Fun with Google

Need some fun Google Games and Tools? Check these fun Google Tricks out!

Flip A Coin

What do you do when you have to make a tough decision to make between two options? You flip a coin! What if you don’t have a coin? Well, no worries...Google to the rescue. Type 'Flip A Coin' and click on 'Google Search' and just like that Google will tell you your fate (or at least heads or tails)!

Roll A Die

Playing a game and need to roll a die? Google has you covered! Just type 'Roll a die' and Google will help you play games easily.

Pick a Number

What do you do when you have to pick a random number? Let Google do it for you! Type “Pick a number from x-x” into the search bar and press enter. You can make the first and last numbers anything you want.

Zerg Rush

If you type 'Zerg Rush' into the search bar and click “Google Search” a playable game with small O characters will appear and start destroying all your search results if they are not clicked with the mouse pointer. Get clicking and save your search!

Atari Breakout

Type 'Atari Breakout' into Google Images and you'll get the classic Atari arcade game to play. Be careful, you may be stuck playing for a while and forget what you came to Google fo in the first place!.

Google Pacman

Google also lets you play the 1980s arcade game Pac-Man. Just type 'Google Pacman' in the search box and get ready to chop some pellets. Watch out for those pesky multi-colored ghosts around the Google logo.

Offline Dinosaur Game

If you lose your internet connection you won’t get bored. Google gives you an awesome endless Dinosaur Game on Chrome to play until network is back!

For this in a Document, click Here!

Common Sense Education: Digital Passport

Online safety is something we all need to consider. Teaching our students to be safe, what to share, how to cite, and how to interact online is incredibly important. There are many websites and tools to help teach students about online safety, but none are as easy as Common Sense Education's Digital Passport. Here are steps to get started!

Create Your Digital Passport Teacher Account:

1. Go to www.DigitalPassport.org in your browser.
2. Click on “Register”. (skip to next part if you have an account)
3. Fill in the required information to create your account.

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Create Groups (Classes) in Your Teacher Account:

1. Go to www.DigitalPassport.org in your browser.
2. Click on “Educator Login” and sign in with your account email and password.

3. Click the “+” tab to create a new class.

4. Type in the group name and select the grade level, then click “Create Group”.

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Add Students to Your Classes:

1. Go to www.DigitalPassport.org in your browser and sign in.
2. Click on the class tab that you created.
3. Click on “Manage Group”.
4. If you are entering 1 student at a time, click on “Add New Student”. If you are uploading your entire class, click on “Import Names From A File”.

5. Click HERE to get a template to create student accounts. Edit in your students’ names and Google Account info. Click “File”, then “Download As” and choose “CSV”.

6. Click “Choose File” and then “OK” to upload your CSV.

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Preview Activities and Have Students Begin Activities:

1. Click on “Overview”.
2. Click on “Preview Games”.

3. This is a list of all the activities the students will do when they log in. I only let them do what we have talked about in class (they can’t progress ahead), but that is up to you.

4. You could do these lessons many ways, but here are my suggestions:

• Easy: Let the students progress at their own pace knowing that they have to complete all activities on their own.
• Medium: Do one activity each session where the students do the activity at their own pace. Early finishers can replay any completed activity, but not go ahead.
• Best: Discuss the concept with the whole class. Introduce the game and have the students do the activity at their own pace. Early finishers can replay any completed activity, but not go ahead. Review what was learned after everyone has finished.

5. Students need to login on the “Student Login” tab with the accounts you created.

6. Once your students are working on the lessons you can see their progress. Click on the “View Reports” tab to view reports and student progress, as well as print certificates.

Want these steps in a Document? Click Here!

Catch the Flipgrid Fever

It is everywhere. You can’t escape it. The “Apocalypse of Student Voice” has taken over the world. Do you have it? Have YOU caught #FlipgridFever? Don’t worry, there is a cure. You must SPREAD THE FEVER! Use the powerful (and FREE) student voice tool Flipgrid in a number of fun and easy ways in your classroom to share your students’ voices with the world.  It is EASY! It is Free! It is FUN! Sign up today and catch the #FlipgridFever!

