Tuesday, February 28, 2012

4 Giveaways to check out and a Question

So as I am blog hopping (or sometimes I like to say "blog-stalking"), I found 4 neat giveaways these 4 wonderful bloggers are doing!

Elizabeth from Fun in 4B is giving away a free $25 Target gift card to celebrate her 100+ followers on her blog!  You need to check out her cute blog if you haven't already.  She has many nifty ideas!


Courtney from Swimming into Second is having a giveaway too!! She is having one in celebration of 600 followers! (wow, this is awesome!)  You have many chances to win different prizes: $20 to the TpT store, $10 to TpT store, and a free item from her TpT store.  Hop over to her adorable blog to see how you could win!!

Natalie from Teachery Tidbits is also having a giveaway! She is celebrating TWO milestones: Her birthday  and 100+ followers!  She is giving away a free $10 Target Gift card, 1 st. patty's day packet and 2 Dr. Seuss packets!  Definitely stop by her blog to give her a b-day shout out and see the many ways to win!

Kelley from Buggy for First Grade is having a giveaway too! Tonight is the last night!!!  She is celebrating her birthday as well!! ALSO, she is really trying to get 300 followers!! She is so close, I think just 3 away....Anyways check her blog/giveaway out.  She is giving away $25 to Amazon!


So as I was reading different blogs and checking out TpT, I realized I wanted to start making my own units to share with you guys!!  I just have a few silly questions about those awesome 50+ page units.  Do you create them on a word document or some publishing site?  Basically, what are the basics of making those?  (Remember, my teaching experience is based on student teaching and subbing! Still a newbie at this!)  I would love any kind of advice and tips about this.

Also, I know you can create your own clip art, but do most people just buy their clip art?  I see a lot of people using Scrappin Doodles and and KPM.  My next goal is to start my own TpT store because after following so many wonderful bloggers, you guys surely motivated me to do the same as well!

I hoping after I figure all this out, I will also start my first giveaway....maybe at 50 or 100 followers? Haha, I guess I'll have to wait and see.

13 comments:

  1. I create all my units in Word, and then save a PDF copy for my stores. Word does tend to slow down after about 20 pages or so, but you get used to it :)

    There are some places you can get free clipart, but there are lots of reasonable priced clipart stores as well! Scrappin Doodles and KPM are two of my favorites, but I have also used 3AM Teacher. Check out Etsy-there are tons of great clipart stores!

    Good luck! Just get out there and do it...I've only been selling units for about a month, and am extrememly happy with the results!

    Natalie
    TeacheryTidbits

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    1. Thank you for the advice!! I knew it couldn't be THAT complicated. I included your giveaway too!! :)

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  2. Oh, also, I know that some people create their stuff in PowerPoint.

    Natalie
    TeacheryTidbits

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  3. I create mine in Power Point and then convert into PDF.

    I love KPM Doodles and the 3 AM Teacher for clipart.

    I just opened a Teachers Notebook store yesterday. Haven't sold anything yet, but I hope to soon! I think I need to create bigger packets, but I've got cheap prices :)


    Journey of a Substitute Teacher

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    1. Thanks for the tips Miss T!! I am definitely going to try and play with it this week! Good luck on your new store!! You have great ideas.

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  4. I use a combo of Power Point and Word, depending on what Im doing... Im a new follower!

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  5. Thanks for visiting my blog! I'm your newest follower too!

    I use PowerPoint for most of my units, I find it so much easier than Word! I buy my clipart too. I like the ones mentioned above. Good luck!

    Sara :)
    Smiling In Second Grade

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  6. To make big units, I use Microsoft word but use Adobe Acrobat Create PDF to combine multiple documents into one PDF. You have to pay $9.95/month for the upgrade but for me, it was worth it-it was way too hard to put everything into one document!

    By the way I am a new follower! I have a give-a-way going on now so stop by my blog!

    Kelly
    Kindergarten Kel

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    1. Thanks Kelly for your great advice! And I'll make sure to stop by your blog! :)

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  7. Hi,

    Thanks for stopping by my blog. I'm your newest follower! I love this thread because I'm always looking for new and different graphics too.

    Best wishes in finding a job!

    Dee
    First Impressions

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  8. Andrea! I just gave you a sweet little award for all that you do, stop by my blog to grab it!

    Kaleigh's Klassroom

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  9. Hi Andrea!

    I am currently subbing and student teaching as well. I buy clip art from the above sites listed. I create everything in publisher and save as a PDF. Publisher has more options than Powerpoint and is just as simple to use.

    One thing that I just learned though... TpT charges a lot of fees if you have a basic membership. For example, during the leap year sale I s I am going to have to sell a lot more or upgrade my membership if I actually want to make money or just look at it as a free new book from amazon every quarter.

    Mrs Poland
    Think, Wonder, & Teach

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  10. Andrea,
    Not sure if you have adobe to convert your files but I use this program called nitro reader and it converts your files into PDF's for free. I really love it. I too am trying to learn more about how to create units so I guess we're in this together! Also, good luck on finding a job. I've currently been teaching in Catholic school for the past five years and am hoping to score a public school job this year. My heart is in public school!

    Judy
    Follow me as well if you'd like! :)
    Teaching Little Apples

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I love reading your cheerful comments!