Google Slides: Google slides is a tool within google applications that helps you to make PowerPoint presentations that are easy to share and present with others. In my kindergarten classroom, google slides is used daily to present material to the students in a simple and straight forward way. It allows me to place all of the material in one place, so it is easily assessable for the teacher, students and families. In particular, I use google slides to make many assessments for my students to complete virtually and now also in-person. Creating these assessments within the google apps allows me to easily embed them into my lessons on Canvas as well as helps me to have all the information accessible in on place when completing assessments with students rather than having multiple papers to keep track of. Google slides also allows you to make copies of the slides and entire presentation which is helpful when assessing students.
Pros: Very assessable in multiple different platforms and can be created using many different options to create when using this tool. I like that you can embed pictures, videos, charts and links into the slides for easy access to outside resources.
Cons: Many of my kindergarten students are too young to try to navigate this tool independently. In many different instances, students got frustrated because they could not figure out alone, so an adult is needed to supervise and provide assistance when using google slides in my classroom.
Kahoot!: Kahoot! is a great and engaging assessment tool that allows teachers to create or search for virtual tests and quizzes to assess for student understanding. Kahoot! can easily be accessed on many different platforms including iOS, PC and Android. When the teacher is ready to test their students, they simply have to display a QR code or passcode for all students to gain access to the assessment. This assessment is also paced for the entire class. The student cannot go onto the next question until all participates have submitted their answer for the previous question. When they get to the end, the highest score can be displayed for all to see or can be hidden. This is a fun and engaging way to get all students assessed.
Pros: Students are engaged
Cons: Some students do not take this seriously and try to be the first one to answer to see their name displayed on the board. This can cause issues with their final results and their assessment would then not be accurate of their learning and knowledge.
Canvas Quiz: The canvas quiz feature allows you to create an assessment virtually. You can create a quick and simple assessment to learn students understanding after a daily lesson or you can create an elaborate final test or exam that assesses students’ knowledge of many topics. You can include many features within Canvas quizzes, multiple choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank, essay. I also like how you can insert pictures and videos into the questions. This allows my students to take these quizzes independently. I personally in the past have used canvas quizzes to assess students letter knowledge. I inserted one picture for each question (rather than text) and use the multiple choice to insert in one letter for each option. For each question, the student had to look at the question picture and then click what letter the picture started with. I also found it very helpful that canvas keeps all the student data from these quizzes within the grade book feature. This allows me to see all students attempts as well as their answers each time. It helps me to know which letters I need to re-teach my students to gain a better understanding.
Pros: Once you have created the quiz that is all you have to do. You need to assign it to the students then canvas does the grading for you!
Cons: Creating the exam/quiz can be tedious. It takes a decent amount of time and you are not unable to undo if you make a mistake.
Pros: Very assessable in multiple different platforms and can be created using many different options to create when using this tool. I like that you can embed pictures, videos, charts and links into the slides for easy access to outside resources.
Cons: Many of my kindergarten students are too young to try to navigate this tool independently. In many different instances, students got frustrated because they could not figure out alone, so an adult is needed to supervise and provide assistance when using google slides in my classroom.
Kahoot!: Kahoot! is a great and engaging assessment tool that allows teachers to create or search for virtual tests and quizzes to assess for student understanding. Kahoot! can easily be accessed on many different platforms including iOS, PC and Android. When the teacher is ready to test their students, they simply have to display a QR code or passcode for all students to gain access to the assessment. This assessment is also paced for the entire class. The student cannot go onto the next question until all participates have submitted their answer for the previous question. When they get to the end, the highest score can be displayed for all to see or can be hidden. This is a fun and engaging way to get all students assessed.
Pros: Students are engaged
Cons: Some students do not take this seriously and try to be the first one to answer to see their name displayed on the board. This can cause issues with their final results and their assessment would then not be accurate of their learning and knowledge.
Canvas Quiz: The canvas quiz feature allows you to create an assessment virtually. You can create a quick and simple assessment to learn students understanding after a daily lesson or you can create an elaborate final test or exam that assesses students’ knowledge of many topics. You can include many features within Canvas quizzes, multiple choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank, essay. I also like how you can insert pictures and videos into the questions. This allows my students to take these quizzes independently. I personally in the past have used canvas quizzes to assess students letter knowledge. I inserted one picture for each question (rather than text) and use the multiple choice to insert in one letter for each option. For each question, the student had to look at the question picture and then click what letter the picture started with. I also found it very helpful that canvas keeps all the student data from these quizzes within the grade book feature. This allows me to see all students attempts as well as their answers each time. It helps me to know which letters I need to re-teach my students to gain a better understanding.
Pros: Once you have created the quiz that is all you have to do. You need to assign it to the students then canvas does the grading for you!
Cons: Creating the exam/quiz can be tedious. It takes a decent amount of time and you are not unable to undo if you make a mistake.