Listening Centers Go Digital! Dr. Seuss Read-Alouds in Google Forms

These Dr. Seuss listening activities are ready to use for Read Across America week. Let's celebrate Dr. Seuss's Birthday by listening to some of our favorite books! Print the QR codes or share the links to your students.

Get a printable file here!

Ready-to-Use Learning Stations!

Centers or learning stations are so important in the primary grades! They provide students with opportunities to practice skills either independently or with peers in small groups. Also, this is often a time when the teacher has an opportunity to work with small groups or individual students for the purpose of meeting their unique learning needs. 

These Digital Listening Center Activities created in Google Forms are PERFECT for center or station time! They give students an opportunity to hear a wide variety of texts being read aloud. Students are exposed to language and literature while practicing essential listening skills. Even early and non-readers can enjoy texts being read aloud by fluent models.

Google Form Digital Listening Centers can be shared with students in Google Classroom or any other way you share a link to your students. These activities DO NOT require students to be signed in to their own Google Account, but they will need to have access to YouTube. I like sharing YouTube videos through Google Forms this way because the young students can view the YouTube content without going to an actual YouTube page. I love YouTube, but it does have a lot of distractions and questionable content, especially when it comes to our littlest of learners!

Title:		1) Paste this link in Google Classroom. Students can view the video and vote.	OR 2) Make a copy of the file to be able to edit. Add questions and see your class results!
8:19	Hop on Pop	goo.gl/GhvVBV	Make a copy.
9:38	Dr. Seuss ABC	goo.gl/YibCPR	Make a copy.
4:26	There’s a Wocket in my Pocket	goo.gl/kFeQyT	Make a copy.
10:09	Oh, the Places You’ll Go	goo.gl/9XHFzK	Make a copy.
9:30	Green Eggs and Ham	goo.gl/CJpgHo	Make a copy.
8:35	Thidwick the Big Hearted Moose	goo.gl/tJUWDH	Make a copy.
3:57	The Tooth Book	goo.gl/eTDnsp	Make a copy.

The QR codes and short links above will take your students to my copy of the Form, which will allow students to watch the YouTube videos embedded in the Form, while also giving them a chance to cast a vote as to whether or not they liked the book. A summary of overall votes will be accessible after the Form has been submitted. You may also use the additional links to make your own copy of these Google Forms! By doing this, you'll have access to your own students' votes, as well as have an opportunity to customize the Form by adding questions of your own! One example might be that you may want to add a question to collect your students' names, or have them choose their name from a list so you know who completed the activity! Also, if you have older students, you may want to include short response or reflection questions.

Tip:
If you have a limited number of devices, use a headphone splitter such as this one I found on Amazon so small groups of students can listen to the stories together on one device!

Learn how to make these and other great Google activities for young learners in the Primarily Google Online Course with EdTechTeam Online!

edtech.team/primarilygoogle

#K2CanToo - Design Thinking in First Grade: Tiny Tinkerers Solving Problems!

As a part of the Benchmark Advance ELA unit on technology, our first graders have been exploring how technology helps us. They have read a number of texts that share about inventors and their cool inventions. They have also read how these inventions make our lives better and easier. Some examples have included how technology can help people who can't walk, how technology helps farmers grow and process our food, and how technology helps us communicate.

We watched a Brain Pop Jr. Video on design and engineering. It told us that you need to understand your problem and who it impacts. It showed to brainstorm ideas and then make a plan, and emphasized the point that your first plan doesn't always work! 

We took a dive into Design Thinking together, and they helped me solve one of my biggest problems: having TOO MANY DISHES to wash! We had some conversation with partners to better understand the problem, and then together, we planned out the design of a dish-washing robot! They decided he needed a soap dispenser, a blow dryer, a scrubby wand, and most importantly, to be WATERPROOF!

