Google Goodness!

Hello new friends! It's Aris from Sailing into Second and I am SO excited to be blogging here with these fabulous 3rd grade bloggers! Here's a little about myself...I'm a CA girl born and raised. I love, love, love living in SoCal and I especially love living by the beach. Spring is pretty warm here, so I get to spend days at the beach just reading and soaking up some sun. :)

I'm also married to a wonderful hubby who is so supportive of all my teaching adventures and stories. We love to travel all over the world and hope to be able to live abroad one day. Here's one of my favorite travel pictures!

I've been teaching in CA for 7 years now and love what I do. I'm in a great school within a wonderful school district...I am one blessed girl! :)

Today I'll be sharing one of many Google tutorials! Up first, how to use Google Drive!

First we have to go over a few things like, "What is Google Drive and how do I use it to help my instruction?" Google Drive is where your files are stored. You can access your Google Drive on any computer or device because your files are secured in the cloud. You even get 5GB of free storage! Google Drive allows you to create, share, and manage docs using Google featured apps. The best part? You can access your files from your computer, phone, or tablet, no matter where you are. That's the cloud system! If you've ever used Microsoft Office (which I'm sure you have), you'll have no trouble getting comfortable with using Drive.

Let's start with the basics like, "How do I access a Google Drive?" First you have to create a Google account HERE. Techy tip...downloading the Web browser Chrome would be great, since there are tons of extensions and features that work hand in hand with Google Drive.

Once you log on, you'll see the Drive home page that looks like the image below. It will allow you to pick from a variety of options like creating a new Google document, accessing your files stored in your Drive, or even viewing files that have been shared with you!

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You'll also find a list of your folders and files stored in Google Drive like the one shown below.

To upload files or folders, simply click on the "New" button and you'll see a file or folder upload option pop up. It will allow you to upload any document or folder right from your own desktop.

Another useful tip is to create folders to keep all your files organized! Creating folders allows you to view, share, and apply changes to multiple files at the same time within that one folder. It's really a time saver!

Techy Tip: When you see the cluster of people icon next to the name of your file or folder, it means you've "shared it" or allowed other people to have access to this file.

And that's Google Drive, my friends! There are SO many cool and techy things you could use Google Drive for. Today was just the basics to help you get started. Join me next time as I dive into Google Docs and show you how I use this tool for writing in my classroom! 

Keep a Consistent Word Work Center

Hello friends and future friends! I am THRILLED that you have visited the iTeach Third website! 

When I was first asked to blog on this site, I literally shrieked with excitement. 3rd grade can be such a challenging year for kids, parents, AND teachers. Especially when you account for the new content and structure of the grade. I am so glad you are here to join us!  If you have any ideas to share, please share in the comments below. 

We are a 3rd grade family, so let's keep it that way! :)

In addition to my bio above let me share a little about ME ;) 

I am originally from Houston, TX and miss it terribly! I LOVE all that a big city entails. My wonderful job, amazing long term boyfriend, and Waco friends keep me sane in this small town. 

My long term boyfriend is an offensive football coach for Baylor University. I LOVE me some football! I apologize in advance if you follow me on instagram because fall has a tad more football pics than normal. It's my life and it's a tad abnormal but I couldn't imagine it any other way. His busy schedule is perfect since it gives me time to lesson plan, write blog posts, and create teaching resources! 

Let's get started to why I'm here! 

I LOVE me some Daily 5. Some days I am a better follower of the sisters than other days. One organizational tip that has saved my sanity is having a hub in my classroom for all things word work. 

As the year progresses, things tend to get a crazy and my centers start looking a little pieced together (it happens don't lie! At least I'm pulling groups ha!). Having one center designated for word work has been one less thing for me to worry about and the fact that it was organized ahead of time really helps me when I'm scraping for time. 

SUPPLIES! 

What drove me NUTS was when children rotated to the word work station and spent 952903309710927120 minutes searching for a red crayon. Here I was trying to work with guided reading and ol' Johnny boy NEEDS that red crayon. 

