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