Monday, March 30, 2020

How to add multiple accounts/profiles in Google Chrome

If you are using a family computer and multiple people (children) now need to share the same device, a simple way to make sure everyone is logged in as themselves is to add each user.

To do this make sure to select the icon in the upper right, choose name, icon (choose to make desktop shortcut or not) sign-in with username and password, and then you are good to go. Repeat the steps for the other accounts in your household.

If you choose the desktop shortcut option this is a great way for you to stay just in the account you need to be.

Please though be cautious of staying signed in as anyone who opens the computer can then log-in as you. Just please be aware of that. If you are even a little cautious - don't add your account.

Embedded below is a 1 minute and 28 second YouTube tutorial.



Take care,
Brad

A few first-hand experiences when embarking into virtual learning from a teacher and student point of view.

Below are some "experiences" that my family has had this week with virtual learning (my wife is a 4th grade teacher, my daughter is in 5th grade, and my son is in 2nd). I included a video as well below.


1. Not everyone is using the same device - Chromebook/iPad/etc. If using iPad - students will need to download Docs, Slides, etc. Make sure to be prepared for this.

2. Possibly leave ability to make comments open for students because they will let you know if something is not working. Example - maybe your settings in a file are off.


3. Take a look at your notifications in Classroom - especially if you are in a number of Classrooms.

4. With assignments in Google Classroom - remind students to check under Classwork. Sometimes items look a bit different if they just select the assignment in the Stream.


5. If you share a PDF - possibly allow the ability for students to write down the answers on a piece of paper and send a picture of it to you. Typing in a PDF can be tough especially if they are on the younger side! Also, remember not everyone has a printer.


6. If students submit an assignment they can unsubmit (as well as you as the teacher can return assignments).

7. Leaving a voice message (or video) is a great way to connect with your students!

7. Screencastify and VidYard are two extensions I use to create short video tutorials. There are of course others - but these are ones that I have found to be the easiest. If at all interested let me know.




Sunday, March 29, 2020

How to use Flipgrid to send out a personalized video to your students/families.

If you are interested in sharing a video with your students/families, a great site to use for this would be Flipgrid. 

You can create a video anywhere from 15 seconds to 10 minutes and while you can use Flipgrid with your class to respond, you do not have to.

A few quick tips.
  • Log in to Flipgrid 
  • Go through the steps of creating your Grid
    • name it whatever works for you
  • You will now need to create your topic
  • Name the topic what you would like
  • Look to the right and select anywhere from 15 seconds to 10 minutes
  • Type in whatever you need for the prompt (in the example below I just used hi because no-one but you will see the information in the Grid or topic)
  • Make sure to then select create topic
  • A pop up will occur letting you know that your topic has been created.
    • You can close that pop-up and scroll down and look for record a response.
    • Choose the green +
  • Record your response
    • click the arrow when previewing the video
    • take a selfie
    • rename your name (if applicable)
  • Select Submit video and then complete
  • You will now see the ability to send the video (look for a rocket - see below)

  • Choose the rocket, copy the URL, I recommend openning an Incognito Window and pasting it in there (this shows what the video would look like for someone like a family member).
  • You are now ready to share the video where you would like to.
  • Of course there are so many uses for Flipgrid, but this is a great way to start! 

  • Embedded below is a 2 minute and 5 second YouTube tutorial.


    Take care,
    Brad


Google Classroom - Share your Contact Information as well as how to leave a voice message.

In the district where I work we have been asked to included our contact information into our Google Classrooms. This is a great idea as families and students would have access to this necessary information.

In the tutorial below I show how you can add this under the Classwork section as material (as well as add the topic of Contact Information).

In the tutorial I also show two ways you can add your voice directly into your classroom. This would be extremely beneficial if you need to clarify any directions, or you just want to say hi to your students!

In the past I have used the Talk and Comment Extension (see blog post); however, sometimes your voice may be a bit lower than normal. If this is the case I recommend using the website Online Voice Recorder, upload to Drive, and share the link (remember to check sharing settings).

Embedded below is a 1 minute and 56 second YouTube tutorial.



Take care,
Brad

Thursday, March 19, 2020

Museum of the American Revolution offering virtual tours, online classes

The Museum of the American Revolution (Philadelphia) is offering a Virtual Museum Tour, Virtual Field Trip, book excerpts, and teacher resource guides.


Embedded below is a Wakelet collection of these resources.


Free Access to News-O-Matic through June 30th

News-O-Matic is a an amazing daily newspaper for kids. In order to have access to this amazing resource, educators can click on this link and then will need to fill out this form - https://teachers.newsomatic.net/pilot




Take care,
Brad

Monday, March 16, 2020

Scholastic (Scholastic is offering free day by day projects) +ABC Mouse (pre-K to 2nd) Reading IQ (pre-school to 6th) and Adventure Academy (3rd-8th) free with code SCHOOL7771

Scholastic is offering  Day-by-day projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing using this link - no sign-up necessary.



