We are loved!

Remember my last post? I talked about putting together a word cloud using the adjectives parents used to describe their kiddos and that I wanted to print it out poster sized?  WELL, I just figured something out that has changed my world!  I may be super late to this printing party but for those of you who don't know how to print poster size on a regular printer- maybe this will change your world too!

I guess the technical term is "tiled printing." I don't know anything about it except that I can print a poster from my home printer/school printer and I don't have to pay extra to have it printed at Kinkos! Woohoo!

How to print poster sized from a regular printer:

1.  Save your document as a picture or pdf
2.  Insert your picture into excel
3.  Format your picture in excel to the size that you want
4.  Click print

Seriously, it is that easy- Excel automatically tiles your printing for you!  Once it has printed on multiple sheets- you will need to puzzle piece it together and tape it/laminate it so that you have your poster, voila!

All the pieces are laid out and pieced together- I had to trim some of the margins

I placed a small amount of tape on the front to hold the pieces together

Then I flipped it over

and added packaging tape to the back to hold it all together

This is what it looks like hanging on the wall (don't mind the busy border or the crooked letters)!

I am so excited to think of all the things that I can print! I hope this helps someone as much as it has helped me!

We are loved!

I have worked hard at developing relationship with my student's families.  It is not something that comes naturally to me- I am not the most outgoing personality and it is often difficult for me to make conversation with new people.  However, I have gotten better and better at it over the years!  One of the things that I love to do is to find ways to let the families know that they are listened to- and also to let the students know that we are all a part of a team. I start this by asking the families to describe their student using three words.  Then I take all the words and compile them into a word cloud.  Have you made a word cloud before?  I find the visual aspect so interesting.  There are a few different websites that allow you to create a word cloud, the ones below are my favorites:
http://www.wordle.net/
http://www.tagxedo.com/
What's neat is that you can see if there are adjectives that are used multiple times and if there are some that can be used to describe the group.  Then, I print it out as a poster and hang it up in our classroom.  Families love to look at it when they come into our classroom and students like having the reminder that they are loved!