🎁 Our tech present to you! Tech tools and updates - Workbench, Killer iPhone tip, PowerSchool login without passwords, animated GIFs, and more!

Norris School District now has Workbench!

Build, find, customize, and share standards-aligned lessons for your classroom- all for free (forever!). Check out the help doc to get you started. <--- WOW this is a great new tool!

Easy Student (and teacher) Login to PowerSchool - Using Clever - No passwords required -only Google! 

If your students do not know this... It's the easiest way to get to PowerSchool and many other applications! -Check out the simple directions here. 

Misc Tech tools and tips:

Learn how to use your bitmoji to create feedback notes in Canva that can then be added to 

Google Keep. -Nice short 2 minute video. 

Surf to http://brush.ninja . Draw a series of frames and export as an animated GIF. This is pretty cool! Check out what others are doing in their gallery/examples: https://brush.ninja/animations 

Make your own Emoji online with this simple tool: http://phlntn.com/emojibuilder/ 

20 Google Slides activities to add awesome to classes 

Wow, there are some great ideas and templates in this article!   I love the Icon boards to get kids started right away. The Google Slides sticky notes template/idea is pretty cool.  Check them out!  Great stuff from Ditch tat Textook! 

Google Calendar SMS (Text message) notifications to be removed January 7, 2019 (This one hurts- I loved this feature!) 

Posted: 19 Nov 2018 08:25 AM PST - Starting on January 7, 2019, SMS notifications from Google Calendar will no longer be available. Since Calendar offers in-app notifications, you can still get notified, regardless of your device or connection.  If you had previously been receiving Calendar notifications via SMS, they’ll be replaced with in-app and email notifications.  More info here.

This Little-Known iPhone Space Bar Hack Has Everyone Losing Their Minds.  

(I think it takes IOS12 to work.)  Here is a quick 45-second video demo of the feature.  

Google Photos adds depth control, color pop to iOS app

It works on all Portrait Mode photos and doesn't require an iPhone XS or XR.

I like the portrait mode, but you need a new iPhone to do it.  This addition to Google Photos makes it simple to do on all of your photos.  More info here. 

Free Meme Maker for Classrooms from Filmora 

Why would you want to use memes in the classroom? - Find out why and how here. 

Why Your Student eBooks Need a Spark Video 

Spark Video + Book Creator = Favorite App Smash - Find out more here! 

Some great resources from National Geographic! 

Thanks to Natasha Gault for sharing these! She just completed her National Geographic Educator Certification. (By the way... congrats!)  Throughout the experience, she had the opportunity to use some really amazing resources that she shared with our MS staff. If you would like to talk about how to use any of these resources, she would love to help/share.  There are some really great projects!

https://mapmaker.nationalgeographic.org/

National Geographic's interactive mapmaker overlay maker.  

https://www.nationalgeographic.org/education/mapping/nat-geo-mapmaker-kits/

Download, print, and assemble national geographic maps for your classroom.

https://tourbuilder.withgoogle.com/

Take a premade tour that connects to student learning or you can create your own.  

Host Hangouts Meet meetings with up to 50 participants with our Norris Education Edition. 

New info from Google released - November 29, 2018

Located here: https://meet.google.com

Meeting with teammates, clients, or customers around the globe is critical to getting your job done. For those times when you need to meet with a larger group, Hangouts Meet now allows G Suite Enterprise users to organize meetings with up to 100 participants and G Suite Business and education users to host up to 50 participants. This participant count includes people from both inside and outside of your organization. 

 

This new extended participant limit supports people joining from any mixture of video and dial-in entry points so you can flexibly bring together even more people from all over the world. It is now fully rolled out across all domains.

Erskine's Notes:  Note, Google is transitioning their "Hangouts" for video to the product called "Hangouts Meet".  When you visit the old Hangouts site - https://hangouts.google.com/ and click on video it takes you to the https://meet.google.com site. 

