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Google Tools for Schools

Google Tools for Schools

Presentation slides:

• NYLA-SLMS presentation in May 2009
• WSWHE BOCES - August 2009

Keeping up with Google

• Google for Educators - tips and information specifically for educators. Classroom activities, posters, news and more.
• More Google Products - Directory of Google tools and services
• Google Labs - More Google tools & services under development
• Google Help Center
• Google Blog
• Google Blog for Students
• Press Center
• Google Librarian Central - intermittent updates, not as active as the educators group.
• Posters & Bookmarks

First Things First

     Get a Google Account Here

News

• News Timeline - New in Google Labs. Select from many sources: news, blogs, photos, Time, Wikipedia, quotes and more. Select time frame (1800, 1500, 1952, etc.) And frequency: day, week, decade, etc.
  • Oil Pollution
  • Barack Obama Quotes - view by week over the last decade.
  • Meryl Streep - Movies
• Google News

Image Search

• Image Search - Search by color is new. Select color from menu bar just below the search box.
• Advanced Image Search
  • Content Type - handy to limit to News Images, clip art, etc.
  • Limit by License type to find images you can safely reuse without copyright infringement.
• Similar Images - New in Google Labs. Click on "similar images" link below some images to see a selection of images that have a similar color, shape, theme.
• LIFE Photo Archive - Great archive of photos from LIFE magazine. Browse or search.
  • To search by decade: 1790s 1890s etc.
  • In regular google image search,. limit to LIFE collection with:  source:life
• Image Labeler - make image search better, add labels to images.

More!

• iGoogle
• Google Reader
• Google Calendar
• Google Maps
• Google Earth
  • Google Lit Trips - maps and literature
• Google Books
• Google Docs
• Google Scholar
  • Google Scholar search box for your web page 
• Google Sets - Enter a few words, Google will try to create a list of similar items. Great for creating wordsearch puzzles. themed crosswords, etc.
• Google Guide Teen Cheat Sheet - quick guide to google search strategies.

Teaching Ideas

• Choose Your Own Adventure Story - Literacy lesson plan for grades 4-6 by Susan Ross. Project uses Google Docs - Presentations to create a story with 4 endings. Students work in pairs to create the stories and the presentation slides. Includes details on how to link from one slide to another. Student example: The Smallest Alien
• Class Collection of Book Reviews - Detailed lesson plan by Carol LaRow for grades 7-9. Students write reviews of 2 books. Reviews are written and shared via Google Docs.  

• Google Apps Lesson Plans - Selection of classroom-ready lesson plans for all grade levels and subject areas.
• Classroom Activities - Collection of tips and ideas for using various Google services and tools in school.

Great Google Poster - by Joyce Valenza

Click on items on the poster to go to the various Google search services. Include this poster on your own web pages, blogs and wikis! Visit  Joyce's blog post for more info and the code. (Note that I squished the poster a bit for this page, the full poster is larger and clearer!)