Then, the kiddos thought of a problem in their life that needed to be solved. They came up with so many important problems! Some needed help cleaning, some needed homework help. One wanted a friend to play video games with him, and another needed help training to be a pro-football player! There were even a couple kids who said their biggest problem was having to clean up after their dog. Who wouldn’t want a robot to do that dirty job?!?!

We drew out our first plan on whiteboards, and then talked to partners about why our problem matters and to get feedback about how our design might be better. We improved our plan and then made our next version on a piece of paper. We colored our robots and event got to make it fancy by adding diode lights and button cell batteries. We didn't have time to actually model or build prototypes, but the kids had a great time exploring the process!

Then, we took a picture on Seesaw. Each student made a recording to describe what their problem was, and how the robot they designed could help solve that problem.

Click to LISTEN to what these FIRST GRADERS have to say!

Sample 1

Sample 2

Sample 3

Sample 4

Presidents' Day Resources for Little Learners!

Let's celebrate the amazing leaders from our nation's past in this collection of Googley Fun Presidents' Day resources and activities for young learners.

K-2 Presidents' Day Collection on Epic Books

Are you using Epic yet? 

Epic Books offers FREE! FREE! FREE! digital text for teachers and students in the classroom. They have thousands of high quality books for students to access on most any device with internet access. It's so user friendly and appropriate for even very young children.

My favorite part about using Epic with young learners is that they have a number of Read-to-Me texts that read books aloud while tracking the words on the page. There are also many audio-only books too! 

If you haven't tried Epic yet, hurry over there and sign up for your free teacher account. A bonus: If you already have a Google Classroom set up, you can import your class and create all of your student Epic profiles in just a couple of clicks! 

K-2 Presidents' Day Hyperdoc - bit.ly/K2Pres

This President's Day Hyperdoc created in Google Slides has young learners explore, create, and SHARE! Remember to make your own copy by pressing "Use Template" in the upper right hand corner. This will make a copy of this file in your Google Drive! Modify and REMIX your new copy to best meet the needs of your students. Delete pages, add pages, substitute tools and activities... make it your own! Then share your copy to your students using Google Classroom or whatever tool you use to distribute content to your students.

Learn more about Hyperdocs and the Teachers Give Teachers Community!

Presidents' Day Google Drawing Time Magazine Cover

Find key details from the informational text about a president and use the facts as snippets on the front of this Time Magazine Cover created in Google Drawings, inspired by the work of Ryan O'Donnell (@CreativeEdTech). Check out more of Ryan's templates! Make a copy of the template and share to students in Google Classroom so that each student gets a copy. 

Presidents' Day Google Form Digital Listening Activities

These Google Form Digital Listening Centers can be shared with students in Google Classroom or any other way you share a link to your students. I also have printable QR codes for each of these Forms below. These forms DO NOT require students to be signed in to their own Google Account, but they will need access to YouTube. I like sharing YouTube videos through Google Forms because the young students can view the YouTube content without going to an actual YouTube page. 

The standard links below will take your students to my copy of the Form, which will allow them to watch the YouTube videos embedded in the Form, while also giving them a chance to cast a vote as to whether or not they liked the book. A summary of overall votes will be accessible after the Form has been submitted. You may also use the additional links labeled below to make your own copy of these Google Forms! By doing this, you'll have access to your own students' votes, as well as have an opportunity to customize the Form by adding questions of your own! One example might be that you may want to add a question to collect your students' names or have them choose their name from a list so you know who completed the activity!

	Duck for President Share this link with your students or make your own copy here.
	Arthur Meets the President Share this link with your students or make your own copy here.
	Presidents' Day by Anne Rockwell Share this link with your students or make your own copy here.
	I Am Abraham Lincoln Share this link with your students or make your own copy here.
	If I Were President Share this link with your students or make your own copy here.
	George Washington, Our First President Share this link with your students or make your own copy here.

Have QR scanners on your devices? Get these Printable QR codes for Presidents' Day Digital Listening Centers.

Learn how to make these and other great Google activities for young learners in the Primarily Google Online Course with EdTechTeam Online!

edtech.team/primarilygoogle