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Google Docs/Drive Templates - Google Docs/Drive
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Find specialized templates for teachers and students by clicking that category in the left sidebar. You can find templates for all sorts of "real world" tasks in the broader collection, including authentic writing tasks such as press releases, project proposals, and resumes. Upload commonly used classroom documents and share with students to retrieve at home. Search for templates for outlines, rubrics for reports, or guidelines for classroom projects. Share this site with students to use for their own projects. Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Google Doodles - Google
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
This amazing collection of Doodles can be used to spark thinking in a variety of classes. Use the Doodles to teach a little history. View the resources about the event, person, or country that inspired the Doodle. Encourage thinking with your gifted kids by sharing the whole gallery for exploration or a specific Doodle. Use these Doodles to spark a new project idea or challenge kids to create a simple "doodle" as a new way to report on a historic figure or a content idea. Think your students will be intimidated making a computer Doodle? Consider creating a Doodle using any computer art software or simply creating one on paper. Use these ideas in Science to show the scientific inventions or concepts. In social studies, use Doodles to showcase specific events here and around the World. When looking at perspectives of people around the world, create doodles that can show more than one point of view. Write paragraphs or stories based on Google Doodles. Use Google Doodles in STEM initiatives at your school. Don't forget Art or Gifted programs! Get your students excited about the making of the Doodles and what code writing can do! Use tools such as Scratch, reviewed here, or Tynker, reviewed here, to practice coding.Comments
Nice to have past "Google Doodles" in one website to go back and look at.David, AK, Grades: 9 - 12
Great ideas for short, informative paragraphs to practice this type of writing. Let kids find a google idea for a day, for their particular world/setting/priorities...FUN! Archives are instructive.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12
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Google Drawings - Google
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Take advantage of this easy to use tool for a variety of classroom uses. Upload images and use the text tool to add digital annotations. Ask students to add digital annotations to images, for example, different landforms or to share as an assessment. Use the shape tool to create quick and easy timelines. This is perfect for use as a quick activity on your interactive whiteboard (or with a projector) to help students understand the sequence of a story or a timeline of historic events. Create graphic organizers and mind maps easily by using the shapes tools, drawing lines, and adding text with links to additional information. When working on group projects, suggest students collaborate together to create and annotate images to include with a final multimedia presentation. Use Google Drawings to easily create infographics to share information on any topic.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Earth - Google
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use tutorials from this site to learn more, or try some Google Earth files from TeachersFirst's Globetracker's Mission to get a taste of what the program can do. Get started by exploring the different LAYERS available in the left side and searching a location you know. Locate and try the tools to drag, tilt, zoom, and even measure distance. Extensive user forums are available through the help menus.Placemarker files created by you "live" on the computer where you make or save them and are not shared on the web. Note that your computer will ask whether you wish to save your "temporary places" (any places you have marked during a session) each time you close Google Earth. If many students use that computer, you may find you have a disorganized mess of saved places. Be sure to direct students to either name their saved places logically and file them into folders or NOT to save them to My Places! Students and teachers can create placemarker (.kmz or .kml) files and share them as email attachments, files on a USB "stick," or any other means you would use to share a file, just like a Word document.
Another practical tip: if students are using Google Earth on several machines at the same time, you may put a heavy load on your school network. Plan accordingly, perhaps having groups alternate their Google Earth time if it becomes sluggish.
Use Google Earth to teach geography or simply give location context to class readings or current events, especially on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Ex. you can tilt to show the peaks scaled by Lewis and Clark or volcanoes that rise in the Aleutians. Have students show the locations of historic events or literary settings and create placemarkers with links to learn more. Placemarker text is editable by going to the placemarker's "properties" or "info," so students can enter the text description, place title, and any inks they want to include, such as a link to a certain passage of text, an image of a character, or news image/article for a current events map. Students who know html code can get even more sophisticated in what they include in placemarkers. Have students/groups create and play a "tour" of critical locations for global warming, a comparison of volcanoes, or a family history of immigration. Navigate the important locations in a work of literature using Google Lit Trips or search the web for placemarker files connected to civil war battles, natural resources, and more. Turn layers on and off to look at population centers and transportation systems. Teach the concept of scale/proportion using a tactile experience on an interactive whiteboard and the scale and measurement tools. See more ideas at the teacher-created Google Earth 101 wiki reviewed here. Even if you do not venture into creating your own placemarker files, there are many already made and available for use by teachers and students. TeachersFirst's Globetracker's Mission includes a weekly file to follow the Mission.
