Give Thanks with Google Forms

Thanksgiving is a perfect time of the year to engage the imagination of your students and encourage them to be creative with Google Forms.

This Thanksgiving, why not give thanks by utilizing Google Forms in the classroom? I have been thankful ever since I began using Google Forms; it makes real-time work and collaboration a creative joy. Here are some classroom applications of Google Forms this Thanksgiving.

Today I’m Thankful Because

Have students complete a Today I’m Thankful Because Google Form with things they are thankful for.  Students complete a form, then the teacher can generate a list of their responses and display some of the commonalities. Another idea is to generate a word cloud from the list. The word cloud below was created using Wordclouds.com. It allowed me to paste the list from my Google Sheet and then upload an image of a turkey to use as an outline.

You can extend this activity by having students:

• Write descriptive paragraphs in Google Docs about the things they are thankful for.
• Create posters in Google Drawings of their thankful lists.
• Draft letters to people they are thankful for using a Google Doc template.

Thanksgiving Turkey Traditions at the White House

Rely on Google Forms to quiz your students on the history of Thanksgiving. This quiz  focuses on the turkey traditions at the White House. The President of the United States pardons a turkey on the eve of Thanksgiving at a White House ceremony. This tradition of compassion dates back fifty years to Harry Truman.  Test your knowledge.

President Barack Obama, National Turkey Federation Chairman Gary Cooper; son Cole Cooper participate in the annual National Thanksgiving Turkey pardon ceremony in the Grand Foyer of the White House, Nov. 26, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Try these quiz ideas:

• Learn how Thanksgiving became a national holiday. Embed a video about the history of Thanksgiving on your Google Form. Then quiz your students.
• Compare the first Thanksgiving dinner in Colonial times to the one we celebrate with today. Students delight in the differences. You can also have them share what unique foods they will see on their Thanksgiving table.
• Quiz students about fun facts about turkeys. Enable them to use multimedia to share what they learn about these fascinating birds.

An Interactive Thanksgiving Story

Students love to read “Choose Your Own Adventure” stories. Therefore, why not let them create their own story using Google Forms? These stories can be created by taking advantage of section breaks in Google Forms. When an option is selected on the form, it will go to a unique page about that particular answer. Before getting started, it will be very helpful to have students brainstorm their ideas by creating an outline first.

Check out this short Thanksgiving story I created. It tells a story about what I will do on Thanksgiving Day.  Another idea is to give your students a writing prompt for their story such as:

• If you could have any guest at Thanksgiving, who would it be?
• What would happen if a scarecrow joined you for dinner?
• You have magically become a Pilgrim. Describe your day.
• My family’s Thanksgiving traditions
• My favorite Thanksgiving story
• The best part of Thanksgiving break

These are just a few ways to use Google Forms this Thanksgiving. I can’t think of a better time of the year to engage the imagination of your students and encourage them to be creative. Let us know in the comments below how you are using Google Forms in the classroom.

Explore Google Earth’s Brown Bear Livecams

There are many ways to incorporate livecams in the classroom. Explore Google Earth’s Brown Bear Livecams and take students on a learning journey to Alaska.

In July of this year, Google collaborated with Explore.org to offer “Bear Livecams” in Google Earth. If you are a fan of live video feeds and like to use them to engage your students in learning, then your class will definitely have to check out the Alaskan brown bear livecams. Watching the bears eat, play, and hang out underwater at Katmai National Park is such an incredible experience.

Five Brown Bear Livecams

When you go to Google Earth’s storytelling platform Voyager, you will find five livecams.

1.Brooks Falls – This camera is located at Brooks Falls, Alaska. On this livecam, watch the hungry bears wait in the river near the waterfall for their next meal. They search for the best fishing spot as they dine on salmon.

2. Lower River – This camera is located where the Brooks River gently flows into Naknek Lake. On this livecam, watch female brown bears and their cubs play, rest, and practice the skills they will need to hunt for themselves one day.

