Groton's Curriculum Page

Click here to go to the Groton's Curriculum Page.  On the Curriculum page you can...

• Access Curriculum Folders with Curriculum
• Access Shared Resources for each unit of Study
• Information from Curriculum Office (now Teaching and Learning Office)
• Assessments and Assessment Calendars
• Online Links / Resources
• Professional Development Resources

Doing More with Google Docs (Sheets and Docs)

        If you'd like to do more with Google Docs and Google Sheets, check out the free add-ons!  These add-ons let you add features to your documents, new fonts, clip-art, organize information, insert graphs, live chat with collaborators, and more!  I especially like the app for clipart and the app for different fonts.   Here's some add-ons I found useful in Google Docs.

 
Here's a snapshot of some of the add-ons in Google Sheets.

To find Add-ons, click on the ADD-ONs menu at the top of the document screen.  Then click GET ADD-ONs.  A menu of add-ons will pop-up like pictured above.  Browse through the add-ons.  If you like one, click on + FREE.  A window will pop-up letting you know what the add-on has access to.  Click ACCEPT.  The app will then be added to your Add-Ons file.  When you want to use it, just click on the name and the app will open on the right side of the screen.

Bloomboard - End of Year Summative - Reflective Questions

Copy paste these questions into Word.  Type your answers, then copy paste the answers back into the boxes.  After you have entered your answers into Bloomboard, click SAVE DRAFT at the bottom.  When ready, click SHARE in the black bar on the bottom of the screen to share with your evaluator.  Click here for a PDF Karen Bryer sent out from Bloomboard to help aid teachers with End of Year Summative Conferences.

BOX 1: Student Growth and Development:  

Results of each SLO indicator (IAGD) with evidence:   

A.) Provide your overall self-assessment of whether each SLO indicator (IAGD) was met (based on the results of your identified IAGD). Use the ratings:

• Did Not Meet
• Partially met
• Met
• Exceeded
• Does not apply

B.) Provide evidence for each indicator (IAGD) by describing what you did that produced the results. Describe what you learned and how you will use the results of the IAGD going forward.

BOX 2: Performance and Practice:  Describe what progress you made in your performance and practice focus area throughout the year and what supports would better enable you to make further progress going forward. 

BOX 3: Parent or Peer Feedback:  Provide evidence for the Peer or Parent feedback component below by describing what you did that produced positive outcomes or resulted in achievement toward a specified goal or strategy.  Describe what you learned throughout this year and how you will use the results of the Peer or Parent feedback going forward.



BOX 4: Whole School Measures of Student Learning or Student Feedback:  Whole-School Measures of Student Learning or Student Feedback (5%)  Space is provided below for you to reflect on how you've contributed to this component.

Adding The MM Events Calendar to Your Microsoft Exchange Calendar

1. Open your Microsoft Exchange (please note you can not do this through mail.groton.k12.ct.us, you can only do this in Microsoft Exchange).

2. Find the calendar icon on the left side and click it.  

3. If you do not have "The MM Events" calendar, your screen will look something like this...

4. Click on OPEN CALENDAR - it will be in the middle of your screen.

5. Click on OPEN SHARED CALENDAR.  A box will open in the middle of the screen.  Type in "The MM Events."  Click OK.

6. The MM Events calendar will then open.

 

7. Your calendar is still there under the Calendar tab.  If you click on the arrow pointing right, it will put the calendars side by side....

8. Here's what it looks like after you click the arrow. 

Let me know if you need help with this, it only takes a minute or so to do.  If you are support staff and everything posted to the calendar says 'busy,' put in a SchoolDude request asking to change your permission so that you may see the MM Events calendar.

Google Custom Search

Good afternoon,

        Would you like to be able to have kids search for things online, but are afraid of what sites might pop-up?  Try Google Custom Search.  Here’s how it works…

1. Click on the link: https://cse.google.com/cse/.
2. Click on CREATE A CUSTOM SEARCH ENGINE.
3. Visit sites that you know are safe that your kids could use to search for information. Copy and paste the URL into the boxes on the Google Custom Search page.  You can add as many sites as you like.
4. Give your Custom search a name, then save it.
5. You can email the link to your Custom Search Engine or add a link to your webpage that goes to the browser.
6. Students can then go to your Search Engine and search whatever they like (or whatever you assign them).  When they type in a word and click enter, the search engine will pull up information only from the sites you listed in your search engine.  
• (For example, on mine I put PBS Kids, Brainpop Jr, Starfall, Kids Nat Geo).  Click this link to see the one I created for my class.  I have mine posted on my Students Links page.  You are welcome to use it (obviously the sites I choose might work best for K-2.  We are learning all about plants and animals and students will be able to search for information on their own.

• To edit your search engine  
• Click on the 9 blocks.
• Click on MORE.
• Click on EVEN MORE FROM GOOGLE.
• Scrolled down to Specialized Search.  Click on Custom Search.  You will then see a list of all search engines you created.

