Google Earth

I learned that you can view the bottom of the ocean using Google earth. I also learned that you could view Mars. I looked at the Pre-K lesson plan and the elementary lesson plan. I liked the idea of pulling up a students address and then zooming in until they recognize that it is their house. I would not have thought to use Google earth to explore distance. I looked at the 26 interesting ways and tips to use Google earth. I really liked the idea of a virtual drive, and I liked that you could change the fly to speed so that students can get more form using Google earth. I also liked the take a trip through a story, and that they were broken down by grade levels.

Google Maps

I have used Google maps many times, but I did learn that when getting directions you could chose form different forms of transportation. I did not know that you could chose waking and public transportation. I also learned that you could click on traffic button to get a traffic report, and that if photos are available it will show a picture of the traffic. An Interesting thing that I learned for the Google Treks site is that you can make virtual tours using Google maps, and that within this tour you can add video, facts, vocabulary, and pictures.

Sites

https://sites.google.com/site/mslesters1stgrade/home

Searching

I have never used the advance search in Google search. I did not know that it existed. I found it very easy to use. I searched for Curious George and found lots of good things. I found information from PBS Kids to pictures to books. The coolest thing I found was the website www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/features/cgsite/ on this site they had math and science activities that related to Curious George books. I could use the advance search to find books for lesson plans or to find lesson plan that center around a certain book.

I did not know that you could search for image in the advance search. I used the same search words and found lots of images of Curious George. This could be helpful when decorating my room. I would love to have a Curious George themed room and could find lots images to use. I found it very easy to use the search boxes.

I like that you could set up a search engine to use. This would be very helpful if you have students doing research on the Internet. However, I would only use this if I was teaching an older elementary grade. I could use it to find things for my classroom, but I think that other search engine would be quicker and easier to use.

Drawing

Google drawing works like all other google docs. I like that you can work with others while drawing. I found it very user friendly. You can figure out most things by just playing around with it. I learned how to bring shape that was in the background forward. I also learned different ways to change the look of what you were drawing by adding color to fill in the shape or by changing the color of the outline of the shape. It could be useful in making signs for the classroom.

Forms

I made a three question quiz for Kim. I found Google forms very easy to use. I don't know that I would use this everyday in my classroom, but it could be very helpful. I liked that you can set up the self scoring and that way you would not have to do much grading after the quiz. However, I found that setting up the answer key a little time consuming.

I looked at the elementary lesson plan Graphing with Google docs and forms. In this lesson plan students took a get to know you quiz that was made using Google forms. They then use the data to answer question in Google docs. They that to find the difference, range, maximum, minimum and percentage for the question answered.

Spreadsheet

There are many similarities between excel and Google spreadsheet.  They both have built in formulas that are easy to use. I liked that in Google spreadsheet when adding you could start the formula with add or sum. I felt that it was easier to make a chart in the Google spreadsheet. The Geo chart in Google is something that excel does not have. But excel had more templates. Google spreadsheet looked user friendly. I was able to find the basic thing that are in excel.

In the elementary lesson plan Consumer product testing the student used Goggle docs to document procedures for collecting data. They then would use Google forms to collect the data. They used forms to make a survey needed for data collection. They then used Google spreadsheet to turn the data into information, and used this information to make a Google presentation.

The second lesson plan I looked at was the middle school Collaborative Lab Experiments. In this lesson plan student collected data individually then use a collaborative spreadsheet to record their findings. Once they recorded their finding they used the spreadsheet to compare, analyze and contrast conclusion about photosynthesis. They also used graphs in their spreadsheets to help with the comparing, analyzing and contrasting.

I feel that these lesson plans offered an easy way for the teacher to see what the student were doing and by using Google doc all the information needed to complete both plans were in one place and they could be opened on any computer. I' m not sure if I would use a lesson plan similar to these in the future. If I teach upper elementary I could see using these, but if low elementary I'm not sure that many lesson plans would use a spreadsheet or Google docs.

Presentations

In the past I have only worked with Power Point to do presentations. One of the things I like about Goggle presentations is that it will run on any computer. I also like that you can use text, video, drawings and pictures in the presentations. The down falls are that you have to have Internet access to use Google presentations and that they do not have many background to choose from. Google would be good to use if you had to do a presentation with some one and they had a PC and you had a mac because then you both could work on the presentation. I liked how in the lesson plan Choose Your Own Adventure you could choose and option and the presentation changed depending on what you chose. I also like that you could use your students art work in the presentation like they did in the Book Buddies presentation. 

Goggle Docs.

In the past I have only used Microsoft Word for word processing. Tonight I played with the Goggle Docs and really liked it. You can have two people working on the same document from different places. One weakness is that you have to work online and you can't continue to work off line. It was very easy to insert a table or drawing. I also liked that you could comment on the paper without having to change the actual document. The lesson plans had lots of graphs and links in them that you could easily use during the lesson. If you already have the lesson plan pulled up it would not take much time to pull up the additional links or graphs if needed.