💥 T𝗲𝗰𝗵 tips and more- Games, templates, new tech features, ideas and more in this first tech tip post of the school year!

 Some great free learning game sites worth looking at today! 

Toy Theater has a ton of educational games. (K-4)  I have mentioned this one in the past, it's a WINNER! (Note - They are also starting a new math site for older kids and a site for worksheets and printables called Class Playground. ) 

Funbrain - It's been around for a long time, and is still a great one! K-8 with a lot of reading and math games.  (Tip - Checkout the links at the top & bottom of the page to narrow by grade too.)

 

99math - Quick setup - 5 minute games. (Review here.)

Starfall - Grade pre-k-3 Math & reading games and resources. 

ABCya - pre-k-6+ games and educational resources. 

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Great new feature in Docs - It's about time!  In Google Docs, you can now choose to receive email notifications for document changes on a per-file basis. (You have always been able to do this in Google Sheets, now you can do it in Docs as well!)  Check it out here. This is great! 

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Congrats to these staff members for completing their Google Certifications this summer:

Level 1 only: (2 Total)

darian.carney@nsdtitans.org (Completed 5-21-22)

nicole.zvolanek@nsdtitans.org (Completed 7-1-22)

Level 2 only :  (2 Total)

melissa.wesch@nsdtitans.org (Completed 7-1-22)

sarah.harms@nsdtitans.org (Completed 7-15-22)

Level 1 & 2 : (1 Total)

caleb.sheets@nsdtitans.org (Completed Level 1 - 7-18-22) 

Certification renewals:

Level 1 renewal only: (1 Total) 

sarah.harms@nsdtitans.org (Completed 7-17-22)

Level 1 & 2 renewal: (1 Total) 

adam.kranz@nsdtitans.org (Completed Level 1 5-29-22)

Our complete list of Google Certified Educators can be found here. 

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Miscellaneous Tech Tips

7 Google Sheets Features to Boost Your Productivity - Some nice tips in this article. 

5 Best Free Meeting Scheduling Apps to Find a Common Time Slot -  These meeting scheduler apps make it easy to find a common time slot when everyone is free or share your free slots for others to agree to

Give parents a list of assignments in your Google Classes with this add-on. 

20 back to school templates to save you time - Check these out from Dith that Textbook. 

Send your speaker notes in Google Slides™ to a Google Doc™ with this simple add-on. 

Slides Translator add-on with voice typing in slides!:  Slides Translator automagically translates text in your Slides. Communicate across multiple languages with ease! Now includes Voice Typing in over 60+ language dialects! More info here. Add-on here. 

Google Drive tip:  "In Google Drive press V. Not Control, Not Alt, just V. Press the V key to toggle between Grid view and List view."  (Think V for view in Google Drive.) 

GoGuardian University! Teacher Training Course - Class uses interactive content and pages.

QUICK TIP OF THE WEEK (Insert a Watermark in Google Docs) - You can now add watermarks (text or image) in a Google Doc. This is great for adding your school logo, marking confidential, and more!  Watch this quick video to learn how!

Google Docs new feature update: Easily assign Tasks from Google Docs 

In Google Docs, you can now assign a checklist item to yourself or a colleague that will then show up in the assignee’s Tasks list. (Coming in the next few weeks.) 

Password Protect Your Google Forms - More how-to info here. 

Jamboard: Add a Background from Canva. Checkout this How-To here. 

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How to create media-rich, interactive maps for deeper learning - If you have not used "My Maps"  You need to.  Check out this how-to here. (It's great for planning personal trips too!) 

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Google Forms:

Multiple Versions and Retakes - Manage quizzes and tests with these tips. 

Add Google Form Sections - Seeing a lot of questions at once can be overwhelming. Divide up your Google Form into sections to help break up the length of the Google Form. Think pages! Each section is a page of your Google Form. More info here. 

Speaking of Sections in forms -- Checkout, Navigate Google Forms Sections, to learn more about using sections and navigating sections. 

FASTER! Create Rubrics for Google Classroom - "There are 3 options when you click on the Rubric button: Create rubric, Reuse rubric, Import from Sheets." - Use GC Rubric by Alice Keeler to make "Import from Sheets" the EASIEST option! 

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Google Classroom: 

How to Export Your Google Classroom Rubrics - More info here. 

Nice Google Classroom Tip's for student's Poster -  Located here. More info here.   This one and more Google Classroom tips are found on our Norris Google Classroom Tips Sheet. 

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Need to insert a math equation in Google Docs/Slides or forms - This is for you! 

The free Hypatia Create add-on allows you to easily insert math equations in docs, slides or forms.  Install it here.  Short video about it here. 

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More templates at your fingertips! With Google Docs Templates by cloudHQ, you can access hundreds of Google Docs templates that fit your needs with just a click of a button! Take a look  (Video here)

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Access over 3,000 digitized historical newspapers using the interactive map and timeline from the Library of Congress. Check it out! 

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Sneak Peek - WOW, some great features coming!  Chromebooks Get a Ton of New Features: Google Photos Video Editing, Light and Dark Themes, More. See what's coming soon! 

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Did someone say year-round LearnStorm? Yeah, we did.

Over the past five years, we here at Khan Academy heard from teachers like you about the need for a mastery-driven, year-round LearnStorm. Good news! It's now here. Plus, we added several other new features to the mix, including updated content for our most popular course ever — 6th grade math.

See all the new features

Beyond these game-changers, we’ve also rolled out

1.	An Individual Student Skills report that enables you to see each student’s mastery levels for every skill in a selected instructional area
2.	A new mastery view for students that shows them where they are on their learning journey (it’s located in the sidebar)
3.	Middle and High School Science

Checkout more OER resources in our tech doc here. 

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Checkout these tips for making your Chrome bookmarks easy-peasy!  

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"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." - Benjamin Franklin - American Politician (1706 - 1790)

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"Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself." - John Dewey - American Philosopher (1859 - 1952)

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Teamwork is a desirable job skill in today's economy. When we let students collaborate, we prepare them for the future! Here's how Google Slides can help. 10 collaborative Google Slides activities - Check them out!

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This free online video editor is one to add to your toolbox! ClipChamp is amazing for free!  Checkout this article for more info: How to use Clipchamp, Microsoft’s sleeper-hit video editor.   Pricing info here,  Unlimited video exports in 1080p exports with no watermark.

We have added it to our resource doc here as one of our top 2 choices! 

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Check them out here!  Some games, templates, ideas and more! 

💥 T𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 - SeeSaw & Canva tips. More templates! Free extensions. Video & Photo tools. New features and more in this weeks tech tips.

 

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For those of us that are not Photoshop experts.... This is a simple to use and free tool to easily blur things in a pic.  Checkout cleanup.pictures

(We have added this resource to our collection of resources in our Photo Editing and drawing tools doc located here. that have many more simple free editing tools and sites.) 

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VideoCandy.com has free tools for doing quick and simple edits to your video files. this one is worth adding to your bookmarks and tech tool list!

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CLOSEit is a free add-on for Google Docs. Underlined or highlighted words are replaced with blanks and a word bank is added to the end of the document. https://clozeit.syedkhairi.com/ 

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New Google Drive add-on (Marketplace app) added to all staff Google Drives - Folgo for Google Drive™ is great for bulk actions in Google Drive. Copy, transfer, inspect folders (with subfolders & files).  Our how-to doc can be found here.  Powerful tool!  Read the doc for more info! 

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Miscellaneous tech resources. 

TEMPLATES! - A nice resource from Lynne Herr at ESU6  -  Ready to Use 2021-22 Slides by Quarter. Daily slides include Fact of the Day, Joke or Puzzle of the Day, Think About It (SEL) and Share Out.  These slide templates are ready for you to make a copy and start using. 

More Templates! - STUDENT PROJECT TEMPLATES - 

• Art Gallery Template - Showcase student work in a Gallery format
• Portfolio Brainstorm - Slides version of Jamboard templates
• Canva Templates - from Infographics and Invitations to Flyers and Newsletters
• Creative Tech Teacher Slides Templates for Students (scroll Comic Book template)
• Social Studies Project Palooza
• History Project/Lesson Templates
• Graphic Organizer Template Collection
• iFakeTextMessage 
• Esther Park’s Free template collection
• Templates for Teachers - HUGE Collection
  

Need to rephrase a sentence?  Give WordTune a try. 

10 things you didn’t know you could do with Google Arts and Culture 

Yellowstone Distance Learning Opportunities and videos for your classroom. -Check them out here. 

GOOGLE WORKSPACE UPDATES - Manage Overdue Tasks in Google Calendar - 
If you have uncompleted tasks that were due in the past 30 days, you will have an all day entry that will tell you how many tasks are pending from that timeframe. More info here on this new upcoming feature. 

