We get a three day weekend this week!!!  Yay us!  I don't know if you are like me but as much as I love a new school year, by this time I am tired!  The outside world will never understand how exhausting it is to teach little people new rules, routines, and protocols.  

1.  I have an absolutely FABULOUS tip for you this time.  You have to check out the Chrome extension called Sir Links Alot.    After installing you will see the icon for this extension in the upper right corner of your browser window.  Clicking on the icon will open the tool.  You can easily choose to share a link that will force the person with whom you are sharing to make a copy, see a preview, create a template, or turn your document into a pdf.  I am in love with this extension!

2.  One of the biggest gripes I hear about Chromebooks is that they  don't have a caps lock key.  I find this comforting to be honest as students will often hit the caps lock and then type everything in upper case.  However, there is a way to turn on caps lock on a Chromebook should you need to do so.  Click and hold the Alt + search (the magnifying glass or Assistant icon).  The magnifying glass is in the place you'd look for a Caps Lock key. You'll see an arrow appear on the bottom right notifications bar and a pop-up will alert you that Caps Lock is on. Tap Shift to turn off Caps Lock.

3.   Functions Machines are so much fun and a great way to make the kiddos think.  Here is one I created.  You are welcome to make a copy of this and  changes the data to fit your needs.    Click here to get your copy!

4.  I love this engineering challenge I found using pool noodles!  All you need are pool noodles, which are on sale this time of year and toothpicks.  The directions, found on this site, have you cutting the noodles into same sized disks but I would make various sizes.  This would be an amazing idea to combine with measurement!  

Friday at the Movies - This is a video that many of us have seen before, but like a favorite book, I come back to it time and time again because truly,  Every Child Needs A Champion

Hello!  Welcome back folks!  For two years I did a Five on Friday Blog.  Last year, about halfway through, I got tired and decided to end it.  Well, guess what! I missed my blog so this year, I made the decision to pick it back up.  I hope the ideas I suggest are helpful to you.  Please feel free to ask me to come help you at any time.  

1.  One of the items on my Five on Friday Blog that I want to share is a tip from G Suit.  I had someone this week call me the Google Guru.  Nope!  Most of my tips I have stolen from other sources.  This is an perfect example!  At Central Elementary the School Counselor is using Google Classroom in the same manner as one would use a blog.  She is sharing resources to support a curriculum the school is using called Mind Up.  I love the unique way this tool is being used!  

2.  Google Keep is an app in G-Suit that I want to mess around with more this year.  I have utilized this on a limited basis in the past; but, I want to delve into it more.   I have a video below on how I have used it before but I recently read a blog that had several more ideas for this tool.  In fact, on one site, there was a teacher who is using this as her daily planner.  That is what I am going to explore.  I will update you at the end of the school year on how I set mine up and how it worked for me.  Here is the site though that had ideas for organizing yourself as a teacher using this tool:  ​Technology for Teachers: Google Keep- A Busy Teacher’s Best Friend.  If you need help in finding Keep, just let me know.   By the way, the assignment in this video was purchased from an ITRT on Teachers Pay Teachers by the name of Brittany Washburn.  This is an example of a simple assignment that could be done in Google Classroom.

3.  I also plan to showcase a Google Doc each month that could be uploaded and used as a Classroom assignment.  If the document is mine, you are welcome to make a copy and then change it to fit your needs.  The document I am sharing this week is mine.  Please click on the image to get your own copy.  This would be a great brain dump for a review or use it as is to introduce our younger students to Classroom.  

4.  During the prep week I saw an email from someone (I don't remember the person) who was trying to get rid of Base Ten Blocks in her classroom.  I LOVE Base Ten blocks!  I was surfing the net one day in the past week and came across this idea for teaching place value by building buildings using Base Ten Blocks.  Check out the site here and please call me in to help with this awesome idea!!!  

5.  Friday at the Movies- I love including a video on my weekly blog.  Sometimes the video is only to make you smile.  Sometimes I may feel like the video is a great story starter that would be a resource you could use with students.  This one is sort of a sermon to me.  I love this video!  Sometimes I can get so caught up in trying to make the perfect lesson for the students that I forget to just have fun with the students.  Maybe you are like me.  It would be nice to think that someone else likes this video as well.

BTW, I do think this would work as  story starter for an older grade.  What would you want your older self to remember?  

Nora Kluender is the Library Media Specialist at MHES.  She recently shared this with the teachers there and I thought it would be a good resource to share with everyone!  The American Library Association has put out its list of best tools for teaching and learning.  Make sure you look at the bottom of the description to make sure it is grade/age appropriate.