Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!  This is a classic example of taking a project that you are already teaching in the classroom and adding a component of technology into the lesson.  For Mother's Day, my students always write an acrostic poem for their mothers as a present.  We use the following template below:

Usually, the students write their poem in their best handwriting on the template above.  I take a nice picture of each student outside, and they glue everything on a large piece of colored construction paper and add decorations with markers.  

This year, the students wrote a rough draft using the template above.  I assigned a blank Google Drawings Document through Google Classroom and allowed the students to design their poem however they wanted.  See an example of their work below:

I assigned the Google Drawing as a landscape document.  Some of the students struggled with fitting the whole poem on the page.  Next year, I will assign the project as a portrait so that the students have more room.  Even if the student did not fit the poem on the page, their project still turned out great.  I think it added a special artistic touch.  

For the finished gift, I asked the students to glue their poem along with their picture on a large sheet of colored construction paper and decorate the paper with markers.  Yes, I could have allowed the students to insert the picture into the Google Drawings Project and kept the project completely digital.  However, I wanted to allow the students to showcase their drawings which added a personal touch.  I hope this gift becomes a treasured keepsake for the mothers.

HyperDocs in the Elementary Classroom

Happy Earth Day!  This week my class explored how to reduce, reuse, and recycle through a HyperDoc created in Google Slides.  The document contained links that took the students to different YouTube videos that explained about reducing, reusing, and recycling.  After viewing the videos, the students returned to the HyperDoc to display what they learned and explain the topic to others.  Here is the blank HyperDoc assigned to the students.



What is a HyperDoc?
A HyperDoc is a document that contains links for the students to access information to learn more about a topic.  The HyperDoc also contains a space in which the students can interact with the information and display their learning.  HyperDocs can be created using any program in which a link can be inserted; therefore, Google Docs, Google Drawings, Google Slides, and Google Sheets are great resources to create HyperDocs.

Lesson Learned from Using HyperDocs
Not every lesson that I share with the students work as planned.  I copied the links used in the HyprDoc from the share tab on YouTube.  All of the links worked on my computer, but when the students tried the links on their own, they were not able to access the videos.  Something was blocking the videos.  I decided to show the first video whole group while I investigated the problem.

After problem solving with the Digital Learning Coach on campus, we changed the links in the HyperDoc to match the links in the Omnibox (address bar).  Thank you @richesonemily for your help.  I learned the lesson to always check your links under a student login before assigning the project to the students.

Benefits of Using HyperDocs in the Classroom
First, using HyperDocs increases student engagement.  Students enjoy watching the YouTube videos about various topics.  From the moment we started the HyperDoc project, the students were glued to their Chromebooks learning and sharing the information that they learned.

HyperDocs also allows students to work at their own pace.  We all know that students work at different speeds.  When a student completes one page, they are able to move onto the next page and watch the next video without waiting for the rest of the class.  Students can also watch the video again if they need to see the information more than once.  

Students are working independently.  All of the information that they need is in the HyperDoc.  Therefore, students are able to collect the information on their own and share what they learn through the project.

Overall, the students did a great job learning about ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle.  Check out the completed project below.

Working Collaboratively with Google Drawings

This week the students were asked to identify a problem and create an invention to solve the problem.  The students worked collaboratively in partners to make a plan for their invention in Google Drawings.

The students worked on the same Google Drawings document.  They were excited to see how when they changed something on their screen, it also changed on their partner's screen.  This was a great way for the students to share their knowledge of using the Chromebooks with others.

A few of the groups struggled with working on the same document.  It was important for both students to agree on the same vision for their invention before they started working together on the collaborative document.  When some of the students became frustrated with their partner, we took a quick break from the project and had a conversation about respecting one another's work.

Each group was assigned a blank Google Drawings document in Google Classroom.  I had ten different groups; therefore, I had ten different assignments.  I used the differentiation feature in Google Classroom to assign partners to the same assignment.  When the Google Drawings document was attached, I choose the option for students to edit the file so that both of the students could work on the same document. 

The plan created by the students was going to be used the next day to build the invention in Makerspace.  It is amazing to see how some of the students followed the plan to build their invention.  Below are a few of the plans with the finished product.  The first invention is a snow machine (to be used in the summer of course), and the second invention is a toy for a child who does not have any toys. 

A Practical Application of Google Classroom

I love using Google Classroom as a platform for my students to access their assignments.  It is quick to set up and easy for students to use.  Here is an example of a lesson in which I use a digital worksheet and assign it through Google Classroom.

Our topic in math focused on the relationships between coins.  The lesson started with a YouTube video reviewing the value and relationships of different coins.  After the video, the students completed the digital worksheet below.  All components of the lesson were assigned to the students using Google Classroom.

This digital worksheet was created using Google Drawings.  On the left, the images of coins are piled up on top of one another.  The student drags the equivalent amount of coins to each box.  Below is the original worksheet in which students drew pennies, nickels, and dimes to show equivalent amounts that inspired the creation of the digital worksheet above.  

Here are the steps I used for creating the lesson in Google Classroom.  Make sure that you assign the components of the lesson in the order that you want the students to complete the activities.  

First, I assigned the YouTube video with the insert video link.  Then, I assigned the coin sorter activity from Google Drive.  Make sure to pick the option Make a copy for each student.  This will assign each student's name to a different file and allow students to work independently on their own document.  

When students have completed the assignment, they have the option to Turn It In.  This feature alerts the teacher that the student has completed their assignment, and gives the teacher access to the finished product to assign a grade if desired.  

Below is the coin sorter activity completed by a student.  A big thank you to Emily Turner for creating the digital worksheet used in this lesson.