3. River Watch – This camera scans a vast amount of the Brooks River. On this livecam, watch the bears and their cubs from afar as they sit in the river. As they come out of the riverbanks, you can often see them begin to play.

4. Underwater – This camera is, of course, located underwater in the Brooks River. On this livecam, watch the bears employ a variety of hunting techniques, including simply sitting on the river floor and waiting for a fish to swim by. Also watch them try to “snorkel,” or swim on the surface while submerging their heads to look for fish.

5. Dumpling Mountain – This camera is located up in the clouds on Dumpling Mountain. On this livecam, you can see all of Brooks Camp and the surrounding country stretching out in front of you. On a clear day, you can spot the active volcanoes bordering the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes.

Classroom Connections

Below are a few lesson ideas that you can incorporate in the classroom.

• Encourage students to use Google Keep to take notes on the daily activities of the bears. They could then create a timeline of these activities using Google Drawings.
• Have students present using Google Slides about volcanic eruptions, including the world’s largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century, which occurred at Katmai National Park.
• Have students create and print 3D models replicating what they see on the livecams.
• Assign students to use Google Scholar to research the brown bears of Alaska and then write a paper in Google Docs.
• Use the activities occurring in the livecams as writing prompts to have students practice their inference skills about things they are seeing.

More Classroom Connections

• Explore the terrain of at Katmai National Park and Preserve using Google Maps as a whole class activity.
• Invite a geologist to talk about the significance of wildlife at National parks and have a Google Hangout with him.
• Let students use Google Drawings to create a comic strip about how many salmon bears eat in a day.
• Have a discussion in Google classroom about the way mama bears teach their cubs survival instincts and the lessons we can learn from them.
• Create a Google Form to record daily logs about the bears’ activities.
• Use green screen technology or a webcam to have students record a story they created using stick bear puppet figures.

Bear Cams in the Classroom

These are just a few ideas for how to use the live Bear Cams in your classroom. If you watch live webcams in the classroom, please share in the comments below which ones you watched and how you incorporated them into lessons.

All photos used in this blog post appear courtesy of Google, Explore.org, and Katmai National Park, Alaska.

Improve Your Students’ Reading Experience with Chrome

Discover how extraordinary the Chrome browser is with this list of reading tools that will help your students have a more successful reading experience.

The Chrome browser is so dynamic that I’m often amazed at its functionality and how it can help the many students who are now reading on digital devices. If you have students who need a better reading experience or struggle with reading comprehension, then there are some apps and extensions that will help them. And many of these will be perfect for differentiating learning!

Reading Comprehension

Newsela – This is one of my favorite Chrome apps that I always feature in my trainings. Newsela features current event articles covering many subjects, each written at five different Lexile levels.  With this extension, students can read the same material at an appropriate level for themselves.

TLDR: Summarize Anything – The TLDR extension creates a short summary of any web article without leaving the original page. This will help students discern the most important ideas in the article they are reading.

Word Cloud Website Preview – I love word clouds, so this is another favorite of mine! This extension can turn any content from the web into a word cloud. The word cloud can then be reviewed to summarize the content on the page or to help decipher key words used.

Readability

ATbar – This Chrome extension provides you with a toolbar that has many features including color overlays for web pages, a dictionary, text to speech, word prediction, and more.

BeeLine Reader – Bee Line Reader is another one of my most beloved extensions, so much so that I wrote a blog entry about it here.  It creates a more readable version of a website by removing all of the ads and other extra distracting items. In addition, a color gradient can be applied to the page in order to guide the eye from one line to the next.

MagicScroll Web Reader – This extension turns web pages into a flippable ebook. Its unique scrolling system lets you scroll web pages without moving them. This makes it easier to read long articles without being distracted.

Mercury Reader – If your students are easily distracted, then they might want to get Mercury Reader. It makes any website easier to read by removing ads and distractions. You can also adjust the font size and color scheme of the new text.

This list is just a few of the many Chrome extensions and apps that help with readability and reading comprehension. If you discovered other app and extensions that work with the Chrome browser to help students with reading, please share in the Comments section below.

