Google Slides Add-Ons

Google Slides Add-Ons

Here are some great Add-Ons for Google Slides that might interest you and your students. 

If needed, see this video tutorial on how to install & use Add Ons (first 30 seconds).

Unsplash Photos (link)

Access and use over 300,000 photos with no copyright restrictions.

Insert Icons (link) 

Access and use over 1,800 icons and recolor them too!

PhotoSideShow (link)  

Quickly create a slideshow of your pictures by importing your photos from Drive.
The pictures are automatically added one photo per slide.

Paletti (link)

Choose from over 200 color palettes or create your own palette to use in Slides.

Slides Toolbox (link)    

Offers a variety of tools like quickly exporting multiple slides as individual pictures!

Flat (Music) (link)   

Compose and insert sheet music. 

Pear Deck (link) 

Add interactive elements to engage your learners! 

BONUS TIP: 

I'm often asked how to add music or voice-overs to slides.
Here are some quick tutorials on how to "hack" this to work. 

• Add Music to Your Google Slides
• Add Your Voice to Google Slides

For more ideas, check out this blog post.

New to Drive: Search for Files in Specified Folders

New Search Feature in Google Drive

You can now search for files within just a specific folder and its subfolders.

Note: This feature only works on folders within your My Drive or Team Drive. To search folders shared with you, move them to your My Drive first.

There are several options for accessing this new search feature:

Option 1: Right click on the folder as it appears in the center area:

(Control + Click on a Mac)

Option 2: Click the drop arrow that as appears next to the folder on the folder Breadcrumb Trail:

Option 3: Right click the folder as it appears in the left navigation bar:

(Control + Click on a Mac)

With each of the above options, a search box will appear where you can type in your search terms. The search results will then appear below.

See video for step-by-step directions.

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For more tips for effectively managing you Google Drive, please see our

Manage Drive Tip Guide.

Google Updates & Enhancements

Google continues to evolve its products, so this week, let's take a look at some of the changes they've been making recently. 

1. Explore Coding: This made-by-Google coding site offers simple drag and drop coding projects for students, and the finished products can be downloaded. No account is needed. This is a great way to promote coding with your students.

2. Pear Deck Add-On for Google Slides: Like the Poll Everywhere Add-On featured last week, Pear Deck has a slides Add-On which allows you to embed their interactive slides directly into your slideshow. The unique aspect of Pear Deck is that students "join" your slideshow by entering a code into the Pear Deck student site. This immediately pushes the teacher slideshow out to the students who can interact with the activities on their devices. This is ideal for 1:1 classrooms.

The Add-On comes with 21 free templates that are ready to go. Some of the best templates help facilitate student check-ins where they can indicate how they are understanding the lesson, and teachers can show the results on the screen. This is great formative feedback for the teacher as well as self-evaluation for students. (Note: To access deep analytics, a subscription is required. However, many features can be used for free.) Eric Curtis has a great blog on this Add-On. Check it out here.

To get started, install the Pear Deck add-on for Slides. 

3. Google Sites: You can now add embed codes to Google websites. This allows you to embed activities, videos, H5P content and more directly into your website. (Learn how) Websites are a great way for students to create and show their learning. They are also great for building portfolios.

4. Google Sheets: Google has added natural language generated pivot tables, suggested formulas, waterfall charts and more. (Learn more)

5.  Google Templates for Docs and Sheets: Google has added new templates to help you get started. Sheets includes a nice gantt chart for project management.  (Sheets Templates) The Docs templates may be especially useful and include essays, reports, notes, lesson plans, letters, resumes, brochures, newsletters and more. (Docs templates)  (Learn more)    

6. New Look for Google Calendar: Some of you may have already seen this, but there is a new Google Calendar interface. At this time, you can still opt in or out of it (click . If you'd like to explore some of the new features, explore this blog post.

7. New YouTube Layout and Design: YouTube is getting a makeover too. This Google Official Blog Page discusses some of the new changes. Changes include a new interface and design, removal of the video editor, updates to the mobile app, the ability to speed up and slow down videos as you watch them and more.

In addition to the new controls (click gear to access), also remember that with our new filter settings, you need to "approve" videos in order for your students to be able to view them.

Formative Feedback & Polling Tools

Want to get some quick formative feedback from your learners during your lesson? Here are some free options for you to consider.

