Reading Response with Google Forms

This week we are reading books based on the characters Elephant and Piggie by Mo Willems. The students absolutely love these books, and they are great for teaching students various reading skills.

The students are working on improving their reading comprehension by retelling the story when they finish reading a book.  Our activity on the Chromebook was for the students to type a reading response after watching a YouTube video of the book Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems. The reading response was created by using Google Forms and shared with the students through Google Classroom.

The YouTube video was added to the Google Form so that it was easily accessible to the students. The first question was for the student to type their first and last name so that I could identify who was filling out the form.  The second question asked the student to retell the story.  I choose paragraph for this question type so that students would have enough room to write their answers.

Once the student hit submit, their answers were sent to me.  Through Google Forms, you have the option to see each individual form that is submitted or display all of the answers easily with a Google Sheet.  The teacher can also give feedback to each individual answer and assign a score to the form. 

Overall, Google Forms was very easy for the students to use.  The one problem was the size of the video.  When the students played the video in Google Forms, it was very small, and it would not let the students enlarge the video.  The students had to click the YouTube button and watch the video on the YouTube website.  This gave the students access to other videos.  Most students closed the tab when the video was finished and completed their assignment in Google Forms.  However, a few mischievous students decided to watch other YouTube videos.  These students were quickly redirected back to the assignment, and if the off task behavior continued, they were give a piece of paper and pencil to complete the assignment.  

Download a copy of the form here.

UPDATE:  Thank you @RichesonEmily for your feedback.  You can enlarge the size of the video in Google Forms the same way you enlarge an image (pulling the blue boxes in the corner).  Emily also suggested using SafeShare.tv to prevent students from venturing from the designated video; however, you will have to use SafeShare as a link in Google Forms because it cannot be embedded as a video.  Great ideas!

Halloween Writing with the Chromebook

Our project this week was to put everything we had learned so far about Google Drawings into one activity.  The student was to insert their picture from a shared folder, insert a relevant picture, and write about their picture.  As always, the students had the freedom to pick their own fonts and colors.  Happy Halloween!

I am Ray.  What are you going to be for Halloween night?  Ray is brave.  She helps people when they are hurt.

For directions on how to set up the project for students to insert their own individual pictures from a shared folder, please click here.  To learn more about teaching students how to insert a picture into Google Drawings, please click here.

I would love to see what your class is doing with the Chromebooks.  Please comment and share the projects that your class is creating with technology.

Becoming a Better Writer with Google Drawings

Google Drawings is my favorite program to use with the Chromebook because it offers endless possibilities for student projects.  Basically anything that a student creates with a blank sheet of paper can also be created in Google Drawings.

Right now, my students are focusing on writing two or more sentences.  This is not an easy task for a first grader but practice makes perfect (or better in the case of a first grader who is still mastering the art of spelling).  Last week, we were blessed by a visit from two baby goats.  The students loved meeting the goats, so I thought it would be the perfect foundation for a writing activity.  Sometimes the best lessons happen by accident and never make it in your lesson plans.

I love teaching writing with technology.  This is an excellent opportunity to highlight focus on the capital letter at the beginning of the sentence and the period at the end because editing is super easy on the computer.  The students also love to correct their own spelling when the red squiggly line appears, telling them that they have made a mistake.

One thing that I have noticed with writing on the Chromebook is that misspelled words stick out like a sore thumb.  In my head, it is okay for students to misspell words when it is in their own handwriting, but when the students misspell words while typing, the teacher inside of me wants to correct it.  I am trying to work past this need to control my students and remind myself to let it be because it is their creation.

When using Google Drawings, students are given the freedom to pick their own fonts, colors, and shapes.  One of my favorite features of Google is the ability to write in a shape without having to add a text box.  It makes it easy to create professional quality work (so easy that a first grader can do it).

Lady is pretty. Prince is handsome.  I did not know that goats can climb.

The How To: This project was created by assigning a blank Google Drawings document in Google Classroom.  Each student had an individual picture taken with one of the goats.  All of these pictures were put in a folder in Google Drive and shared with the student's e-mail address so that the folder would appear in the student's Google Drive.  The instructional technologist on my campus created a group e-mail for my class so that I was able to quickly share the folder with all of my students using one e-mail address.

Another positive quality of Google Drawings is the ability to insert an image without leaving the program.  When the student inserts an image, they pick the option to insert an image from Google Drive.  From there, the students can choose the "shared with me" tab or the "recent" tab.  Here they are able to pick their picture and insert it into their project.  I thought this project was going to be a lot of steps for the students, but they quickly learned the steps to insert their individual picture.  Remember, slow and steady wins the race.  Start small and add a new technology feature with each new project.

Who Am I?

Our project this week was to complete the riddle that accompanies our selfies that we took last week.  The students were given a template that I created in Google Drawings, and they had to fill in the blanks about themselves.  This is usually a worksheet that the students fill out, but I thought it was the perfect opportunity for the students to practice their technology skills.  Here is the template that they were given:

I am proud of the work they completed.  Not only were the students able to fill in the blanks with ease, but a lot of them were eager to change the color and the font of the words.  There is an epidemic in my classroom where everyone wants to choose the cursive font.  We will see how long the cursive font is popular.

