Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Civics in a minute




Want to help your students increase their civics knowledge?  How about the 60-second podcast from The Center for Civics Education.  Their podcast (and multiple choice question and a short video) gives you a topic for today (and scroll down to see past episodes). Click here to visit.

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Jamboard and Version History (sort of)



In this blog post, Alice Keeler explains how you can see the revision history.  But unlike version history in other Google products, you can not see exactly who made what change.  She has a good suggestion about naming the original version in case you need to revert back to the original version.  Please see her video here for the directions.

Monday, December 21, 2020

"Lock" content in Jamboard



Want to put content on a Jamboard that students cannot move or alter?  Check out the Insert image feature.  Here is a short video demonstration.


Sunday, December 20, 2020

SEL in your daily activities

 In this blog post from  Mandy Froehlich, she provides suggestions on integrating SEL opportunities in daily classroom activities.

Saturday, December 19, 2020

Improving your communication in Google


When I’ve shared a Google document with someone and then made changes, I don’t often think to notify them of the changes.  Alice Keeler has some good suggestions in her blog post here on how using email can smooth the process. (You need to have shared the document first before you can access the email collaborators option).  Please see her post here.

Friday, December 18, 2020

STEM for the Littles

While this article is advertised for first graders, I’m sure you could adjust the grade levels and difficulty.  Please see this article from We are teachers.

Thursday, December 17, 2020

Virtual Calming Room


Every elementary teacher I have visited has a place in their classroom for students to just take a minute and relax. It is my hope that my Virtual Calming Room is a substitute that will allow your students a minute or two breaks from the classroom screen during hybrid/remote instruction.   Please feel free to share with your students.  While this site is elementary in focus, I will admit to playing with the spiral drawing tool and trying to locate all the hidden pictures!

I used Google Sites to host the resources- but you could share content in any Google tools (i.e., docs, slides, sheets).


Wednesday, December 16, 2020

Do you want to build a snowman?


With the weather report predicting snow for this week, I thought it might be nice to revisit Eric Curts and his "Build your own snowman" Google Slides project. He has two versions- one will be right for your students. Then encourage them to write about their snowman. Click here for all the directions and the template. (I made the one above!)

Tuesday, December 15, 2020

Using the private comments in Google Classroom


Here’s an interesting application using private comments- it comes from Melody McAllister and she shares a suggestion from Alice Keeler.  Rather than have the students submit a document- ask a question and have them respond using the Private Comments.   Here is the video.

Monday, December 14, 2020

How do I allow extra time for a Google Form?



Up until this point, there has not been an easy way to permit a student to go back to a form. 
Alice Keeler comes to the rescue with her code that automatically builds a spreadsheet and saves the link needed for the student to reopen their form.

            She does an excellent job explaining it here.

Sunday, December 13, 2020

December themed escape rooms


Matt Miller published these Escape Rooms (both in Google Sites and Microsoft Sway) late last month- I shared them around Thanksgiving.  This is another post to remind you of the Christmas, Hanukkah, and Holidays Around the World rooms. Everything you need (including the clues for the keys) is here.

Saturday, December 12, 2020

A Google Slides gameboard (with dice)


OK, they are not real dice - but this gameboard Google Slides from Alice Keeler would be perfect for virtual and hybrid learning.  From her colorful board (with game pieces) to the Dice and her quick tutorial on using the Slide Master as an editing tool- this is worth your time.  Please see the blog post (with directions and video) here.

Friday, December 11, 2020

SOS online


Many of you may be familiar with the Spotlight on Strategies (SOS) from DE. These are techniques to integrate technology in your classroom.

Shelly Kakouris (from my DEN friends group on Facebook)  recently shared this slide deck with 15 SOS with a digital flair.  Each one contains both the teacher's directions as well as a slide you could use for your students.  The link is here.

Thursday, December 10, 2020

Restricting access to a Google form via a password




Most folks know how to turn a form on or off- but what if you only want certain students to be able to access the form?  That’s where form passwords enter the picture.


In this blog post, Alice Keeler walks you through the process.  You set up (in the first section) a password question.  You make it zero points (so it will not impact the grading).

Wednesday, December 9, 2020

YouTube Tech Tips

From this week pro tech tips:

To eliminate pop ups in YouTube ad go full screen:


Catherine Zank shared her YouTube tip (and she says it helps reduce the lag)


If you add: _popup after the word watch in the URL it will remove all the other videos on the side as well as ads and put it in full screen. 


To eliminate the videos on the side and go full screen:


Pam Gunter shares this tip to eliminate the ads in YouTube videos:


I saw in School Librarians Workshop on FB the other day a post from Shannon McClintock Miller about this new hack. Simply insert a - (minus sign) between the t and u in the URL of any Yout-ube video and it removes the ads.


Here is a quick video.

Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Getting from paper to a digital journal


Sarah Kiefer recently shared an informative blog post (and a Google slide deck) with suggestions on how you could have paperwork submitted online.  It provides a template where students can insert a photo- and she even has a slide that explains that process!  In this digital journal, she provides additional slides as well as instructional slides for the students.

Monday, December 7, 2020

6 Word stories to the rescue!



Looking for a quick way to provide an SEL option for your students or perhaps an exit ticket at the end of a lesson?  And if you are doing this hybrid or all remote, you know how efficient you must be.  

Six-word stories (Link for non-Discovery Education accounts -DE users can search after logging in) provides a quick way to obtain feedback from every student in a timely manner.  It is a tool that helps students to summarize.  Special thanks to Wandalyn Jones (SC) for her suggestion at the Discovery Education Virt-Con.

Sunday, December 6, 2020

String of pearls

I have to admit, when I saw this reference to an improv game (that could be adapted for online school), my first thought was “isn't this a song?” Guess that’s what happens when you listen to Glenn Miller, have been in a high school band, or watch old movies!  But this String of Pearls is an interactive storytelling exercise.  Please click here to see the video.  And if you need a little Glenn Miller, click here!

Saturday, December 5, 2020

Sections in Forms


In her blog post, Alice Keeler shares her ideas for using sections in forms.  Not only does it allow you to break up questions into pages, but it si also useful when you are changing the flow of a form.  While answers can send people to other areas, it can only send them to another Section (and not another question).  I try to clearly label my sections to make this process easier!  Please see her post here.

Friday, December 4, 2020

So what can the master slide do for you?



Ever want to change the font on all your slide titles?  Or add something to each slide?  That’s where the Slide Master comes in. In this brief video from Kasey Bell (Shake Up learning), she walks you through the process.

Thursday, December 3, 2020

Google Form Options for Quizzes



Alice Keeler shares her strategies for both randomizing questions as well as allowing for student choice.  Please see her blog post here.  While I have used the sections and shuffle approach before, the student selection options were new to me.

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Got a question about hurricanes?

Here is the link to the text.

Shared from Meredith Pisaeno (3rd Grade- Truman)


The 3rd graders in D17 worked hard on their informational writing for the last few weeks!  They used pebblego, kiddle.co, an Epic! teacher created library, and Discovery Education video collection to find information about topics that they brainstormed.  After looking through many non-fiction texts and viewing their features, the students created books using a template from slidesmania.com. 

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Open in a new window


When doing a Google search, how often have you opened a link- realized it is not what you want, and then use the back arrow to go back to the original search?  Or you could use the Ctrl key to select what you want to view in a new tab.


But now, there is a setting feature that will automatically open each link in a new tab.  Please see the blog post from Alice Keeler here for step by step directions for changing your search settings.