Reading Logs

Beth Swinning, Librarian at the Martha Jones, recently shared this great article and resource on reading logs.  The premise of the article and checklist is to embrace reading in all area of life.  Words surround us!  Let's encourage our students to enjoy a good book, passage, poem or quote at all different times - not just to fulfill reading log requirements.  

Sample items on Checklist:

 

Happy readers become lifelong readers!

Google Drive Shortcuts

Considering our long list of to-dos it is always helpful to have some time-saving shortcuts in your toolbox.  Google shortcuts can make creating lessons, graphic organizers and writing an IEP or report much more efficient.  Google Drive features many shortcuts which can make you more efficient and productive.

From Google Drive try some of these shortcuts:

To create new Items:

• New Document: Shift + t 
• New Presentation: Shift + p 
• New Spreadsheet: Shift + s 
• New Drawing: Shift + d 
• New Folder: Shift + f 
• New Form: Shift + o 

To view the shortcuts list while in Drive, select:  Ctrl + / (Chrome OS, Windows) or ⌘ + / (Mac).  Or click here to view a more comprehensive list of Google Drive shortcuts.

Try to learn and practice at least one shortcut!

Grade 3 Quizzes

We have begun the work of transitioning the paper unit quizzes into online tools using Google forms. This provides the opportunity for math practice and review as well as online assessment skills practice that teachers have been requesting. This allows students to have some practice with online assessments for the online MCAS assessments.  We have made a complete set of grade 3. These quizzes will provide you with immediate feedback to help inform math instruction.

Screenshot of Sample Google Form:

When you select each quiz you will be prompted to make a copy. This step will ensure the Google Form is now yours and in your Google Drive.

Gmail Tips

In true Google form, everything changes (and hopefully, improves)!  Gmail no longer allows you to revert back to the old version.  But there are some great new features on the updated version that can help us stay organized and productive.  You can now quickly open Gmail attachments with one click!

Or if you prefer a more compact view, select the gear (top right corner) and then select 'Display Density'.  When you switch to 'Comfortable' or 'Compact' attachments are less visible and more compact.  

          

Hover over the right side of each email for even more options!  Delete, archive, mark as unread or snooze until a later date....

The first option when I hover over my emails in Gmail is Boomerang.  Boomerang is a Chrome Extension that allows you to write an email now but set it to send at a later date.  For more information on Boomerang click here.

You can also separate your inbox into multiple tabs:  Primary, Social, Promotions, and more.  Check out settings for even more options, including a canned response, stars, and labels.  Nudges is a new feature which will remind you if you have not responded to an email.  These features can be enabled or disabled within Settings (gear).

Smart Compose and Smart Reply are also available in Gmail.  Smart Compose will predict your text and auto-compose your email.  Smart Reply predicts how you may want to replay to an email.  Multiple options for possible replies will appear at the bottom of the email.  Click and a new reply email will open with the text you selected.  This is handy for those brief responses with our colleagues and can be a starting point for some emails.  Both Smart Compose and Smart Reply can be enabled or disabled within Gmail Settings. (gear)

Explore your Gmail settings for features that can help you stay organized! 

Seesaw Tips

Create your own activities in Seesaw with this great Seesaw Icon Shortcut cheat sheet!  

Also, to push out an activity to select students:  Add symbol/ Create or Share Activity/My Library/Share/Choose the class or click on "Edit Students and Folders" then select individuals students.  Video of steps

Google's '.new' Domain

With our busy schedules, we are always looking for shortcuts and time-saving tips.  Google has now introduced shortcuts to opening new documents, slides, sites and more.  Instead of opening Google Drive and selecting "New", simply type doc.new, slides.new, sheets.new, form.new or sites.new in the URL/address bar of a Chrome window to initiate a new document (slide, spreadsheet, form or site).  Quick and easy access to activate new Google Suite resources.  This ".new" Google domain will also recognize similar names doc.new or documents.new - either will work!  If you attempt to do this trick in Safari or Incognito Chrome Window, you will be prompted to sign into your Google Account.

One caveat, this option will create a document within your drive but not within a specific folder.  Once you add the title to your  '.new' document, a folder icon will appear.  Click on the folder to move this document to the desired folder.

