Google Sheets

I chose to create a Google Sheet that would be used by teachers during our two summer Kindergarten Jump Start programs this summer because I am not sure what I will be needing when I move to 5th grade.  This Sheet is our master student roster for both weeks, color-coded groupings for ELL Jump Start, and will be our color-coded groupings for WaKids Jump Start.  All K teachers at CVE have access to edit this document as applicable and so does the ELL teacher who will be working with us. A para who will be working as our admin has access and can comment because he will be making phone calls to families to remind them about the programs we offer prior to each week of Jump Start.

I made a copy of the document and removed all sensitive information for use in this tech class because it must be shared on the web. This link will take you to the copy. https://docs.google.com/a/edmonds.wednet.edu/spreadsheets/d/1qthslhbhM4fdEGdmWfDBdPDCp5qGAwzQXDDRfFxKVfE/edit?usp=sharing  

Although I generally prefer to work in Excel, I'm getting used to Sheets.  I like that I can share things for collaboration but feel frustrated when things get accidentally deleted or altered.

Chromebook Basics

I decided to try this activity because I will be having Chromebooks in my classroom this year for the first time.  I wanted to learn as much as I could during the summer to make the transition to my new grade level as easy as possible.  I found this "badge" to be both easy and difficult.  Many of the concepts were easy because they are common in Chromebooks as well as PC's running the Chrome browser.  Some things were harder to learn and remember without a Chromebook handy to practice on and to become familiar with.

One of the activities was to create a poster with keyboard shortcuts.  I have been shopping on Teachers Pay Teachers today and found a poster with shortcuts that's a lot better than one I could create so I'm planning to use that one.  I think that this poster could be added to my SWIFT site, printed as a poster, and/or sent to students via Google Classroom.

I also found several free and paid resources on Teachers Pay Teachers and Pinterest that may be useful to me and to my students this year.

Chrome apps and extensions

I've been playing with some apps and extensions in Chrome.  In the past, I've used apps like SeeSaw with my Kindergarten students so I'm comfortable using apps and adding more as needed, but I knew that I was going to have to expand my repertoire now that I'm changing grade levels.  I specifically need to learn how to use some things that will be helpful in managing Chromebooks with my intermediate students and also some software that kids can use to learn and do presentations.  Because I needed to have a link to submit for this project, I played with PowToons and edited the ready-made first day of school video.  I'm still struggling with how to play this video from start to finish without clicking to the next slide and also how to share it without publishing it publicly on the web.

SWIFT Website Update

Because I'm changing from teaching Kindergarten to Fifth Grade and very little of the content in my site is applicable to both grades, my old SWIFT site needs to be mostly redone.  I spent time going through my site and deciding what to change or not to change.  I have to leave some things in place because my teaching partner will be using some of my site for her presentation to all Kindergarten parents during Jump Start, but I've been thinking about how to update those pages after Jump Start.  I went in and removed content that was no longer needed such as old photos and I updated my homepage to explain that my site is under construction while I'm transitioning to Fifth Grade.