Celebrate Digital Citizenship Week

Need ideas on how to celebrate Digital Citizenship Week? Check out these activities and resources that are sure to help you.

Digital Citizenship Week (October 16 – 22) is the perfect time for you and your students to reflect on the role technology plays in your lives. It’s an opportunity to stress the importance of positive online habits, to learn about digital safety and responsibility, and to encourage acts of kindness. Whether you’re looking  to celebrate just this week or throughout the year, we have activities and resources that are sure to help you.

Activities

Three Kind Things

The latest social media app that all the kids are crazy about is the New Nice App. The app comes with a twist—it’s nice. The tbh app, short for “to be honest,” works by letting users send anonymous compliments to their friends and contacts. That being said, I created an activity that focuses on being kind. With this Google Slide activity, students write three kind things they will do. Next, they design their friendly ghost. The ghost doesn’t even have to look like Casper! Try it here by choosing an empty slide and listing three nice things you will do today. Get a copy of this Three Kind Things Ghost Activity here.

Positive Digital Footprint

A digital footprint is a trail of data you create while using the Internet. It includes the websites you visit, emails you send, and information you submit to online services. Have students think about what their digital footprint will look like 10 to 15 years from now. Allow them to illustrate their footprint with words, images, or videos. Try it here by choosing an empty slide. Get a copy of this Positive Digital Footprint Activity here.

A Good Digital Citizen Grid

Being a good digital citizen is more than being a safe Internet user. It’s about being responsible and smart and having respect for yourself and others. Have your students engage in conversation about the importance of being a good digital citizen through Flipgrid. Check out this example from Berkeley County School District, where elementary students responded with their thoughts. Try it out by responding at https://flipgrid.com/aa3f8a. If prompted for a code, use aa3f8a.

More Activities

Don’t forget to visit the blog Google-ize Your Digital Citizenship that I wrote last year. It contains more activities, such as a Digital Citizenship Pledge, a Responsible Use Policy Scavenger Hunt, and more.

Resources

Below are more awesome resources to take advantage of.

Be Internet Awesome – Google, in collaboration with online safety experts, developed the Be Internet Awesome program. The program teaches the fundamentals of digital citizenship and safety. In addition to a curriculum for teachers, the program includes Interland, an online game that puts these critical lessons into hands-on practice for students.

BrainPOP’s Free Digital Citizenship Resources – BrainPOP’s free digital citizenship resources offer schools ready-made learning pathways. These pathways explore topics such as Information Privacy, Media Literacy, and Digital Etiquette. Be sure to check out the Teaching Resources, too. They include a guide, video overviews,  rubrics, and lesson plans. More information can be found at Making the Online World a Better Place Starts With You. Get registered here.

Common Sense Media Digital Citizenship Week Activities –Common Sense Media lists activities you can do to celebrate kids using technology safely, responsibly, and respectfully. Below are a few resources from Common Sense Media.

• Digital Citizenship Scope and Sequence
• Common Sense Media Student Video Library
• Digital Citizenship Classroom Posters
• Free Cyber-bullying Tool Kits for all levels of teachers

Microsoft Educator Community Digital Citizenship Resources – The Microsoft Educator Community offers a digital citizenship course for educators. Educators can earn a “Microsoft Digital Citizenship Champion” badge that can proudly be displayed on their profile once they complete the course. Furthermore, educators get access to a OneNote Notebook full of resources and lesson plans.

PBS Webonauts Academy – Webonauts Internet Academy is a web game for 8-10 year olds. It gives them an opportunity to have some fun while exploring what it means to be a good digital citizen. It is quite engaging. In addition, it becomes all the more powerful when parents and teachers use the game to spark more conversations about digital citizenship.

Don’t Forget

Remember, the ISTE Student NETS #2 is itself called Digital Citizenship. As you build digital citizenship lessons, look at the indicators. These will help you in creating clear targets that students will understand and can achieve.