Brief screencast of steps

Forced Copy in Google Drive

Quick tip of the day!  Want to share documents, slides/presentation or forms with others while still maintaining your original?  Sometimes you want the recipient to make a copy of your original document, presentation, spreadsheet or form.  Maybe you have a graphic organizer for writing an essay that you want to share with your colleagues.  (When sharing with students in Google Classroom, select "Make a copy for each student" to force a copy.) Or you maybe want to share a quiz you have created in Google Forms.  By adjusting one word in the template's URL, you can force the recipient to "make a copy".  

Sample Grade 3 Google Form Quiz (Unit 1)

Sample Template Document Graphic Organizer

Steps:

1.  Open the template document, select the document's URL, copy the URL by pressing Command + C (Ctrl + C on a PC)

2.  Change the word in the URL from "edit" to "copy" 

3.  Share the new URL via email, on your website or blog, etc.

Your recipients will receive this message when they click on your new modified URL.

IMPORTANT TIP:  Make sure you have set your sharing permissions to "Anyone in the district can view" or if sharing with parents or colleagues outside the district change sharing permissions to "Anyone with the link can view".  Within the document, select Share, Anyone at Westwood Public Schools Can View; or Advanced, Anyone with the link can view.

Raise Your Hand Up High!

I had the pleasure of being in Stef Carpenter's class this morning.  Stef's mini-lesson focused on the need to raise your hand before speaking. She introduced the lesson with a great  Sesame Street video, Raise Your Hand.  This short video emphasizes the importance of raising your hand with a catchy tune and some friendly reminders. Stef's discussion included reminders of being patient, waiting your turn to be heard as well as nicely reminding your table mates to "Raise Your Hand Up High!"  The students were engaged and excited as they sang along to the catchy song.  Stef should the video twice.  The second viewing was more purposeful.  What are the muppets teaching us?  Why is this important?

Short video clips can be an effective tool in the classroom.  You can organize YouTube videos for your lessons in your YouTube Account.  Curate frequently used content, open circle or SEL videos in folders with two clicks.

For future quick and easy access to your videos:

1. Under the YouTube Video, select "Add-to"
2. Select the appropriate folder or create a new folder

 

Thanks so much, Stef!  You are awesome!  

New year...new students

Life is about to get crazy!  You are busy setting up classrooms, organizing 
class lists, materials and all the logistics of starting a new school year.  Each
school year brings a new set of students with various interests and learning 
styles.  There are many ways to get to know your new students - spending time with them and having personal conversations being the best way of course!  But
you can also use a Google Form to ask pertinent questions.  It's a great way to get your quieter students to open up too!

Some questions you may want to include in your questionnaire include:

• What do you want me to call you in class? (preferred first name)
• What is your favorite color?
• What is your favorite food?
• What are you passionate about?
• If you could learn anything at school, what would you choose to learn?
• Do you like to be recognized for your accomplishments in front of the class?
• What characteristics do you like in a teacher?
• Is there anything that you struggle with in class?
• What do you do if you don't know how to answer a question or problem?
• How do you learn best?
• Do you wear glasses?
• What do you want me to know or understand about you?
• Do you prefer to work in groups or on your own?
• Do you like to read aloud?
• What are your favorite books?
• Do you enjoy reading?

Click here for your copy of a sample Student Interview Form. Feel free to make it your own by adding or removing any questions.  Student responses will automatically populate on a Google Sheet in your Drive!  It’s that easy!

Google Classroom Updates

Welcome back!  It’s hard to believe that summer is coming to an end.  I hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing summer. As you begin to settle back into school mode, I wanted to let you know Google Classroom has made some new updates.

First and foremost, Google Classroom has added a ‘Classwork’ page.  The ‘Stream’ page is now used for general announcements and student posts (if enabled).  Each time you post an assignment on the ‘Classwork’ page, an announcement will also appear on the Stream page as well as the Classwork page.

Your students will spend most of their time on the Classwork page.  This is where you will post any new assignments or pose a question to the class.

Previously, assignments the stream may have been cumbersome. You can now add assignments by topic. Assignments can easily be moved up and down in the stream.

In the past, you managed student and guardian access on the ‘Student’ page. Now on the ‘People’ page, you can manage student, parent, and co-teacher access.

Students can be invited to join your class using the class code.  The code can be found on the People page. However, you can quickly project the code to your class by clicking on the word “About” on the Stream page.  

