Every couple of months SAIDE who administers the African Storybook project sends out an update. This is a recent update. This is a crosspost of the post I wrote about the update on the SchoolNet blog. This website is worthy of being known by teachers everywhere.
These are lovely stories that are beautifully illustrated that you can use in your reading lessons.
“The hare is a popular and clever character who pops up in many traditional (and modern) stories. This month we showcase some of the tales we have on the website about the hare, and especially about the mean tricks he plays on other animals. (Although surely nothing is worse than the joke Rooster plays on Hare!) We hope you’ll be inspired to translate and share the stories, and also to add your own stories about the adventures of this character. Special thanks to Little Zebra Books for their donations and translations”. (Quoted from the African Storybook project newsflash August 5th)
In my ICT technology position at the school where I teach I absolutely LOVE using Google Classroom. This application improves on a regular basis. At the beginning of 2015 our school moved to Google Apps. This was a brilliant move, I have to say! Only accounts that are associated with Google Apps for Education are able to utilize Google Classroom and I wouldn't want to be without this application.
Let me tell you about how I got started with adding my first class.
1. Log in
Assuming you are a GAFE (Google Apps for Education) and you are logged in to your account go to http://classroom.google.com to start your login and setup process.
2. Get started
Click on the + sign of the opening page of classroom
3. Create a class
You’ll be prompted to create a class. It’s a simple as that
4. Choose a theme
Once in you’ll land on a preset theme as the header of your classroom with an option to choose another theme or pattern from the Gallery – you can even upload your own photo for the theme.
If you have uploaded a photo of yourself to your Google account it will appear here f you select a pattern.
5. Invite your students to join Classroom
6. Complete your 'About' page
It also has a link to the Google Drive folder that is automatically created for each course to house resources.
7. Add your students
You can either give them the code that has automatically been generated to join with or you can invite them by email. If selecting the code option which is more suitable for bigger classes the students would just need to go to http://classroom.google.com and sign in, then click the ‘+’ icon and click Join Class.
8. Add an announcement
Go back to your stream and either add an announcement or an assignment.
If selecting an assignment you can upload an attachment, insert a Google Drive document, add a video from YouTube or insert a link. Once yiu have completed your information click on POST.
You will see your announcement as your class sees it.
9. Add an assignment
If you are adding an assignment click on ‘Add an assignment’ and follow the links. Fill in all the required details and even watch the tour if this is your first time round! The tour takes you into the process step-by-step.
10. Review what you have just learned
To watch a video on this process take a look at Amy Mayer’s video entitled ‘Getting Started with Google Classroom’ found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIfXzJMLsMQ
If your school is using Google Apps, you MUST try using Google Classroom. Make it your ressolution to get started with Google Classroom in 2016
Every couple of months SAIDE who administers the African Storybook project sends out an update. This is a recent update. This is a crosspost of the post I wrote about the update on the SchoolNet blog. This project is worthy of being known by teachers everywhere.
The African Storybook Project is a wonderful Literacy website with a wide range of stories from Grades 1-3 learners in a multitude of African languages. Visit www.africanstorybook.org to see the amazing spread. The stories and folktales have beautiful illustrations, can be read online or they can be downloaded as PDFs and made into hand-held books. Best is that the African Storybook Project is OER and uses Creative Commons licensing which enables the books to be adapted if so desired.
In their latest newsflash the African Storybook Project highlights some of their most translated folktales. Folktales are one of the oldest genres of stories, and they usually have an important life lesson to teach us.
Every couple of months SAIDE who administers the African Storybook project sends out an update. This is a recent update. This is a crosspost of the post I wrote about the update on the SchoolNet blog. This project is worthy of being known by teachers everywhere.
The African Storybook Project is one of the most amazing Literacy websites with its wide range of stories from Grades 1-3 learners in a multitude of African languages. These stories found at www.african storybook.org each with beautiful illustrations, can be read online or they can be downloaded as PDFs and made into books. They use the Creative Commons licensing which enables the books to be free to use and adapt if so desired.
This month the African Storybook project is celebrating its French translations! Ninety-one ASP storybooks have been translated into this important language of wider communication in Africa, and they'll be adding more soon. They give particular thanks to Translators without Borders volunteers for contributing most of these translations.
