G Math for Google Docs (Writing Math Tests, etc)

There is an add on in Google Docs called Gmath that makes it super easy to add fractions and math equations to a Google Doc. For teachers in my district, it is really handy for writing collaborative assignments. Go to the add-on menu in Google Docs and forms to use it.

Type in a fraction such as 1 and 1/4 and it automatically converts to the correct (elementary friendly) format. See the image below.

Fun Activity for Contraction Practice

Some of the teachers in my district were looking for extra contraction practice. I put this little activity together that they could use as a station. After the fun of cutting everything out, the student can match the top of the cupcake to the bottom and they can scan the QR code to see if they got it right. If you would like to download it, then you can find it here.

Time Saving Chromebook Shortcuts

These are my can't live without shortcuts.

As we all get more and more dependent on our Chromebooks, I think we need to take time to look over the easiest ways to do things.

Open a new window	Ctrl + n
Open a new window in incognito mode	Ctrl + Shift + n
Open a new tab	Ctrl + t
Open a file in the browser	Ctrl + o
Close the current tab	Ctrl + w
Close the current window	Ctrl + Shift + w
Reopen the last tab or window you closed	Ctrl + Shift + t
Go to tabs 1-8 in the window	Ctrl + 1 through Ctrl + 8
Go to the last tab in the window	Ctrl + 9
Go to the next tab in the window	Ctrl + Tab
Go to the previous tab in the window	Ctrl + Shift + Tab
Switch quickly between windows	Press & hold Alt, tap Tab until you get to the window you want to open, then release.
Open the window you used least recently	Press & hold Alt + Shift, tap Tab until you get to the window you want to open, then release.
Go to previous page in your browsing history	Alt + left arrow
Go to the next page in your browsing history	Alt + right arrow
Open the link in a new tab in the background	Press Ctrl and click a link
Open the link in a new tab and switch to the new tab	Press Ctrl + Shift and click a link
Open the link in a new window	Press Shift and click a link
Open the link in the tab	Drag the link to the tab's address bar
Open the link in a new tab	Drag the link to a blank area on the tab strip
Open the webpage in a new tab	Type a web address (URL) in the address bar, then press Alt + Enter
Return the tab to its original position	While dragging the tab, press Esc
Dock a window on the left	Alt + [
Dock a window on the right	Alt + ]

Page & web browser

Page up	Alt or Search and up arrow
Page down	Alt or Search and down arrow
Scroll down the web page	Space bar
Go to top of page	Ctrl + Alt and up arrow
Go to bottom of page	Ctrl + Alt and down arrow
Print your current page	Ctrl + p
Save your current page	Ctrl + s
Reload your current page	Ctrl + r
Reload your current page without using cached content	Ctrl + Shift + r
Zoom in on the page	Ctrl and +
Zoom out on the page	Ctrl and -
Reset zoom level	Ctrl + 0
Stop the loading of your current page	Esc
Right-click a link	Press Alt and click a link
Open the link in a new tab in the background	Press Ctrl and click a link
Save the link as a bookmark	Drag link to bookmarks bar
Save your current webpage as a bookmark	Ctrl + d
Save all open pages in your current window as bookmarks in a new folder	Ctrl + Shift + d
Search the current page	Ctrl + f
Go to the next match for your search	Ctrl + g or Enter
Go to the previous match for your search	Ctrl + Shift + g or Shift + Enter
Perform a Google search	Ctrl + k or Ctrl + e
Add www. and .com to your input in the address bar, then open the page	Ctrl + Enter
View page source	Ctrl + u
Show or hide the Developer Tools panel	Ctrl + Shift + i
Show or hide the DOM Inspector	Ctrl + Shift + j
Show or hide the bookmarks bar	Ctrl + Shift + b
Open the History page	Ctrl + h
Open the Downloads page	Ctrl + j

Use 360cities in the classroom.

360 citieshttps://www.360cities.net/map

My New Favorite Extension

Read&Write for Google Chrome™

I know I always have a new favorite, but this one will even read a scanned pdf. I see so many cool uses for this tool including reading to non-readers, helping struggling readers and maybe even using for ESL. A teacher in my district (that's you, Angela!) has done some amazing videos using recording software and uploading it to Google Classroom, but if you did not have time to prepare that this tool could help in a pinch. Wow, that was a run-on.

Someone also asked me to find another easy tool to highlight. This does it! Y'all take a look and see what you think! I'm in love!

Google Slides Interactive-ish

Here is a Google Slide presentation that I put together for Texas Indians in the 5th grade. I set it up so that the 'quick facts' could be printed as needed. Then, they can slide the box over to check answers as they complete the questions. I'm trying to come up with some ideas that can be interactive without having to use the SmartBoard software. See if you find this helpful! :)

Google Story Builder to make class examples

Google Story Builder has lots of uses in your classroom. Here's a quick example of how to use it to show kids ways to enhance their descriptive language as a team of collaborators.

Have a student in one class work with a student in a class down the hall just for fun! They can collaborate class to class or have a third grader work with a younger student and peer tutor remotely!

"Describe it" by Shannon

Gif for engagement and tie in with First Grade Teks

I wanted to show you how simple it is to make a gif and incorporate it into your lesson. I used Gifmaker.me and used it to tie into a first grade social studies lesson. They are drawing their own maps with Google Draw and get to make a fun compass to go with them. You can also use images on your gif - I can see photos of kids acting out a verb being super fun - but for this project we kept it simple. Take a look at the video to see how easy it is!