💥 Free kids movie, Great new Sketup program, tech tools and more in this week's Tech tools email

Web & Tech tools:

22 Must-Have Reading Apps for Kids of All Ages

3 Reading Resources for Your Classroom 

Make your own data GIFs with Google's new tool - Simple... and a picture does say a 1000 words! 

Play.Google.com is offering A Stork's Journey (Digital HD Movie) for Free.

Click here to check it out. 

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Google Hangouts

Have you enabled the Google Hangout's tool? If not... it's really handy for chatting. My how-to doc will get you started. 

Google Slides:

Top 10 ways to use G Suite to Give effective presentations. Via the GSuite Learning Center. 

We have added Google Sketchup to our Google Apps Domain.  A great drawing/3D modeling tool.

Have your Google Gsuite administrator add this to your domain. 

Great online drawing tool to use with students! This one is online... so it works on Chromebooks too! (You can even download the SketchUp and use in the desktop program too. We have the full desktop program available for use too.) 

​

Announcing Sketchup for Schools - More info here. 

Oh... it’s free!!

Free apps, great web tools, and some amazing new tools added to Google Apps - All in this weeks list!

Websites and web 2.0 tools:

Want to add some fun and zip to some elementary coloring pages? This site, is pretty cool.  If you have never seen any augmented reality... it's worth a look, even if you teach the older grades. 

Autodesk's Design Software is Now Free for Students and Teachers ow.ly/Fo6we 

Something for your website.... 50 Interactive Activities to Embed Into Elementary School Blogs ow.ly/Fjkzm

Did you know that Google has lesson plans to help you with improve your student's searching skills? 

Top 10 Cool Tools for 2014 - This is a great list!!! Many of these have made my postings this past year too... but there are a few new gems in this list. 

5 Web-based Audio Recording and Editing Tools Compared - Chart

Map this way—Google My Maps now in Drive Starting today (12-10-14), you can access My Maps right from Google Drive, so it’s even easier to create, access and share your custom maps.

IOS (iPhone/iPad) Apps:

6 awesome paid iPhone apps you can get for free right now (Save $22!) I like the AirScanner App! (Air Scanner: Wireless Remote HD Document Camera and Overhead Projector Replacement)

Google Apps

New feature just added to Sheets!  - Use Sparklines For Quick & Easy Data Analysis (Short 2 minute video)

The Sparkline function creates a miniature chart inside a single Google Sheet cell. You’ve been able to use the Sparkline function for a long time now, but Google recently added two new types of sparklines – columns and winloss.

Slide numbers in Google Slides

The following tips come from the Gooru. CHekc out their website and subscribe to their newsletter for some great updates! 

 You Can Finally Merge Table Cells in Google Docs

It was a highly requested feature and now you can finally merge table cells in Google Docs. This is definitely a big time saver and offers some much-needed flexibility when working with tables in Google Docs. Check out today's post to learn more!

 Advanced Image Editing For Google Docs

Another update made it's way to Google Docs yesterday, giving you the ability to adjust the color and add filters to images in Google Docs. The video above shows the process in Google Slides, but you can take the same steps inside Docs!

 Prevent Files From Being Downloaded In Google Drive

Sometimes sharing files in Google Drive can make people worried because they feel like they don’t have true control of the data. While that is no more true than attaching files to emails, we’ve put together a helpful trick to keep shared files from being downloaded from Google Drive

How To Add Subtitles To Videos In Google Drive (This is pretty cool!)

Subtitles can sometimes be expensive, or take some technical expertise, to add to your videos. There's actually a really easy way to add subtitles to videos directly inside of Google Drive...anyone can do it!

Find out about all of the new features coming out in google by subscribing to this alerts email!

A new Devices and Activity dashboard gives you additional insight over the devices accessing your Google account. The page shows a comprehensive view of all devices that have been active on an account in the last 28 days, or are currently signed in. And in case any suspicious activity is noticed, there’s a setting to immediately take steps to secure an account and change a password.

