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Good.is - GOOD Worldwide, LLC
Grades
7 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): enrichment (13), news (221), newspapers (86), politics (123), writing prompts (55)
In the Classroom
Good.is is perfect for enrichment, research, or a current events class. Include it on your class web page (if you are comfortable with the description: a community of people who give a d---) for students to access both in and out of class. Have students try out this site on individual computers, or as a learning center. For students who enjoy current events, Good.is is a terrific source of up-to-the-minute positive stories from across the web. There is advertising, but it is not too intrusive. Use this site as one of several current event options when asking students to find real world connections to curriculum topics. You can always send students directly to the full articles on their original sites to avoid displaying the Good.is frame at the top. Use articles as writing prompts for blog posts or practice writing informational texts or persuasive writing.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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GoodReads - Good Reads
Grades
10 to 12This site includes advertising.
tag(s): authors (114), independent reading (83), quotations (18), social networking (56)
In the Classroom
Share this site to promote independent reading as a life habit or as a way to facilitate book discussion and book sharing among your mature students. Since the site is intended for the general public, not just for schools, it includes ALL books and open discussions. Be sure to have discussions about safety concerns in an online environment. You might also want to use a whole-class account to be able to monitor activity. Have students initial their own comments. Use the quotes available on this site as writing prompts or daily class starters or encourage students to "collect" their own favorite quotes about writing and other topics. For more visual students, suggest that they create an online multimedia response space for their independent reading using Dotstorming, reviewed here. They can include quotes, images, and responses (and accept comments) to the books they discover via Goodreads.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Goofram - goofram.com
Grades
K to 12tag(s): resources (80), search engines (42)
In the Classroom
This site is very simple to use. Simply type in the term you are searching and click "search."This site is as safe as any other search engine. Just be sure students are aware of the consequences of misusing the search engine.
Use Goofram the next time that you use search in your classes. Discuss the difference between each side of the screen where both parts appear. What is the advantage of Wolfram Alpha vs. Google? Use this site as you discuss how to search and use materials on the web. Practice showing different searches and aspects of the searches that are useful. Challenge students to use these sites for individual research projects.
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Google A to Z: Tools, Extensions, Programs & Courses - Monica Isabel Martinez
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): collaboration (116), communication (122), organizational skills (90), professional development (319), Teacher Utilities (218)
In the Classroom
Have students work together in Google Docs or Slides to co-author stories, research reports, or presentations, using comments and suggestions to give peer feedback and revise their work. Pair Google Search tools and Chrome extensions with structured research tasks to help students learn to find reliable sources, organize notes, and cite information correctly. Offer optional challenges using advanced tools or extensions, such as building tutorials, designing templates for classmates, or completing Google Educator mini-courses to deepen technology skills.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Books - Google
Grades
2 to 12tag(s): book lists (161), digital reading (18), independent reading (83), literature (214), literature circles (5), novels (34)
In the Classroom
Assign students to use Google Books to explore a specific topic. Create a scavenger hunt where they must find excerpts, quotes, or facts from different books. Use a tool like GooseChase reviewed here to create a virtual scavenger hunt. Use Google Books to compare how different authors or editions cover a topic (ex., how Shakespeare is analyzed across texts). Print or use previews from Google Books as part of a reading circle. Assign each group a book or chapter and discuss themes or ideas. Assign an author and have students create a poster or presentation about their works, using Google Books previews for research.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Docs/Drive Templates - Google Docs/Drive
Grades
K to 12tag(s): classroom management (136), DAT device agnostic tool (129), organizational skills (90), rubrics (38), spreadsheets (21)
In 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.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Doodles - Google
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): artists (100), creativity (87), drawing (57), gifted (63), Google (22), STEM (369)
In 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 12tag(s): collaboration (116), drawing (57), images (268)
In 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 Drive - Google
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): editing (90), slides (37), spreadsheets (21), Storage (7)
In the Classroom
A "tour" and simple-to-understand directions make this site easy to use. Have your students set up collaborative groups for projects, lab data, and more. Or set them up yourself, giving them specific passwords to access their "space." Help your gifted students stay organized (and collaborate) using this tool. Users are normally invited to "join" via an email message. This may be problematic for many schools that do not permit student email access on school premises. Note that notifications sent by Google Docs may also land in "junk mail" folders or be blocked by spam filters. We suggest that you experiment with a small group of students to determine what will work in your particular situation. One option is to set up the groups with the teacher as a "member" but have students work from home, using their personal email addresses, for group projects. Make sure you are protecting the safety of student work and identity, and that you are in compliance with your school's Acceptable Use Policy. Anything students can do on a single computer, they can do collaboratively on Google Docs, accessing their work from any online computer.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Earth - Google
Grades
K to 12tag(s): climate (95), earth (195), landforms (35), landmarks (19), news (221), oceans (142)
In the Classroom
Use tutorials from this site to learn more and 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.
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Google Earth - Tech hints - Louise Maine
Grades
K to 12tag(s): earth (195), landforms (35), landmarks (19), maps (222)
In 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 12tag(s): globe (11), landforms (35), landmarks (19), maps (222)
In 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 Forms - Google
Grades
K to 12tag(s): polls and surveys (43), spreadsheets (21)
In 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 Keep - Google, Inc.
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (129), note taking (35), organizational skills (90)
In 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 Labs - Google
Grades
4 to 12tag(s): animation (62), artificial intelligence (316), careers (184), french (72), images (268), spanish (112), vocabulary development (102)
In the Classroom
Bookmark and save Google Labs as a resource to find new and unique learning tools. For example, use Whisk to generate animated images for creative writing projects, or explore words with TestFX to enhance vocabulary and add interest to any writing project. Visit Talking Tours with students to tour cultural institutions, landmarks, or highlighted areas of nature or architecture. If sharing this site with older students, ask them to create a screen recording using a tool like Free Screen Recorder Online, reviewed here that provides a tutorial for how to use the experiment and shares examples.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Learn About - Google
Grades
6 to 12tag(s): artificial intelligence (316), differentiation (99), noregistration (74), search strategies (18)
In the Classroom
Engage students in learning using Google Learn About to introduce and explore new topics and spark curiosity. For example, when beginning a lesson about planets, ask Learn About to tell you how far Earth is from the sun. Explore the related topics together to learn more about Earth's distance from the sun and make additional connections to real-world examples. Google Learn About offers many opportunities for you and your student to explore options for examining any topic from multiple perspectives and viewpoints, which allows students to learn about any subject by studying it in a way that matches their interests. After selecting options to explore, encourage students to use a tool such as MyLens AI, reviewed here to create related concept maps and timelines to include as part of the personalized learning process.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Google Lens - Google
Grades
K to 12tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (129), images (268), multilingual (82)
In 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 Wayground (formerly 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 Maps - Google
Grades
1 to 12tag(s): DAT device agnostic tool (129), directions (10), maps (222)
In 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 the 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 placemark 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 12tag(s): cultures (290), environment (252), images (268), maps (222), photography (136), virtual field trips (141)
In 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 News Archive Search - Google
Grades
3 to 12tag(s): journalism (74), primary sources (133), search engines (42), timelines (60)
In 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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