Posts Tagged tools

Google Spreadsheet Tooltips – Magic fill and Google Lookup

I just couldn’t wait to share two of the best tips I learned at the Google Teacher Academy and both are used in Google Spreadsheets – Magic Fill and Google Lookup.

Note PC users use CTRL key for Magic Fill, Mac users the ALT key



Also available on Screencast.com

Further resources – Using Google Lookup, Magic Fill

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Posterous – A blog can be for a week

Perfect for Primary classrooms

There are plenty of blogging platforms available that will almost certainly meet the requirements of any blogger. I use wordpress for this website and I am very happy with it but, it just doesn’t do it for Primary school age blogging. I needed a platform that would allow children between the ages of 7 and 9 to blog about their work, quickly and easily. That’s why I chose Posterous.

International Week on Posterous

Posterous allows anyone to post whatever they wish (photos, videos, mp3′s, files and of course text) by email and posterous will take care of the rest. But, set up an account and you can take advantage of so much more. During this week my school is using the theme of ‘International Week’ to promote cultural awareness and our place in the world. I set up internatweek on Posterous as a blogging platform that could be used quickly and easily by the children in my class. The children are using it to blog about their learning, post photos with my iPhone using the brilliant PicPosterous app, record interviews with each other using Easi Speak mics and upload them to the site and embed a Google Earth Map showing where we come from.

Posterous is the perfect blogging platform for Primary classrooms. It’s simple to set up, easy to use and within minutes you are blogging to the world. And it’s perfect for short term projects such as our week long activity.

Blogs don’t have to be for life, they can be for a week. (Thanks to @johnjohston for that)


View Where in the World in a larger map

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ZooBurst to get new features

ZooBurst

I received the following email from Craig Kapp (creator and owner of ZooBurst). I used the feedback form to let him know how useful I was finding the app, how much my class have enjoyed using it and also to find out if there were any advancements coming our way.

ZooBurst - What's coming

Here are the new features

  • integrated audio
  • better character placement
  • improved management controls
  • class management interface to create class accounts, usernames, passwords etc

ZooBurst is proving to be a hit with many teachers (if hits to my first ZooBurst post are anything to go by) and these new features will only increase it’s potential as an effective classroom tool. Roll on the next version!

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Using the World Cup for Maths

My class enjoyed this lesson today. I asked my class to use the statistics from fifa.com to create an excel sheet of the total number of goals scored by each team in the world cup. These are the previous scored goals that got the teams into the tournament. 

 The World Cup is proving to be a hit with everyone, even those not that interested in football. Like the World Cup, it’s bringing everyone together. There are 20 pc’s in our suite at school but lots of children wanted to work together rather than using a pc on their own. Here’s an example of one child’s finished piece of work.

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