Noel Erskine, Technology Coordinator Norris Schools

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Online videos, apps, Google tips and more - In this weeks teacher tech tools!

Wednesday, March 18, 2015


Web tools and sites:

Find apps for a device or learning activity --  this edtechteacher site can do it for you!

Run Windows software in a browser tab, for free -  Using Cameyo

Explore Planet Nutshell's Teacher Library for Great Educational Videos - http://goo.gl/zGVJeg

Students Can Learn About Careers in Next Vista's Career Videos Collection  http://goo.gl/QjV6Ri

Dictate online with the website https://dictation.io/ works great on Chromebooks too. Or you can add this really nice ChromeApp - VoiceNote II Once you load it, make sure you select your language and location. You must use the on-screen buttons for punctuation. Other than that, the extension works very well for hands-free notes.


Have you seen quiziz? (Mentioned this one in my last posts.)
Here are a couple great training videos:
5 Free Tools for Creating Whiteboard Videos - http://goo.gl/RAc3Wo

eBooks

iStoryBooks Now Offers Premium Books for Free to Teachers - http://goo.gl/qC161l


IOS Apps -
WOW- YouTube Kids by Google – a Must Have Free App for Families -Review Here IOS App Here

Training docs from my recent in-service:


Note for Norris Staff - Both of the above docs are in our Google Drive folder - Under Norris Tech Docs and STAFF SHARE in the iPad items folder. 

A few Apps for the younger grades:

Picture Math  By Brainingcamp, LLC - Free app

Cursive Writing – abCursive 2 - Free iPhone app

Google Classroom:
Mentioned this one in my last posting/mailing too ... Google Classroom Update: Custom Theme - 1minute video tutorial

Google Chrome:

DF YouTube (Distraction Free) is a Chrome extension for watching YouTube -Nice for teachers http://goo.gl/6dPiVx

Google Apps:

6 new free Google tools to upgrade your classroom - Free templates and images! 

4 Tips For Making Professional Looking Google Docs 

Merge Cells in Google Docs tables

A few nice video's from "Ask the Gooru".

Best Drive Shortcut EVER!! ... a great tip from our very own @MrsCoady 

A quick way to add a file to multiple folders is to use the Shift+Z (not Cntrl+Z, which is undo). This will open a screen saying "Add to" rather than "Move to," so you can keep the file where it is and add it to another folder. I use this all the time and decided to share. 

You can also hold down the Cntrl key when click on a folder while the "Move to" window is open, and this will allow you to add to a folder rather than actually move. 

Free apps, classroom tools, websites and more - This weeks tech list is out! (Act fast on the free app.)

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Websites and tools:

WOW - 123D Circuits by AutoDesk is a revolutionary free tool for designing your electronic projects online. great for the science classes and more!  This 8 Minute video demo will show you how. 

7 Innovative Apps (and web sites) for Parent-Teacher Communication - from teach.com

Over 120,000 photos of Omaha history now on Durham Museum's website - Check it out! 

Save Kahoot Quiz Results In Your Google Drive Account: http://goo.gl/kt4fUb

Exciting activity for kids - Gamification and coding at the same time! 
codekingdoms.com - Guide your character through an adventure from planet to planet, learning and using coding skills to navigate the world and complete progressively trickier missions. The site allows player to build their own worlds to play and classmates can even communicate and share their creations.

He's one of the best... and this slide deck has some of the best tech tools!  Best of the Winter 2015 from Richard Byrne.  <--- Check it out!

2015 Educational Technology Apps, Tools, Sites from the Florida FETC conference. Nice list, and some new ones I have not tried! 

17 Websites to Manage Your Classroom - I LOVE THIS LIST - It has some new ones you do not typically find on many lists.  The first one is a hoot! Bouncy Balls  I have often used Doodle to pick meeting dates too.  Something for any K to 12 teacher on this list! 

IOS Apps:

The ComicBook app & the BOOM Sticker Pack are free today! (3-3-15 & 3-4-15)  Nice creativity app for kids. http://goo.gl/nECV22 

Google Apps and tools:

How to Email Reminders from a Google Spreadsheet 

Chalkup- A Wonderful Google Drive Tool for Teachers. Chalkup recently made the move to Google Drive and created a seamless integration of Chalkup with Google Drive. (Not sure, but I think I would still recommend Google Classroom, but this one may have a few added features worth the look.  I have not personally tried this product yet.) 

Creating with Chromebooks - Slides, ThingLink, and Snagit: A great 2 1/2 Minute video you have to watch!

10 Good Google Docs, Sheets, and Forms Add-ons for Teachers via Free Technology for Teachers

Did you know about Google Keep?  Short 1 min. Video will show you how! Great for keeping lists, etc.... (They have apps for this one too.)

Still have files in DropBox?  Dropbox for Gmail extension easily adds Dropbox files to emails. Thanks to @joshmurtaugh for this tip! 

THIS SUPER SIMPLE GOOGLE DOCS TRICK IS LIFE CHANGING - Force make a copy http://goo.gl/Uo1Vvz 

More great tip from the Google Gooru: (I love this resource... check him out!)

When sharing a spreadsheet you often have to worry about which cells will be modified by viewers. If you only want them to be able to edit select cells in the spreadsheet then you should try protecting the sheet or the range of cells you want to remain untouched.
This video will walk you through the simple steps to add page numbers to your Google Docs.
Researching specific stocks and pulling accurate up to date information can be tedious. Google Sheets cuts out a lot of the busy work and allows you to get the data you need in one convenient location
This feature can be used for mapping classroom projects, geography assignments and more. Learn to make your own collaborative maps with this video.

Google Classroom:
Keep your Google Classroom dashboard organized by adding stars to your templates
5 Things You May Not Know About Google Classroom
New Features in Google Classroom!
New for Googel Classroom! - Add your own themes and app imrovements.

Google Drawing:
It's finally done! Google Drawings CHEAT SHEET for Teachers and Students. Note: At Norris, I have added this to our Google Drive Tech folder.
10 Fantastic Ways for Teachers and Students to Use Google Drawings in the Classroom!

Google Slides & Tools:
Presentation tools for use with Google Slides: Present.me - Great for adding audio or video to a Google Presentation. (Works with other presentation tools too.) Sign up for a free account here  - http://goo.gl/7Ofcms <---  
24 Google Slides Templates You Can Use On Your iPad - Or with any presentation!

Chrome apps:
Some favorite ChromeApps for Chromebook and MacBook Classroom

Great classroom review tools:
(I sent out a separate email on these two tools already, but wanted to add them to this email and blog posting as well.)

I have mentioned Kahoot in the past... it's a great tool for the entire classroom for reviewing classroom materials. If you want to add some excitement to your classroom - this is a great tool.

This is a new one - quizizz.com and is definitely worth a look!  It adds some different twists and tools to the gaming and review aspect.

Both of these tools are in class kinds of tools, where Socrative and other tools can be used out of class.