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What is the Global Read Aloud?

The Global Read Aloud was founded in 2010 with the goal of having one book to connect the world. According to the Global Read Aloud website, now over 4 million students in 80 different countries have participated in this event!

Educators selected recommended titles that they’d like to read with students during a 6 week period of time known as the Global Read Aloud. They make efforts to discuss the literature while making global connections.

This year, the Global Read Aloud runs from September 30th to November 8th. There are no age restrictions on the books so educators may select the titles that work best with their students. The Global Read Aloud helps students and educators become part of a global celebration of literacy while demonstrating how technology may allow us to use digital tools positively while communicating and collaborating with a global audience.

Digital Resources and Activities

GlobalReadAloud.com: If you would like to get involved in the Global Read Aloud you may sign up at GlobalReadAloud.com. This website answers many important questions you may have, shares information on this year’s book selections, and offers many resources for you to explore. Make sure to check out the official website of Pernille Ripp. She is the founder of the Global Read Aloud and an expert in literacy and technology integration!

Facebook Groups- Educators have been creating Facebook groups to connect with educators from around the world. Here, you may find lesson plans and amazing opportunities.

Facebook Groups:

• Official Facebook GRA Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/GlobalReadAloud/
• Official Picture Book Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/GRAPictureBook/
• Early Reader Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/GRAEarlyReaders/?ref=group_browse_new
• Upper MS/HS https://www.facebook.com/groups/GRAUpperElementary/?ref=group_browse_new

Twitter– The official hashtag this year is #GRA19. You don’t need to have an account to search the hashtag to view posts with ideas and opportunities. Educators may also participate in Twitter “slow chats” where they may respond to questions about the literature posed by authors, educators and students.

• Diaz Has Something to Say – #GRAStellaFront Desk – #GRAFront
• The Bridge Home – #GRABridge
• The Marrow Thieves– #GRAMarrow
• Picture book author study – #GRAYuyi

Seesaw– There are so many amazing activities for students to discuss this year’s selections when you search the Community at Seesaw. Enter keyword #GRA19 and you’ll find dozens of amazing activities submitted by educators. These activities allow students to share their thinking about the literature and receive feedback from classmates. Many of these wonderful activities were submitted by Seesaw Ambassador @smalchow.

Here are some example activities:

• Mi Familia~ Stella Diaz #GRA19
• Beautiful Alebrijes ~Stella Diaz #GRA19
• Just a Minute by Yuyi Morales (Global Read Aloud GRA19 week 2)
• Nino Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales (Global Read Aloud GRA19 week 3)
• Frida by Yuyi Morales (Global Read Aloud GRA19 week 4
• #GRA19 Niño Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales Global Read Aloud

Flipgrid– Flipgrid is one of the world’s most popular video platforms for allowing students to share their ideas about any topic. Educators may search for pre-made activities in the Disco Library or create their own topics for students to engage and collaborate. Many educators use Flipgrid to create a class or school shared read aloud. Or, another popular option is to discuss literature with classrooms around the world by searching for educators looking to collaborate in the GridPals section of Flipgrid.

How do you use technology to participate in the Global Read Aloud? I’d love to hear about it!

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Looking for a new digital planbook?

School will be in session before we know it and many educators are scrambling to decide which tool to use this year while lesson planning. Over the past few years, I have tried creating lessons using Google Calendar, Docs and Slides templates. Each of these tools makes it super easy to create a template, edit, revise, share and archive lessons.

Last year I tried using Google Sheets and decided this is the tool that best fits my needs as:

• Tabs may be duplicated each week
• You may share an entire Sheet or Tab with admin or co-teachers
• Images are now easily inserted
• It’s easy to merge and wrap cells
• Color coding is easy with the paint bucket

Here’s the link if you’d like to make a copy of the Template. http://bit.ly/SheetsPlanbook

Which tool do you prefer for your digital lesson planning?

