Five on Friday: New Year, New Attempt

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!  

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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.

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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.  

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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!!!  

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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?  

Bonus!

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.  

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