HyperDocs to Create Simple Thanksgiving and Digital Citizenship Digital Stories

A Thanksgiving Story

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, why not have your students create a Thanksgiving inspired story? To get students started thinking about things to be thankful for, here's Kid President's 25 Reasons to be Thankful! Find more Thanksgiving related videos in my YouTube Thanksgiving playlist. 

Once students have been thinking about all the things that they are thankful for, here's a HyperDoc to help them create a thanksgiving digital story of their own. If you need it, I've created a screencast that explains my thinking behind the Hyperdoc. All you have to do is have them go to bit.ly/wevideotg. From there, students can explore, learn, help each other and create!

Digital Citizenship Contest Deadline Extended!

Since our Digital Citizenship Media Contest ended up being launched later than intended, we have extended the contest until Wednesday, December 14th.

This year we will be judging entries based on 3 categories: digital graphics, digital stories, and digital recordings. To get students writing scripts and creating videos in WeVideo, try having students take the Digital Citizenship Video Challenge by going to the HyperDoc at: bit.ly/wevideodc. In WeVideo, storyboard mode is the simplest way to drag in pictures and create a basic digital story.

Here's a video to help inform your students about the contest and get them started creating. If you need help teaching digital citizenship lessons, or would like support or advice with creating videos in the classroom, please don't hesitate to contact any of the EdTech ToSAs.

Go on a Google Map HyperDoc Adventure

Meia (2nd Grade): "I can control the world!"

Introducing Google Maps to Students

If you've never used Google Maps in your classroom, now's a great time to start! I have created an easy lesson to get students excited about using Maps.

A quick intro activity includes 3 challenges that help give students the basic map skills that they need for success as they explore on their own. Take a look at the Google Maps Introduction. If you would like to use it with your students, feel free to make a copy and modify it in any way the you see fit for your class.

HyperDoc Adventures

After students learn the basics, they are ready to start exploring on their own using the Google Map Adventures HyperDoc! Knowing that Google had some incredible Street View expeditions, I had a feeling that I could find some related inspirational videos. Sure enough, the Google Maps YouTube Channel was exactly what I was searching for! I used ViewPure to take out the distractions of related videos. Trust me, you will want to Purify your video because inappropriate videos about Google Maps are likely to appear on the page.

I created this lesson for 2nd grade students, so I had them share their observations on a Padlet. Students were encouraged to do their best guess spelling and in the end, every student participated. Click here if you would like to see what the 2nd graders came up with.

Modification for Older Students

If I were to do the lesson with older students, I would have had them submit their information into a Google Form. After all of the students complete the survey, you can import that data directly into Google My Maps. If you would like to know how to do that, I created 2 quick video tutorials:

• Creating a Google Form to Record Observations
• Importing Data into Google My Maps

Sample Google Map Adventure HyperDoc with Google Form.

Google Cardboard Option

All tours created in Google Street View can also be found in the Google Street View mobile device app (Android/iOS) and can be used with Google Cardboard. Even if you only have 1 or 2 mobile devices with Cardboard, students could take turns experiencing the virtual reality while the rest of the class works from the HyperDoc. Google Cardboard can be found and purchased on Amazon.

Share your Google Map Ideas

This is just one Google Maps introduction lesson and once students are excited about exploring the world, the possibilities are endless. If you have any Google Map ideas, lessons, HyperDocs, or resources that you would like to share, please share on the Google Maps Padlet.

Created with Padlet

If you have any questions, or would like any help implementing this lesson, please email me,

Math Review Gamified!

Math Review Game Board

Need a fun way to have students review topics that they've learned throughout the year? This week I've been working with Union Middle School math teachers Alyssa Starr and Joy D'Apuzzo on creating a 6th grade HyperDoc game board that gives students a fun way to review major math concepts. It's basically a Google Doc with tables of math activities. Feel free to explore, copy, and modify the Math 6 Review Game Board that we came up with.

This HyperDoc gives students choices about which activities they would like to complete and it also gives time back to the teacher, allowing for individualized or small group instruction.