ABC Mouse (pre-K to 2nd), Reading IQ (pre-school to 6th) and Adventure Academy (3rd - 8th) available for free by clicking on link and typing in code- SCHOOL7771 

You will then need to fill in the information you see below to create your family account.



Take care,
Brad



Take a virtual tour of museums with Google Arts and Culture

Google Arts and Culture offers a lot of amazing resources that you, your students, and children can explore. I would recommend selecting the hamburger (three lines) in the upper left of the site. When you do so, you will see the following options.


  •  British Museum in London
  • The Guggenheim in New York
  • The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
  •  Musee d' Orsay in Paris
  •  National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, 
  • Pergamon Museum, Berlin
  • Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
  •  The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
  •  Uffizi Gallery, Florence
  •  MASP, São Paulo

Take care,
Brad




Saturday, March 14, 2020

EPIC! 40,000 books available all day and night. Share free Remote Student Access with parents. Valid through June 30, 2020

That's right - Epic! has made free Remote Student Access with parents. Valid through June 30, 2020. Click here for Epic's post.

In order to make this happen as a teacher you will need to follow these steps:

  • Access your student roster
  • select send invite under Remote Access Status and type in parent/guardian email address
  • Families will receive an email
    • they will need to create an account
  • They will then need to add their child
  • Then, the parent/guardian will need to select Parent (upper right of account)
  • Choose Connect to Your Teacher
  • Paste the Classroom Code (in their email)
  • As a teacher you will need to go back to your student roster
    • select Approve next to the student(s) 
      • it is green
  • Families will receive an email stating that the request has been granted
  • Students can access the 40,000 books and videos free of charge 24 hours a day (until June 30, 2020)
Embedded below is a 2 minute and 50 second YouTube tutorial showing all the steps. Teacher, parent/guardian, and student point-of-view.



Take care and thank you Epic!
Brad

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Prodigy - What it looks like from a student point-of-view as well as how to create assignments (including test prep for standardized tests).

In the 2 minute and 52 second video below you will see what the site looks like when your students first log on to Prodigy. You may want to remind your students to have headphones as they are "exploring" a world and answering questions along the way.


Also included in the video above is where to find the section to align your class as you would like to. It is under assessments and then selecting the green create button.




Take care,
Brad



Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Prodigy - How to sign up for a classroom account and get your class started.

If you are interested in a  no-cost math game that's used by over a million teachers and 50 million students around the world check out Prodigy. Prodigy delivers a unique learning experience through an interactive math game where success depends on correctly answering skill-building math questions.

My own children (10 and 7) enjoy using Prodigy as it keeps them interested due to the fact that it is interactive.

My wife uses it in her district (she teaches 4th grade). She enjoys the fact that she can align her class to where she feels necessary. See embedded picture below.







In the video below I show how to sign-up for an account, create a class, and how to print out the log-in cards. If you do work in a school district that utilizes Google and Google Classroom, I strongly encourage you to sign in with Google as this will allow you to sign up your class using Classroom.

Embedded below is a 1 minute and 56 second YouTube tutorial.




Take care,
Brad

25 Ways to use Screencastify with GoogleforEdu tools in an eBook


Choose an adventure, gallery walk, class ebooks, hyperdocs, and much more using Screencastify and GoogleforEdu tools all explained in an eBook.

Click here to access this amazing 30 page resource.

Take care,
Brad

Check out Storyline Online - videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside illustrations

Storyline Online is a free website (and app) that features "celebrated" actors reading children's books with illustrations. You can search through the database on the website as well as search through their YouTube channel.

Embedded below is a 1 minute and 2 second YouTube tutorial showing what the website looks like.




Take care,
Brad

Monday, March 9, 2020

Bird songs and calls - works on mobile device as well (over 602 birds)

If you have ever wondered what a specific bird in North America sounds like, head on over to Bird Sounds.net. There you will find over 600 bird calls and sounds available on your notebook or mobile device.

In case you were wondering the difference between bird calls and songs take a look below:

The distinction between songs and calls is based upon complexity, length, and context. Songs are longer and more complex and are associated with territory and courtship and mating, while calls tend to serve such functions as alarms or keeping members of a flock in contact.

Embedded below is a 55 second YouTube tutorial.




Take care,
Brad

Flipgrid update You can now choose your Grid notifications to be either weekly or daily

A nice feature in Flipgrid was announced last week - the ability to choose your Grid notifications to be daily, weekly, or never.

Embedded below is a screenshot, GIF, and 23 second YouTube tutorial.





Take care,
Brad

Sunday, March 8, 2020

Why do we spring forward? Reasons - Ben Franklin, candles, WWI and WWII, and conserve energy

Ever wondered why we move our clocks forward (most states in North America) take a look at the 1 minute and 30 second YouTube video below.




For those with younger children it can throw things off a bit. Hope everyone enjoys that extra hour of daylight.

