Did you miss me? It’s so nice to be back to blogging after the April break! Of course, even though we take a break, technology does not and in the last two weeks there have been some great updates and discoveries! Would you like to share items, but take away the ability to “File Make a Copy” or just display it so the menu bars are gone? Do you mis topics in Google Classroom? How about putting SOUND CLIPS on Google Slides? Well, this ALL HAPPENED over break! Either Google released it or I happened upon it for the first time. Either way, some great learning has come of it! I also saw some COOL things from colleagues Ben Healey and Dana Goldstein! Check it out below!
Google Preview – WHAT?! 
This one, as Dana Goldstein calls it, is a GAME CHANGER. Do you write your morning messages or different problems in Slides, Draw, or Docs? Well, get it to appear full screen without a menu around the sides! Do you want to show kids something, but you DON’T want them to make a copy?
Take a look at Dana Goldstein’s Google Drawing item that she displays full screen.
Schedule that Gmail! 
I was a HUGE fan of Boomerang – but now, I will no longer need it. Take a look at how to SCHEDULE your Gmail!! This is an AWESOME feature! Do you send out a newsletter on Fridays? Well schedule it to send earlier in the week! No longer do we need to set reminders of when to send that email, simply schedule it with the new feature! Take a look below!
Audio Clips in Slides – FINALLY! 
This week Google Slides released an amazing update – voice over or sound clips NOW in Slides. This has been lacking in slides before now, and it a great feature of PPT. Joli Boucher of Plymouth did a great video (posted below) and blog post about this great feature! Check it out AND if you want to try it, reach out! Let me know if you need help OR how it goes when you try it!
Images in Sheets – within Cells! 
There is SO MUCH you can do in Sheets…but I’ll focus on that in another post. Take a look here at a new feature, inserting images (easily) into cells! Woohoo!
Chromebook Simulator 
This is pretty cool – and a new release. Have you ever wanted to see how something appears on a Chromebook, or model a keyboard shortcut on your board, but you cannot? Well, this is a Chromebook Simulator
Google Classroom – Topics are BACK 
One of the features we SADLY missed in Classroom were topics…well as of this week they are BACK! They are located in the Classwork page (not the stream). If you do your work out of the Classwork page topics will come in handy!
Tip of the week – AWESOME Jeopardy PPT 
THANK YOU BEN HEALEY for this find! Check out this cool Jeopardy game. It IS in PowerPoint (since it has some cool features that just don’t run in Slides). It’s a great template and anyone can edit it for their needs!
PHEW THAT’S A LOT! 
What little tip do you have? Any new discoveries? Give yourself a goal of trying just ONE new thing each week, and by the end of the year – you’ll have 40 new things (A school year is about 40 weeks, teachers need breaks too)!
Take care everyone and reach out! I love seeing you!
oFISHally Yours,
Erin Fisher 🐟 🐟 🐟