Better collaboration in Hangouts video calls Posted: 19 Nov 2014 10:52 AM PST To make it easier to collaborate during Hangouts video calls, we’ve enabled the sharing of links to any Drive file directly from the chat window. Shared links will show a preview of the file right in the chat message, even when other participants don’t have their chat window open. Clicking on the link will open the file in a different browser tab so you can conveniently work on it in full view. To share a link from Drive during a Hangouts video call, click on the Chat icon and then click the Google Drive picker icon from within the chat window. Note: this feature will replace the Google Drive Hangouts app, which will no longer be available as of December 15th, 201 How To Get More Out Of Google, Four Steps To Creating A Killer User Experience -- on Visually. This is a nice infographic to share with students too! Merge Table Cells and Edit Images In Google Docs - 7 Minute YouTube tutorial by an educator for teachers and students.

Google Classroom:

Now you can attach multiple Drive files to an assignment in #GoogleClassroom.

Teachers- now you can always see revision history for assignments in GoogleClassroom, even before they’re turned in: goo.gl/o0yiWB

Chrome:

Awesome Chrome Features You Probably Aren’t Using

This weeks list of great tech tools, sites and tips... and is Facebook dying with the teen population?

Staying up with our teens:

Think Facebook is the "Hot Social Network" for the teens... think again via @pcworld -Checkout the research here. Are we keeping up with these kids...

Speaking of that...

Meet kids at their own level... Text messages!  Videos to Help You Get Started sending text message reminders through Remind (101)  They have also launched a Chrome App for communicating with students and their parents.

Websites, tools and tips:

PBS LearningMedia is a completely free service that brings over 87,000 trusted digital educational videos, podcasts, maps and more to preK–12 classrooms. See this PBS LearningMedia Teacher Review for more info. 

Sources of Free Sound Effects and Music for Multimedia Projects.

Awesome place to find images is Pixabay. All images are public domain--no copyright issues! pixabay.com

How to Use AudioBoom to Create Short Audio Recordings

Free Technology for Teachers: 20 Good Map Creation Tools for Students

Google apps and tools:

12 Google Apps Updates You Might Have Missed During September - from TheGoogleGooru (@TheGoogleGooru)

Chromebook 101: Getting More Productivity Out Of Your Chromebook - A 12 minute YouTube

How to Insert Special Characters Into Google Documents

How to Adjust Colors and Add Filters to Images in Google Slides - http://goo.gl/XemQxs  Here is a short 2 minute video on "How-To" 

From SAT prep to virtual road trips, expand your classroom with Google Hangouts via @Edudemic:goo.gl/kgC7dm

Google Apps Update | Spell Check in Google Sheets http://goo.gl/ltSWRm

Google News & Weather app is now available in the App Store. Check it out →http://goo.gl/VkvLLj

Practical Ed Tech Tip of the Week – Some great video tutorials from Richard Bryne:

One playlist is just about Google Tips and Tricks. The other playlist contains how-to videos for his favorite non-Google apps and websites. 

These are some awesome YouTube Playlists:

• 33 Ed Tech Tools Demonstrated in One YouTube Playlist <--Checkout this great video list.
• Google Tools and Tips <--Checkout this great video list.

Tricks: Search Google Drive - Filtering your search

There's a new Hangouts desktop app and Polls for Google+ http://goo.gl/c2jJMY

Close that browser and chat right from your desktop with the new Hangouts Chrome app → http://goo.gl/DYWUfx  <--this one is pretty cool, just installed it tonight. (Call any phone in the world for free too!)

I have mentioned this one in the past... but worth another look if you are not using it. Take a look at the Kaizena for Google Docs Add-on. Great way to give verbal feedback on a Doc! -Short 5 minute video here.

Coming to our Google Apps EDU domain soon... unlimited Google Drive Space!  Be ready to upload all of your videos... and we will soon be saying good by to the V drive (local storage) here at Norris. 

A few great resources from our very own Media specialist - Megan Huenemann, (These were previously sent out the HS staff.) 

Coding

If you want to have your students learn how to code, or want to practice the skill yourself use codeacademy.comIf you want to have your students learn how to code, or want to practice the skill yourself use codeacademy.com.  Or download the codeacademy app. This is a great free resource to help learn a basic understanding of what coding is and what it looks like. 

3-D Printing

tinkercad.comtinkercad.com - A CAD software program where you can design items for 3-D printing or laser cutting. 

Cookiecaster.com

Draw up whatever shape you want and cookiecaster will transform it into a cookie cutter that can be exported as a 3-D printer file, the site also suggests other sites where you can get your download designed printed and shipped to you. 

Hands on 3D

Zspace- allows for immersive virtual technology. Pricey right now, but this is going to be an amazing tool in the future! See the video on their website about how this technology works. ZSpace.  Here is the 30 second video on YouTube <--- You have to watch this, Amazing!

Apps

Too noisy is an app designed to help students recognize appropriate volume levels for conversations. It can measure volume in a room and display a meter that shows if it is too loud. May be good to use with group work.  Too Noisy Free Ap in a room and display a meter that shows if it is too loud. May be good to use with group work.  Too Noisy Free App.

Some free apps, free PowToons accounts, awesome web resources and more! Here is the list for this week.

Web sites and tools:

Awesome project - Smartphone as a microscope-this project could bring science to the masses http://goo.gl/0z7Hqe I hope this comes to market soon!

Google's Photo Sphere Camera App (Free) for IOS allows you to make your own 360 degree photos and post them on Google Maps. PhotoSphere Home page is here, and You can browse photo spheres on the Views community. More info on making them with your Android or DSLR camera's can be found here. 

10 Word Cloud Generators to try  -Wordle is awesome, but some of these other ones have some great features too. 

20 Great Websites For Elementary Educators - Via Edudemic

Once again!!! - Powtoon is giving away $5 million worth of free accounts to educators. You can sign up for your free educator account at http://www.powtoon.com/lp/toonup/ <---REGISTER NOW!  (Promo code: ToonUp5M)

If you have not tried Canva -- You need to give it a try!  It may be the best and simplest design program out there.  It's online and free... two of my favorite words. :) 

Online photo editing:

Online Photo Editing for staff and students - My quick tutorial and reference sheet. <---Just made this tutorial/info sheet- Check it out!

Google Apps:

How to add a file to multiple folders in Google Drive:

One of our favorite tricks in Google Drive is the ability to add a file to multiple folders. This 1 1/2 minute video will walk you through the process with both the new and old Google Drive. 

5 Time-Saving Ways Teachers Can Use Google Forms.

Lucid Charts and Lucid Press - Upload your own fonts!  Including DJ Inkers - and more. This how-to doc should help.  KUDOs out to the Elementary for using Lucid Press for their newsletter!  If you have not seen it yet, check it out here 

How to enhance your class with Google Hangouts 

5 Tips to get Organized with Google Calendars5 Tips to get Organized with Google Calendars - Edudemic - (Personally, I think every Gr 3-12 teacher should be doing tip 1!) 

Chrome apps, extensions & tips:

Video Downloader professional - A great extension for downloading videos, works about everywhere, except YouTube.

Google sheet tip:

For vertical text in a Google Sheet, you can insert text as word art and rotate it 90 degrees. 

  Insert--> Drawing

  Click the T (text box)

  Type the text and adjust font

  Rotate the text box with the top handle

  Click Save and Close

  Move the text box to the right place on the sheet

10 best Chrome apps for students 

Snagit for Google Chrome is free; you can download the capture extension here and the editing app here (you will want both of them). Note - These are featured below in the Googel Classroom section. 

The Ultimate Chrome Sync Hacks For Swapping Between Desktops -Includes one of my favorites - LastPass For Swapping Between Desktops -Includes one of my favorites - LastPass. 

Google Classroom:

Mickie Mueller's livebinder of resources, now includes GGoogleClassroom resources. 

Make assignments more engaging when you use Snagit to attach images in GoogleClassroom. Features a nice Chrome App and Extention. 