Here is a small selection of the African Storybook Project’s French storybooks.
If you are making a presentation using Google Slides, you will sometimes want to add a video. Currently on Google slides there is no way to insert a video stored directly on your computer. You will need to host your video on YouTube or use another YouTube video. Inserting a video that is not hosted on YouTube If you wanted to use a video that is not on YouTube you could host it elsewhere or upload your video to Google Drive and share it to anyone with the link can view . The Google Slides user help Guide indicates that Slides only take YouTube videos but can link to other videos. On the Google Docs Help forum someone offers this work around to linking another online video: Here is the work around.
1. Save your video to your Google drive
2. Click share on the video and copy the url link
3. Then in Slides; click Insert then Link...
4. Name your video (this will be displayed on your slide)
5. Paste the link.This will allow you to easily get to your video.
Inserting a video that is hosted on YouTube
This post shows how to insert a YouTube video to a slide. 1. Open your presentation and click on the Insert/Video link on your Google Slides menu.
The video insert link appears on your slide. Add your YouTube video URL and click on search
YouTube immediately locates the video and adds it to the slide 2. Click on the video thumbnail and choose select if it is the correct video.
Your video is embedded and can now be enlarged to fit to the page. Once your video is embedded you can publish your presentation to the web and whoever views it will be able to view the video as well.
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It is so quick and easy!
Quick video tutorial
Here is a short 1 minute YouTube video from PMS Ross showing this process
Every week I like to keep a record of what educators and others are posting with regard to Google. Here are 19 from this week. Teachers will love these.
The African Storybook Project is a wonderful Literacy website with a wide range of stories from Grades 1-3 learners in a multitude of African languages. Visit www.africanstorybook.org to see the amazing spread. The stories and folktales have beautiful illustrations, can be read online or they can be downloaded as PDFs and made into hand-held books. Best is that the African Storybook Project is OER and uses Creative Commons licensing which enables the books to be adapted if so desired.
I was privileged to be involved with this project for a couple of years, creating and running digital storytelling courses for teachers in South Africa and then Africa in order to populate the website. In this post I want to link to some the posts I wrote about this memorable experience for the SchoolNet blog.
Submitted by Fiona Beal Every week I like to keep a record of what educators and others are posting with regard to Google. Here are 15 from this week. Teachers will love these.
1. Ten engaging Google Drawings activities for classes http://goo.gl/aU05S3
Matt Miller says, “Drawings is one of my favorites of all of Google’s tools. It’s simple to use but powerful and very versatile. In fact, here’s how simple it is. The button panel for creating things (see image above) is made up of lines, shapes, text boxes, images and comments. (The arrow is for selecting items on the page.) Google Drawings is like a digital poster board. Or sheet of paper. Or a blank slate waiting for your great ideas. Sadly, many educators don’t know about it or know what it does. Maybe part of the reason: when you click “new” in your Google Drive, Drawings is under the “more” tab. (What a shame … one of my favorite Google tools treated like a second-class citizen.)”
2. Eight Great Google Tips for Every Educator http://goo.gl/ajZkDN
This post has eight great tips for educators plus it shows the video below.
3. Seven new features added to Google Classroom http://goo.gl/bHPfn7
Google Classroom is improving all the time. Here are the latest improvements:
1. Post Questions
2. Reuse Assignments
3. Improved Calendar Integration
4. Bump a post
5. Due dates optional
6. Attach a Google Form to a post
7. YouTube Functionality
4. 8 Creative Uses of Google Drawings You Shouldn’t Ignore http://goo.gl/EyazTH
Google Drawings isn’t at the forefront of tools. The limelight is reserved for Docs, Sheets, and Slides. But let’s do a reawakening of sorts and click on More to go to the “neglected” siblings. We have seen the usefulness of Google Forms. It’s time to appreciate the versatility of Google Drawings.
Educational Technology and Mobile learning says, “Here is an excellent Chrome app for creating photo collages. Loupe Collage is a web based tool that is integrated with Google Drive and enables users to easily create beautiful photo collages. Loupe Collage supports a wide variety of shapes. You can turn your photos into hearts, animals, words, logos and many more. You can even draw your own shapes and add them to your collages.”