There are also new features within the grading features of Google Classroom.  Let me know if you want more information regarding grading features.

I also found this overview video of Google Classroom 2018 updates.

Coming soon:  you will have the ability to lock down tabs on student Chromebooks as they take a quiz using Google Forms!

Let me know if you have any questions or would like help setting up your Google Classroom.

Scheduling Options

This time of year things get so busy and schedules are constantly changing.  Field trips, guest speakers, meetings, and rehearsals lead to unexpected changes in your schedules.  Here's a quick tip:  Create and share your schedule on a Google Sheet.  Recipients of the spreadsheet (ie: Instructional Assistants) can set a notification to receive an email update whenever changes are made to the spreadsheet.  This will save time and confusion as in the moment changes are made to your daily schedules. (Tools/Notifications rule/send an email when changes are made)

You can even add comments, such as questions or clarifications to your spreadsheets.

Commenting on PDFs

Do you use the commenting feature on Google Docs?  Now you have the ability to add comments to
PDFs on your Google Drive.  Take notes or share comments with a colleague or student! Each time
you preview the document, you and anyone shared on the document can access your comments.

If you wish, you can take a photo of student work with your iPhone, send it to your Drive,
make comments and share it back for student access to your feedback.  Less papers for you to lug home!

In your Drive, right click (two finger click) on the PDF you wish to comment on.  Select Preview. In the top right corner of the preview, you will see the comment box.  Highlight the text you want to comment on and insert comment!

Editing PDFs

Find a great PDF to use with your students?  But it is just not quite perfect?  Want to make a slight alteration?  DocHub allows you to edit PDFs.  Check out this short video example on some of the cool features!  (Keep in mind if you have permission to alter the original.)

Go to the Chrome Web Store/Extentions.  Search for DocHub.  Select "Add to Chrome".  The extension will appear above your bookmarks on the right.

The new document can then be downloaded or uploaded to your Google Drive, shared or emailed.    

From this....                                                             

To this:

URL Shortener

Just a heads up if you use goo.gl URL shortener, Google will be shutting down this service as of April 13th.  If you already have shortened links you will have continued access for one year.  Details can be found here.  Your previous URLs will continue to redirect to the intended destination.

Check out Bitly as an alternative URL shortener.  Both Bitly and tinyurl.com allow you to customize your link - making it much easier for your students or participants to remember.

Google Classroom Productivity

A quick reminder about Google Classroom:  You can create an assignment in Google Classroom and save it as a draft until you are ready to post.  OR you can schedule the assignment to post on a certain day and time.  Students cannot view these assignments until they are posted.  But you can stay organized and prepared by scheduling assignments.  Google Classroom will push it out at the pre-determined time!

In Google Classroom, Create the Assignment then select the triangle drop-down menu next to the word "ASSIGN". Select "Draft" or "Schedule".  If you select Schedule a new window will open a calendar and time options.  

Tables in Google Docs

Google has made some adjustments in how you can access and make adjustments to a table in Google Docs.  Once you have inserted a table (Insert/Table; choose the number of columns and rows), you may want to make changes, add color, images, height or width adjustments.

To make changes to your table you now need to put the cursor in the table then right click on your trackpad (two-finger click on the trackpad).  This will open a new menu with many options including adding a row, deleting a column, Table Properties to add color or change the width or various cells.  Or you can select Format/Table to access the same menu.

       

OR  

         

Olympic Challenge

In keeping with the Olympic spirit, I have created an Olympic Challenge.  Students will be read passages, watch brief video clips (from 2018 Olympics) and answer questions based on what they have learned.  This activity can be done in small groups or individually.  It can be a Breakout activity (students uses the codes/answers to unlock a box), as an extension activity or challenge work during work-period.  The tasks involve math, reading, and writing.  This activity will provide additional practice navigating a website and digital quizzes - all skills that need to be developed. 

The Olympic Challenge is a self-contained activity.  Students cannot proceed past a task until they have successfully answered each question. 

Sharing or Moving Multiple Google Files at Once

Need to move or share multiple Google files at once?  If you click on a file in Google Drive and then hold down the Shift key while you select the last file, all of the files in between those two files will be selected.

