Tech Tip Tuesday: Google All the Things!

Google is fabulous! I'm pretty sure it owns me. And you. And the world.

And I'm okay with that.

So this summer I've been presenting at many educational conferences and I'm so excited to share my presentation here with you.

HyperDocs are awesome! Learn all about this tool and work through some of my own HyperDocs by watching my presentation here. 

Thanks and Happy Googling!

0

Tech Tip Tuesday: First Day of School Signs! FREEBIE!!! Make it personalized with a tutorial here!

On Carly's first day of eighth grade, I made her a first day of school sign! I also made her one for ninth grade but I didn't get to print it out because my printer was on the fritz and I couldn't :( But here is what it would have looked like had I gotten it printed!

I also made signs for my niece and nephew. I uploaded it to Facebook and had so many compliments and questions about how I made the signs. I've made personalized signs for many of my friends and family.

Here is your chance to get your very own personalized sign for the first day of school!

Just click on the link below and download. Open it in PowerPoint and BAM!

I have embedded the fonts I've used, but just in case here is the list:

These are the fonts:
Hello Heartache
Life's a Beach
KG No Regrets Sketch
A Little Sunshine
Janda Safe and Sound

Do a Google search and install.

So let's get started. Here's how it works:
Open the file.

Click in a Text Box and highlight the text you want to change.

 The font will automatically adjust to fill the size of your words.

Or you can resize the text box yourself, by clicking and dragging the handles around the edge of the text box.

You can change the color, font, and style:

You can't change the font size because I've used word art boxes to automatically adjust the size of your text.

I have included a page without any clipart in case you want to add a picture of your own.
Just click on the Insert tab and choose Insert Pictures. Navigate to find your own pics. 


And that's it! My sister uploaded her signs to Walgreens and had an 8 x 10 printed for around $4 bucks I believe.

For Carly's Eighth grade year I printed the file as a poster on my home printer. Yep, a lot of ink and a lot bigger than I had intended, but hey, it worked!!

Some printers will allow for poster printing. If so, here is how to print a poster:
Go to print the file and click on Printer Properties.

You get this pop up menu. Click on the Layout tab at the top. Click enable under Poster Printing. 

You can opt to print on 4 pages or 9 pages or 16 pages. See where it says 2x2? Use drop down arrow to choose. I used 2x2 and then taped the pages together. Click the "on" box next to Add Crop Marks to make it easier to cut out and tape together. 

{HERE} is the link for the signs. It's a zip file - download and extract. 

Here is a Google Drive link for the file in Slides, if you prefer to work right in your browser with all Google!

Thanks for reading!

0

Let's go Digital! Interactive Notebooks with NO paper!

As you may have heard I'm moving up from first grade to SIXTH grade. I'll be teaching Media Literacy and Video Production. Yup. No more primary for me :(

I'm a little sad, but also a little excited! I'm sure as the school year moves closer I'll be MORE excited! Stay tuned for the middle of July!

For the time being, I'm going to share with you an activity I've been working on. I LOVE interactive notebooks. However, they take up a lot of time and a lot of paper and a lot of glue. I've got to spend lots of days training my firsties on how to properly cut and paste the activities in their notebooks.



This activity is one that I've had in my paper interactive notebooks for awhile, but I've moved it to a digital platform!

Check it out: 

There are letter tiles off to the side that the students click and drag to build short a words. After building a word, they type the word in the table, drag the letters back, and do it again. When they are finished, I've included instructions on how to share the activity with me. 

I've spent a few weeks at the beginning of the school year training my students on how to use Google. How to sign in, how to create docs or slides or drawings, how to share things with me, etc. We've practiced dragging, clicking, typing, inserting, etc. 

Now, your students won't necessarily need to share the finished activity with you or maybe they all have their own Google accounts or you are using Google Classroom. That's great! They can all get their own copy through Classroom or you can email to their account and they can save their file in their Drive. If not, just have them log in under your Gmail and type their name on their own copy. 

I've got short a, e, i, o, and u slides. The kids have an interactive experience, practice a skill, and have fun while doing it! The best part? I didn't have to make copies or clean up a mess!

All you need is a computer, Internet access, and a free Google account. 

You can grab your own copy of this activity {HERE}. It will prompt you to make a copy first. Sometimes on Macs, you may have to go to File>Make a Copy afterwards. I'm not sure of this kink, but I am sure that Google is most likely working on it. 