6. How to make Google Chrome faster, better and prettier http://goo.gl/GcPovh
Vicky Davis says, “ant to know how to make Google Chrome faster? Want to feel productive? Tired of all of those tabs? Take time to learn how to use Google Chrome better. These quick tips will have your Google Chrome browser faster like new in no time!”
7. Viral classroom: 10 ways to harness viral video power in class http://goo.gl/uN5gpT
This post by Matt Miller shows some YouTube videos that have gone viral which could be used in your lessons. he says, “If these videos are “must-share” videos, there must be something about them that hooks us in and doesn’t let us go. If we want lessons in our classes to be memorable learning experiences, maybe there’s something in these videos that we can use to leave our students captivated. (Or at least paying attention … we’ll settle for that!). Here are 12 viral YouTube videos and something about them that we can use to hook students into our lessons:
8. Our Favorite Animals - A Google Slides Introduction http://goo.gl/gKzMev
Richard Byrne shows how he introduces young students to Google Slides. He says, “I've had the opportunity to introduce Google Slides to students as young as first grade. Our Favorite Animals is the title of one of my go-to activities for teaching Google Slides to young students. Here's how the activity works.”
9. Edit images right in Google Slides and Drawings http://goo.gl/abCj89
Google Slides and Drawings make it easy for you to tell a story and share your ideas. And a big part of storytelling is the images you use to bring a concept to life. Now it’s even easier to get those images just right, because Slides will let you crop, apply shape masks, and add borders to your images right within your presentation.
10. Seven Ways to Use Google Hangouts in the Classroom http://goo.gl/vD6sBG
Using Google Hangouts is a great way to connect and collaborate with other classrooms. It’s also a powerful tool for making connections, working collaboratively and introducing the wider world to your students. Many educators have embraced Hangouts to enrich both their students’ learning experiences and their own professional development. You can connect students with their peers from around the country, or even from abroad, if time zone differences permit.
11. Now You Add Color Filters to Images In Your Google Slides http://goo.gl/o4Oscc
Richard Byrne says, “A few months ago Google added the option to crop and add borders to images within your Google Slides. Beginning today you can now add color filters to your images within your Google Slides. To add these Instagram-like filters to your images insert your images as you always have. After inserting an image click on it and you will see a new "image options" menu in the Slides editing toolbar. See my screenshots below for a visual of where to find the new "image options" menu.”
12. Chromebook Deployment & Best practices https://goo.gl/RsTQZR
This is a slide deck from the EdTechTeam Saudi Arabia Summit by Karl Hehr.
13. 26 Tips for Teaching with Google Apps from the Gooru https://goo.gl/SWA8N0
The Gooru says, “This guide will teach you to be as tech-savvy as your students. It is meant to acquaint you with Google Apps’ major features and is loaded with best practices and lots of helpful, actionable tips to optimize your investment in Google Apps and improve your students’ learning experience. It’s appropriate for school IT admins, teachers, principals, and anyone else interested in learning more about Google Apps for education. Start implementing these tips today!”
14. 10+ Ways to Get Students Creating CHROMETASTIC Digital Stories! http://goo.gl/7HANCn
Karly Moura says, “Digital storytelling is an effective and engaging way for students to use digital media production to show what they know. On November 2nd, #TOSAChat welcomed our second guest moderator Ryan O'Donnell (@creativeedtech) to discuss digital storytelling. TONS of fabulous ideas were shared, way too many for just one blog post, so I decided to start with the great Googley goodness and will follow up with a post all about Digital Storytelling with iPad apps, stay tuned! “
15. Viral classroom: 10 ways to harness viral video power in class http://goo.gl/uN5gpT
This post by Matt Miller shows some YouTube videos that have gone viral which could be used in your lessons. he says, “If these videos are “must-share” videos, there must be something about them that hooks us in and doesn’t let us go. If we want lessons in our classes to be memorable learning experiences, maybe there’s something in these videos that we can use to leave our students captivated. (Or at least paying attention … we’ll settle for that!). Here are 12 viral YouTube videos and something about them that we can use to hook students into our lessons:
