Megan's Rewind

This week I was introduced to Google Sites , Google's website creator, and if you want to know how user-friendly it is, I can tell you I didn't get frustrated one time during the process -- not even once, and for anyone who has tried other page building formats and programs, that's a pretty big deal. Google Sites can be accessed in your Google Drive by clicking the New menu and choosing the More category, where you also find Forms and some other great tools. When you create a new site, the tools are very straightforward, easy to find, and easy to use. On the left side of the page you'll see your website view, and on the right you'll see a toolbar with 3 tabs: one tab for inserting items onto your page , such as a textbox or an image, one tab for adding different pages to your site , and one tab for choosing a pre-set layout . Sites allows you to drag and drop things, resize boxes, insert files or videos from your Drive or URL address -- it's amazing how muc...

Anyone who's been around a computer in the last several years has probably heard of Google Earth . While I was aware that I could use Google Earth to look at different places around the world from a realistic view, I hadn't spent a lot of time exploring this program prior to this week. Google Earth is a great tool for teachers to use in the classroom because it allows for an instant geography lesson -- at any moment, you can search for a place or landmark and be automatically taken to an aerial or street view of that location to show to students, like a virtual field trip. You could use these features to connect to students home addresses or explore the Sydney Opera House in Australia -- the possibilities are open wide. For example, I can type in the location of our Head Start school and show my students how Google Earth zooms right in to see our building, parking lot and the playground they use every day! There are several resources out there for ways Google Earth can be ...

This week I've learned so much about YouTube and how it can be used as a beneficial tool in the classroom. While some may be skeptical about the content of YouTube and worry about the safety of accessing certain videos, there is a lot of appropriate, educational learning content available on the internet that can enhance student connections. (Did you know there's even an Education extension of YouTube that filters out all those questionable sources?) When you're making plans for the upcoming week or month, you can use YouTube to create and save playlists of videos you'd like to use so they'll all be in one place when you're ready to access them. Here's a playlist I created for my preschool students to go with our new Buildings study. Additionally, you can add other users as contributors, so your co-teachers can also access your playlists, and in the instance you want to use part of a video that is too long, you can customize the start point of a video. Wh...

This week I learned about some new Google tools that will definitely help make #teacherlife a little easier. First, let's talk about  Google Classroom . For anyone who has never used this platform before (like me about 6 days ago), it's a great way to connect with students from your class online by sharing announcements, creating polls or quizzes, asking discussion questions, and also posting assignments. One of my favorite aspects is that, when you post an assignment, you can also include a due date and links to any websites, videos, or required reading materials with the post like a nicely wrapped package all ready to go. There are several customization tools in Classroom, like the layout and themes for appearance, but you can also add important files and relevant learning materials to the About section that can be accessed at any time throughout the duration of a course or school year. Google Classroom isn't really just limited to student usage -- it could also be used...