Google Sites

Google Sites is a great tool for the classroom!  After a few tutorials, I was ready to start on my site.  I got the site set up without any problem, but needed some inspiration for the content.  I looked up a few example classroom sites and got an idea of what would be included in an elementary school class website. 

The process of creating pages and editing them was fairly simple.  With a little practice, the navigation became easier and adding additional content was actually fun.  I was able to set up a classroom site with a home page, a subpage for personal information about myself and a subpage for how to contact the teacher.  Then I set up an Assignments page in  "announcement" form and added a few posts.  I set up and Important Dates to Remember page, where I added a classroom calender from my Google Calendars.  Then I added a Reading List in "lists" form. 

I added a link to the Reading List to the Home page so it would show a quick view on the opening page.  I also added a link under the Reading List on the Home page to a "Recommend Reading List for 4th Graders" of a classics book list on www.commonsensemedia.org.  I also added an image to the Home page and a picture to the About Mrs Goins subpage.

The part I spent the most time on was actually the background.  The atomic learning tutorials showed how to add images and links but did not show how to add a background.  Since it was recommended we start with a blank page, the site was very boring.  Finally I found a tutorial on Youtube on how to add backgrounds.  It was in the "Manage Site" option under the "Open More Options Menu."  It took a few minutes to figure out how to manipulate one thing at a time and add a custom background image.  I could have spent a lot more time working on this part, if I didn't have any other responsibilities.  I definitely enjoyed the designing process.

I could definitely see myself using this app for my classroom in the future, as well as recommending it to other teachers.  I liked the idea of having a page on the school website where all the classroom sites could be accessed.  This would make it so much easier for parents to know each year, as their children progress, where to get the class website.

https://sites.google.com/site/mrsgoinsclass/

Disciplines in Educations

The following are apps that could be used in the classroom to aid in teaching math, language arts, or science:

1. Where Do Balloons Go, by Jamie Lee Curtis - This book app has tons of animation.  There are extra interactive buttons to create your own journey along with the balloons.  As the balloons travel the different pages, many of them allow you to animate the characters by dragging a fan across the page, move the page to see more of the scene or even try an activity.  Some of the activities included making your own balloon animals or even creating your own play on stage.  This book would allow the child to explore the story and take their imagination to a new level.  They can read it themselves or hear it read to them while they take in all the interactive components.
2. Math Drills Lite - An app for quizzing on the four main math computations, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  By choosing one of these drills, a selection of equations are displayed on the screen one at a time to be answered as quickly as possible.  If a student is having trouble with a particular problem, a counting scale displays across the bottom with a "count-by" numbering system.  This helps the student to think in increments of that number to answer the question.  Afterwards, you are given an opportunity to go back and correct any questions that were answered incorrectly.  This app allows you to build speed and sight skills for the most basic math problems.
3. Planets - As students are learning about the solar system, this app allows them to see it in both 2D and 3D perspectives.  In the 2D screen, there is a flat view of the sky.  In the daytime, this screen displays a compass with the suns location.  If you click on the sun it will give you the sunrise and sunset times.  At night, this screen will display the night sky view with a flat view of the stars and the constellations.  Any planets that can be seen from this side of the horizon can be tapped on for more information about when they will rise and set.  The 3D screen will show the sky from a 3D perspective.  It can be moved by dragging the screen to see a different point of view.  It also shows the ecliptic line where all the planets line up.  There are different views that can be displayed besides the visible, such as gamma ray, x-ray, infrared, microwave and radio.  There is also a tab called visibility that gives the time-frame for visibility of each of the planets, the sun and moon.  By tapping on any of these icons more information can be found about the planet's size, orbit, moons and rotation.  The next tab is the globe.  It shows a 3D view of the earth as it spins.  You can manipulate it to a certain point by dragging or pinching.  When you are not touching the screen it will go back to spin mode.  Based on the time of day, it will show the side of the globe that is in the day time from a light view and the opposite side in night view.  There is also a button at the top to switch from earth to any of the other planets as well.  This is an incredible app for showing the world as only the technology of our day could provide. 