When looking for activities to include in the game board, we were looking for a variety and a mixture of tech and non-tech related activities. Here's where I found some really great math resources:

• Would You Rather Math by John Stevens
• Play with Your Math by Joey Kelly and Xi Yu
Mr Kraft's Desmos Creations by Nathan Kraft
• Learn Zillion
• Khan Academy
• Desmos: teacher.desmos.com (Use the search tool and preview already made activities.)

I have to admit that it does take a lot of time searching for quality resources and games, but my advice is to collaborate with other teachers and TOSAs in your school district. The big payoff is student excitement about content related activities. The students don't have to sit and listen to another lecture from their teacher and the teacher is freed up to work with students who may need some extra support. 

Math Game Board in Action

Math Game Board in Action Tweet

Yesterday I had the opportunity to watch Miss Starr's class explore and complete game board activities. I did not see one student who was off task during the whole class period. Students were allowed to work in pairs and they had the freedom to choose where they wanted to sit in the classroom. Of course, some went straight to playing online math games like Inequality Wars or Percent Jeopardy, but others went directly to non-tech tasks. I watched 2 boys grab a deck of cards and play Exponent War with their notebook and whiteboards out and 2 girls in the back were working on writing a song about fractions.

Even though students were working next to their friends and collaborating on certain activities, not once did I feel like it got really noisy in the classroom. During a time when students are getting ready for SBAC testing, it's so nice to see smiles on students' faces and laughter and excitement throughout the room.

Modified Game Board and Activities for Elementary Math

Here's a game board that was created for 3rd Grade Math Review and 4th Grade Math Review. Thank you to Elise Plutt and Kristen Yoshioka for all of your 3rd and 4th grade advice and input when creating this HyperDoc. 

Please note: 

*If you do choose to make a copy of any of these game boards, please make changes and modifications to the activities according to YOUR students' skills. If your students have limited experience on Chromebooks, you might think about swapping some activities for hands on or paper-based tasks. 

If you have any questions, or would like any help or advice on creating a game board HyperDoc of your own, please feel free to contact me: pacadag@unionsd.org

Thanksgiving Themed Activities Inspired by Video

Do you use video in your classroom to inspire thinking? 

Last month I attended Fall CUE up in the Napa Valley and ever since then, I haven't been able to stop thinking about Lisa Highfill's session titled YouTube Lessons That Will Leave You Thinking.

I was truly inspired, and after searching through the Highfill Crew YouTube playlists, I came across the video WWII vet forms unlikely friendship with toddler. That video sparked an idea about creating a Google Sites HyperDoc that could be used across grade levels. I decided that this was a great video about friendship, which seemed to tie in nicely with Thanksgiving. This led me to create a website with tabs for different Thanksgiving themes that teachers can explore with their classes, or have students explore on their own.

USD Learns: Thanksgiving HyperDoc

I invite you to check out the USD Learns Thanksgiving Hyperdoc to see if there is anything that might inspire you and students the week before Thanksgiving. There are some interactive pieces where students can share their thoughts or turn in links to their work.

Please be aware that any Padlet on this Thanksgiving site is a shared learning space where students can freely post their thoughts. Before trying it with your students, please have a conversation about digital citizenship and ask them only to post ideas and content that they want other students and teachers to see.

Want your students to be a part of our USD is Thankful Video?

What if we could capture video clips about what USD students are thankful for? Kid President's 20 Things We Should Say More Often reminds us that we shouldn't just say thank you on Thanksgiving, but we do have to start somewhere. This idea was inspired by the video Kid History Shorts: "Thanksgiving" (The Roberts).  If this video is too silly for your class, check out this school who captured clips about what they are thankful for: Happy Thanksgiving from Kingsway College School. This is a closer example of the vision that we have for our USD is Thankful video.

If you would like to participate, you can find more information about how to create class videos on the Gratitude page.

I am thankful to be working in such an amazing school district with such creative and innovative teachers. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your students, friends, and families!