Get Started!

1. Go to www.flipgrid.com and set up an account.
2. Create a “Grid”. Free accounts get 1 Grid while Classroom “pro” accounts get unlimited Grids. Think of a grid as a bundle of Topics or questions. I am on the free account and it is manageable for me so it is a great place to start without any investment. Choose a name that is easy to share. I named mine “Badiner”.
3. Your Grids will look like the image below:

Start Sharing!

1. Create a Topic. Think of this as a question or concept students will record about.
2. Make sure to adjust settings as you want. Consider privacy, moderation, and student ability to reply to posts from other students (Classroom Accounts Only).
3. Post a topic to your class.
4. Share the Topic Code with your students and watch the magic happen!
5. Once students are done you can “Freeze” the Topic so others will not add to it.
6. These will be listed in your Grid like below:

Need Help? Check out these resources: resources.flipgrid.com/

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Classroom Uses for Flipgrid!

• Genius Hour Presentations: Students share their projects with others on a shared Topic or have individual topics to show progress
• Verbal steps on solving Math problems: Students can dictate (and show with video) step by step procedures on how to solve math problems
• Goal Setting Progress Diary: Students can have their own Topic to share progress toward a goal
• Daily Classroom “What we did today”: Classrooms can keep parents up to date with a daily log of what was done in class
• Introduce next year’s class: Have your current class introduce the incoming students to procedures, projects, and how COOL your classroom is going to be for them!
• Staff Grid: Introduce parents (and the world community) to the staff in your building through short clips
• Discussion Board: Post a question and let students debate/discuss the topic in their own way
• Project/Unit reflection: Students can post and reflect on a long-term project to deepen their understanding
• Book Talk: Students can post chapter reviews or understanding during a novel study to discuss the text
• Exit Tickets: Get some fun and quick feedback on a covered topic when students are leaving
• Daily News Report: Post the morning or daily announcements or news in a way that is archived for others to come back to easily
• Biography Reports: Create a Topic that allows students to post a video of their impersonating a famous person
• Book Reviews: Have a Topic full of AWESOME book reviews for students to watch to help them choose a new book to read
• Field Trip Comments: Did you go on a fun field trip? Have students give feedback
• Classroom Announcements: Post classroom announcements in ways that both parents and students will enjoy hearing
• New Class Introductions (Get to Know): Have your new students introduce themselves to each other in a Topic
• PE Skills: Students can show the correct way to do physical activities such as warm-ups, sports moves, or others
• Music samples (student playing): Your Music class students can demo their awesome Recorder skills (save all those squeals for Flipgrid)
• Art critiques (student grid or all students on 1): Students can explain their artwork (saved as response image) or help provide feedback to other’s creations

Need More Ideas? Check Out More Here: flipgrid.com/certified

Catch the #FlipgridFever, start creating, and have FUN!

Have An Awesome Use of Flipgrid? Add it HERE!

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Mystery Doug

Transitions and breaks can "make or break" any classroom, especially an elementary classroom. They can set the stage for your whole day. These moments of movement and change can be smooth purposeful, or chaotic and crazy. Sometimes, you just need a break. There are all kinds of great tools out there to allow teachers a moment of sanity. One that I just ran across is Mystery Doug. This is a great thinker break that will allow students to discuss, think, and question an idea in a fun way!

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Need a quick 5-minute filler activity? Here is a great way to get kiddos thinking, questioning, and discussing.

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Sign up for "Mystery Doug". He posts weekly 5-minute video question with prompts to spark classroom discussion. All for FREE!

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You can even submit questions he will answer on the next video.

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...or have your class vote for what the next week's video will be about!

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Sign up and give it a try. What do you have to lose? Your kiddos will love it!

https://mysterydoug.com

Leave feedback in the comments on how your students feel about the Mystery Doug videos.