Back Up Your Google Drive With CloudHQ

Are you in a pinch, overwhelmed at making backups of hundreds of Google Documents in your Google Suites for Education or Non-Profit account? As wonderful as Google Suites for Education or Non-Profit are, making backups of your Google Docs can be a pain. What's more, if you are using a work-related account (e.g. school or non-profit organization), you may find it convenient to have a backup of all your work docs.

Making your own backups can be a pain. You have to take time out of  a busy schedule to create the backups. Sometimes, the backups don't work as well as you'd hope since Google gives you backups of files and folders as gigantic multi-gig files.Why not take the easy way out?

CloudHQ.net can provide the support you need and ease your troubles! Using CloudHQ.net, I've been able to have pain-free, guaranteed successful backups of all my data in my work account to a personal Gmail account. I could have used CloudHQ to backup to any other cloud storage (e.g. Dropbox), but backing up this way makes life so much easier.

Here's how it worked for me:

1) Setup a free trial CloudHQ account using your work account (e.g. Google Suites)

2) Connect both your Google Suites for Education Drive and your personal Google Drive account using the handy wizards. CloudHQ supports a lot more so you aren't stuck just backing up one set of data. It can backup several at a time!

​3) Setup One-Way sync to copy docs from Google Suites for Education Drive to your Personal Google Drive account. The source is the content (e.g. work) you want to backup or copy, and the target is your personal Google where you are backing up to.

​4) Once the Sync pair is setup, you are ready to set it and forget it! It will work in the background to make an initial copy of your files. Once that first-time backup is done, then it will make incremental backups as needed to only those documents you add or change. Cool, right?

Thank you, CloudHQ, for making backing up Google Suites documents easy and painless. Are you ready to get started?

The Why’s and How’s of Student Badges

All individuals want to be recognized when they learn something, and badges can accomplish that. Whether it is mastering a new skill, meeting a goal, or doing a good deed, students (and adults!) seek validation for their achievements.

At first glance, the word “badge” may conjure up images of a Girl Scout’s sash featuring material badges that demonstrate mastery. While the concept is similar, the badges of today have implications far beyond that simple picture. Today’s badges are credentials that represent skills, interests, and achievements earned by an individual through specific projects, programs, courses, or other activities.

Reasons to Use Student Badges in the Classroom

Badges celebrate learning and can motivate students to do well in school and beyond. Take a look at a few reasons why you should reward student learning with badges.

1. Acknowledge Accomplishments
   

   Click HERE to download a PDF.

Badges show accomplishments. They can be awarded to students for completing a difficult assignment, doing an act of kindness, or improving behavior.

2. Promote Collaboration

Badges provide greater opportunities for student collaboration, cooperation, and interaction. Students will motivate and encourage one another, as well as compete with one another, to earn various badges in the classroom.

3. Validate Progress

Badges can certify that students are meeting specific goals and showing progress in their learning. This will lead to visible improvements in the classroom.

4. Expose Skills

Badges uncover students’ skills that a number or letter grade might not show. This might be empathy, entrepreneurship, leadership, cooperation, or  deep thought. They give students a way to share what they have learned in a public way.

5. Surpass Traditional Assessments

Badges can be used as an additional assessment tool to assist in the identification of a student’s specific strength and weaknesses. Go beyond written tests, quizzes, and grades in order to identify areas needing improvement.

6. Give Joy in Learning

Badges can add a fun element to the classroom as students are encouraged to compete against one another.  Show students that there can be fun in learning.

Types of Badges to Use in the Classroom

The type of badge you use in the classroom depends on what works for you and your students.

With digital badges, you can create and download a digital version of the badge and post it to a student portfolio or class blog page.  Some resources for making digital badges can be found at the Badges for Professional Learning blog post.

With traditional badges, you can download or create a badge that you make many copies of and distribute. You could even display them for a while on the classroom bulletin board before giving them to your students.

With button badges, you turn student badges into buttons using a button machine. Students could then pin their earned button on their jacket or backpack.

Have you ever used badges in your classroom before?  If so, what has worked for you?  Leave a comment and let us know!