Room 305

Have you ever wanted to create a classroom website? I have always dreamed of having a website, but felt so overwhelmed when I thought about learning how to create a website. Not to mention all of the website creator tools I found were complicated and difficult to use. My dream became a reality when I learned about Google Sites . Google Sites is a simple way to effortlessly create a beautiful website. Check out this video with more information about how to use Google Sites from Teacher Cast Educational Network. You may be wondering what can I add to my Google Site. Well, I am so glad you asked. You can easy add any kind of Google file like a Slide, Doc, Calendar, Form, Sheet, etc. You can also add a photo album from Google, a YouTube video or links to websites. Check out this 8 minute video I created using Screen-o-Matic with information on some of my personal favorite Google Site features and a quick look at the Google Site I created for my classroom. Here is a link to

Google Earth and Google Tour Builder will revolutionize the way you use maps in your classroom. Have you ever felt frustrated when using a 2D map of the world or region, feeling as though its difficult to see or underwhelming for your students. I cannot even begin to imagine how captivated my students will be when I show them Google Earth and Google Tour Builder. I have a feeling they will request daily to see various places. On this post, I will explain these two awesome Google tools, some tips and tricks and ways you can incorporate them into your classroom! Google Earth  is a computer program that creates 3D images based on satellite imagery. Unless you want to download the Google Earth program. It is highly recommend to use Google Chrome as your search engine for Google Earth. Check out this video about Google Earth. Here is what the main screen looks like after getting on Google Earth. The buttons on the left side will be the ones you use most often. The first

YouTube can be such a daunting resource, especially for teachers. Often times I feel overwhelmed with the amount of videos available on YouTube and find myself nervous my students will see something inappropriate. My co-workers and I often have difficulties remembering which videos we used for a unit the previous year and find ourselves searching through e-mails trying to find a link. After spending some time researching YouTube, I found a couple of incredible resources that can help teachers more  efficiently  use YouTube to enhance their instruction. Safeshare.tv   is a free online resource to help the user safely watch and share YouTube videos without all of the ads and distractions. Simply copy and paste a YouTube video link into the   SafeShare.tv website . You can even edit the start and stop position of the video. I always worry about all of the other videos my students will see when showing them a YouTube video. Using Safeshare.tv is a simple way to guarantee they will only s

Have you ever felt stuck in your classroom? Unable to interact and connect with your students and struggling to figure out the best way to efficiently share documents and have your students turn in work electronically? Google Classroom is the perfect tool for you. Check out this video about Google Classroom from Flipped Classroom Tutorials. Google classroom is a great way to interact with students electronically. One of my favorite features of Google Classroom is the capability to add videos, documents and links under the about tab. Click on "add class materials" and you can add a variety of things. These materials will stay on the about page while the classroom is active. I was able to add some beginning of the year documents, a coin song we watch on a regular basis and a link to one of my favorite classroom social media sites Flip Grid. Another feature I love is the ability to add Google Forms to Google Classroom. Check out this video with more information

Google Drive is a simple way to share, collaborate, back up, and create files. These Drive features have revolutionized the Internet allowing people to work together to create some unbelievable products. Check out this  Google Drive website  with information about the storage features of Drive. Google Drive has a couple basic programs that are similar to your typical Microsoft programs. These include Docs , Sheets , Slides , Forms , and Drawings . This week we will touch on these five programs. To get us started, check out this video to learn the basics of Google Drive. Now check out this video with some advanced features of Google Drive. Google Docs is the word processing program for Google Drive. However, you can do more than you ever imagined when using Google Docs. Docs can be easily shared with students in your classroom. They can be given the ability to edit a document or only the ability to view the document. Google Drive has the capability to add add-ons s

Gmail! According to Gmail there are over 1 billion people that use Gmail. That's quite a few people almost the population of India. Did you know there are so many improvements you can make to your Gmail account? Check out this video with more information about Gmail tips. Here are a couple of my favorite features you can easily change and make your life easier and more productive. 1. Google Chat This feature is Google Gmail Chat. This feature is available on the left side of the Gmail screen. You can add contacts and chat with them much like AOL Instant Messenger. This feature would be helpful if I needed to communicate with coworkers instead of calling them. I could also easily chat with my husband (who is also a teacher) during the day. The chat box can remain open while using Gmail. I could also see this being helpful if you lose your cell phone. You can use it much like a phone and call people. There is also a feature called groups, where you can create a group chat.

