Word Sorts with Google Drawings

INTERACTIVE WORD SORT LINK

Word sorts are great hands-on activities for students to work with words. There are many ways you can use word sorts with your students. The most common way is shown in the example above. This is called a closed word sort where the student is provided with the categories (noun, verb) and the words are sorted accordingly. There are also open word sorts that are more analytic in nature where the student is only given words, and they have to use critical thinking to sort the words into their own categories.

I like doing word sorts in my classroom, but I don't like the preparation. First, I have to copy a class set of word sort sheets. Then I have to have them passed out to the class along with scissors.  Then it takes an inordinate amount of time for the students to cut out the words and clean up the scraps.  Then while interacting with the word sorts in class, ultimately a few students lose words on the floor or end up with two of the same words having accidentally mixed up their words with another student's words. Then after we are finished with the paper word sorts, they may be crushed in the back of a student's desk or put in a plastic sandwich bag and never used again.

Well, creating word sorts in a Google Drawing may be a better alternative for you.  A Google Drawing word sort still has all of the same learning benefits as paper word sorts only better.  Once created and shared with students, they are ready to go!  You won't lose the words and they can be used over and over again.

For a tutorial on how to create a word sort in a Google Drawing, I have created this tutorial for you.

Pi Day

Monday, March 14th, is Pi Day, 3.14.  March 14th is also Albert Einstein's birthday! It just doesn't get mathematically better than that!

What is Pi (π)? "Pi is the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant — the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter — which is approximately 3.14159."  Here is a website dedicated solely to Pi (π) - piday.org.  This website contains videos and activities you and your class can participate in on Pi Day. Here is a webquest on Pi Day, and here is one more resource from Education World. 

An idea that I came up with that students could engage in on Pi Day is having them learn and practice Google Drawings. Here is a simple drawing I made.  I inserted a circle shape and labeled the circumference and diameter.  Using the special characters, you can also add the π symbol.

I hope these resources are helpful to you, and that you have a fun time participating in Pi Day on Monday!

What I Am Project

I'd like to share another cool lesson/activity that I like to do during the first week of school. I believe I got this idea from Pinterest a few years ago.  I call it the "What I Am" project.

First I play this YouTube video featuring Will.I.Am singing with the Sesame Street Muppets. (Believe me, the students love this song!  I had to play it quite often throughout the year!) Then I play it again and ask the students to think about adjectives that describe them.

To help them, I provide them with an adjective list such as this one from Enchanted Learning. I also let them collaborate with their classmates to assist them. I ask them to write down at least ten words that describe them.

Then you can have students share these words in a few different ways.

One way I have done this is to print out this Pennant created as a Google Drawing and have the students write their adjectives in different colors and in different angles using colored pencils.  Then I cut out the pennants and put them on a bulletin board along with a picture of each student.  I try to do this before back-to-school night so something is on the wall.

Another way to do this is to upload the Pennant through a Google Classroom assignment and have them type their words on the pennant. This involves students inserting text boxes and rotating them or tilting them in different ways.

Another way to have students share adjectives that describe them is through a word cloud. One word cloud that works on Chromebooks is ABCya! (ABCYa! also has a free iPad app.) When you go to this site, you can choose any grade, from 2 to 5, and scroll down and find the word cloud button that looks like this:

Click on the word cloud and type in your adjectives. Click the arrow button, and then you are able to edit your word cloud and randomize the words, change the colors, the layout, and the font. When you are satisfied with your word cloud, you can save it to your drive or print it out, or even better, a student's word cloud could be uploaded and shared on their blog so other students can see and comment!

This is so much fun!  Here is the word cloud I created: 

If you happen to do this lesson in your class this year, I would love to see your examples!  Also, if you come up with a better way to do this lesson, please share with your comments!