This document provides many tips and resources for saving time and money when planning school events and activities. Websites are suggested for finding cheap decorations, presentations, meeting online, managing photos and videos, green initiatives, and leadership resources. Cell phone features like texting and calendars are also recommended for communication and organization.

1. USING TECH TO SAVE YOUR SANITY Angela Steagall Tuloso-Midway Middle School Corpus Christi, TX

2. Teach your kids to pack light! http://www.onebag.com/ Find cheap or possibly free fun things for your kids to do.... www.virtualtourist.com/& www.10best.com/ are great. If your district allows, use http://www.priceline.com/ to get premium rooms at a fraction of the price. Name Your Own Price by starting at a five star level in the area you like with a rate at 60% below asking price or lower. Room Atlas-Powered by Google www.roomatlas.com TRAVEL CAN BE LUXURIOUS AND FUN ON A SHOESTRING

3. Have you ever had the principal "ask" for you to make a PowerPoint presentation to someone and give you less than an hour? Go to Outline view, copy and paste notes in, switch to slide view and insert slides.... throw in some pictures and you are done! :) Presentations

4. Homecoming Crowns- http://www.rhinestone.com/ Table Cloths- flat sheets from Wal Mart.com are less than $4 each and can be washed and reused many times. Chair Covers- a flat twin sheet, also from WalMart.com, can be sewn into a case to cover a chair quickly. Center Pieces- Hobby Lobby has everything on a rotating sale system... glassware is on sale one week and ceramics the next. Several weeks before your event, figure out the cycle for your store and get half price everything from Hobby Lobby! Circulars are sometimes online. Get kids to shop and have management set it aside so you can come in, look at it then pay. Super Cheap- Shop http://www.slickdeals.net/ for coupon codes related to online shopping. Sam's has Click N' Pull, so you shop online and they have it waiting for you at the service desk. www.pearlriver.com – like Oriental Trading… Look up Balloon Arches and Decorating with Balloons online… www.balloonhq.com YOU CAN HAVE GREAT STUFF FOR LESS MONEY AND LESS HASSLE!

5. If you need something more like a movie and REALLY don't have time or care about the order of the photos, you can send your stuff to http://www.animoto.com/ and they will make the movie for you.... Educators have a free subscription service. Free videos are 30 seconds long. Presentations

6. If you have a media retreival system, search http://www.slideshare.net/ for pre-made shows to show for different events and holidays. You can also save presentations here so you can access them where ever you go. Try having a board meeting on Skype! If you all have webcams, you can see each other instead of having to drive serveral hours to meet for one and go home. Try a committee meeting with www.voicethread.com Use Google Docs to access and edit info anytime, anywhere and store it online. You can also meet in virtual space this way to eliminate the problem of schedules and transportation. Keep a master list of everything done on your desk top to make reports easier at the end of the year. Keep plan books online at Google Notebooks. You can share them with committees or look at them regardless of where you are. PLANNING AND MEETINGS

8. Create an Excel spreadsheet to keep up with points and keep a running total. Keep up with passwords by creating a sheet of sites and passwords then saving it. Go back over it and change the text color to white. Save again. Next time you need a password, change the text color temporarily. POINTS/ACCOUNTS MANAGEMENT

9. Create a collage- go to http://www.stainedglasscollage.com/ to upload photos and make instant collages. These would make a great fundraiser if you took photos at an event then created a collage, then sold them for $2 or $3.... can also try www.arcsoft.com/products/photomontage http://www.picasaweb.google.com/ will allow you to create online photo albums for free. Give kids the link and they won't have to hassle you to get photos printed. Everyone can share what they took in one place. Picasa also has software similar to Photoshop, but totally free! Let your kids help design the next shirt.... and do the art in Photoshop or some related app. Use photos from Yahoo Flickr or Google Images to create a PowerPoint or PhotoStory (both Windows applications) that you can project on a wall to create a window into a place at a dance, eliminating the need to decorate one whole wall! Work with your yearbook department to set up a photo studio on campus to take photos for kids who don't have much money.... senior portraits are very expensive. Think Glamour Shots on a shoestring.... and develop a relationship with yearbook to help them and maybe make a little money in the process. MANAGING PHOTOS CAN WORK FOR YOU, AND MAYBE MAKE $$$

