This holiday letter can be as simple (for 2nd graders) or sophisticated (middle school) as your students can handle. There are a gamut of skills–

• text
• borders
• pictures (from the internet, from clip art, from a separate file folder on your school server)
• different fonts, font colors, font sizes

I’ve included a grading rubric to guide students in accomplishing as much as they can. Start with the basics (text, a border, some pictures) and add more skills as students get used to the early ones: (more…)

Drop by every Friday to discover what wonderful website my classes and parents loved this week. I think you’ll find they’ll be a favorite of yours as they are of mine. (more…)

Use MS Word to organize an animal group (reptiles, mammals, amphibians, etc.) and their traits. This project is a favorite with my students, mostly because of the stunning animal picture they get to embed into the background. (more…)

ASCII art is that amazing computer drawing where keyboard letters become a picture. Done well, it never fails to impress friends with your geekiness.

I was inspired by my friend, Zakgirl, to try it. I’m inherently lazy so wanted an ‘easy way’ to accomplish this tedious art. I went on a hunt for that method–and found it! Here’s a pumpkin I did for Halloween in about fifteen minutes:

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Publisher cards are easy enough for second graders–even early readers. Pick a template, add a picture to personalize, add their name–and they’re done. It takes about 15 minutes. Kids always feel great about creating these greeting cards: (more…)

Drop by every weekend to discover what wonderful website my classes and parents loved this week. I think you’ll find they’ll be a favorite of yours as they are of mine. (more…)

Grade Level: 3-5

Background: Using MS Word.

Vocabulary: diagram, graphic organizer, solar system

Time: About 30 minutes

Steps:

• Open MS Word. Add a heading to the top.
• Add a title–Where We Are–centered, bold and font 14. Use this to point out the tool bar with the four alignment tools, bold, fonts and font size (more…)

This is the only project that’s easier than Project 21 (the holiday card in Publisher). There’s no folding and the templates are bright, colorful and exciting for kids as young as second grade: (more…)

Reinforce fiction writing–characters, plot, setting, climax–with a short story in MS Word. Then use color, borders, pictures to enhance the words. (more…)