Wednesday, July 25, 2012

First Day Jitters Link up.... and a question for TpT sellers...

I am linking up with Fierce in Fourth for the First Day Jitters post. Now, I guess I live under a rock because I have never even heard of this book... but everyone knows what first day jitters are. I get them every.single.year the Sunday before school starts. I mean I can remember as far back as the brain can go and remember getting them as a kid, as a teen, and now as a teacher. You would think that it would go away, but it doesn't. And I promise you, next Sunday, when everyone is sleeping... I will be wide awake with the jitters. So what a perfect link up for me right!?


When you link up (which you should), share 3 things that give you the jitters on the first day of school.

1. I am always afraid I am going to send someone home the wrong way. I have a chart that I write down everyone's typical dismissal transportation but kids sometimes have a different way home on the first day and I am always afraid I will forget/lose the list/not write it down.

2. The first day is always so chaotic and I spend a lot of time trying to collect all of the supplies. I am afraid I will run out of things to keep the children entertained and busy. I am trying something a little different this year, so we will see if that helps. I actually tried to overplan each day of the first week so that students will keep busy and if I run out of time to finish something, it can carry over to a day where I run out of activities.

3. Well... in my teacher story post you found out that I am extremely shy. I have no problem meeting the students but when it comes to meeting the parents, I get very anxious. Especially because I try to spend enough time talking to them to let them know that I care about their child, but when they are all coming in at once to drop their child and things off, I get overwhelmed,

So what gives you the first day jitters??

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And now for my TpT questions:
I have started (slowly) creating things to sell on TpT. What I want to know is...

1. what are the best places for clipart?
2. how do you make a preview file with all the pages stacked? I only know how to take a screen shot of each page and then paste the picture into word but it makes huge files that are too big to be used as a preview. So what are you all doing?
3. Any tips or advice?

If you could just leave a comment with any information you have to share I would so appreciate it :)

7 comments:

  1. 1. I love Scrappin Doodles clipart, KPM Doodles, and Graphics From the Pond
    2. I use Powerpoint to stack my pages. Save each page as a picture & then insert & resize them all on the same slide. Then, save that slide as a picture. I believe Kristen over at Ladybug Teaching Resources has a great tutorial on this.
    3. My store is starting to take off lately. I offered a lot of freebies at first so people could see my quality of work, and I try to price reasonably, but don't underestimate your work either.
    Hope that helps! :)
    Lisa
    Learning Is Something to Treasure

    ReplyDelete
  2. Love that you posted this, as these are questions I've had, too :)

    Sara
    Miss V's Busy Bees
    I'm having a 2-0-0 follower giveaway - come on by!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I just found you on the first day jitters linky. I think your plan of over planning is a good idea!
    
Layla
    Fancy Free in Fourth

    ReplyDelete
  4. I always get nervous about sending kids home the wrong way on the first day! I just made a form that I am mailing out to parents in hopes of easing that stress. Stop by and check it out!
    Scrappin Doodles is a great place for clip art as someone has already said...they have 2 dollar deals which are AWESOME!
    I am your newest follower! :)

    Blessings of Teaching

    ReplyDelete
  5. I can't believe you haven't heard of the book before! It is one of my favorite picture books! :D I totally feel you on your jitters, I feel the same way!

    Dray

    Second Grade is Sweet!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gina,
    Thanks for stopping by my blog! When I got started, I watched Amy Lemons' (Step into Second Grade with Mrs. Lemons) video tutorials. They helped so much. I create by previews in Powerpoint or with Picasa. It just depends on the project.
    For clip art, I really like Scrappin' Doodles, KPM Doodles, and Jessica Weible. I like Print Candee and Digital Bakeshop for Digital Frames. The best thing I can tell you is to read the forums on TpT, you learn so much there.

    Just play around and be patient. I've been selling for six months, and although I've been moderately success, my store is just taking off.

    Oh and have fun with it too!

    Lisa
    Fourth and Ten
    Like Fourth and Ten on Facebook!
    Formerly Stories From Second

    ReplyDelete
  7. Gina,
    I found your blog throught the linky. We have similar jitters. I too worry about sending kids home the wrong way. I taught 1st for a few years and it was the worst then. I would stress almost the first half of the year and had a check list for each and every kid that I would cross off as I connected the student with their parent or program. Stressful! 3rd grade is so much easier with dismissals. I'm a newbie blogger and would love it if you would hop on over and check out my blog :)
    Your newest follower,
    Tammy
    groovyin3rd.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

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