Google Docs Add-Ons - EasyBib

Google Apps for Education has recently released something new to Google Docs and Sheets.  Add-ons are similar to extensions for Chrome, but they are only for Docs or Sheets.  They are very easy to find!  Open a Doc or Sheet and you will notice "Add-ons" in the tool bar.  Clicking on that will take you to an interface that looks similar to the Chrome Webstore.

One of these Add-ons is EasyBib.  EasyBib is a web tool that allows users to input some basic source information and it will produce a bibliography entry for the source.  Better yet, it will add it right to your Doc with another click of a button.

It is a great tool!  We have seen it in action already!  It does need some permissions to add it to your Doc. It is a trustworthy site and the permissions are minimal.  Some other add-ons ask for several permissions.  I am still learning about these and will update when more is known.  Until then, enjoy EasyBib!

Thanks to Tricia LaRue on for sharing this quick tutorial on YouTube.

More Google Tips and Tricks

After attending the Google Apps for Education Summit last month, I am more convinced than ever of how much Google can do for education.  The summit was amazing and the learning, although overwhelming at times, was great!  There are so many different things that you can do with Google.  Here is another link with tips and tricks.  It says it is for teachers, but anybody can use most of them.  Thanks to @gregesteves for the tweet with the link!

Google Tips and Tricks

Bell Let's Talk Day

It is always nice to see large corporations supporting worthy causes.  Today is an example of just that.  It is Bell Let's Talk Day.  For any text message, mobile and long distance call made, Facebook share of the Bell Let's Talk logo, and any tweet with the hashtag #BellLetsTalk Bell is donating five cents to mental health initiatives. This is a worthy cause because mental health impacts the lives of everybody either directly or indirectly.  It is a topic that more people need to learn about and become aware of.  Unfortunately, the stigma that goes with mental illness prevents many people from talking about it.

Through events like Bell Let's Talk Day, awareness is being spread and more and more people are learning that they can talk about it.  Last year some students did an amazing job in contributing to the awareness with their video project called Let's Talk Mental Illness - A Grade 9 Awareness Video. The importance of talking about something like this cannot be stressed enough.  Hats off to Bell and anybody else raising awareness for such an important cause!

For more information about Bell Let's Talk Day visit their website here.
For resources for young people and/or parents and educators about mental illness and mental health, please visit the Teens on Mental Health blog.

Google Tips - Offline Accessible Google Apps

The ability to customize Google Chrome to fit your needs is one of the biggest draws to the browser.  Adding apps and extensions can make many of things you do or use just one click away.  What many people might not know about, however, is that there are several apps that can be used while offline.  These can come in very handy in places you do not have WiFi access.  You can find these apps by checking out the Chrome Web Store or by clicking here.

Google Tips - Table Borders in Docs

If you are used to using a processor like Microsoft Word, then working with Google Docs will seem quite different.  At first it seems like Google Docs cannot do as much as Word.  The more you play around, however, the more you will find it actually can do.  You just have to know where to look.

For instance, how do you hide the borders of a table on Docs?  On word this is simple.  On Docs, it can be done as well, however.  Right click on the table, click on table properties, and set border width to zero.

Class Calendar

This is a reminder to students and parents that the class calendar is up and running.  This is the agenda for the class as it contains homework, reminders, important dates and due dates.  It is easy to sync your mobile phones and/or i Pods to have access at your fingertips.  This calendar will help everybody stay in the loop of what is going on in class.

Update on the Chromebooks

The junior high class has been using their new Chromebooks for a few weeks now!  The little hiccups are working themselves out and it is turning into the great pilot project we all knew it would be.  Students are getting acquainted with Google Apps and they are learning how some of the applications (like Google Docs) differs from programs they had become accustomed too (like Microsoft Word).  

The 100 Word Challenge is still going strong and the Chromebooks have made the completion of the weekly posts much smoother.  If anybody is interested in checking out the 100 Word Challenge they can visit the website at http://100wc.net/ or they can simply click on some of the students blogs along the side of this page.

Google Tips - Research Tools

As the school year takes off and the classes are back and into a routine, so to is the use of technology in the junior high class.  Last year, the junior high got to try out everything Google has to offer.  It is quite unbelievable what they can do with it.  Here is another handy video of some of the things you can do using Google Docs.

Google Class Calendar

A Google class calendar has been created to keep students and parents informed on everything that is going on with the junior highs.  All students currently have access to it and are reminded to check it daily for any homework, reminders or events happening at school.  Think of it as your agenda.  If you have a smart device, you are in luck.  You can link your calendar to you device and have all the reminders at your fingertips.

Welcome Back!!

Welcome back to another school year!  It is hard to believe how quickly the summer break came and went!  Nevertheless, students and teachers are back and ready to work harder than ever!  This means there will be some new additions to the class, which means there will be some changes to this blog.  New students' blogs will be found in the "Students' Blogs" section.  Incase anybody would like to read some work from students who have left, they can do that to.  Their work can be found in the "Alumni Blogs" section.

This school year, this blog will be the place to come to check out the digital textbooks, current and former students' work, as well as helpful links to other sites and videos for information pertaining to what students will be using this year.  Check back often to keep on top of what the class is up to!  Have a great school year!

New Addition to Junior High Smarts

UPDATE - The students have been doing some excellent work this year!  Some of this work has seen the creation of blogs.  The first entries are: "Why is it Hot in Here?"- a Science blog looking at the conversation of different forms of energy into thermal energy. "Teens on Mental Health" - a blog that began as a small current events project that turned into something much bigger.  This blog includes a student made mental health awareness video aimed at teen mental health, as well as resources and links for young people and educators and a comment section in which a conversation can take place.  The links can be found below the student blogs.

