I am SO IMPRESSED with the rough drafts of the animal reports I have read so far! I can tell that your kids have been working very hard to find information about their animals. More importantly, they are learning the vital skills of researching, taking notes as they learn, and using their notes to help them organize the information into cohesive sentences and paragraphs! So many budding authors (or scientists!), I couldn't be prouder :).
That being said, I threw another log on the fire of learning today and introduced them all to Google Drive and Google Docs. Every one of the students has their own Google Drive account, but we haven't really used them until now. Needless to say, the kids were all beyond eager to learn how to use it!
Today the students were taught how to do the following:
Every child in class today created a cover page for their report (so they could put their newly learned skills to use) and some also began to type up their introduction page. I am telling you this because documents automatically save in their Google Drive so, if you/they would like, you can simply keep working from there to create their final draft.
Another AMAZING thing about using Google Drive is that you can SHARE their work with me (please allow editing privileges) and I can comment on their final as they complete it. One student was so excited, he actually logged on to his Google Drive this evening and already shared his whole report with me! I have made comments on each page in the side bar so he can see what he still needs to fix. Once he does that, it's just a matter of adding pictures and he is done! By sharing your work, you will get more instant feedback and we waste less ink/paper.
To share a document:
That being said, I threw another log on the fire of learning today and introduced them all to Google Drive and Google Docs. Every one of the students has their own Google Drive account, but we haven't really used them until now. Needless to say, the kids were all beyond eager to learn how to use it!
Today the students were taught how to do the following:
- create a new document
- title a document
- add text
- change font styles
- change text colors
- add pictures
- center text and pictures
- underline text
Every child in class today created a cover page for their report (so they could put their newly learned skills to use) and some also began to type up their introduction page. I am telling you this because documents automatically save in their Google Drive so, if you/they would like, you can simply keep working from there to create their final draft.
Another AMAZING thing about using Google Drive is that you can SHARE their work with me (please allow editing privileges) and I can comment on their final as they complete it. One student was so excited, he actually logged on to his Google Drive this evening and already shared his whole report with me! I have made comments on each page in the side bar so he can see what he still needs to fix. Once he does that, it's just a matter of adding pictures and he is done! By sharing your work, you will get more instant feedback and we waste less ink/paper.
To share a document:
- Log in to your Google Drive
- Open the document you want to share
- Press the "share" button (top right usually)
- Make sure it says "can edit"
- Enter my email address: [email protected]
Finally, although the children and I are really excited about Google Drive, using it to type up their final report is completely OPTIONAL. If your child wishes to type their final draft, they can use any document program (the benefit of Drive is sharing it with me for feedback). In fact, students are not required to type their final report at all. It is perfectly acceptable to write it (with neat handwriting) and add or draw pictures of their own. I will provide paper templates for the final draft for all students to use if they choose to.
There will be more information going home about this on Monday, but I know all of the students today were really enthusiastic about it, so I wanted to follow up with a little bit of information from "a grown up".
Please comment or email me if you have any questions at all.
There will be more information going home about this on Monday, but I know all of the students today were really enthusiastic about it, so I wanted to follow up with a little bit of information from "a grown up".
Please comment or email me if you have any questions at all.