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Google Earth - Tech hints - Louise Maine
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use this resource to learn about and become acquainted with Google Earth. Google Earth is a free application download.Find some great resources and project ideas on this technology hints site. Be sure to check the Google Earth review here for other great ideas. Take your students around the world using the fabulous tool. Create narrated tours for students (or have students create their own). The possibilities are immense with Google Earth.
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Google Earth in the Classroom - Joe Wood
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Make this site part of your personal professional development or pair up with a teaching buddy to learn more about Google Earth (GE) and plan activities for your classrooms. Share the link with your students, as well, so your class can become GE experts together. Even if your access to GE is limited to a single class computer, work together with a small team of student "GEniuses" to prepare class placemarker files, then have the team teach other students, as well. If your school has personal professional development plans or allows teacher to suggest topics for professional workshops, include this link, along with other GE resources from TeachersFirst, as your inservice day agenda.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Family Safety Center - Google
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use the resources from the site to show students how to safely search the internet. Post the link on your class website for parents to access from home. In addition, set up a safe search engine for students to use when doing research.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google for Education - Google
Grades
K to 12This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
Even those familiar with the Google tools will find information and uses they did not know about. Consider posting a link to your class web page for students to access. Your students are also valuable resources. Be sure to point out students who are able to use tools in unique ways that other students can learn from.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Forms - Google
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Take advantage of the flexibility of Google Forms to create surveys for parents and students at the beginning of the year to learn about student interests, create parent volunteer lists, and much more. Create sign in and sign out sheets for classroom library materials including books and digital equipment. Use Google Forms to set up and collaborate on lesson plans, include check boxes to standards, materials needed, and covered content. Google Forms is perfect to use for assessment purposes - create online quizzes and exit tickets. Have students use Google Forms to prepare and submit reading logs, brainstorm and collaborate with fellow students, create choose your own adventure stories, or schedule reading and writing conference times. Use Google Forms to set up and share rubrics for any project, have students complete the rubric and turn in with any completed assignment. The uses for Google Forms are as unlimited as your imagination; this is a must-have tool for all classrooms!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Help - Google Support
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark this site on classroom computers for easy reference when working with Google products. Have students create their own support videos using a tool like Powtoon, reviewed here, or Clipchamp, reviewed here, for any technology issues that arise in your classroom. Remember, you can take screenshots (Printscrn button on Windows or Command+Shift+4 on Mac), and include those in a video. You will need to convert the screenshot to a JPG. This can be done easily and quickly using CloudConvert, reviewed here. Share the students created videos using a tool such as SchoolTube, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Jamboard - Google
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Use Jamboard on your interactive whiteboard (or with a projector) to share and highlight information for students. When finished, save and share as images for students to access in Google Classroom or on your class website. Enable the collaboration options for students to use when planning projects or as a tool for recording and sharing information. For example, ask groups working together on a science experiment to use this tool to share images and annotations throughout the experiment. Save Jamboard slides as images in digital portfolios. Seesaw, reviewed here, and Pathbrite, reviewed here, provide free online portfolio features for students at all age levels.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Keep - Google, Inc.
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Take pictures of things to do, buy, or finish. Create checklists of steps in a project. Place all of your notes in one place so you do not forget. Use this tool easily in your Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) classroom since all students will be able to access it for free, no matter what device they have. They could "keep" assignment information, reminders, and more. Consider creating a class account that can be used by all students. Spell out the use of the site and what is allowed and not allowed -- and the penalties. Even though all students have the same login, create different notebooks for different tasks that students can use to upload information to be shared by all. Create separate accounts for student groups who can then share their notebook with other groups. Use Keep to snapshot and share links, documents, files, and pictures for any group project or class work. Whole class accounts can be used by a class scribe during class and accessed from home for review, by absentees, etc.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Lens - Google
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Include Google Lens in your teacher toolbox for many uses by you and your students. Use this tool to identify plants and leaves near your school during science lessons, quickly translate information for multilingual learners using images, or identify unknown places or items in pictures. Google Lens suggests similar images; use this information to expand and find pictures to include with student projects. Ask older students to search for news articles from different countries and then translate the information to compare with articles from their local news organizations. Use Lens for scavenger hunts or quizzes, where students must identify objects or translate text in real-time, promoting engagement and making learning more interactive. Add images for your scavenger hunts to Quizizz, reviewed here or create an interactive hunt with GooseChase Edu, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Lit Trips - Google Earth
Grades
3 to 12"Lit trips" can be reviewed by users so teachers can see comments left by other users. This site uses Google Earth which must be downloaded first. Find full info on Google Earth in the TeachersFirst review, including the link to download.