Why is it Hot in Here?

This blog was made by Patrice, Wyatt, Lanny, Brandon, Nathan. The blog is about seven different types of energy.  It describes and shows how the types of energy can be converted to thermal energy. We did this blog to show how “clean” and not so clean energy can be converted to thermal energy. This blog was fun creating but had some difficulties along the way.

 http://whyisithotinhere.blogspot.ca/

Just Sledgin'

The annual sledge hockey day has now come and gone.  It is usually a highlight for the year.  The junior highs get to spend some time at the rink, strapped into a sled, playing a game that is quite unfamiliar to them. They gain an appreciation for the difficulty of the sport and those who are able to play it well.  It is not easy, but it is always a blast!  This year, we were able to take some pretty cool video footage of the day using a Go Pro Hero 3 camera.  Take a look!

Harlem Shake - Room 113 Edition

Almost everybody who has spent some time on the internet in the last month has stumbled onto a Harlem Shake video or two (or 1000).  At first, we were not quite sure what to make of this.  The more we watched, however, the more it looked like fun.  As a result, one afternoon, we took some time and made our own.  We took about four takes and it was done.  It was a lot of fun (and easy) and it was great for the classroom culture.  This is good group of kids!

Update - Blog, 100WC

The class blog has been up and running for a few days now!  We are glad to report some updates.  As you can see, the students' blogs are all now linked to the class blog.  Parents, classmates, friends and other visitors can now check out what everybody is writing.  We are excited to say that we are not a part of the 100 Word Challenge.  Students work is currently posted at 100wc.net and there are more to come.  We will continue to post class challenges as well as other bits and pieces.  Check back whenever you can and definitely, let us know what you think!

100 Word Class Challenge #1 - Results

 Our class did our first 100 Word Class Challenge this week.  The students came up with the prompts:

Killer

Zebra

Suddenly

Spoons

Each student wrote a 100 word piece and posted it to their blogs.  They voted on their favorites for this challenge and the posts from Ferron and Stefanie were chosen.  They can be found here or on their blogs.  Make sure to check out the other students posts as well.  They can be found on their blogs.

One lazy afternoon my crazy family and I decided to go to the zoo! We all packed in to the car and headed to Calgary. We arrived at the zoo I leaped out of our red minivan! I was so excited that I almost peed! My mom came up behind me and scared me! Then she handed me five spoons and a big bowl of ice cream. I took the ice cream and walked over to see the zebra. Suddenly the zebra turned around and walk over to me, we shared my ice cream! It was killer! It was the best zoo trip ever. (Ferron)

One Monday morning, I was sitting in my desk reading my book when my teacher spoke up, “Ok class, put your books away.” I noticed his voice getting deeper and he had a long black and white stripe across his neck. Suddenly, his legs and eyes started twitching out. What was happening? Next thing you know, my teacher, Mr. Lachapelle, started walking on four legs, making weird animal noises! He was a zebra! He opened his desk with his tail and pulled out a box of jelly-belly’s along with some spoons. He stabbed the box vigorously with the spoons. He was a jelly-belly killer! (Stefanie)

100 Word Challenge

As I was browsing the web looking up some interesting activities for Language Arts, I stumbled on the 100 Word Challenge.  Honestly, I wish I would have found this sooner!  It is an awesome way to get students to write.  Essentially, each week students are given a prompt or some sort from the 100 Word Challenge website (100wc.net).  This prompt can be a word, a group of words, a phrase or a picture.  The students are then challenged to create a piece of writing that must include this prompt in some manner.  The challenge is they are only allowed 100 words (plus the prompt word or words).     The prompt for this week, for example, is "out of the blue...".  Since this phrase is four words, the students' story should be 104 words.

The 100 Word Challenge is a world wide challenge.  Students work is posted to their blog which is a part of a class blog.  The post link is then uploaded to 100wc.net and it becomes visible for other challengers to view.  Students are encouraged to view each others post and comment.  This presents an excellent opportunity to teach and practice digital citizenship. 

We have recently started blogging in class.  Blogging has got the students excited about writing.  The first time they noticed that somebody from another country viewed their page, they were hooked.  As their teacher, I get just as excited to see their reactions.  The 100 Word Challenge seems like an excellent way to build on this.  Although their blogs will be used for other assignments, we look forward to getting started on the 100 Word Challenge.  We have not signed up as of yet.  We are still learning about blogging, but we have done our own class challenge.  Students have written a post and are currently commenting on each others work.  This will provide the practice and understanding they will need when we do begin the actual challenge.

This is our class blog and the links to students' blogs will be on here soon.  Stay tuned and visit often.  The students would love to hear your comments!

Welcome to the Junior High Class Blog

This is the blog for the junior high class of 2012-2013.  We are a small group consisting of students from grade seven to grade nine.  Recently, each student has begun their own blog.  They will be using them for different class assignments.  There is a lot of excitement over their new blogs!  Everybody is curious to see how many people have visited their posts and from where in the world they have done so.

Students' blogs will soon be linked to this class blog. We will be using our blogs to express our writing and thoughts and hope to hear what you think.  Students' writing might be something from Lanaguage Arts, but it could also include other subjects.  This is something new for us, but we are excited!  We hope to learn, practice digital citizenship, and share.  Please feel free to comment on their work, make suggestions, recommendations or provide comments or constructive criticism.

Happy Blogging!