1. Hold down the Command Key and select the first file/photo you want to move
2. Scroll down
3. Hold down the Shift Key and select the last photo you want to select 
4. Click and drag these files into the desired folder  OR 
5. Right Click (or 2 finger tap on trackpad) on one of the selected files to open a menu with the following options

Quick Access in Google Drive

You may have noticed a new feature in your Google Drive allowing the user to maintain quick access to frequently accessed Google Drive documents.  For some students this is an awesome feature, providing less searching and quicker access. However, some teachers have found this to be a distraction.  If your students are finding this distracting, please let me know.  We would prefer students do NOT make setting adjustments.

If you would like to remove Quick Access from your drive follow these 3 steps:

1. Click on the gear in the top right corner of your Google Drive 
   ​
2. Select Settings
3. Uncheck the "Suggestions" box: "Make relevant documents handy when you need them in Quick Access"

Raz Kids

Raz Kids is more than just an online reading program.  Raz Kids can provide valuable information as you prepare for report cards or create reading partnerships and groups.  These colorful, "just right" books can also support other content areas including non-fiction research and science.  You can even use these books to support math!

Erin Michel and Erin Mann recently pushed out the book, "It's About Time" to all their students.  This informational book supports their lessons on telling time and provides background information on various clocks including sundials, shadow clocks, and more!

Books can be assigned to individual students, small groups or the whole class.

Check out the many great features of Raz Kids!

Step by step 90 second video on how to push out a book to individual or groups of students.

Working Offline in Google Suites

Trying to squeeze in some work as you wait at practice, music lessons, or doctor's appointments?  You can access your recently accessed Google documents, sheets, and slides while offline.  You can also start a new document, slide, sheet and then copy and paste it into your original when you are back online. (Caveat:  Some functionality may not be available.)  Emails you send while offline will send once you sync wifi again.

To activate offline access:  

1. Go to drive.google.com (or sheets.google.com or slides.google.com).
2. Click the gear on the right 
3. Select Settings
4. Look for "Offline" and click "Sync Google Docs......."  
5. Select Done

 (give this time to sync)

100th Day Fun

It’s hard to believe but the 100th day of school is coming up!  Only 20 more days!  As a followup to last week’s tip on Padlet, here is a fun 100th Day activity which can be completed with your class, grade, school-wide, across the district or across the country.  Sara Malchow has created a padlet to share our 100 wishes!  She would love for students across the country to contribute their responses. Or we can create a Padlet just for our school!  Students can access either Padlet with a link or a QR Code.

Padlet

Padlet is a free, quick and easy tool used to gather information from your students or colleagues.  Padlet is an online bulletin board to share information, images, ideas, links or videos.

• Brainstorm ideas
• Exit tickets
• Share experiences or feedback
• Book discussions and character analysis
• Share privately with your students or publicly
• Share with the greater community to survey students across the country

How?

Choose a premade template or a blank slate at Padlet

Share your Padlet on Google Classroom OR with a link:           

Share publicly or give individual students certain privileges:

Your students/colleagues just double click on the Padlet to share their ideas, responses, images or links!

Or keep it private and use Padlet as your To-Do List!

Emojis in Drive Folders, Google Docs Titles

Is there a folder or document you use regularly?  Would you like it to appear at the top of your list in Google Drive or be instantly identifiable to you and those you share it with?  Or do you just love emojis and want to use them whenever you can?  😃

You can use emojis to creatively distinguish the title of Drive Folders, Google Docs, Slides, Sheets and more. Notice in the image below, titles with an asterisk will appear first (in alphabetical order), emojis next and folder titles which begin with numbers appear next.  

First, you need to find and copy the emoji you want to add to the file or folder title.  The easiest way to do this is to open a Google Doc, select “Insert/Special Characters”.  From the “Symbol” menu in the top left, choose “Emoji” and any subcategories.  For example, you may want a cloud emoji on your Weather Unit Folder.

• Copy the emoji (choose the emoji, highlight, select Command + C)
• In your drive, right-click on the folder or document you want to add the emoji to
• or click on the folder then select the 3 vertical dots
• Select “Rename”
• Paste (Command + V) the emoji into the title box
• Click “OK”  

The more you use Google Drive, the more unorganized your Drive may become.  Be sure to use features such as color coding, creating folders and sub-folders and naming conventions to keep your Google Drive organized and user-friendly!