Pane is not immediately displayed in powerpoint. To display the selection panel:

• select any object on the slide
• The "Drawing Tools" panel should appear at the top. Click on "Format".
•  Click on "Selection Pane.

Just what does the selection pane do? Aside from displaying the objects on a slide, it can help you manage your layers (who's in front and who's behind) and identifies/hides objects.

Did you know? You can name your objects? That's right. Just double click on a shape in the selection pane and you can name your objects. This comes in handy when you have several objects on a page.

This helps when you make PPT Games! When you making buttons to move to the next slide, you can actually name them "Next" or "Previous" rather than "Picture 1" or "Picture 2". This helps your you know when you use "triggers" in animations.

To name an object, open the selection pane, double click on an object on the pane and type your desired name.

One feature of the selection pane is to show or hide objects. This is useful when changing a powerpoint game to task cards. You can do so by clicking the "eye". An open eye means the object is visible. A closed eye means it's still there, but it is not visible. Perfect for hiding answers on games and printing them as task cards.

I hope these tips come in handy! They're a big help when you create product covers, worksheets, games, and other teaching materials. Please share and comment if this was helpful!

New Year's Resolution Blog Hop

    Happy 2016! Time to celebration and set goals for the rest of the year. The Classroom Clique is hosting a New Year's Blog Hop. Check out some wonderful goals and resolutions these wonderful ladies have to offer. Last year, I meant some of my goals, one of which was blogging. So excited to start some new goals.

     The resolution I set for myself this year is to get healthy. Not just lose weight and exercise, but to live a healthy lifestyle. That means getting to bed early and getting enough sleep. No more late nights for me! I want to definitely exercise more. I use to go to the gym once or twice a week, but since my seizures began, I've been a little scared to work out. I want to eat healthier, which isn't too much a problem since I already limit myself on sweet stuff.

     I want to spend more time with my college friends. We don't see each other that often, especial since college. We talk occasionally talk on Facebook and once or twice a month get together for some games. but I'd like to see them more.

     I'd also love to spend time with my friends I met at the TPT conference as well as my friends in the classroom clique. We work together so well, I'd love to see what sort of things we come up with we are in the same room (or chat room at least!)

   
   

     I don't think I can even list the number of goals I have for my TPT store. There's just so many! Like most TPT store owners, I'd like more followers, but I want more recognition of my brand. I would like more teachers to know me. I plan on blogging about PowerPoint Tutorials and getting the most out of using PPT. I'd like to think myself an expert. I've been using it since 2006! By the end of this year, I'd like to have double the amount of the followers and everyone to know who I am as a seller and a person.

Please check out some more New Year's Resolution by fellow members of the Classroom Clique! Happy New Year!

An InLinkz Link-up

January 2016 Monthly Newsletter

Happy New Year, everyone! I can't believe it's 2016! This is going to be a great year! I can feel it! Welcome to all my new followers! Here's what's going on this month!

My goFundme project!

I have started a gofundme project to purchase a projector and portable Interactive Whiteboard. You can also donate on my official goFundme page. If you donate $5, you can get any bundle from my TPT Store. If you donate $10, you can choose any 3 bundles in my TPT store. You can get theses perks on my official goFundme page. You can also donate $1 by purchasing a $1 donation on in my TPT store. My goal is to reach $700 by the end of the school year! A big shout out to Kelly Malloy and Kathy Illington for making my first two donations!

Annual Monthly Sale

Mark your calendars for my weekend sale. It begins January 16, 2016 through January 19, 2016. Take advantage of some great products at a reduced price. Get some fun winter games and Valentine's Day activities!

New Years Resolution Blog Hop!

Hop on over to my Blog on January 9 for The Classroom Clique's New Years Resolution Blog Hop! Check out some wonderful goals for the new year!

Upcoming Changes!

This is most important! I'm currently updating my entire store so please excuse the mess! I hope to have it done before the end of the year. I plan to increase the princes of my PowerPoint games only. My yearly license will still be $25 a year. As I am approaching 300 PowerPoint games, the permanent license will increase to $150. Now's a great time to get it before the prices increase.

Monthly FreebieI didn't have a chance to complete last month's set of freebies so here they all are! Enjoy!

3 Digit Addition Worksheets
3 Digit Subtraction Worksheets

       

Thanks for reading. Have a wonderful New Year and see you next month!

Currently - January 2016 Linky Party

     Happy New Year, everyone! I'm so excited. A new year means new beginnings. I decided to join a Oh boy, Fourth Grade's "Currently" linky party.

LISTENING - listening to "The Seven Deadly Sins" anime on Netflix. I always watch/listen to Netflix when I work on TPT stuff. I love anime! I even get LootAnime crate (like The Whimsical Teacher's LootCrate, but with Anime stuff). I also get LootCrate since I'm such a geek!

LOVING - having slept in this morning. Since the 3 little kiddies are at their Grandmother's, that means I don't have to be awaken at 7 AM. Waking up at 10 AM is wonderful!

THINKING - what should I do this morning. Update TPT Products? Blog? A new product? I think I've decided on this blog, but what next?

WANTING - something good for breakfast. We went to Cici's pizza for dinner. Now it's breakfast

time. Should I have eggs, oatmeal, or just some Vanilla Chai tea? I don't drink coffee.

NEEDING - some nourishment. I know I'm hungry. I've got food on the brain. Maybe I'll get some food after writing this post. =P

ONE LITTLE WORD - relaxed. I had a great time at dinner last night. Came home and watching a movie uninterrupted. Slept in this morning. I'm super relaxed and ready for the day to start!