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Introduction

The first week of school is around the corner and we are all scrambling for some fabulous ideas for kicking-off the school year and staying organized. Here are five ideas using G Suite for Education!

1: This is Me: Collaborative Slide Deck

Question: How could we have students introduce themselves to classmates and receive instant feedback?

It is so important for students and teachers to introduce themselves and get to know their classmates. Consider asking students (or staff) to create a slide about themselves and add it to a collaborative slide-deck. Then, students and staff may offer comments and feedback using the Commenting Tool. Don’t forget to include your own slide!

Our district’s theme last year was “This is Me! Who are you?” Inspired by music from the movie The Greatest Showman. Students put together the most amazing performance that was recorded and actually went viral. Consider including a video clip of the performance for inspiration using the Google Slides template below. It is so important that we build a community within our school. Sharing our goals, differences, and similarities is a great way to kickoff the school year! Template

2: Student Questionnaire

Question: How could we learn about our students interests and learning styles and share the information quickly with co-teachers?

Receiving input and feedback from students (and parents) is so important for understanding learning styles, study habits and other pertinent information. Google Forms makes it so easy to sort and share the information. Template for elementary school

3: Organize and Share your Classroom Library Inventory

Do you forget which books are in your large classroom library?

Question: How could we make our library searchable by titles, genres and reading levels?

My colleague, Lauren Fitzgerald asked if it could be possible to create a large database of all our reading books, including the genres and reading levels. This would make it incredibly easy to search for materials while lesson planning and sharing with staff. Together, we decided it was time to digitize the classroom library using Google Sheets and Awesome-Tables.com

The first thing we needed to do with create a spreadsheet of our inventory. We then inserted code on a sheet labeled “Template below”. (If you’d like to learn more, my next post will explain how to make this all happen.)

4. Digital Morning Meeting Wall

Question: How could I reinvent my Morning Meeting wall to free up wall space?

Is your Morning Meeting wall taking up too much space? Consider going digital with Google Slides! Not only will you save wall space, you’ll also be able to archive past walls to review throughout the year.

Blog Post: Read post and get the template for editing!

5. Digital Hall Passes

Question: How could I log and sort student hall activity more efficiently?

Do you struggle monitoring student activity using a notebook sign-out system? Consider going digital using QR Codes!

By linking a Google Form to a QR code, students can scan the correct code whenever they need to leave the classroom. All data is then stored into a spreadsheet. The information can then be sorted and shared with parents, co-teachers or administrators.

Want to learn how? Here’s the blog post.

If you want to sort the student responses into separate sheets you can do that! Here’s a video tutorial explaining how:

Looking for more ideas?

Check out last year’s post “10 Smart and Simple Ways to Kickoff the School Year with the G Suite for EDU”

Sparking Innovation

All of these ideas started by asking a simple question: “How could we…?” Special thanks to my colleagues for asking questions and imagining the possibilities.

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Google Slides just recently received the capability to add audio to your slides! Simply click on INSERT and select AUDIO to add a file from your Google Drive. Unfortunately, the ability to upload files from your computer is currently unavailable.

Why add audio?

1. Add audio recordings of thinking and explanations.
2. Add narrations to presentations or digital books.
3. Add audio directions for younger students.
4. Explaining diagrams, maps or information.
5. Add music to enhance presentations.

How may I add audio?

There are hundreds of audio recording tools available, however I prefer to use the Chrome extensions Cloud Audio Recorder or Mic Note as they will save audio files directly into my Google Drive. This will make it simple to insert the audio into my Google Slides.

Step 1: Add the Chrome Extension Cloud Audio or Mic Note

Step 2: Open the app and record audio

Step 3: Save audio into Google Drive. Cloud audio will do that automatically, while Mic Note will need you to switch the Option to Google Drive.

Step 4: Open Slides and go to Insert- Audio. You’re done!

Video Tutorial

Ideas? I’d love to hear from you!