In the Classroom
Each "lit trip" is extensively annotated and linked to further content, making this an incredibly rich resource for teachers to use in conjunction with teaching works of literature. Students can see graphically the travels of such characters as the Joads in The Grapes of Wrath , or Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey . Using these lit trips on an interactive whiteboard or projector will greatly enhance a class study of the associated work of literature. Alternatively, students might be encouraged to explore these lit trips independently, at home, or in a computer lab, so they can follow links that are of particular individual interest. As a really ambitious project, make it a class task to create a lit trip for a work of literature you are studying, assigning student groups to choose locations and create the placemarkers, then submit it to the Lit Trips site.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Maps - Google
Grades
1 to 12In the Classroom
If you teach geography, this one's a must. It is also helpful for showing students WHERE a story or news event takes place. In lower grades, use it to show students basics of their community. Teach map skills by showing students their own community. Zoom in on their street or on the school. This site and its more sophisticated cousin, Google Earth, are great on an interactive whiteboard. Set up a class Google account (or use student accounts if permitted). Have students create their own custom route plans to tour historic sites. Challenge math students to plan the most economical route to visit several vacation destinations, including gas mileage and gas prices. Have students create placemarker files of the important places in the life of a famous person or the route traveled by a particular unit during the Civil War. Have student groups create placemarker files to show environmental sites, habitats, landforms, or anything you can place on a map. Embed projects in a class wiki using the handy embed code offered as a sharing option. Not comfortable with wikis? Check out TeachersFirst Wiki Walk-Through.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Maps Treks - Google
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
If you teach geography, this one is a must. It is also helpful for showing students WHERE a story or news event takes place. View these different places whether your content includes history, geography, literature, science, languages, and more. View places discussed in class, or in stories. Look at different cultural areas or environments in the world. Choose a trek as an inspiration for further research about the area, the inspiration for a student created poem or short story, artistic work, and many other projects. Encourage student groups to choose one of the places on this site to present to the class, highlighting various economic, recreational, historical, and cultural factors at each place. You may want students to use a tool such as Knoema, reviewed here, or Data - The World Bank, reviewed here, to make sure students get accurate information. Use this as a class "Where I visited in Google Maps" project! As students ask questions about the various places, encourage discovery in finding the answers together.Comments
Can't wait to use this after the Lit Trip session.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12
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Google Moon - Google
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Google Moon is a great way to show what we understand about the moon even though it has been decades since the last moon missions. Even younger students can share the experience on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Discussions of changing technologies and advancements in space missions can easily occur following viewing of the missions. Students can create a time line using conventional or multimedia resources to show the different Apollo missions. Google Moon can be used in history classes as well as literature classes by creating or reading poems and stories about the Moon. Students can generate art and writing to showcase information learned.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google My Maps - Google
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Share Google My Maps on an interactive whiteboard or projector to create virtual trips for many situations. Create a trip to biomes around the world, visit places mentioned within books, map out battlefield locations for different wars, or find and save different kinds of landforms on your map. The possibilities are as endless as your imagination. Embed completed maps onto your class webpage or blog for students to view when reviewing for tests or quizzes. Have older students complete their own Google My Map project to create their own virtual field trips. This site is perfect to use in conjunction with TeachersFirst Reading Treks, to follow the adventures of characters in the featured stories. Not ready to create your own maps? Use the explore feature on the site to find many examples of maps made by others.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google News Archive Search - Google
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
This site provides helpful information on effective browser searches for any social studies, history, or English class. Create a bookmark for news.google.com on classroom computers so that students can quickly access web news content from 2003. Include this site and other effective and safe web browsing tutorials by creating a Wakelet collection, reviewed here. Include items in your collection such as tutorials, shortcut tips, and how to use exact terms for searches.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Photos - Google
Grades
K to 12In the Classroom
Create a classroom Google account for students to upload video projects or images for projects. Share raw materials for student multimedia projects, such as photos of lab experiments or local historic sites. Share classroom projects privately and easily from your Google account. In elementary classrooms, teachers can use this tool to share photos from field trips, assemblies, project presentations, and other special events. Share the password with parents only. Have older students create their own Google account for collaborating on multimedia projects.Comments
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