Task Card Tutorial Series: Going from Color to Black & White

Growing up, my mom always told me that I would've made a great Catholic.  Each night before I shut my little eyes to go to bed, I'd run through the course of the day.  If I felt like I'd done something wrong, said something that wasn't very nice, or stood by as another kid was a bit mean to a classmate, I had to confess to my mom or else there was no way I'd be getting any sleep.  I'd be racked with personal torment alllll night long.

Not much has changed.  It's high time I made a confession: despite my very, VERY large collection of task cards, I have only three sets in full color.  There.  It's out in the open, and now I'll be able to sleep tonight knowing that all y'all know I'm a total cheapskate.

Most of the time, I print my task cards in black and white on fun and bright colored paper, and then I laminate them so I don't have to reprint them next year.  Lamination stops my students from poking the cards, rolling the edges or coloring on them.  (Please tell me I'm not the only one with students who feel that non-laminated goods are free game??!!  Someday I'll do a post on my pet peeves.  This is right up there with folding the corners of my books instead of using a bookmark.....)

For this tutorial, I'm using Adobe Reader.  I like Preview on a Mac, but I like Adobe Reader more.  I find that I have fewer printing problems when I use Adobe.  With your task cards (or any PDF product) open, you'll want to get to your printing options.  You do this by selecting File>Print or using the shortcut CTRL+P (CMD+P on a Mac).  You should have this window!  Just check the grayscale box and then you're off to see the wizard!

If you have a B&W laser printer, this is the way to go.  Our school only has printers that print in black and white, and since I am allowed to print for free, that's the route I usually take.  They still look great!  Here's what my Translating Algebraic Expressions product looks like:  (you can buy it here)

Here's to simple ways to save money and still have fun, cute stuff!  :)