Draw.io

draw.io is free online diagram software for making flowcharts, venn diagrams, timelines and diagrams that save in your Google Drive!  The charts can be exported in numerous formats including .jpeg and .pdf as well as embedded in websites!

CheckMark

 http://www.checkmarkclass.com/ 

A new Chrome extension will make using comments on a Google doc quicker! With CheckMark installed, a small keyboard with abbreviations for common errors like capitalization and punctuation pops up every time you highlight text on a Google doc.



Just click the desired abbreviation and a comment is created instructing your students what editing suggestion you are making.



Quick and easy!

C = Check capitalization
F = Check for fragment
P = Check punctuation
S = Check spelling
T = Tense
CS = Check for comma splice
RO = Check for run-on sentence
SV = Subject/Verb agreement
¶ = New paragraph needed
cla = Clarify your idea/meaning
det = Detail needed
dis = Discussion needed
evi = Evidence needed
rep = Repetitive
phr = Rephrase
spa = Spacing
​cit = Check Citation

There are plans to increase the extensions functionality in the future, but it is pretty sweet right now!

Read&Write For Google Part 3 - Highlighter Tools

Read&Write has a 4 different color highlighters and a clear highlighter button in the tool bar.   The different colors can be used to classify and categorize words on a website, Google Doc, Google slide or a PDF. 

The Collect highlights button will open a new Google Doc and automatically sort your highlights by color and includes a link to the original site!

Super cool!  You can highlight and sort parts of speech, story elements, topic sentences, evidence from the text and so much more!!!


Coming Soon...
Part 4 - Word Prediction and Translations
Part 5 - The Rest of the Tools!

Read&Write for Google Part 1 - Read Aloud Tools

Read&Write for Google is an extremely powerful Chrome extension.  One of its many abilities is the the text-speech feature that can read aloud websites, google docs, google slides and PDFs.

The read aloud tools are super simple to use.  

1. Open any website, doc, slide or PDF.
2. Click the Read&Write Extension  to open the Read&Write tool bar
   (If you do not have the extension, search for it at Chrome Web Store and add it to Chrome.
   
3. Highlight the word/sentence/paragraph where you want to start reading.
   (Tip: To highlight one word, double click the word.  To highlight a whole paragraph, triple click any word in the paragraph.)
4. Click the play button.
   

Bt default, Read&Write is set for continuous reading.  To stop you must click Pause or Stop. However, some students may benefit from having only one sentence or paragraph read at a time. 

To turn off continuous reading, go to the Read&Write Options by clicking the arrow on the right of the tool bar.

Under Speech, uncheck the continuous reading box.


You can also change the readers voice and reading speed.









To pause a read aloud, click pause.

To clear a selection and start over, click stop.

When you click the Hover Speech Button,

Read&Write will read aloud most sentences, captions or titles you hover over.  There is a fraction of a second delay, so be patient!  To turn off Hover Speech, click Stop.


Coming Soon...
Part 2 - Vocabulary Tools
Part 3 - Highlighter Tools
Part 4 - Word Prediction and Translations
Part 5 - Audio Tools

Drive Slides (Faculty Meeting 1/11/17)

This extension creates and instant Google slide show from pictures with in any folder on your Google Drive! Great way to organize, present and even print your pictures from Drive! 

Get it at the Chrome Web Store!!

"DriveSlides allows you to create a Google Slides presentation out of images in a Google Drive folder. Simply open a folder in Google Drive that contains JPG, PNG or GIF images. Press the DriveSlides Chrome extension icon to open the Google Slides presentation with your images automatically added. The Slides are created in your Google Drive, within the same folder." - Description from Web Store

Google Forms

Google Forms are a quick and easy tool to help teachers stay organized, collect information and assess learning!

Here is a 5 Step Cheat Sheet to get you started!

Need more advanced tutorials?  Check out the Google Forms Learning Center!


Need some ideas for using forms in the classroom?  Check out this presentation by Tom Barrett.
(@tombarrett)

ICE 2015... in a Thinglink!

Oct 7 Staff Meeting Tips

Make Chrome your default browser

1.  Click the little 3 lines on the top right of your Chrome browser

2.  Click Settings

3.  Click  Make Google Chrome the Default

Google Image Search - Safer Alternatives

Subscription Services
United Streaming
Ebsco Kids Search
Britannica Elementary
World Book Kids
World Book Students

Search Engines
KidzSearch
Google Junior
GoGooligans

Adding a Bookmark to Your Google Doc

 Create the bookmark first.

1. Click where you want to place the bookmark in your document.
2. Click the Insert drop-down menu
3. Select Bookmark
4. Create a link to a bookmark

 Then, create a link to a bookmark

1. Highlight the text you'd like to link from
2. Click the Insert drop-down menu and select Link
3. In the 'Edit Link' window, select the 'Bookmark' option to see the bookmarks you've created
4. Click the bookmark you'd like to link to
5. Click OK.

