Setting Up Email

Here at Roland Story Elementary, the 3rd and 4th graders have the opportunity to have an email address. They use this privilege to turn in assignments, participate in google forms to document their work, and learn to communicate digitally. I have had some great conversations with 3rd graders about digital citizenship and how to appropriately use this privilege. 

For our teachers, we have broken down the steps to setting up students' emails on the iPads. 

Step 1: In settings, find 'mail, contacts, calendars on the left side'. Click on this and the options will appear on the right side. Click 'add account'.

Step 2: Select 'exchange'.

Step 3: For students, email section = firstname_lastname / password = their student ID #. For teachers, email section = your full email / password = your email password. The description can be left blank. Click next when this section is finished.

Step 4: Type "m.google.com" into the server. Leave domain blank. In the username section, the students need to type their full email = firstname_lastname@roland-story.k12.ia.us. For teachers, type your full email as well. Click 'next' when all the information is entered. 

Step 5: Click 'save' and you now have an email account set up on your iPad!

Step 6: To be sure the set up worked, open up your mail app and see if you can send/receive emails. 

Learning is Happening!

Check out all the badges we've awarded!

We have been in many classrooms helping teachers log their students into email, log into Tales2Go, teach lessons, and show the students how to use the iPads. 

I had some great conversations with 3rd graders about digital citizenship and the appropriate use for their emails. They are excited to have this privilege and get started using it!

Mr. Gilroy (4th grade) and Mrs. Phelan (3rd grade) are using Google forms to communicate with their students. 

Congrats to these teachers for pushing themselves to learn:

Mrs. Hauer

Mrs. Nelson

Mrs. Sanderson

Mrs. Thein

Mrs. Hull

Mrs. Olson

Mrs. Rule

Ms. Hyatt

Mrs. Phelan

Mrs. Bauman

Mr. Gilroy

Mrs. Greenfield

We look forward to continue to learn as the year goes on!

Google Templates

The teachers at Roland Story are wonderful. We are so lucky to work with such great people! Mr. Gilroy, a 4th grade teacher, approached me with a question this morning that required me to do a little research. He wanted to customize google forms he is using in the classroom. I searched on google to find the answer and here is what I discovered...

While customizing your own theme is not yet possible for Google forms, there is another way to have more options. Check out this website to find existing templates you can use for your own documents, forms, spreadsheets, etc. It will ask you to sign in to your Google account. