"OOOOOHHH AAAAH!"

This is the reaction I got when I told my fourth graders that we were going to be starting a collaborative project on North Carolina using Google Presentations. They love working in groups, of course, so this was right up there alley. Being a self proclaimed Google Girl, I use Google Drive all the time! It's just so easy to use and share! But I haven't used it much with my students for creating, mostly because they don't have their own Google Drive accounts. But, after talking to a few of my teacher "idols", I decided to give it a whirl. I created a Google Presentation for each group and shared it with them for editing. We discussed proper use of the documents and how to use the chat feature (which they love). The students were amazed that they could sit at their own individual computers and work with 3 others scattered around the room. They were actually communicating and discussing their project more by using the chat feature than they usually do simply talking about it. It was so great to see them collaborating and working together that I shared the links with a teacher in Pennsylvania. He let his 8th graders look in while my kids were working. They sent a nice message in the chat box thanking my kids for sharing and how great they were doing! My kiddos were ecstatic!!! All their little chests poked out and their chins raised with pride that 8th graders in another state were commenting on their work! They should be finishing their presentations next week and then we will be presenting them to the class (and possibly on UStream) the next. I'm sure this is only the first of many Google Docs projects we will be doing!

Going Ga Ga for Google Docs

So my new favorite toy...I know I say that about everything...but it is!...is Google Docs! What a great tool to use with the kids! Google Docs is a free online version of a word processor, spreadsheet, multimedia presentation, and database all in one website! They look similar to the Microsoft Office software, only you don't have to pay out the wazoo to own it. All you have to do is sign up for a free gmail account. What I really like is that they are all web based. Therefore, they are easy to get to from any computer, as long as you have Internet access. Students without Microsoft Office can still create on the computer!

One of the best perks of Google Docs is the form tool. The form can be used to create surveys, which can be emailed out. The results are automatically sent to a spreadsheet so that the answers can be reviewed. I have used the form for many different things. I had my 4th graders come up with 4 new flavors of ice cream for an imaginary ice cream company. They then created the survey and emailed it out to the teachers. When they came back to me the next week, all of their results were in the spreadsheet for them to then analyze! It took a boring paper and pencil lesson and jazzed it up! I have also used them as a technology issues form for my teachers. Whenever they have a problem, they fill out the form and it emails me. Very simple!

As you can tell, Google Docs has so much to offer! Why $200 for software anymore when something better is right at your fingertips!?


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