Ninja Notes

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Google Education

Saved by the Bell Ringers in Upper Elementary

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It can be difficult to use every momemt of your instructional time, but bell ringers might be the key in upper elementary. We use them in every subject area to make transitions smoother, keep behaviour on track and to ignite the learning for our students. Come read about how we use bell ringers in our classroom.

Your class trickles in as you watch the time tick away and the punctual crowd starts to get restless. A student hands in work, another tells you all about the taco salad they had for lunch, while two others argue over which of two seemingly identical chairs is theirs. Does this sound familiar to you? It sounds like bell ringers might be the solution!

Bell Ringers Can Take Back That Wasted Time

Silent reading is a great way to start the day or for use during transitions. But maybe you want to shake things up? Or you want to make every minute of the day count. Bell ringers help to get things rolling from bell to bell. Read on to find out how we use them in our classroom and all the different types of bell ringers that can work.

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More Advanced Tech Skills You Should Teach Your Students

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Once your upper elementary students are using technology in the classroom or for distance learning regularly, you might need to teach them some more advanced tech skills to help them be more productive. Come check out this list of skills your students will need to use technology efficiently and effectively.

With more and more students having to complete their schoolwork online, there are some advanced tech skills you should teach your students to help make both your life and their lives easier. Technology often comes quite naturally to the generation that can usually set up a device or figure out a new video game within minutes, but the technology we use in the classroom is often more related to productivity tools and isn’t as intuitive.

What skills do you find you have to teach over and over again? We made a list with our students and then made list for you.

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Must Know Tech Skills You Should Teach Your Students

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When distance learning became the norm, we were grateful for teaching our students some basic tech skills so they could navigate Google Classroom and use the tools for their learning. Come read out list and grab a free checklist so you can make sure your students have the basics whether they are working in class or online.

When the pandemic hit, we realized how grateful we were that we had taught our students some must know tech skills that they could use to navigate distance learning. While it wasn’t always smooth sailing, our students were able to get through the basics because they were already familiar with most of the tools we were using.

One thing we changed was how we teach basic tech skills to our students. Gone are the days where we teach students how to use a program. This wasn’t helpful because things change so frequently. Instead, we started teaching students that most programs use the same symbols and features to do similar things. We taught these skills instead and it made all the difference.

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How to Use Google Meet to Run a Book Club

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If you like to run Book Clubs in your upper elementary classroom, then you should try using Google Meet to run them. Come read through our post to see how we put these in place and get yourself some useful tools to make it all go easier.

Are you looking for a twist on a Book Club to help spice up your reading instruction? Using Google Meet can be just the twist you need to get students reading, writing and talking about books. If you’re teaching reading, you need to give this a shot!

The point of book clubs is to have students (or people) read the same book together and then discuss the book. It is not about reading a book and then doing comprehension questions. No one wants to do that (or mark that). It’s about fostering a love of reading for life.

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Use Google Classroom to Make Your Life Easier

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Do you use Google Classroom for your everyday lessons? If not, you might want to consider trying it to get your in class or online learning organized. Learn some of the basics to set it up and get started with this post, which includes some must know tech skills for yourself and your upper elementary students.

When the pandemic hit and classes needed to jump online, we were so thankful that we’d been spending the past few years teaching our students how to use the technology in our classroom and at home through Google Classroom.

If you haven’t tried it yet, you should. There are other Learning Management Systems out there, but Google is relatively easy to use, and it’s free. If your students already know how to use other Google Tools, it’s really not much different.

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