Each offers formative feedback and student practice, but the displays and interactions are slightly different. Poll Everywhere is less of a game but embeds into a Google Slideshow and is great for quick feedback or interactivity during a presentation. Socrative can be a game or polling tool and offers nice detailed reports. Kahoot, Quizlet Live and Quizizz tend to be more game based although Quizizz gives nice analytics as well. Choose the tool that best meets your needs.

If you want to learn more, check out the tutorials below or find the On Demand course on formative assessment tools.

Poll Everywhere

• Download and install the app to insert polls directly into Google Slides.
• Learners access a link, respond to your question, and live results appear on screen. No student account is needed.
• Limits to 40 audience members at one time for free. This should meet the needs of most classrooms.
• Choose from a wide variety of question types (MC, word clouds, rank, click image, open-ended, etc.).
• Tutorial

Socrative

• Create pre-made questions and formats or post a question on the spur of the moment with "quick questions."
• Quick question short answers allows students to "vote up" top ideas that are submitted.
• Students enter your class code into the student entry page (no student account needed).
• Students answer your questions.
• You see the results in real time and can export results if you wish.
• Share polls with other teachers.
• Tutorial

Kahoot

• Create game-style quiz activities for your students.
• Students compete to answer the most correct answers in the fastest amount of time.
• No accounts are needed. Just have students log into the student portal and enter your game pin.
• Tutorial

Quizlet Live

• Turn your Quizlet flashcards into collaborative competitions. Team members each get some of the possible answers, and as a team, members need to answer a series of questions by determining which member has the correct answer. Teams need to collaborate to answer all the questions.
• No accounts are needed by students. They simply go to the student portal and enter the game join code.
• Team progress can be displayed to the class.
• Tutorial

Quizizz

• Search database to find a quiz or create your own.
• Students can take quizzes alone or as a team competition.
• You can choose options such as show a timer, summary of correct/wrong answers at the end of the activity, and Memes after answering a question.
• Quizzes can be played live or assigned as homework.
• Students participate at their own pace.
• Review analytics at the end.
• No student accounts are needed. Students go to the join page and enter the game code.
• Tutorial

Chrome Extension Suggestions

Chrome extensions add valuable functionality for both students and staff. Here are a few excellent ones to explore.

Finding Extensions: Search the Chrome Web Store

• You will notice an option to search the ISD728 Chrome Web Store. Only Apps and Extensions located in this area can be downloaded by our students. Staff do not have this restriction.
• If you find an extension for your students that is not on the list, see your tech assistant.

Reading Help

• Read Aloud -- Text to Speech Tool: Highlight words and click the extension to hear it read to you.
• Visor -- Screen Dimmer and Highlighter: Help with eye strain as well as highlight one line of text at a time.
• Mercury Reader-- Remove Distractions: Removes ads and distractions from online material, leaving only text and images.
• Define -- Dictionary: Right click on any word to get a pop-up dictionary and definition.
• Reading Line -- Highlight one line at a time to help guide reading.
• VoiceNote II -- Speech to Text. This extension types what you dictate. You need to copy and paste the text from the tool to your document. Note: Google Docs has this built in as well.
• AlphaText -- Make ornate or hard to read online text simpler and more readable.
• Open Dyslexic -- Change the look of online fonts to assist readers with dyslexia.
• TLDR -- Too Long Didn't Read summarizes any online web article.

Classroom/Teacher Tools

• Stopwatch and Timer -- Just what it says, a quick stopwatch and timer for your screen.
• Goo.gl URL shortener -- Shorten long URL's to make it easier for people to type them in.
• Mail to: For Gmail -- Forces online email links to open in Gmail.
• Copy Folder -- Copy an entire Google Drive folder with all sub-content.
• Picto4Me -- A free program much like Board Maker.
• Nimbus Screenshot -- Capture and annotate screenshots, add arrows, blur areas, etc.