To make it easier, I created a bin of pencil pouches. Each pencil pouch has crayons, map pencils, markers, AND a sharpener so they don't have to get up. It is SO NICE to see kids just grab a bag and go sit anywhere in the room. To clean up they just put in all back in the bag and can quickly move to their next station .

For some word work activities that involve supplies, I use table caddies to keep the supplies organized. Kids take the caddy and go. If there are no more caddies, they must choose that word work activity next time. This idea can work if you use play-doh, stamps, etc. 

To shake things up, I change out these task cards weekly. Beginning of the year, I create examples with the class. Each week after, I will slowly change one or two task cards after they have been introduced to the class. You can create your own cards by using dry erase pockets, or snag my freebie at the end of this post! ;)

If you follow my blog, then you know that in grades k-4, EVERY student has an individualized spelling list. CRAZY I know, but I have definitely seen the benefits of this since children are being pushed at their own level. To read more about the craziness click {HERE}

If you don't want to create your own, snag this freebie by clicking the button below! 

I hope this gets your gears turning for next year!

How do YOU set of your word work center?

Any tips and tricks I need to know?

Comment below and/or take a picture of your word work center and TWEET it to me (@ambercldrn). 

Or post it on instagram and tag @iteachthirdblog and @ambercldrn

I would LOVE to see it! :)

Using {Powtoon} in the Classroom!

Hey everyone!!

Thank you so much for stopping by iTeach3rd today to learn a new {hopefully} useful idea for your kiddos!! By the way, aren't you just LOVING this blog?? I am so excited to be a part of it and along side some seriously amazing bloggers-who I can now call close friends!

Before I jump right in, let me tell you a little bit about me!

My name is Ashley, and I teach 3rd grade (duh!) in Texas!! I really really love the age and maturity level of third graders. They are little but growing up at the same time! This makes for a fun grade to teach, but as you know can also provide some challenges!

I am newly-ish married to my wonderful husband! We have been together 9 years and married for 1.5! He is a band director here in Texas...for y'all who don't know about Texas..band is HUGE here. He loves his job and is super good at it! He works a lot of late nights, but that's why I have blogging and TPT! ;) He is also super supportive of anything I want to do in regarding to this business. {VEGAS anyone?!}

You might have noticed how I didn't really mention my personal blog...ahem. That is because I am in top secret "Operation Start a New Blog and TPT Store and Facebook and Twitter and Everything Else You Can Think Of" mission that will be announced VERY soon. You might see a little hint on the pictures I post. ;) Stay tuned for that announcement!

OKAY...the real reason why you are here...have you ever heard of Powtoon?! Maybe you have, but have you ever thought about using it in your classroom? Well, I love it!

Powtoon is a great way to have your students create slideshows, movies, and presentations about ANYTHING! and...it's FREE!

I recently used it in my classroom with our environment unit. My students were studying and researching different environments. They had to tell me different plants and animals found there. They also had to report the climate, precipitation, and kinds of interactions you would find in that environment. Instead of having them create a Powerpoint (hey...yall know I love me some ppt!), I had them hop on powtoon!

Now, it does require an email to have an account. My district gave all our students emails this year..we don't use them for actual email, but it was handy to have in this case! If your students don't have an email-just create one for your class!

When they log in they can either chose Animated Presentations or Slideshows...in this case my groups chose slideshows. Powtoon provides templates already ready for you! You can also create your own from scratch.

When they start creating the possibilities are endless! I let mine insert pictures, change the text, and add sound. I limited it at that for now until we get a little more comfortable with it.

I created this planning sheet for my groups to plan out some of the facts and information they wanted to include as well as the elements of their presentation! You can grab it HERE! :)

Here is one of my groups short presentation to the class!

I hope you found this tech tool useful for your classroom! How can you see yourself using Powtoon? Leave some answers in the comments!! I can't wait to hear your ideas!!