YouTube:

New ViewPure for Distraction-free Viewing of YouTube Videos  ViewPure- Home Page 

IOS apps:

10 Powerful iPad Apps For English And History 

Plickers – A Great Feedback Tool for the One iPad Classroom 

NumberStax for iOS is a new math game from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt that is free as of 8/27; normally $1.99 - http://goo.gl/KNngSX

GET $49 WORTH OF PAID APPS FOR FREE: 8 more awesome paid iPhone apps you can download free right now.

Google Slides is now out for the iPad! 

Use a tablet to teach handwriting in the elementary classroom:

Kids Handwriting HWT: Teaching with Google Play for Education -Short 1 minute YouTube on the classroom uses.   featuring these free Android apps on Google Play. (Kids Handwriting HWT apps)

Some IOS apps that may work for this - since the above video is for Android apps  

• Kids Writing Pad Lite 
• ABC CURSIVE WRITING 
• iCanWrite 

Android Apps:

The 69 must-have Android apps for education

The best Android clipboard apps 

Free web storage, apps, amazing websites and more. -This weeks gems for EDU!

Free Cloud storage, and awesome app, form a top-notch company... BOX: 

Get your 50 gig of free online storage from a top-notch

Want 50GB Free storage? Box gives you just that with Version 3.0 of iOS App ow.ly/sD7py  Their new app is pretty awesome too!   IOS App or Android App  (Tip -- If you do not have an iPad, you could borrow someone's that has the new app installed, and log into your Box Account from that app... and BAM... you get your 50 Gig free.) If you do not have a Box account - Now is the time.

Great educational web sites and tools:

If you aren’t using Edmodo yet, what are you waiting for? Great resource outlining features and why you should be using this resource. 

Augment Reality: Ideas for Teaching in the 1 Tablet Classroom http://bit.ly/1ayZ7EZ

15 places with fun and engaging social studies games http://goo.gl/MrcYHq

Websites to use for each level of Bloom's 

One for the K-8 teachers: Top Ten Websites of 2013 http://goo.gl/jx19If 

Did you know that over 1200 courses are available through MOOCs? Learn more from this handy cheatsheet on MOOCs! goo.gl/Gl7ESH

Make the web tell a story... with Storify  Collect media from across the web... Publish on Storify, embed anywhere... Share and notify sources. 

Digital Citizenship... STOPiT Class.  Some nice resources, and a great idea from Nebraska's GINW and Cozad Schools. 

Great free educational apps:

A simple app to share files from any device - Check out @get_flick getflick.io

Here is the iMums list of free apps for today (1-21-14). Follow them daily, to find some great apps. (You can get a daily email as well.) <--- Sign up! 

Google Chrome:

Shut those noisy tabs up with Chrome's latest update.http://pcwrld.us/1m27td1

And Chromeboook...

Chromebooks in Education - Awesome Resources! Mostly about Chromebook and Chrome, with some Android spice thrown in.

Google tools, tips and more: 

AWESOME update to Google Drive coming... Keep track of changes in Google Drive with new Activity Stream 

Google Improves Image Search Tools Menu via Free Technology for Teachers - http://goo.gl/xw9g7U

GE Teach Version 5 - A Good Resource for Teaching With Google Earth via Free Technology for ... http://goo.gl/yNmo2I

Using Google as a Timer - you can really do this!

Great tip for printing GoogleDocs with comments... Save/view as a html file. The comments are then placed as footnotes

Bring some amazing resources right into your classroom with Google Hangouts. 

How to Use Hangouts in the Classroom - EdTechReview™ 

More about the Google+ Connected classroom, with links to some sample hangouts that have already occurred. 

Google's Connected Classroom website.

Google tools, iPad Apps and cool web resources 9-9-13

Google tools:

5 Gmail and Google Drive Updates you Missed Over the Summer (in animated gifs) http://www.googlegooru.com/5-gmail-and-google-drive-updates-you-missed-over-the-summer/

How To Organize Your Research With The Power Of Google Drive -A nice resource/reference for students! (And teachers too.)  http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-organize-your-research-with-the-power-of-google-drive/

To help summarize and analyze data in Google Spreadsheets, use this - goo.gl/QnbQSi  

A Complete Guide to Using Blogger In School - 81 Page Free PDF ow.ly/obyTJ  (NOTE- Here at Norris, I already have this in our folder of free ebooks on the Q drive.  O:\eBooks -Free\Blogger for the classroom) 

10 advanced tips and tricks for Google Forms - not too hard, but very powerful! ly.tcea.org/yphgn

Google+ Hangout Tip Sheet http://t.co/ZE6N9qKp91  (At Norris, I have filled this Google Doc under our Tech Docs in Drive, as a future reference.) 