Productivity

• Kami -- Annotate PDF's. Also allows Read Aloud to work on PDF documents.
• DocHub -- Annotate and sign PDF's.
• Screencastify -- Screen recorder for Chromebooks or other computers.
• Pixlr -- A free, online photo editor similar to Photoshop.
• Flat -- Write music scores.
• Ziteboard -- Online whiteboard.
• Geogebra -- Geometry and online graphing tool.
• Scan QR -- Allows you to scan QR codes on a laptop or Chromebook.
• Soundtrap -- Audio recorder and music production studio.
• Print Friendly and PDF -- Turn any website into a PDF and delete elements you don't want included.
• Eye Dropper -- Use the eyedropper to sample and match any color on the internet.
• AudioTool -- Create music online with mixers, loops, drums, etc.
• Hypothesis -- Web and PDF annotation tool.
• Webcam Screenshot -- Take pictures quickly and easily with your web camera.

Finally, one of my favorite extensions is Extensity. This is an extension to help manage your extensions! Easily turn extensions on and off with this tool to keep your computer running smoothly and to avoid having too many extensions on your toolbar.

There are far too many to list here. Search, explore and share with others!

Engage students with Flipgrid

#Flipgridfever is taking off with educators all across the globe!

Advertised as "social learning for everyone," Flipgrid is a simple and powerful video recording tool that allows anyone with a webcam to record video responses in seconds. Creating a basic account is simple and free, and once you have an account, you can quickly create a new grid and topic.

Each topic comes with a direct link to either the grid (class or category of questions) or topic (individual questions). Link it from Seesaw or Schoology for quick access! With the free version, users get one grid, but they can have unlimited topics within that grid. (help center, resources)

Check out this sample Flipgrid and add your response to see how it works! Just click the green plus button and record! Once others have posted, browse their ideas and reply if you'd like. You can even add fun stickers to your profile picture.

Integration Ideas:

Flipgrid has some great integration ideas posted on their website. Here are a few ideas from there and elsewhere.

Classrooms
1. Have students respond to question prompts.
2. Have students record themselves explaining their learning.
3. Community reading. (Check out this world read-aloud shared with me by James Knaresboro.)
4. 15 ways to integrate Flipgrid into your classroom (blog post)
5. 10 ways to use Flipgrid for math (blog post)
6. Facilitate an online debate.
7. Get students thinking about a topic to "prime the pump" for in-class discussion.
8. Have students share what they have learned as an exit ticket.
9. Embed in Schoology (links, pages, assignments, discussions).
10. Link from Seesaw.
11. Share classroom news (different students can post summaries/updates each day/week).
12. Building an elementary Flipgrid community.

PLN + Staff
1. Share positive experiences and success stories.
2. Provide input on educational topics and discussions.
3. Flipped staff meetings.
4. Season's greetings.
5. Staff mixer.

School-wide
1. Have all staff introduce themselves to the community.
2. Share school announcements.
3. Staff thank-yous to the community.

These are just a few ideas. Join the sample Flipgrid to share your ideas!

Assisting struggling readers with text to speech and audio

This week's tip includes a few strategies for using technology to assist your struggling readers. By using these practices, we can help students overcome a challenge in reading to still be allowed to show what they know and continue to be active participants in the learning process.

Digital reading on a Chromebook or with Schoology

• Embed Audio: Use the microphone icon to record yourself reading test questions, assignment directions or class updates. Students who need to hear the text read to them can click on the recording as needed and at their own pace.  (Directions)

• Text to Speech Extensions: Have students use a text to speech Chrome extension like Read Aloud. This can be used for any digital reading, not just Schoology tests, and it allows students to adjust voice, speed, pitch and volume. Students highlight the text they would like read aloud and lick the speaker icon on their extensions toolbar. (Directions)

 

Oral directions for young learners on an iPad or with Seesaw

• Record verbal directions on feed posts: When posting task cards, notes or images to Seesaw, record yourself verbalizing the directions. Those who need to hear them can click the play button below the image or link.

• Audio directions in Seesaw Activities: The new activities feature in Seesaw allows you to record your directions when creating the activity. Student can listen if needed. Icon cues are also great non-verbal support for early readers. (directions)

• QR codes to access audio directions: Teachers can create task cards that also include QR codes. Students who need to hear directions aurally can scan the QR and listen to the teacher read the directions. Students who are strong readers can skip the QR code and just read the directions.

• Embedded Audio in Buncee: This requires a premium account, but Buncee allows teachers to embed audio recordings on each Buncee slide. By using this feature, teachers can embed separate audio directions for each slide (or for several parts of the same slide), thus chunking the learning into smaller parts. Student can access the Buncee through Seesaw or a QR code. (Buncee help center)