Slides Carnival

I am a big fan of most things Google and I do think that Google Slides is definitely one of the most versatile tools you can use as a teacher. The one thing that I get a bit critical of within Google Slides is their lack of “Themes.” The themes are on the right side of your page when creating a new Google Slides.

If you’re like me and you get tired of the same ol’ look of your slideshows, you might want to check out Slides Carnival.

Slides Carnival provides free Google Slides themes and focus on communicating your ideas in your presentations. Their professional designs cover all styles from playful and creative to formal and business presentations. You’ll find that all templates are completely customizable and easy-to-edit. Use them freely for your own presentation needs (personal or commercial), use right away as a Google Slides theme or download as a PowerPoint template and continue working on your computer.

Once you’ve chosen the theme you would like to use, you simply click on it and then select “use as Google Slides Theme.” Then you will be prompted to “Make a Copy.” It’s that easy.

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As always, if you have any questions or concerns about implementing any type of technology in your classroom, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly through email (lawsonj@talawanda.org) or by submitting a Technology Integration Ticket on the Talawanda Web Portal. Have a great day!

Flippity

It’s that time of year again…time to get out the flashcards, review notes and practice tests to help students prepare for the upcoming assessments. Lucky for us teachers, there are many quality tools available now to liven up this typically dull process such as Kahoot! or Formative. However, you may be looking for an even faster, easier way to create digital flashcards, Jeopardy review games, Mad Libs, and more without any work except typing the information. If this sounds helpful, you should check out Flippity.

Flippity easily turns any Google spreadsheet into a scavenger hunt, a badge creator, a spelling quiz, a memory game, a word search, and more.  Click here to visit their webpage or click here to get the add-on for Google Sheets.

Want student teams to see how far they’re progressing on an extended project? Use the Progress Indicator to quickly show them what percentage of tasks they’ve completed.

Need to make sure you’re calling on students equally? Add their names to the Random Name Picker.

There are even templates for creating a badge tracker to help gamify your classroom.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns about implementing any type of technology in your classroom, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly through email (lawsonj@talawanda.org) or by submitting a Technology Integration Ticket on the Talawanda Web Portal. Have a great day!

Gimkit

Gimkit is a group quiz based formative assessment tool that I’ve heard described as “Kahoot on Steroids.”   Gimkits are relatively easy to set up and are pretty fast-paced.  Unlike other solutions in this space, Gimkit has a motivating monetization component where students build up in-game cash that can then be used to purchase in-game upgrades.  As an added bonus for Quizlet users, you can also paste any Quizlet into Gimkit.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW a quick video walkthrough of Gimkit.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns about implementing any type of technology in your classroom, please don’t hesitate to contact me directly through email (lawsonj@talawanda.org) or by submitting a Technology Integration Ticket on the Talawanda Web Portal. Have a great day!