Some many Google Gadgets and so little time!
Let's see...which ones do I focus on for this post...
Google Alerts - I happen to use this one just this week. A friend was killed in a tragic accident, so I made sure that I would receive any new information that was posted on the Internet. My husband uses this great resource to keep tabs on the activities of our college age nieces...honors, productions, etc.
iGoogle - I love the flexibility I have in creating a page with all of "my stuff". I can access my e-mail, find out the local weather, monitor my calendar, read news feeds, and chat with my friend in Thailand all from this one page.
Google Docs - What a cool way to create and share documents. I especially love the survey creation tool. All of the information can be easily posted into a spreadsheet once the requested participants complete the survey. How cool! Plus the fact you can create a wide variety of questions and answer possibilities.
Last, but by no means least...I guess my ABSOLUTE favorite...Google Earth. I have used this resource so many times with my Pre-K students over the past two years. They love "flying" across the ocean to different countries. When we were studying cultures of other countries, the students could see how far countries such as Australia, Africa, and China are from Texas. Going from the actual globe in my library to the Internet and Google Earth, I believe my students will be able to remember this unit of study better than others because of the experience of "flying" around the world. When we studied the winter Olympics back in 2006, I flew my students from our campus (the rooftop) to the stadium in which the opening ceremonies took place. They were amazed when we compared the pictures of the opening ceremonies to the actually building we could see on Google Earth. It was an experience I will always remember because of their excitement over the unit.
3 comments:
What you described doing with google earth is exactly what I hope to do next year in my library! We are getting a smart board and I hope that I will get the hang of using it quickly! Thanks for the motivation!
I would love to be able to do something for the upcoming summer games, but I don't think I will be able to pull it off so early in the school year. I might try something, but I think I might be pressing my luck a little.
Good luck to you.
That's an awesome idea....flying to the Olympics! I'm going to try that at my libraries, too!
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