Elementary Tech Resources

🎥Screencastify🎥

• Add Extension here

• Login with your Google Account and go through the steps to activate.

• Record a test video--welcome students and parents to your digital classroom, perhaps?

• These are automatically saved in Google Drive and can easily be added to Classroom or Google Slides. 

• To record your face, make sure to do this on a Chromebook. To record your screen and talk over it using your voice, you can do this on a Chromebook OR your desktop computer.

• How to Embed in a Google Slide:

  • From a blank slide, click “Insert” and choose “Video.”

  • Click “From Google Drive” and the video will be right at the top if you recently recorded it.

👨‍🏫Google Classroom👩‍💻

Go to classroom.google.com.

1. Archive old classes by choosing the three vertical dots, and clicking “Archive.” This freezes old classrooms, but allows for the content you posted in them to still be used later in your new classrooms should you choose to do so.

2. You can now make a copy of old classes! This will:

   • Copy all of your “Topics” under the Classwork tab.

   • Bring in all of your posts from the previous year’s class as drafts.

   • FYI: Nothing will copy that was posted in the main class Stream. 

3. You can also choose to start fresh by clicking the plus sign and creating your classes from scratch. You still have the ability to “reuse posts.”

4. To invite your students: 

   • Click the “People” tab at the top. Scroll to students, and click the person icon. Type each students last name, and then select the full account that pops up. Do this for each student, and then click “Invite.” 

   • They will still need to join the class once they use the Chromebooks in your room for the first time. They would do this by clicking the chalkboard icon from their portal page, and then clicking the blue “Join” button. 

📝Suggested Google Classroom Use Outline☑️

• Workshop Week-First Week of School

  • Create Google Classroom and Invite Students 

    • Click people tab, and person icon next to students. 

    • When you start typing names, they will pop up. You can type all names before choosing “Invite.”

  • Post a Welcome Video or Message

    • You can do this with Screencastify or just type something to let parents know how you plan to use Google Classroom this year. You want something to be inside your Google Classroom when parents login to their child’s account for the first time.

• Second Week of School

  • Student login information sheet should go home with families in take-home folder. 

    • This sheet allows families to login to their student’s Google account. 

    • Let them know that this information can be used at any time, but will be helpful for accessing lessons on an eLearning day, should we have one.

  • K-1 Teachers may choose to go over Parts of a Chromebook lesson with students and set expectations for in-class use as you approach your first Chromebook time.

• At Least Once Per Week

  • Get your students to login to the Chromebook. 

    • The first few times take the most time, but they will learn and it will go faster as they gain familiarity.

  • Introduce them to a variety of tasks in Google Classroom including but not limited to:

    • Visit a link and complete a task (Raz kids, teach your monster to read, tumblebooks, etc.)

    • Drag and Drop in Google Slides or Drawings (Sight Words Kinder example)

    • Type in the box in Google Slides or Drawings (Intro to Chromebook example)

    • Watch a video of the teacher (record something for them to view using Screencastify.)

    • Watch a video from another source.

  • If you plan to ask them to complete a task that is found in your grade level’s first eLearning day slides, make sure they have seen it before they’re asked to do it at home without you.

• At Least Once Per Month

  • Post a message geared towards parents in Google Classroom. Promote it in your newsletter and remind them to be logging into their student’s Google account ALONGSIDE them to see the amazing work they are doing! Feel free to mention specific things you are working on. The more your parents are comfortable logging in with their students, the more smoothly a change in learning model will go!

Looking for more inspiration? Try a slide from one of the eLearning day slide examples, or check out more ideas in the slide decks here:

• Khromebooks in Kindergarten

• Getting Googley in Primary

• Chromebooks in First Grade? Of Course!

• Christine Pinto’s Google Templates for K-2 Students

😀For Fun and Relationship-Building...

• Bitmoji Google Chrome Extension: This lets you access your Bitmoji in email and from your extension toolbar. Teachers and admins often use bitmoji in docs, slides, Google Classroom and more! Feel free to try it by installing the extension here. 

• Emojipedia: You can add emojis to your Google Classroom topics and assignments to aid in visual organization! Search the emojipedia library from the website, or use your on-screen keyboard to insert them.