Fan Freebies

This weekend has ended up being a journey...a learning curve that is not rising fast enough to suit my impatient needs.

All weekend long (in between trying to clean house and accomplish a few needed to be done chores). I have been trying to figure out how to make a cute fan freebie button for my facebook page.  So far...I am close, but it is not up and running.  Not yet.  I am still working.

Thanks to GREAT blogging buddies I keep getting closer.  I have googled, read, and watched tutorials, then asked questions. When I asked questions...I felt like an idiot, but I did find out that what I was doing was on the right track.  And  EVERYONE has been so kind, patient, and helpful. 

So RULE 1....learn what you can first, then don't be afraid to ask.
I watched tutorials here:

and here:

Then I asked questions of blogging friends.  Now, teacher-bloggers are busy people and I didn't hear from them right away,  so I googled my questions.  Then Nikki from Melonheadz Illustrating was online and I happened to catch her.  She answered my questions.  Nikki told me how to change the size of my powerpoint slide (I didn't realize you could do that).  Then she sent me to the same webpage I had found while looking for answers to my new questions.  It felt sooo good to know I was working my way though this the right way and not making more mistakes.  Sometimes it is nice when someone holds your hand and says....yes, you are right....keep going.

I needed to know the right size for my button.  First she taught me to go to the design tab in powerpoint to change the size of the slide.  Then, she sent me to this webpage to change pixels into inches, so I could change my slide in powerpoint to the right size.  I had just found that page with my friend google.  It felt good to know I had done something right.

In the meantime, other friends answered my questions too and I read their wonderful tutorials.

There is this one from Danielle at Crayonbox Learning:

And this from Rachel at the Tattooed Teacher:

They were both wonderful to answer my questions.  Now it is my job to go back and work on that button.  It is going to look like this:

But it is still the wrong size...I have to go back and apply what I have been learning.

In the mean time, if you have made it this far, I will give you the freebie that I will be posting to my facebook page.  This little freebie is for President's Day.  I like to use coins to jumpstart conversations about the presidents.  This is a little game using dice, dimes, pennies, and a dollar bill (Washington and Lincoln, in Kindergarten I don't spend too much time on Roosevelt).  It is all about tens and ones.  The graphics are from my friend Michelle at The 3am Teacher.  You roll the dice, collect pennies, and when you have 10, you trade them in for a dime.  When you have ten dimes, you can trade them in for a dollar.  Whoever has the most coins at the end of the time limit....wins.  Simple math center.  This will be just a portion of a unit I am working on.  Click on the picture to download this freebie.

So much to do....so little time.  Back to work for me.  :)

But if you are looking for more information on how to make things for your classroom and how to get started this is one of the most comprehensive tutorials I have found.  It is from Erica at Ed-Ventures.

UPDATE!!  I figured it out!  I figured out how to put the fan freebie tab on my facebook page.  It took some trial and error and watching the tutorials more than once....but once I got it figured out I decided to go make more tabs.

How did I do it?   I found that changing the slide didn't let me add my graphics without making them fuzzy.  Instead I guessed at the size I needed (knowing I would resize it later) and made my button.  Then I highlighted everything, went to the format section and grouped all the elements together.  Next I locked the ratio and made the whole picture smaller.  The font didn't change and that I had to make smaller separately.  Then I saved just the button as a picture to my dropbox.    I thought I had it small enough, so I tried to add it to my page just like Crayonbox Learning explained.  It didn't save, so I figured it wasn't small enough.  I tried again, making it smaller (making sure I was using the corner), saving it again.  This time it saved just fine.  I added the url for my freebie and I was half there.  Next I did the "you have to like my page button"  I just duplicated the slide I had (I knew it was the right size) and changed the words.  I inserted it into the non-fangate spot and I was good to go!!  One tip...you don't save the whole slide....just the button.

The actual tab was the hardest.  I had the TINY blank template.  I inserted that on to a slide and I couldn't see anything I was trying to add.  I made the powerpoint slide nearly 200%  to see what I was doing.  The process was the same, make the button, group everything, save as a picture, insert it into woobox. 

It worked!  It took me several sessions at the computer, because if things weren't working I would leave for awhile and come back.  I would review what I did and try to find where I had gone wrong.  I would read more, ask more questions and try more.  Once I got it to work, I saved my powerpoint.  Now I have templates that are the right size.  I came back yesterday and made three more buttons by just changing up the first buttons and tabs I had made.  This seems like lots of words for something that now feels easy.

Come and see my jazzed up facebook page.  If this old dog can learn new tricks, you can do it too. 

I am linking up with Mommy and Me Creations to celebrate my success.