When using my Mac at home my default browser has always been Safari. It has been known for years at our house that my husband uses Chrome and I use Safari. We never wanted to mess with logging in and out of all the websites and switching accounts, so we stuck with our plan. After researching Chrome I discovered many reasons why, I too should be using Chrome. Also, I discovered how I we could easily switch back and forth between our accounts. Who knew it could be so easy! This blog post is going to explore some features of Google Chrome and Google+. Google Chrome should be your web browser of choice. For so many reasons, but especially because of Google Extensions! Here are two videos about Google Extensions and some examples of Extensions you can download and use on Chrome. Extensions are a great way to improve your browsing experience. The Google Extensions store will look like this. When searching through the Extensions, I looked for the highest rated and most

School is right around the corner and that means time for lots and lots of professional development. One of my favorite professional development topics is how to better incorporate technology in my classroom. This Adobe Spark website was created with the intention of being shared with the staff at my school. I took a leap of faith and e-mailed it to my new principal. I have a feeling Flipgrid will be one of my favorite websites to use with my 2nd graders this fall. I am excited to report back on how it goes using Flipgrid and how my 2nd graders handled the social media website. Here is a video of some teacher testimonials about why they love using Flipgrid in their classroom. Google... oh Google. You surprise me daily. It is unbelievable to uncover new features on a daily basis. Did you know Google has a built in calculator? A easy way to search for movies? Or check on your flight? There is a way to only search for PDFs, PowerPoints or Word Documents! How about there is

This Padlet wall was created for a 2nd grade classroom. Padlet is an online social media tool that allows students and teachers to connect by sharing ideas, links, videos and photos. Upon signing up you get four free Padlet walls. If you want more, you have to sign up and pay for an account. This Padlet wall is intended to help students organize information about Jellyfish. The wall could be used at the beginning or end of the unit. Here is a video with more information on how you could use Padlet in your classroom. FlipGrid is another social media tool where students can respond to questions with videos. Teachers can sign up for a free account or pay for a subscription. There is also a district subscription. It would probably be worth your time to check to see if your district has paid for a subscription. I have not personally used FlipGrid in my classroom yet, but my goal is to use is this fall. It will take some time to introduce and teach my 2nd grade student

Teaching is hard work. Balancing a full time job, a family and the responsbilities of life creates in me a desire to be the most productive I can be. One way I have learned to save a lot of time is figuring out ways to make my life at school easier. Besides using routines and procedures daily, I have begun to incorporate many kinds of technology. Here are 10 websites to make your life as a teacher easier. 10. GoNoodle 9. Learn Zillion 8. Online Boxing Timer 7. Screencast-O-Matic 6. Bouncy Balls 5. Teachers Pay Teachers 4. Sign Up Genius 3. Flippity 2. NearPod  1. Seesaw These 10 websites have transformed my productivity in the classroom, some of them more than others, but all of them have given me the opportunity to spend more time with my students and family. Flippity allows you to create games and review activities for your students. The opportunities are endless. Here are a couple of the activities available on their website. Be sure you have a Google account befo

Google has come a long way since 1996. According to Google , their company officially began in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergery Brin. Now Google has over 60,000 employees in 50 different countries. Their products have transformed the way we use technology and have given millions the ability to use their tools to communicate. Google Drive is a personal cloud storage, allowing users to synchronize digital content. Within Drive there are numerous apps such as Docs, Sheets, Forms and Slides to name a few.  In this post we will be exploring a couple of helpful tips to keep in mind while using the Google apps. After exploring and watching the  YouTube video below by Teacher's Tech  I found a feature called OCR. OCR is called  optical character recognition feature. This feature allows you to take a mostly text PDF and convert it to text. What you do is right click on the title of the PDF and select "open with" then "Google Docs." Then the PDF should convert to text and

When I was in 2nd grade back in the fall of 1994, I was thrilled to go to computer class and use the massive box computer to work on my typing skills and maybe get to play Oregon Trail at the end of class. Times have changed and with students having access to a school provided device or the ability to get on the internet on a regular basis, the opportunities are endless. Devices can be used for numerous things including a virtual classroom that allows teachers to give quizzes, assignments, create folders with links to websites and facilitate a safe place where only students can share their learning. Learning management systems like Edmodo and Schoology were created with the ability to provide teachers the resources to engage students differently than a typical classroom. Both Edmodo and Schoology have a lot to offer teachers. From creating polls, to joining public groups with other educators, to adding events to a calendar and creating a grade book. Check out these two videos that