Staff Meeting Tips 2-12

Google Calendar!

Tips on creating events....
You can only create events on your calendar or a claendar that has been shared with you.  Make sure you are creating events on the right calendar!

You can invite people or request room usage.  After sending an invite the event will appear on your guests' calendar and an email will be sent (maybe directed to update tab).

Add your Task List to Your Calendar...
If you have been using tasks in GMail, You can easily add it to your calendar by Selecting the Tasks box under your calendar name.

Get a daily agenda or modify your notifications.
Go to Settings and choose the calendar tab.
Click Reminders and Notifications.

Previous Posts/Instructions about Google Calendar...
Making Sure you are in the correct time zone
Keyboard Shortcuts
Adding an appointment from an email
Creating an event
Checking out Apple devices for classroom use

Chrome's New Look

You may have noticed that when you open a new tab in Chrome you no longer see your icons for apps/sites like Gmail or Google Drive.

To find those icons you will need to click the little Apps icon near the top left corner of your browser.

You can also add bookmarks to your favorite apps/sites...

Or set tabs to open to your favorite apps/sites...

Which Time Zone Are You In?

Wondering why your Google Calendar events aren't matching up to other calendars?

If you are signing up for events on other people's Google calendars, you will need to make sure your calendar has the correct Time Zone set.

1.  Right Click on your Calendar and Choose Calendar Settings

2.  Then change your Time Zone.

Great Gmail and Google Drive Tutorials!

Google Drive...I Dare You!

Do you need to get more acquainted with Google Drive?  Start with this baby step...

STOP emailing attachments!  I Dare You!

Instead of creating and emailing your next Word Document, create a Google Doc!  

Then, click Share. 


Using email addresses, you can invite a few people to view/edit.

Or email/post  the doc link to a bunch of people at once!

Don't forget to set the user permissions...

You can send a view only copy so no one can change your work, or if you are using the doc for collaboration purposes, you can use the  revision history to look at any previous versions of your documents!

Google Drive -Drives Me Crazy

Is your Google Drive getting messy and unorganized?   Looking through the long list of files on my Drive to find that one Google Presentation that I created 2 months ago drives me nuts.   

 I could always type the title of the document in the search box, if I happened to remember what I called it.  But I easily forget those little details all the time so...

Using the drop down arrow in the search box, I can filter my view.

When I choose a file type, only those files appear and it is easier for me to find the files I am looking for!

Go from this...

to this...

Thank you for the peace of mind Google!

How Many Languages Do You Speak?

Google Docs is Multilingual! You can instantly translate any Document into one of 64 languages!

Just create a Google Doc and click Tools>Translate Document. Check out my sample below!

ENGLISH

Dear Mrs. Jones,

Johnny had a great day today!  He was on task and completed all his work.  I’m so pleased with his progress.  Thank you for all your support.

Sincerely,

Ms. Cimaroli

POLISH

Szanowna Pani Jones,

Johnny miał wielki dzień dzisiaj! Był on zadania i zakończył wszystkie swoje prace.Jestembardzo zadowolony z jego postępów. Dziękuję wszystkim za wsparcie.

Poważaniem,

Pani Cimaroli

SPANISH

Estimado Sra. Jones,

Johnny tenía un gran día! Estaba en la tarea y completó toda su obra. Estoy muy contento con su progreso. Gracias por todo su apoyo.

Atentamente,

Sra. Cimaroli

How Much Do You Know About Google Forms?

Google Forms?

Google Forms lets you create quizzes for your students, surveys for parents, gather opinions from colleagues or collect information of any kind.  The answers/information is collected in a spreadsheet so you can easily view, sort, graph and even grade the responses.

Below are some of the frequently asked questions I get about Google Forms.

How do I create a Google Form?
Create>Form

What kinds of questions can I ask?

How do I edit a question after I create it?
Click the pencil on the right side of the screen.

How do I add questions?
Click Add Item at the to of the screen.

How do I share my survey?
On the page where you add/edit questions, copy the link at the bottom of the page.  This link can be pasted in an email, posted on the trail or shared in a Google Document .

Where do my responses go?
Google creates a Spreadsheet for you. It will appear in your Google Drive.

How do I open my form so I can edit it at a later date?

1. Go to Google Drive
2. Open the spreadsheet that belongs to your form
3. Click Form>Edit Form  
   

Can Google grade my quizzes for me?
Yes.  You can run a "script" called Flubaroo.

Watch this three minute tutorial or find easy directions on how to use Flubaroo on the Flubaroo website.