More Gif ideas:
* Make a sequence of events
* Text features
* Cause and Effect
* Illustrate a verb
* Word then example (vocabulary)
* Branches of government
* Life Cycle
* Show a number in all forms (standard, expanded, base 10)
* Highlight place value

Scan and send multi page pdfs with your mobile device!

I'm extremely fortunate to work with some amazing teachers in my district. One fifth grade team uses Remind to keep me on track as a mom. If it's paper at my house, then it gets 'cleaned up.' They are combating my issues by sending answer keys and paperwork through their Remind. In trying to send an answer key or homework packet in an efficient manner, I compiled a cheat sheet of how to scan and send a multi page pdf from a mobile device.

There are also designated app in the app store or the Google Play store to do this. Two good ones are iScanner and Fast Scanner.

Pill box for Place Value!

Such a great idea! In a meeting the other day one teacher (thanks, Freida!) came up with a great game for place value. She bought pill boxes at the dollar store and shakes the dice. Each die? :) represents a place value. The kids then use a greater than less than symbol in the middle section and turn it the correct way. Those that have trouble with the numbers use vis a vis markers to write the number on the die! Such a great and interactive game. They can also use it to play a game of bingo.



And, of course, here are some virtual dice if you want to skip the shopping trip :) .

Google Hangouts for Classroom Collaboration

Some great teachers in my district (Hi, Stephanie and Freida!) are using Google Hangouts to collaborate across campus. The possibilities with this are endless. In their case, they join the hangout using a Chromebook first, then join again with their SmartBoard computer. It seems like a long way to go, but the Chromebook has a camera :) We spent a lot of time texting back and forth to set up times, but then I realized that they could just set up a permanent link and join. If you are interested in using this tool, I put together a few directions:

Making a copy of a document shared 'view only'

Interactive White Board Sort with Google Slides

You can use Google Slides to make an interactive whiteboard sort. Here, I changed the background to one I made in slides. I saved it as a picture and uploaded as a jpg. Then, I made all of the text into images. Now, students can drag a word to the category. It cuts down on paper usage in the classroom! Pull it up on your interactive white board and save some trees!

get it here!

Great Chrome Extensions for Little Kids and Little Teachers

Great Chrome Extensions for Little Kids and Little Teachers

How Do I Turn This Thing On? Notes for Newbies

Did you want to find this presentation? Hope it helps you!

QR Codes with KWL Charts

Use padlet and a QR code maker like QRstuff to create a great collaborative chart for your classroom that you can use with Padlet. I made my KWL QR template in Google Slides.

Got to QRstuff and put in the padlet address you want to link to for each column. Students can scan that code with inigma to find the collaboration link.



Here's a video on how to make your QR code.

Awesome Website for Gamifying your Classroom!

Thank you to my friend Christy A. for showing me this! She is a gifted science teacher and IT Specialist! This product now integrates with Google.
https://game.classcraft.com/home
This is like Class Dojo for middle through high school. The online tutorials are very informative and easy to use!

Tour Builder with Google - Getting Started

Such a great video - the possibilities are just unlimited!

Light a green screen with this free app for iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch

This is a great alternative to a paid app! A cheap way to film is to get a plastic tablecloth from Wal-Mart that is a solid color and film the kids in front of that.

Visual Writing Prompts

So you ask yourself, what can I do with these hilarious pictures I find? Well, I used to use them in class as writing prompts. Now that I'm not in the classroom anymore I put them out there and hope someone can use them. If you can use these in your room, then please do! It would make me so happy!

View Pure - A New Favorite Thing!!

This is one of my new favorite tools! Pretend that you forgot how to use anything but Youtube in a crowded classroom situation. But, you don't want anything inappropriate to show up. What is the fastest was to get it cleaned up? Take five minutes after school one day and set up ViewPure.
It looks like this:

Research, research, research...

It's that time of year when people start calling me about the best way to research for class projects. Teachers call me with different search engine ideas like kiddle but I find myself repeating over and over that the filters google uses filters truly inappropriate pictures. Yes, I did get a call the other day that a student was using Google Slides for research on the topic butter, and guess what popped up when they typed b-u-t-t ?? Happens to everyone folks. But the photo just wasn't inappropriate - it was in jeans. Just take it as an opportunity to talk about good digital citizenship and move along.

There's just no easier way for research than using Google Slides. They login as themselves and their work is automatically saved. What could be easier? Use the research tool in slides to make it even easier on you. Good luck and enjoy!

Control Alt Achieve: Google Slides for Student Created Storybooks

Control Alt Achieve: Google Slides for Student Created Storybooks: We all know of Google Slides as Google’s version of Microsoft PowerPoint. It is a great online tool for creating and sharing multimedia pr...

Share This With All the Schools, Please

Share This With All the Schools, Please

I cried a little when I read this. What an easy way to keep up with where kids are and how they are.

spin for skill

Smore Newsletter

Random Name Generator - tired of picking people?

All I Want for Christmas with Pic Collage

Adobe Slate Quick Tips

Thinglink example

This is an idea for using Thinglink in the classroom.