Take care,
Brad

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Flipgrid updates for March - big one you can add audio over your videos (iOS and Android) 🎵🎶🎻📻📼📽🎥

Flipgrid is an amazing platform that continues to listen to their community and upgrade their amazing site.

This week Flipgrid announced 5 updates (see embedded Tweet and link below); however, the one I am focusing on today is the ability to add Audio Over Flipgrid Videos. I saw Adam's Tweet about this and had to do one myself. There are so many possibilities - talk about some fun karaoke that your students (or you) can do! I'm sure my 10 year old and 7 year old will be proud! 🦈🦊🤣







For more detail please reference Flipgrid's March 2020 blog post or check out the embedded Tweet from Flipgrid below.

History documentaries, interviews, ad-free podcasts in Historyhit.tv

The other day I saw Dan Snow's Tweet about Historyhit.tv (see Tweet below). If you use the code twitter you can try a 6 week trial for free. If you like the site the paying options are $5.99 a month or $49.99 a year.

Take care,
Brad

How to view the activity on your Google Docs, Sheets & Slides

If you have ever wondered if users are accessing your Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides you can see the activity by selecting the icon next to share in the upper right of your document.

When you select the icon you will now see a dashboard showing Viewers, Viewer trend, Comment trend, Sharing history, as well as Privacy settings.


If you would like to remove the ability to show your view history for all Docs, Sheets, and Slide files make sure to select the Privacy settings and then toggle the option.



Embedded below is a 1 minute and 18 second YouTube tutorial.



Take care,
Brad

View the activity on your Google Docs, Sheets & Slides

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Want to create and share videos through a QR code? A few quick suggestions

If you want to create QR codes that will launch a video (or website) here are a few tips and tricks. Please note that sometimes when you purchase through a site such Teacher Pay Teachers - the QR codes may not work at your specific district due to the filters. Please contact your district technology to discuss the videos and the fact that they may be filtered.

In the example below I am searching YouTube videos:

  1. I recommend searching for the videos at your school so you can know instantly if the video is blocked for students.
  2. Make sure to search for your specific YouTube video when you are not logged in to your account (I use an Incognito window in Chrome but you can always use another browser. Just make sure you are not logged in.
  3. Copy the URL (web address)
  4. Go to a QR Code Generator  and paste in the address- I use https://www.the-qrcode-generator.com/
  5. Either copy the generated QR code or copy the image
  6. Paste in a document (I use doc.new for a new Google Doc)
  7. You can then shrink the code to fit your needs.
  8. Prior to continuing on - please scan the QR code with a device (not your personal one but a school issued device that the students will be using).
Embedded below is a 1 minute and 38 second YouTube tutorial.


Take care,
Brad

Monday, March 2, 2020

Election 2020. Teach the election with Newsela.

Newsela has an excellent free resource available to educators and students (elementary - high-school).

Students will have a chance to vote on topics, learn about candidates, and have updated content available through November 2020.

Embedded below is a 1 minute and 17 second YouTube tutorial.




Take care,
Brad

20 Seesaw ideas with Chromebooks for K-12 classes (from Matt Miller)

Matt Miller shared 20 amazing Sesssaw ideas that can be used with Chromebooks. Worth taking a look and trying some of these ideas with your students!



Take care,
Brad

Fun Dr. Seuss Facts + Dr. Seuss read-a-louds in QR codes

Happy 116th birthday to Theodor Seuss Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss). The information below was taken from 6ABC's post 

If interested in some QR code read-a-louds - click on this link - Read Across America Day is March 2, 2020. Here are some Dr. Seuss read-alouds (YouTube with QR codes) available in a Wakelet collection.

We're celebrating Dr. Seuss with five facts about his life you may not have known.



American author, artist and publisher Theodor Seuss Geisel, known as Dr. Seuss, speaks in Dallas, Texas, on April 3, 1987.

1. Theodor Seuss Geisel says he adopted the pen name "Dr. Seuss" because he was saving his real name for the Great American Novel he intended to write one day.


A still from the 2012 film ''The Lorax.''

2. Dr. Seuss was not a doctor. He briefly studied English literature at Oxford after graduating from Dartmouth but instead became a cartoonist. In 1955, Dartmouth awarded him an honorary doctorate.



Author and illustrator Theodor Seuss Geisel, known as Dr. Seuss, reads from his book ''Horton Hears a Who'' to 4-year-old Lucinda Bell at his home in La Jolla, Ca., June 20, 1956.


3. Only four of the 44 books Dr. Seuss wrote and illustrated are written in prose.



A still from the 1966 short ''How The Grinch Stole Christmas.'' It was based off of one of Dr. Seuss' many books written in verse.

4. Dr. Seuss wrote "The Cat in the Hat" because he was concerned about kids learning 
to read. A publisher reportedly challenged him to "Write me a story that first-graders can't put down!"



The hat worn by The Cat in the Hat adorns Dr. Seuss' posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame after dedication ceremonies in 2004.

5. Dr. Seuss has received two Emmys, a Peabody award and a Pulitzer Prize
(special citation).

Take care,
Brad