So you’ve purchased a classroom decor bundle and you can’t wait to get started designing your room, right? But then you need to change something in your materials. What’s the best way to edit classroom decor? For the resources I create, the best way to modify materials is with PowerPoint. Let me show you how!
How to edit classroom decor in PowerPoint
I can’t speak for all teacher-authors, but many of my own classroom decor resources come with text editable PowerPoint files, so teachers like you can tailor the to your own needs.
When you download your classroom decor bundle, look through the folder to see if there are PowerPoint slides. These are frequently where text editable files can be found. If text boxes are already provided for you, then simply type in your own text.
However, if text boxes aren’t provided, then click Insert —> Text Box. Drag your cursor around the area where you’d like to add the text box. Once you create the text box, type in your desired content and increase or decrease the font size. You can adjust the text box location by dragging it around with your mouse.
If you want to change fonts, this is a great time to do that, as well. Keep in mind, some classroom decor resources come with custom fonts. You may need to purchase those individually to use in text editable files you create.
Side note: While adding your own text is pretty easy to do, certain elements of the resources may not be editable. This may include clipart or digital backgrounds, and may be related to copyright law or terms of use.
Duplicate slides in PowerPoint to create more resources
Duplicating PowerPoint slides is another good tool to use when you modify classroom decor. If, for example, you want to create a birthday display and have several student birthdays in a particular month, then you might need to duplicate the slides to create more copies. To create more slides, right click on the slide in the left pane in PowerPoint and select Duplicate Slide. Repeat this process until you have enough slides to complete your task.
Side note: It’s important to select Duplicate Slide instead of Copy and Paste. When you duplicate the slide you carry over the design, too. That isn’t always a guarantee with the Copy and Paste functions.
How to match colors in your classroom decor
Let’s say you are working on adding text to a slide but you’d like to match the font color to one of the colors in the slide design. In PowerPoint you can do that! Simply click on the Font Color icon, select More Colors, and then click the Eyedropper icon. From there you can drag your cursor around the slides to find the color you want to match.
When you find the color, click on that area, and the eyedropper will identify it for you. In PowerPoint the color will show up as RGB and Hex colors. For lack of a better description, these numeric/alphanumeric codes tell the computer how to read the color.
How to Export PowerPoint to PDF
Once you’ve added your desired text, then it’s time to print. You can either print directly from your newly customized PowerPoint slides, or you can create a new PDF of your slides and print from there. To convert your PowerPoint slides to a PDF, click File —> Export —> PDF. You’ll need to name the file and save it in a folder on your computer where you can easily retrieve it for printing purposes.
Side note: Before adding text to text editable files, save a copy or two first. That way you always have an original to come back to.
What about editing PDFs?
This gets trickier and depends largely on the editing files available on different computers, as well as how teacher-authors have created their resources. While I do provide some text-free PDFs in my products, those are mostly for the purpose of printing, laminating, and writing directly on them.
However, if you use Adobe Preview to open your PDFs, then you may be able to add a text box. To do that, click Tools —> Annotate —>Text. From there you may be able to just the font, font size, and text box location. I say may because I’ve found not all teachers have these options on their computers, or the process doesn’t work consistently across resources.
What about editing Google Slides?
You may be able to edit some elements in Google Slides, but the process appears to be hit and miss, depending on what it is you want to edit. The Google Slides in my product bundles come with text boxes that work much like the PowerPoint slides. From there you can add and remove slides, reorder slides, and add and remove text boxes. As always, save a few copies before making lots of changes.
How to print classroom decor
I have an entire blog post dedicated to how to print classroom decor! It covers what paper to use, what to know about your printer, and how to scale materials to be a desired size!
Below are links to the materials displayed in this post! You can find them on TPT in my Spirited Learning store!
Spiriteds, I hope this post illustrates how to edit classroom decor so you can customize your bundle to your needs. And I hope you are well and enjoying your classroom decor! Ooh, and I’m glad you’re here, too! All the greetings, all the time! 🩷
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