        A classmate from my grad class shared this with the class.  We were reading different studies about new technologies, new literacies, and new literacy skills.   Some ideas from the studies…

1. Students need experience and instruction exploring digital literacy and using electronic devices.

2. Traditional comprehension skills are not enough to help readers read online texts.  (Interestingly in one article, stronger readers did worse online because they didn’t have experience using web resources, while weaker students did better because they used the computer a lot for gaming and finding information at home).   

       If you are interested in reading the studies, let me know and I can share them with you.  If you would like help with the Custom Search, let me know as well!  

Uploading Documents to Bloomboard

Here's a step by step guide to uploading items to Bloomboard.

1. Go to supporting documents.

2. Click on ADD ANOTHER DOCUMENT

3. A box appears.  Click on UPLOAD... if you need to upload something.  If you uploaded something previously to your E-Portfolio, select LINK DOCUMENT....

4.  Go find the document to upload.  Click on it, then click OK.  

5. DO NOT CLICK CLOSE WHEN IT SAYS 100% UPLOAD.  Let the window close on its own.  If you close it, the document will not upload and you will have to start from the beginning.

6. You will then see the document uploaded.  You may highlight the document (if a PDF) or highlight lines of text (if a word document) to tag to the standards or your goals.

Thank you Monica for letting me take pictures as she uploaded a document.

Copyright Safe Websites

This email was sent out from Bernadette Kunkemoeller.  It provides as list of sites you can use to get copyright free images.  Many of these sites has been added to the district's online resources page under MISQ.

From: Kunkemoeller, Bernadette

Sites to See:
Free Photos on the Web

Looking for copyright-friendly images you and your students can use? Want hard-to-find historical images or photos from a country halfway across the world? Check out these Web sites filled with images you can use in the classroom today.

Check out more than a dozen Web sites containing free images -- including filtered and unfiltered collections, online photo albums, virtual tours, and opportunities for you and your students to share your own images with others on the Web!

Pics4Learning
Pics4Learning should be one of the first places you and your students look for photos and other images online. Educators and students have donated thousands of images for Pics4Learning, so anything you find is free for use in the classroom. Pics4Learning also encourages you and your class to donate digital pictures. (No photos of minors or faces of adults). The site even includes a collaborative project with a frog named Jacques who documents his visits across the world through photos. Don't miss it!

SURWEB
Originally a state-based project out of Utah, SURWEB now includes 10,000 images from around the world. Just like other sites, SURWEB provides photos free for use in educational settings. What sets this site apart is the more than 800 categories of images, allowing students to find images on extremely diverse topics. Plus, the media basket feature gives teachers and students a chance to quickly create a slide show on a topic by simply clicking "use in my show" button at the top and bottom of every image. Also, the virtual locker (available to those who sign up for the free resources) gives you a place to save any images you like -- great for the teacher just beginning to use images in the classroom.

Digital Saskatchewan
Don't let the name fool you! While this project was initially designed for classrooms in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, the nearly 8,000 images are available for use by teachers and students worldwide. Like SURWEB, you can create slide shows -- called Virtual Tours. However, those Tours allow you to add both text and hyperlinks, making them easy-to-use presentations much like PowerPoints, and not simply photo slide shows. Students and teachers can create Virtual Tours, as well as Personal Photo Albums -- repositories for their favorite images. The albums are a good choice during research time, when a student might be working on computers in class, at home, and the library, so saving images to just one computer is problematic. Be sure to check out the digital postcard feature as well.

The Library of Congress's American Memory Project
With a goal of 5 million items -- from speeches to images to video to digitized text and more -- the American Memory project is by far the best source for digital content specific to American History. More than 100 thematic collections make it easy to find images specific to your class's needs. The Browse feature allows you to look for images based on U.S. regions, media type (photos? maps?), time period, or topic. Be sure to click the Teacher link on the home page to find excellent tips for using this Web site in your classroom. The teacher-based resources include a monthly chat, guiding questions to teach students to respond to the images they find, lesson plans, interactive games, and much more.

ALSO WORTH A LOOK

·         Quick! Get the (Digital) Camera!

·         Smile! Digital Cameras Can Make Your Day!

The following are links to lists of classroom-appropriate photo sites.

·         Kid's Image Search Tools

·         Online Image Libraries

·         Multimedia Presentation Resources for Educators

The following links are to sites with thousands of free-to-use photos. Beware, however, that these are not education sites and they might contain images inappropriate for K-12 students. You might choose to use these as sources for your own presentations, or for use in secondary or some high school settings.

·         Flickr

·         FreeFoto

·         PublicDomain Photo

Learn about more great sites for students, parents, and educators by visiting Education World's Site Reviews Archives.

Article by Lorrie Jackson
Education World®
Copyright © 2007 Education World

Originally published 09/07/2005
Links last updated 05/23/2008

- See more at: http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/sites/sites067.shtml#sthash.9MQjfkRr.dpuf