Getting ready for fall with some new center signs!

Fall will be here before I know it, so I've been busy making stuff for my classroom.  I facebook a lot - too much actually - BUT, it's become a great resource for fantastic teacher-made pages.  These pages often lead to blogs or Teaches Pay Teachers accounts with OODLES and I mean OODLES of everything imaginable for the classroom.  While I"m not ready to jump on the TpT bandwagon quite yet, it did inspire me to look into making some of my own materials.  But first I had to find out how they were making them.

Through forum searches I found out that people are using various programs like Photoshop (which I already had) and digital clipart that they were purchasing online.  I'm sure they use other goodies as well but for right now, this is what I know.  I decided to look into the digital clip art first and found a couple of good sites but one in particular, KPM Doodles, stood out.  I like her work, she doesn't charge a membership fee, and her prices are reasonable.  Before I knew it, I had racked up about $27 worth of clip art images through her site.  But I wanted to try some stuff for free first - just to see if I could actually use it and to see if it was worth it.  You can actually find free digital clip art online too.  There's a gal named Krista Wallden who was offering a TON of free digital clip art via her TpT account that I found through her blog; The Creative Chalkboard.  In one night I downloaded two of her fonts, several of her colorful shape collections, some border samples, and more.  After I got these all sorted out on my PC, I started playing around and found that I could actually make this stuff on my own.  I'm sure I'm doing it the long, hard way.  But I'm doing it, none-the-less.

My first project is to make new center signs for my listening, reading, and puzzle centers.  These "posters" will include the center's title, as well as the expectations for that center.  Special shout out to my stepdad, David, who bought me an AWESOME Epson printer for my birthday a couple of days ago.  The images are printing nicely and they look very professional!  Thanks, David! 

It's a work in progress but here's a sample of part of the Listening Center sign:

They're just 8.5 x 11 posters that I'll put together and mount on posterboard and then laminate.  It's a small step but I feel like I'm heading in the right direction.

Back to work!