Google Docs Voice Typing
In the Tools menu is a voice typing tool. This is Google Docs built in Speech to Text Tool.
Translate YouTube Captions
Pay very little attention to the man talking, but watch where his mouse goes and notice the changing languages of the Closed Captions. Probably open it up YouTube and go full screen for a better view.
Flocabulary Rollout 2024
I was informed that most if not all Elementary campuses were subscribing to Flocabulary for this school year. Here is an introduction to that program and what it offers. I met with a representative from Flocabulary for a “tour”.
Google Certification Saturday 2024
Greetings Teachers!! This upcoming Saturday 2 November we will join together to take our Google Certification exams. We will meet up at 0900 that morning in the Library at Southard Middle School.
The links below offer review resources as well as registration.
If you took it last year you don’t need to renew level 1 for a few years but you can take level 2. Level 2 takes the same knowledge you showed comprehension of in level 1 and has you apply it in a Google Drive sandbox.
Natural Readers Text to Speech
Follow along as we install and operate the Natural Readers Chrome Extension for a fantastic text to speech read aloud experience. This is a wonderful tool for your students with Dyslexia or other reading accommodation needs.
Translate with Adobe Express
I have heard that you can use Adobe Express to translate text. Let’s try it.
To start with logging into Adobe Express is weird for us. You login with your email address instead of selecting login with Google. Once you launch Adobe Express from ClassLink you will get the login screen on which you type your email on the login line. Then you will get a popup on which you will select school account. THAT should get you logged in.
First thing I want to try is to translate an existing PDF document.
I uploaded a pdf from my computer to Adobe Express. It said it worked and had translated it but DID NOT translate at all. Perhaps it didn’t recognize the text and just made the paragraphs image blocks.
However! When I copied text into a new Adobe express file it translated it flawlessly (as far as I know, I mean it functioned as intended). So if importing a pdf does not work for you copy and paste the text from the PDF into a new Adobe Express file.
I did have to adjust the font size and apply some spacing and line breaks to match my original format. Here is my fake letter home from a fictional school district in 17 extra languages, produced almost instantly.
“Don’t ask me how I did it. I just did it.”
Now let’s try a video with spoken audio
I have uploaded my video to Adobe Express and I see the translate button up at the top on the tool bar. That wasn’t it. That only wants to translate text. I’ll keep digging. I found an option to use Adobe Express to convert text to speech. Ope! Bummer we don’t have access to that, oh it uses AI, that must be why it is disabled.
Division 4.4f
Take your students on an interactive adventure practicing their division skills as a volunteer handling donations. Students will learn about how homelessness affects Texans and what local communities do to help. In addition to the math questions pictured below students will examine statistics about homeless Texans and examine how our closest homeless facility, The Samaritan Inn, provides help to so many local youth and how the facility is able to accept help.
4.4f Use strategies and algorithms, including the standard algorithm, to divide up to a four-digit dividend by a one-digit divisor.
Want an entire Lesson Plan for this activity?
Gauntlet Game
Play this for 5 minutes to understand the concept of Gauntlet
Gmail Inbox Filter
You can create a filter in Gmail to automatically move emails from a specific sender, like your principal, to a designated folder. This way, you can be sure that important messages don’t get accidentally deleted. An example of how you might already do this is blocking a sender. When you tell Gmail to block someone it creates a filter that reroutes their emails to the spam folder.
Start by clicking on the “Settings” wheel up toward the top right corner of your Gmail window.
Then click “See all settings”
On the settings screen you want to navigate to the “Filters and Blocked Addresses”
Next click “Create a new filter”
You can build your filter to select emails based on who they are from, a specific phrase in the subject line, as well as key words included or not included in the email.
The next screen will ask you what to do with the email when the filter is triggered.
There are many options but the most popular is to apply a label, which means put it in a folder. You can choose an existing label or create a new one.
You can apply more than one filter. Lastly click “Create filter” to save it.
You will see your filter on the menu now.
For example my first filter for any email with “(accepted: Google Hangout Help)” cleared automated hangout emails of recordings out of my inbox during the pandemic and put them straight into my Archived items and marked them as read so I wouldn’t have the notification pending in my archived items.
Pear Deck 2024 Update
Learn how to create and facilitate Pear Deck content on a Google Slides presentation in 10 minutes. We will be finding out what exactly you can accomplish when limited to a free Pear Deck account. Spoiler, it’s pretty good. We will embed short answer, multiple choice, number, and link based activities to our Google Slides presentation. Then see how it works from the teacher and student perspective.
Boeing Plane Stats Math Activity and Passengers of United 93
Applicable TEKS Grade 5: 5.4(B): Represent mathematical relationships between two quantities in a table, graph, or equation. 5.5(B): Solve problems involving multiplication and division of whole numbers. Grade 6: 6.3(C): Solve problems involving ratios and rates. 6.4(B): Represent a proportional relationship between two quantities. Grade 7: 7.3(B): Represent a proportional relationship between two quantities using an equation in the form y = kx, where k is the constant of proportionality. 7.4(A): Solve problems involving ratios and rates. Grade 8: 8.2(B): Solve problems involving linear equations. Example: A linear equation can be used to represent the relationship between miles traveled and gallons of gas used, with the slope of the line representing the miles per gallon. 8.4(A): Graph linear equations. Example: A graph can be used to visualize the relationship between miles traveled and gallons of gas used, with the slope of the line representing the miles per gallon.