What do you think? I'm working on some more digital interactive notebooks which will be in my TpT store sometime this summer. 

Here is a peek: 

Let me know what you think!

0

Let's go Digital! Interactive Notebooks with NO paper!

As you may have heard I'm moving up from first grade to SIXTH grade. I'll be teaching Media Literacy and Video Production. Yup. No more primary for me :(

I'm a little sad, but also a little excited! I'm sure as the school year moves closer I'll be MORE excited! So there will be lots of changes coming soon. Here is a sneak peek:

Stay tuned for the middle of July!

For the time being, I'm going to share with you an activity I've been working on. I LOVE interactive notebooks. However, they take up a lot of time and a lot of paper and a lot of glue. I've got to spend lots of days training my firsties on how to properly cut and paste the activities in their notebooks.

This activity is one that I've had in my paper interactive notebooks for awhile, but I've moved it to a digital platform!

Check it out: 

There are letter tiles off to the side that the students click and drag to build short a words. After building a word, they type the word in the table, drag the letters back, and do it again. When they are finished, I've included instructions on how to share the activity with me. 

I've spent a few weeks at the beginning of the school year training my students on how to use Google. How to sign in, how to create docs or slides or drawings, how to share things with me, etc. We've practiced dragging, clicking, typing, inserting, etc. 

Now, your students won't necessarily need to share the finished activity with you or maybe they all have their own Google accounts or you are using Google Classroom. That's great! They can all get their own copy through Classroom or you can email to their account and they can save their file in their Drive. If not, just have them log in under your Gmail and type their name on their own copy. 

I've got short a, e, i, o, and u slides. The kids have an interactive experience, practice a skill, and have fun while doing it! The best part? I didn't have to make copies or clean up a mess!

All you need is a computer, Internet access, and a free Google account. 

You can grab your own copy of this activity {HERE}. It will prompt you to make a copy first. Sometimes on Macs, you may have to go to File>Make a Copy afterwards. I'm not sure of this kink, but I am sure that Google is most likely working on it. 

What do you think? I'm working on some more digital interactive notebooks which will be in my TpT store sometime this summer. 

Here is a peek: 

Let me know what you think!

0

Google Certification

Hi friends! I know it's been a little while since my last post but you know, life happens!! I do hope everyone has had a fabulous year so far!

I wanted to talk today a little about my journey to become a Google Certified Educator.

Have you heard about this? It's fabulous. I have learned so much about tools that are available to teachers and students to help make learning more accessible and easier!

And, best of all, it's FREE. 

Yep, Google is so awesome that it's offering PD to teachers that they can complete in the comfort of their own home at their own leisure. And it's unbelievably helpful. Go {HERE} to read all about it, but this is the gist: 

There are Google Apps for Education (GAFE) which include Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, and many others. These are free Cloud Computing apps that anyone can use. Google Training is simply helping educators to learn how to better incorporate these tools into the classroom. 

There are four types of training: 

Certified Educator Level 1 - basics

Certified Educator Level 2 - advanced

Devices Training - Chromebooks, tablets, mobile devices 

Trainer Training - become a trainer to other educators

To get started, all you need is a free Google Account. That's it. So go and sign up.

Then log into the Training Center and start your training.  

The lessons are pretty straight forward. They start with a title, an introduction, overview of tools used, and end with a lesson check.

The lessons vary per unit. Some have two or three lessons, some have more. 

The first unit, Get Ready to Use Technology in the Classroom has four lessons that you work through. 

Google walks you through step by step. 

 They usually have videos or examples of other educators explaining how they use Google tools in the classroom. The training also gives scenarios and an opportunity for you to jot down your ideas. 

At the end of each unit, you complete a lesson check. And Google lets you know if you have it correct or not with a Check Answer button. 

After you complete the unit, you take a Unit Review test. This involves some multiple choice and short answer questions, along with some performance tasks. 

 You can take the test as many times as needed. You can also review any lessons at any time. Google records your answers and progress for you. When you are finished working through all 13 units, you can choose to take the test to become certified. It's only $10. 

Sorry! I can't help you out there :(

You have to agree to not disclose anything on the test when you take it. I can tell you that its a mix of multiple choice and performance tasks. You have 180 minutes to complete the test. You use Google Chrome and you must have a working webcam because they take random pics to make sure you are you. 