QUICK TIP OF THE WEEK (New Table Features in Google Docs) - Have you noticed the new features when you insert a table in Google Docs! You can now pin header rows, add unsplittable rows, quickly add and arrange columns and rows, and even sort tables to organize data! Thanks to Shake Up Learning for this great tip.  Watch this quick video to learn how!

15 Google Classroom Tips for Teachers - Kacy Bell, always has good stuff.  Check them out here. (Some great organizational tips for Classroom, including the resources topic to keep at the top of each class.)  

6 Tips and Tricks to Make Better Use of Google Contacts

What is Sub-image Search? And Why You Would Use It? (Many students and teachers do not know you can easily search using images to find out what something is.  Great short walkthrough in this video.) 

Did I Plagiarize? - The Types and Severity of Plagiarism Violations.  A nice visual graphic for use with your kids. 

Free Webinar: Stop Motion Animation with Google Slides! View the recorded video & access resources here.

QUICK TIP OF THE WEEK (Google Drive Search Chips) - It's even easier now to search your Google Drive files. Try using the new enhance search chips to refine your search!  Watch this quick video to learn how!

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A couple great free extensions. Made by Alice Keeler and sponsored by Schoolytics. 

Speaker Notes by Schoolytics - This free Chrome extension will send your Speaker Notes in Google Slides™ to a Google Doc™. 

Quiz Helper by Schoolytics - For teachers, make a quiz with Google Forms™ with confidence. Automatically sets defaults for a quiz. Collects edit link, so students can finish later. Creates Google Docs™  Short tutorial video here.   How-to article here. 

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Emoji Tips and tricks: 

Emoji bullets  - Format Bullets & Numbering List Options More Options Emojis

 Simply enter a list into http://EmojiBulletList.com and it will do its best to pair a relevant emoji with each item.

 Click an emoji to see more suggestions. Sometimes the results are disappointing, but you can paste the list anywhere and add your own emojis.

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Chrome extensions:

• Speechify - Ready anything on the web aloud

• Use Immersive Reader on Web Sites - great tool for emergent/struggling readers

• IT"S BACK! - Add to Google Classroom - share a site to Classroom

• Draft Back - review the creation of a Google Doc 
  

• Bitmoji

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Can Canva get any better?  Answer:  YES! 

Tables & Charts are in Canva for Education! Seamless integration with Google
 Sheets! So many possibilities & so easy to create! Yes, you can do charts inside of Sheets, but this adds even more possibilities as well.  Checkout the short 1-minute video here!  (Remember, Canva gives teachers and students free pro accounts!) 

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ELL Teachers! - check this out!

A Self-Checking Translation Quiz in Google Sheets  Practice another language with your own words & sentences, with color-coded feedback & hints. Great for ELL & all language learners!

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Google Classroom headers, newsletter templates, worksheets, and virtual backgrounds and more are found in this teacher's free Canva templates.  Check them out here!  AND remember, Canva is FREE for educators and students!!

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SeeSaw tips: You can now access select standards-aligned collections and lessons right in Seesaw.

Start exploring these multimodal collections today!

• Fun Phonemes (PreK-K > Foundational Literacy > 42 Lessons)

• Numbers in Space (K-2 > Number Sense > 21 Lessons)

• SEL Stories (K-2 > SEL, Writing > 30 Lessons) 

• STEAM (K-2 > Blended Learning > 13 Lessons)

What's new in SeeSaw? This slide deck walks through each month's updates along the way. (Good bookmark to check once in a while.)

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CANVA TIP! 

You can download your Canva designs into your Google Drive, which allows you to manipulate the items within your design?!! This changes the game for accessibility with cute designs! (Remember, It's easy to convert the PowerPoint file (PPTX) into Google Slides!) More tips and free EDU account info is located in our Canva doc.

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Experiments with Google - Experiments with Google is a place for people to share ideas and coders for Google experiment with the ideas. This one is a fun experiment that would be great for any musical class.  Blob Opera allows you to take a look at how interacting with the different cartoon character blobs changes the singing voice assigned to each blob.  It's just cool! (You can search other experiments here.) 

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Let's protect and inform our kids! 

I know many of you have gotten similar emails saying they charged you X number of dollars for a subscription and then call this 800 number if you have issues.  These guys are after your money and your computer/info.  This one even runs a call center and matches up the name with the Transaction number.  They then send you to a website that installs a program on your computer. 

This was sent to one of our 6th grade students: 

The only way to protect yourself and our kids is... being informed and always being cautious.  Please remind students about these kinds of things and never call or give out information. 

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