Jenn Regier and I have decided to set up Google Ed accounts for our students so they can be notified when others comment on their blogs, as well as make use of Google Drive. We would like to have kids come in in the morning and check their email first thing – just like we do everyday :). I believe most of the junior teachers in our project are already doing this – but we weren’t sure about the primary teachers? Jenn, Becky and I have students commenting on each other’s blogs. If your students are interested in commenting on our blogs, our kids would be happy to connect with you. In about 2 weeks (once our accounts are set up) our classes will be spending more time online visiting other blogs to comment, and replying to comments on our blogs made by others.
Thanks!
Leigh Cassell
Leigh Cassell Consulting 
Our class uses their Google Accounts to write documents, create presentations or collaborate on projects. We use Edmodo for our day-to-day communication, calendar and assignment organization. If we had more ipads, I’d have them check in on their blogs daily. Someday soon …
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This is a good idea. I need some tips and tricks for the Google Ed accounts. Is there a board assigned username/account for these, or are you going to do it on you own?
PS. I hear there was a fantastic presentation at a principal’s meeting this week…
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Hi there,
You need to put in a request to Diana to get google ed email accounts. She needs student names and OEN numbers to set up accounts. I currently am using a shared classroom google drive which I find helpful in primary when kids are working on group projects. For example, this week they were all responsible for researching and finding information for different SS projects. So I created a “Communities Around the World” folder, and inside that folder I put folders of the different topics. From there, all kids could upload pics to the folders they were using and they were able to work on the same google doc to type in their information at the same time. They thought it was magic! And it definitely was more time effective seeing as they were able to put information in at the same time. Some used computers and some used iPads. I’m hoping with email accounts that kids will get the continuous comments back and forth instead of having them try to go back and find the sites they comment on to see if others commented back. Did any junior students attach the email accounts to their students? If so, please share how you did it. Otherwise, we will figure that out when the time comes.
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We are also starting blog buddies and my kids are excited to have a real audience. My kids already have Google Docs accounts but we don’t use the email feature. I like the idea of students checking their email but unfortunately in junior rooms, this would take much too long since we are at a 3 to 1 ratio for kids to technology.
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