When you pass (and if you have completed the training you will!) you receive a badge to place on your profile or resume and a certificate to proclaim your expertise!

The certification is good for two years when you must re-certify. 

And that's it! It really is amazingly simple to complete! After Level 1, move onto Level 2! The training and test is exactly like Level 1, but the final test is $25 this time. 

After you've taken and passed both exams, celebrate and move forward with taking your classroom and school google! 

If you are an accredited school, you can get Google Apps for Education (GAFE) for FREE. Yep, free. Google wants to put technology into schools hands as easily as is possible. You get unlimited accounts for your school and unlimited storage in Drive. UNLIMITED. All you need is a domain. I purchased one for my school for $12 from eNom. 

Contact Google to get started today.

They will walk you through it all - though I do suggest you have somewhat of a knowledge of technology to set up a domain and administration of a GAFE account. I would highly suggest you recommend it to your district tech team, though. Google opens a world of possibilities for you school, district, classroom, and professional life. 

Please let me know if you have any questions about Google Certification or any questions about possible uses in the classroom. 

Thanks for reading!

0

Google Certification

Hi friends! I know it's been a little while since my last post but you know, life happens!! I do hope everyone has had a fabulous year so far!

I wanted to talk today a little about my journey to become a Google Certified Educator.

Have you heard about this? It's fabulous. I have learned so much about tools that are available to teachers and students to help make learning more accessible and easier!

And, best of all, it's FREE. 

Yep, Google is so awesome that it's offering PD to teachers that they can complete in the comfort of their own home at their own leisure. And it's unbelievably helpful. Go {HERE} to read all about it, but this is the gist: 

There are Google Apps for Education (GAFE) which include Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, and many others. These are free Cloud Computing apps that anyone can use. Google Training is simply helping educators to learn how to better incorporate these tools into the classroom. 

There are four types of training: 

Certified Educator Level 1 - basics

Certified Educator Level 2 - advanced

Devices Training - Chromebooks, tablets, mobile devices 

Trainer Training - become a trainer to other educators

To get started, all you need is a free Google Account. That's it. So go and sign up.

Then log into the Training Center and start your training.  

The lessons are pretty straight forward. They start with a title, an introduction, overview of tools used, and end with a lesson check.

The lessons vary per unit. Some have two or three lessons, some have more. 

The first unit, Get Ready to Use Technology in the Classroom has four lessons that you work through. 

Google walks you through step by step. 

 They usually have videos or examples of other educators explaining how they use Google tools in the classroom. The training also gives scenarios and an opportunity for you to jot down your ideas. 

At the end of each unit, you complete a lesson check. And Google lets you know if you have it correct or not with a Check Answer button. 

After you complete the unit, you take a Unit Review test. This involves some multiple choice and short answer questions, along with some performance tasks. 

 You can take the test as many times as needed. You can also review any lessons at any time. Google records your answers and progress for you. When you are finished working through all 13 units, you can choose to take the test to become certified. It's only $10. 

Sorry! I can't help you out there :(

You have to agree to not disclose anything on the test when you take it. I can tell you that its a mix of multiple choice and performance tasks. You have 180 minutes to complete the test. You use Google Chrome and you must have a working webcam because they take random pics to make sure you are you. 

When you pass (and if you have completed the training you will!) you receive a badge to place on your profile or resume and a certificate to proclaim your expertise!

The certification is good for two years when you must re-certify. 

And that's it! It really is amazingly simple to complete! After Level 1, move onto Level 2! The training and test is exactly like Level 1, but the final test is $25 this time. 

After you've taken and passed both exams, celebrate and move forward with taking your classroom and school google! 

If you are an accredited school, you can get Google Apps for Education (GAFE) for FREE. Yep, free. Google wants to put technology into schools hands as easily as is possible. You get unlimited accounts for your school and unlimited storage in Drive. UNLIMITED. All you need is a domain. I purchased one for my school for $12 from eNom. 

Contact Google to get started today.

They will walk you through it all - though I do suggest you have somewhat of a knowledge of technology to set up a domain and administration of a GAFE account. I would highly suggest you recommend it to your district tech team, though. Google opens a world of possibilities for you school, district, classroom, and professional life. 

Please let me know if you have any questions about Google Certification or any questions about possible uses in the classroom. 

Thanks for reading!

0