Looking for something new for your classroom to start the New Year?  Or maybe a refresh on an old tool?  Take a look at these tools as solutions for Bell Ringer activities.

The start of class is always a hectic time, as you usher kids into class, take attendance, and gather your thoughts so you can get started.  What teachers need most is a jump-starter to get class going on the topic at hand.  But memos on the board, or handouts for Bell Ringer activities just don’t always cut it.

In the age of 1:1, you need a few handy tools to get things going on your classroom devices.  Try these tools as  a quick way to grab their attention and get things going.

CraftyText

Craft Text is one of those tools that you may already know about, but often just use as a quick way to share a short link.  Put a new spin on things by giving kids some short instructions for your Bell Ringer activity to get things going.

If you haven’t seen Crafty Text, try this link.  Crafty Text is a Google Chrome Extension, that allows users to display a text banner across the Chrome Browser window.  When open full screen on your classroom display, it draws a lot of attention to the task at hand.  Watch the video below to learn more.

Share to Classroom

Are you a Google Classroom user?  If you are, Share to Classroom is the best friend you haven’t met yet!

Share To Classroom is a Google Chrome extension, that can be used to…

• Push Links to Student Devices
• Create Assignments from Links
• Generate Discussion about a Website
• Create an announcement to direct students to a site

So if you find that perfect link to get students started at the beginning of class, or maybe a great link to use as a discussion prompt, use Share to Classroom to assign to students in Google Classroom as a Bell Ringer activity.

To learn more, watch the video below.  Use the link here to download and install the extension.

To find other great videos on Google Tools and Classroom Tech, visit my YouTube Channel.