10. Do you do a Potty Paper? Use www.toondo.com to change it up. www.bighugelabs.com can help you make some awesome posters, cards,etc.. INVENTIVE PR

11. Teach dance lessons with an online video or maybe even Skype in a live instructor before a dance to help some kids feel more confident. You may have better turn out, and it may help kids learn how to dance "clean". Purchase a flat screen for your school's entrance- you can get some good ones at WalMart for $500 or so- and run the awards and honors given to teams and kids at your school all the time. Sometimes kids don't realize that their school really IS great. Put it in a prominent place everyone can see. You could also knock out a safety project by teaching a web safety and evaluation class on campus, or through a subject-area class that all kids could learn. Filters are great but when they go home, there probably is no filter. STUDENT PRIDE AND SAFETY

12. Make webliographies for their subjects Websites to help new teachers Run Secret Santa for the teachers! www.secretsanta.com Business cards for teachers from www.vistaprint.com Crafts- http://www.allfreecrafts.com/ Really awesome craft site and recycling crafts..... Faculty Appreciation

13. Have your students set up in Table Talk format. Kids will feel empowered and teachers will be impressed. Push teachers to advertise sites like www.freerice.com and www.freepoverty.com for kids to make a difference while they play. Feel free to use things I have compiled here in my tabs @ www.warriorwow.webs.com . Tech Fair

14. http://www.energystar.gov Energy Star Also try-The EPA, Go Green Initiative, Green Peace, US Dept. Energy Consumer Tips, Yahoo Green www.sierraclub.org Sierra Club http://www.ifitweremyhome.com/disasters/bp BP Oil Disaster and other cool things… www.treehugger.com Tree Hugger http://junkyardsports.com/community Recycle items to create games for fun/learning Energy/ Environmental Ideas

15. www.leadershipteacher.us www.alliance4studentactivities.org www.simpletruths.com http://techlearning.com/db_area/archives/WCE/archives/fevgas.html www.fastcompany.com/guides/leadlesson.html www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/leader.html www.humanityquest.com/topic/art_activities/index.asp?theme1=leadership http://edweb.sdsu.edu/courses/EDTEC596/Units/Leadership/Leadership.html www.ncacasi.org/jsi/2001v2i2/students_active EXPAND YOUR REPETOIRE IN LEADERSHIP CLASS

16. ALWAYS teach kids how to use the calendar function in their phone and the reminder function. MASS MESSAGING- http://www.tantango.com/ Group email that gets sent as text messages http://www.broadtexter.com/ Group texts that alert people to meetings, events, deadlines... REMINDERS- http://www.dial2do.com/ Call 1-213-325-2615 to send reminders to your self or others! http://www.jott.com/ Email a message and it will text your phone to remind you at the date and time specified or call the toll free number, leave a voice message for myself, then it translates the voice message and sends a text message reminder at the time I request. HARNESS THE POWER OF THE CELL PHONE

17. TEXTING GOOGLE with SMS- Text message your search query to Google (on most devices- 466453 on others) and Google will text a reply with your answer! If you have unlimited texting, try it! SEARCH FEATURE EXAMPLE QUERY Address Target Austin Local sushi 78412 Weather weather Dallas Dictionary define miasma Sports Score score Astros Movies movies 78412 Specific Movie Time Coraline 78412 Directions directions Corpus Christi to 78646 Flights flight continental 1492 Translation translate hello in French Calculator 1 us pint in liters Currency Conversion 8 usd in yen CELL PHONE TIPS

18. Angela Steagall Tuloso-Midway Middle School Librarian and Student Council Advisor Corpus Christi, TX 78410 asteagall@tmisd.esc2.net 361-903-6615 work Questions?