Homophone Worksheets made by Students

Today in class I taught my students how to make 'Self Marking Forms' after getting them to complete the one I shared earlier last week. It was pretty successful and they have done a pretty good job. These will be put on our class site where students will be able to access and complete when they have finished spelling and writing work. I plan to keep adding so there are lots of options for them. These ones are only homophone sheets but hopefully we will get creative and make a whole range over the term. Click on the links to make a copy if you want.

Teacher Help - Writing

I love teaching writing but I get frustrated when so many kids need help and there is only one of me to go round. This term I am going to trial a Teacher Help Form. At the end of writing sessions I will get the kids to complete the form - you can make a copy below. It will ask the following: 

Teacher Assistance *

Happy with where I am at

Have started but have hit a speed bump - need you to swing by my table for quick chat

A little bit lost - can I have a conference please?

Totally lost - HELP ME!!!

Finished draft, proof read and edited - conference please.

I will then be able to make a plan of attack for the next day. I am thinking I will be able to catch up with kids who need help if I have any other 'free' time in class. This could be after a reading session, before school, or if I some how manage to find a few free minutes during the day.

Keeping track of this will also help me see what kids are always asking for feedback and help me keep track of who I have seen as in the Google Sheet I will be able to make notes.  Fingers crossed it will make giving feedback in writing easier.

**Click here to create a copy of form**

EasyBib Bibliography Creator

Easybib Bibliography Creator is an add on for Google Docs and Slides and is an automatic bibliography citation generator. It is easy to use and will get students into the habit of citing work correctly, something they will need to do later in life.

If I had this tool when I was at university it would have saved me hours! Type in the name of the book, article or website you have been using, click search and then add to bibliography. It really is that easy.

Watch the short video for instructions.

Using Forms to Create Self Marking Worksheets

An idea I have been playing around with is using Forms for worksheets, flipped learning or reinforcement activities. This is one I have created that I will trial with my students in the first week on homophones. You can make Forms into quizzes so as soon as the students have completed it they can get instant feedback and see what they got right and wrong. You can also embed YouTube Videos, pictures and links. My goal (if it works with the students) would be to create a whole folder of these on different things. I will also get my higher groups to create Forms for other students. This could range from punctuation, spelling rules - the list is endless. 

You can use Flubaroo to mark Forms so I will be trialing this over the next few weeks also to see what works best with my class. I will follow up on that in the next few weeks. 

** Create a copy here** There, their and they're Form

Force Copy

When I share some a Google Form, Doc, Slide or Sheet with colleagues or fellow teachers you will normally see this screen:

This means I am forcing people to make a copy so I don't have to share it with them. This is easy to do and means you don't have to share, risk them making unwanted changes or give access to lots of people. Below is a very short video showing you how to do this.

**You will need to change the sharing settings I think for anyone with the link before you do what I show you in the video**

Using Google Forms to Create a Reading Log

Google Forms are great to create digital Reading Logs for your students. What is even better is you can create a Reading Log for each week of the term, or the year, and have all of the data go into one Google Sheet. Each week will be on a separate tab at the bottom of the sheet. Not only does this enable me as a teacher to track the reading habits of my students, but it also gives me evidence of their reading for them and their parents if needed.

Each week I send out the Form for the week using Google Classroom. In previous years I have just had it on my class website for the kids to access.

**Google Form Reading Log Template**

Google Forms for Reflections/Goals

Google Forms are great and I am trying to use them in class to make things easier for myself and my students. Having seen a Form online that a teacher completes after every guided reading session (to keep evidence for themselves) I have made a couple of forms to use for weekly reflections. Copies can be made at the bottom of the post.

One is titled 'Weekly Reflection' and I see my students completing this every Friday afternoon. This will give them the chance to reflect on their week and set a goal for next week, and also give me some information about things they might have found too easy or challenging.

The other is titled 'My Learning this Week - Maths' and is specific to maths. This gives me feedback on how the students learning went during the week, if things were too easy or hard, and gives them a chance to ask for more help on something the following week.

Hopefully that gives you an idea of how you can use forms in your class. If you have any great ideas please leave a comment as I would appreciate more ideas.

COPY OF WEEKLY REFLECTION

COPY OF MY LEARNING THIS WEEK  - MATH

Save as Doc - Turn a Google Sheet into a Google Doc

This video will show you how to turn a Google Sheet into a Google Doc. I use this to give my students their feedback on their speeches when I mark them in Google Forms.

**Note** If you do not have the add on click on Get add-ons and search for Save as Doc. Once you find this just install and it will always be there.

School Speeches

With school speeches coming up I thought I would share with you how I assess using Google Forms and then it my next post will show you how to share with students. It makes it so much easier for me as I don't have to write and have a massive paper trail. Follow these steps (which really are quite easy).

Click here to get a copy of the Google Form (Yes! I have already created it for you). Name it with your class name and then Speech Marking Form 2017. eg. 8GMc Speech Marking Form 2017

To fill out and then open a new form for the next student see short video below.

When I am marking speeches I have my response sheet open also. Here you can change marks if you need to, directly in the sheet. See how to create a Google Sheet from your Google Form below.

To see how to share with students click here.