Here is a math activity that has students learn statistics about Boeing 757 and 767 aircraft. Students have to calculate the ratio of miles per gallon for each aircraft. They also learn about the passengers onboard United Flight 93 which crashed in Shanksville Pennsylvania on September 11th 2001. Students also calculate percentages concerning the vacant seats on that plane.
This activity comes as a PDF that can be printed or assigned digitally in Google Slides and Google Classroom or your favorite online tool for creating digital activities like Teachermade, Classkick, etc.
Bucket Brigade Math Activity
Applicable Texas TEKS
4.8.A: Measure volume using standard units (e.g., cubic centimeters, cubic inches).
4.8.B: Convert measurements within the same measurement system (e.g., inches to feet, feet to yards, meters to centimeters).
5.4.H: Represent and solve problems related to perimeter and/or area and related to volume.
5.7.A: Apply mathematical process standards to select appropriate units, strategies, and tools to solve problems involving measurement.
5.7.B: Solve problems by calculating conversions within a measurement system, customary or metric.
6.4.H: Convert units within a measurement system, including the use of proportions and unit rates.
6.8.C: Apply formulas to determine the volume of rectangular prisms, triangular prisms, cylinders, and pyramids.
7.3.A: Apply formulas to determine the area of two-dimensional figures and the volume of three-dimensional figures.
8.6.A: Describe the volume formula V = Bh of a cylinder in terms of its base area and its height
Here is an activity related to the September 11th 2001 Terrorist Attacks, New York City, World Trade Center, Ground Zero, and the recovery efforts. This activity tells the story of how volunteers worked together to remove debris by hand and bucket in the early hours and days of the search for survivors.
The activity asks students to recall prior knowledge of working with 5 gallon buckets, applying the formula for the volume of a cylinder, converting measurements between cubic inches, feet, and yards. As well division skills.
It also links out to an article exploring the experiences of Ramona Diaz-Allegrini, a female person of color and her contributions.
You can print this activity or assign it digitally through Google Slides and Google Classroom or upload it to your favorite digital conversion tool like Teachermade, Classkick, etc.
Live Polls Maker
Thanks to Mr. Townsend’s research we are exploring a new tool for gathering quick feedback from your students to check for understanding. This would be a great end of lesson wrap up activity / exit ticket.
You can download the extension from the link above. This is a Google Slides extension so that is where you will find and operate it, not from the extensions puzzle piece up on your Omni Box.
I am immediately noticing that we have only the multiple choice option for free.
It does say that there is no limit to the number of participants in the poll.
I also discovered that you may only include one of those multiple choice questions per slide show.
Adding images as answer choices is a paid premium feature but text answer choices are free.
I was able to add several answer choices no problem without hitting a pay wall.
We have options to hold results until we click to release them if you are concerned that students choice might be influenced by their peers.
The option to allow more than one answer is available but requiring student names is a premium feature.
Below is what it added to my blank slide, so do plan on using a blank slide for this
When I clicked the question in Google Slides Presentation mode it popped us over to a new tab with the Live Poll interface. There is a QR code but we don’t want students on their phones. But there is a link which students could type or you could post ahead of time in a quick to reach place like ClassLink or Google Classroom.
Inconclusion for multiple choice answers, from a whole group question without individual results, and only using it one time per presentation, this would be a good tool to quickly gauge whether the majority of your class did or did not grasp a concept taught that day. If you need more than that, another tool like Nearpod, or Peardeck might be a better option.
Single Digit Division
This activity takes your students through feeding the baby animals at the zoo. It requires them to divide single digit numbers by single digit numbers to accomplish their tasks. This activity also includes separating objects into equivalent sets. This activity is designed to be assigned in Google Classroom and is completed in Google Slides edit mode.
(6) (b) model, create, and describe contextual division situations in which a set of concrete objects is separated into equivalent sets.
FreeKidsBooks
Freekidsbooks.org Is a cool website that I found to download PDF eBooks for your students. It looks to have a decent amount of books especially for a free resource. You can search through books by publisher, author, grade level, and even ESL.
I found classics like The Tale of Peter Rabbit and books on Feelings and Emotions as well as bullying.
While I did not stumble across any potentially offensive book choices, definitely be sure to follow the district classroom library policies and get the books approved as you would for a printed book.
Great American Review
2nd Grade First 9 Weeks Review
Here is an exciting and engaging Rock and Roll Themed review activity for 2nd grade social studies in the first 9 weeks. Discuss what your students remember about the topics on each slide. (The teacher’s guide includes the important facts we need your students to know.) There are a few short YouTube videos for the pledges and songs. Then craft a guitar and rock out.
Here is the link to the 23 slide presentation. You will get your own copy of it saved to your Canva account.
Below is the Teacher’s guide which you can download and print.
Gmail to Tasks Shortcut
Must watch! 30 seconds to faster productivity. No more summarizing an email as you add it to your Google Tasks. ONE BUTTON! I love it.
SMART Board Daily Slides
Here are a set of daily slides you can use to get your class started with Carpet Time, Math Meeting, Calendar Time, whatever you call it. I am happy to add more slides to this if there is something that you need which I omitted in my inexperience with littles. This was made for a specific teacher at Mayfield so you would have to edit some slides like the attendance slide.