Literacy for Education

Preparations

1. My Spelling Test App - The Spelling Test app allows you to create your own list of spelling test apps.  In order to create tests you must spell in the words correctly and voice record saying the word as well as a sentence using the word.  It takes an average of 4 minutes to create a test.  The student can then play the words and use the keyboard on the iPad to spell the words that they are hearing.  The student presses "next", then the app tells them if they spelled the word correctly, then announces the next word in the test.  If it is incorrect, it will show how to spell the word correctly in red.  At the end of the test it will give a list of words, how they were spelled and how many were correct.  It can also be used on a Smart Board to involve the entire class in review of spelling words.
2. Dictionary.com App - The Dictionary app is a great tool for your tablet or phone.  Anytime you are unsure of a word's meaning, the definition is at your fingertips.  It also has the ability to playback the pronunciation of the word so you can actually hear the word spoken.  You can also search for a word with the voice command option.  This option allows you to speak the word and it will look up what it thinks you said.  There are other great features to a dictionary app as well.  One is the thesaurus to look up words that are similar.  This can be a great tool when writing a paper or just expressing a thought without using the same word over and over.  This app also has a "Word of the Day" feature, helping to build your vocabulary.  There is a playback for this word, which can be quite handy since many of these words you may never have heard before.  Overall, this is a very useful app for students, teachers, professionals or anyone.  I personally use this app on my phone on a regular basis.  It is wonderful for breaking a word down that may be familiar, to get a deeper meaning as well.

Presentations

• Educreations App -   This is an app that allows you to make an instructional video to help teach a concept.  To begin the video, press the record button and begin the instructions using your voice and the whiteboard on the screen.  The board has the option to use four different colors to write with, which can be useful in showing different steps of problem solving.  The undo and redo buttons can be a great tool for this as well.  By pressing the undo button you can go back to the beginning to explain the process again without having to rewrite it, or just back a couple of steps.  The redo button will rewrite the steps as you go forward through the problem.  You can also add additional pages to the video up to seven pages.  Images can also be added to the presentation.  Once added, there is a hand button that will allow you to manipulate the image such as zoom in or out and rotate.  You can also annotate the image by drawing right on the picture.  By underlining, circling or X-ing you can use this feature to further explain your solution.  Once your video is complete, stop the recording, save and then choose who you would like to see the video.  It can be seen by a specific person, a group of people or a whole school based on your selection. 

Stories

• Comic Life App - An app that allows you or your student to create their own comic stories.  It begins with choosing either a blank page or a template to write your story.  You can edit the template by tapping on the title to change the text.  Then tapping and adding pictures.  Once you have pictures you can use the draw feature to add shapes of your own to the page.  The shapes can be manipulated to change size and shape.  Thought bubbles can then be added with text to create the story.  Multiple pages can be added by choosing another template or adding a blank page with the same theme and creating your own layout.  If you choose a template, there are multiple layouts that can be added.  Once the comic is complete, you can save as a PDF and share it with others through email or social networks.  It can be opened in any program that can open a PDF document, such as Google Drive.  Once you have saved the comic, you can go back anytime to edit, make a copy or delete.  This could be a great way to get kids excited about writing their own stories.  

Drawing

Google Drawing could be a great tool for the classroom.  Its ability to create and manipulate shapes and insert text could make it useful for many things, such as creating flow charts, instructional writing, making posters, awards and certificates.  These things can make a lesson easier to create, saving the time it might take to search for a template or adjusting an existing template to fit a particular need.  It can also be used from within an existing Google document to add a graphic so an idea is more easily understood for the visual learner.  It can be accessed from the Insert tab, choosing the Drawing option.  Images can also be added from your hard drive or the Web to a document, then using Drawing you can add text, arrows, call outs or any other annotation that would help explain a point about the image.

The lesson plan for elementary level was called "Exploring Shapes."  With access to Google Drawing, the students could copy a document and then manipulate as they were instructed.  The document included a few shapes that they would be instructed to manipulate, rotate, create and flip in various ways.  Including the terms rotate 90 degrees, flip horizontal, flip vertical and students are learning geometry in a new interactive way.  The creativity they would be able to express while learning about shapes could be as individual as the person creating.  While exploring the shapes, students would be learning the different attributes of the shape.  Distinguishing between the defining attributes vs. non-defining attributes.  Then be able to draw shapes given certain attributes.  These skills are part of the Common Core State Standards.  The students are meeting the standard while it feels like they are playing.  They can add text to the shapes and identify what they are drawing, from which their grade would be taken.

Another idea for using Drawing to meet CCSS is to use it to help students organize thoughts as they read.  They can create idea webs or mind maps to put their thoughts into an organized visual display.  By creating this form of visual map, students can focus on a particular idea and see how it relates to the rest of the text as they begin to put their ideas into words and make conclusions.  The standard states that students must "read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it."  By using Drawing, teachers can help students meet this standard by making their own mind map or creating a template for them to fill in.

In exploring the Drawing program, I made a quick certificate to award for students achieving a simple goal.  A small gesture like a certificate to a child can be an easy way to motivate in a big way.
https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1WhsTUM-v0-V2ECBv51fzKPVf29zs3YiMeClGc2pW3HM/edit?usp=sharing

Mind Map - created as a template to help students organize thoughts about characters in selected reading.
https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/141ewFRnHvxgANQfA02Kja-BvyQSOlv1TSxkUUX_52mI/edit?usp=sharing