Google Slides- collaborative tool for Social Studies

Hello again!

This week  during our Social Studies class, the students worked in a collaborative environment using Google Slides. We have been studying the Ancient Greeks and their Architectural Elements.

For this purpose, I used a Google Doc with the instructions for session. This way, every time they had a question about -what to include in their slide?-  they were able to re visit the Google Doc and clear doubts.

I really liked how this worked with my 6th graders and they LOOOOVE working with Google Apps.

Please SHARE, +1 and comment!!!!

Gina

Tutorial Videos- Mindmup + Google Docs

Hello!!!!!


Working with tutorial videos is a great way to FLiP CLASSROOM and also to reinforce instructions.

When it comes to work with technology, sometimes it is hard to explain and walk students through this process.  That's why I decided to create TUTORIAL VIDEOS explaining how to use a specific tool or Google ADD ON!

I found this very helpful and students' feedback is great!! They love it, because it is easy to follow and everybody learns and follow steps at their own pace!!!!

Here are some tutorial videos I created!!

Also, MINDMUP is a great tool to work with when students have to create mental maps. The cool thing about this tool is that every document could be added to DRIVE. It is also and ADD-ON feature, which  I believe that works great!

It is truly amazing how many add-ons Google Drive has! I encourage teachers to play and try them out!


This is my TUTORIAL VIDEO FOR MINDMUP!  Hope you like it and find it useful!

Since I teach Social Studies I work A LOT with Google Docs! I really love this tool!!!
Working with the unit: ELEMENTS OF A MAP, I asked the students to add a map to their Google Doc and label it using text boxes.

Here is how to add the labels.

Gina

Piktochart, Canva and Google Docs for a Social Studies Project.

Hi again!

It's been a while since I published my last post.!

During last week and some days from this one, my students were working on a project. The topic was EUROPEAN COUNTRIES. We have been practicing with PURPOSE GAMES their capitals and physical features.  So, as a "wrap up" activity, My students were divided into 5 big groups, randomly chosen.  Each group was assigned a country and researched about it.

I worked with GOOGLE DOCS again, because it is engaging and easier for me to edit and check documents. Besides it's GREEN teaching and learning.

Every team created a folder in which they had to upload every item requested for the project.  The project was called: "Travel Agency" and each team created INFOGRAPHICS, POSTERS AND FLYERS to promote traveling to a European country.

They learned about CULTURE, GASTRONOMY, LANDFORMS, LANDMARKS and applied the 5 THEMES OF GEOGRAPHY too!

At the end, each team brought a typical food recipe from their team's country and the whole class tasted them.

It was a cool activity combined with technology integration!

For the INFOGRAPHIC, the students used 2 tools: "Piktochart and Canva".
I really liked PIKTOCHART because it is easier to use.  The icons and tools the website has makes it friendly for student's and teacher's use. The only "bad" thing I may say, it has is that the FREE version does not allow you to change the font color.

Canva is another site, pretty much the same as Piktochart, but the BIGGEST DIFFERENCE is that you may change the FONT color.
I have read other reviews and teachers prefer CANVA over PIKTOCHART.
I am definitely going to try Canva some more to prove this.

Ciao!

Gina

GOOGLE Sheets and Purpose Games- Mapping skills

Hello everybody!


I really love GOOGLE APPS and everything about them.

This quarter I have started working with my 7th grade students' mapping skills. So, I use a super cool website called Purpose Games to reinforce mapping skills.

To track students' progress and performance I created a  Google Sheet  to act as a log so students could access and enter their scores and time record every time they "PLAY" a mapping skill game.
The students know that they have to complete a series of attempts each week to prepare for the weekly test, and they can see which country or game they are going to master during a specific week, as well as the TEST date.

I started to use this for the first week just to see if it actually works, and when the test results came, I was SHOCKED!!!!
Students not only practice their mapping skills,but they also become ACCOUNTABLE of their learning in a fun way!

I really encourage teachers to use PURPOSE GAMES and GOOGLE SHEETS to track progress and master specific mapping skills.

Hope this post is useful!
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