Chromebook tip  via @googlechrome: Swipe right on your mouse with two
fingers to go back & swipe left with two fingers to go forward in your
browser history

Web sites and tools: 

Shutterfly Photo Story is a new free app that allows you to make digital photo books with audio from your Shutterfly photos. Many classroom applications and possible uses! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shutterfly-photo-story-for/id659614190?ls=1&mt=8

More Tools for Your Utility Belt from TCEA -These guys are a must follow for teachers on Twitter!

GoSoapBox is a web-based clicker tool  http://www.gosoapbox.com/tour

Sandy Delzell and Sarah Koehlmoos shared thinglink.com with the Intermediate staff a while back. This tool allows you to put notes, directions, even sounds as links on a photo.  (Great for classroom directions, student guides, and more.)  Give it a try!

I have mentioned this one several times, but I think it's an amazing tool for connecting with your classes or student groups via text messaging.  https://www.remind101.com/  (Very safe, since you do not even know the students phone numbers.)  Hopefully you have a Google class calendar for class assignments and activity. If so... remember students can set SMS (Text messaging) reminders for items on that calendar. 

52 Economics / Money - Coin Counting Websites goo.gl/F13yds 

Active Textbook - Turn PDFs Into Multimedia Documents. http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/08/active-textbook-turn-pdfs-into.html

A Collection Of Useful Recently-Published Interactive Maps & Charts http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2013/08/21/a-collection-of-useful-recently-published-interactive-maps-charts/

To help learn more about the 3 Branches of Government play these two games: http://t.co/RtvlfaW8cT    http://t.co/JEGOt0d4GI #sschat #nebedu   (Notice this one came from Twitter!  Are you following the great EDU hash tags for your educational area??????

10 Useful History and Geography Apps http://t.co/z31lQJw9Xb

Embed Voki on Google Site http://blog.voki.com/2012/11/13/tip-of-the-week-embed-voki-on-google-site/ Not sure what a Voki is??? it is a FREE service that lets you Create customized avatars. Here is a YouTube on creating a Voki. 

10 Techy Icebreakers for The 21st Century Teacher ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/04/10-techy-icebreakers-for-21st-century.html

GeoGebra Tablet Apps - Apps for both Android and IOS

Short 5 minute or less videos on a variety of tech topics. Videos by educators with tips, tricks and ideas.  http://eduslam.me/

More great websites!  Cool Web Tools For School http://t.co/MX3YMuKeQz  

Huge list of digital learning tools:  http://t.co/pENmKAdiZK

3D Cad through a Browser? 

Want a nice Simple 3D CAD type of browser based app. Then 3DTin is for you!  http://www.3dtin.com/

Here is their Chrome App. (Pretty much just a link to their website.)

Apps: 

My 2 fave app discoveries at #ADE2013 - - Spreaker DJ and Touchcast -- portable recording studios+!

A Handful of Free iPad Apps for Creating Videos | iPad Apps for School

http://ipadapps4school.com/2013/08/28/a-handful-of-free-ipad-apps-for-creating-videos/  (This is a great list. As of 9-3-13, the Loopster App added some premium features for a fee.)

Word Clouds on the iPad http://appsineducation.blogspot.com/2013/09/word-clouds-on-ipad.html

Discover free apps and find other apps with..... well.... another app of course!  http://appsfire.com/#discovery

5 iPad Hashtags Teachers should Know about via Educational Technology

and Mobile Learning

App Craver is a site with many app lists, reviews, and more. Here is their list of top free apps for your iPad: http://www.appcraver.com/top-free-apps/