The riddles and selfies are in a class book in our classroom.  The students love reading the book and answering the riddles.  I sometimes hear them ask each other how they added a certain technology feature in their project.  I love how they are eager to learn about technology.

Taking a Picture with the Chromebook

Model...Model...Model.  That is my advice when teaching the students to use the camera with the Chromebooks.  Even after you explained how to take a photo at least 5 times to the class, the students will still ask a million 100 questions.  From experience, I recommend teaching the students to take a picture be the only skill that you teach in your lesson.  This skill is a challenge, and teaching more skills after taking the picture only adds a headache for yourself. Believe me; I have made the mistake once twice now.

Of course like an fool I did not follow my own advice to only take a picture the first time you introduce the students to the front facing camera on the Chromebook.  Our project this week was to take a selfie, and write a sentence: My name is ______.  Writing a sentence is simple when the students have a template.  With this project, they started with a blank Google Drawings document; therefore, they had to insert their own shape and type a sentence in the shape (both new skills).

I repeat: The first time you take a picture on the Chromebook, let it be the only thing that you do on the project and take a break.  You can add more later, but taking a picture for the first time is difficult for the students.  When you insert an image into Google Drawings, you choose the option to Take a Snapshot.  In order to use the camera, you have to allow the program access to your camera not once but twice.  See the images below (both images will pop up, but students have to hit allow on both for the camera to work).

This project will be part of a Who Am I? class book that the students are making.  The first page tells riddles about the students; the second page shows a picture and the student's name.  Usually, the students draw a picture of themselves on paper; however, I thought this would be the perfect chance to teach the students how to use the camera on the Chromebook.  Here is an example that I created.  You will see my lovely face as an example because I have not asked for parent permission to use student images on my blog (yet).  Enjoy!

High Expectations

This week our project focused on retelling a familiar story.  We read the story of Flip all week and practiced retelling the beginning, middle, and end of the story.  On Friday, it was time for the students to record their what they learned.

Usually, students are expected to write one sentence at the beginning of the year.  Each sentence is supposed to contain a capital letter, punctuation, and make sense.  With this project, I was asking the students to write 3 sentences.  I hoped I wasn't pushing their limits.

For the project, I took pictures of pages from the story at the beginning of the story, in the middle of the story, and at the end of the story.  I created an outline for the project using Google Drawings and assigned the project through Google Classroom.

Before we started the project, I gave the students a quick lesson on how to use capital letters on the keyboard and where to find the period.  These skills were going to be essential in writing a sentence.  I used an image of a keyboard on the projector to explain these keyboarding skills.

After our quick lesson, it was time to set the students free.  I was impressed how the students rose to the high expectations that I set.  They were becoming a little frustrated with spelling so I added a few key words that they needed from the story to the word wall.  I usually do not help with spelling, but I thought these hints would make the task of typing less dreadful.

Below you can see an example of their project.  The first image is the template that I assigned each student; the second image is a student product (notice the change in font color from the previous lesson).  One of our next lessons will be the secret of how to correct spelling when the red squiggly line appears.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

We are reading The Rabbit and the Hare this week.  I think it relates well to technology in the classroom.  Start with the basics and slowly add more each week.  If you race to the finish line, you will only be frustrated and your students will not be successful.  This week we are starting with the basics by typing the alphabet.

At the start of each school year, I ask the students to write their alphabet on a piece of paper to see if they know the order of their letters.  I am not looking at letter formation at this time; therefore, I thought this was the perfect first project on the Chromebook.  Not only will they be allowed to show the skill of knowing the letters of the alphabet in order, but they will also have the opportunity to locate each letter on the keyboard.

I knew that this might be an easy task for some of the students who have experimented with technology at home.  I added a little spice to the project for these students: teaching them how to change the font color.  When I modeled how to change the font color, you would have thought I just passed out candy.  They were so excited to play with the colors.  Check out some of their finished projects below.  I am proud of the creativity that they added to this very simple task.

Exploring Technology Together

I once read that teaching technology is like being a first year teacher again.  Every step of the process has to be planned and procedures have to be in place.  It is very easy to run away from feel overwhelmed with technology.  But let me tell you, it is worth it.  Students (even at the elementary age) can be successful when given the proper tools and guidance.

Let me tell you a little about my background.  This will be my 9th year teaching first grade.  I have always taught first grade, and I believe in the power of authentic reading and writing.  I know that technology can never replace the physical book, but I believe that there are countless places where technology can enhance our curriculum.  Last January, our campus received four carts of Chromebooks.  Therefore, my experience with truly integrating technology is inadequate limited, but I am astonished at what my students were able to accomplish with such little time.

I invite you on this journey exploring technology with me and my students.  It is my purpose to share my experience in the classroom with you (both the good and the ugly bad).  Please feel free to comment about your experience in the classroom, share what works (or didn't work) with us and ask questions.  It looks like everyone is learning about this ever changing thing called technology together.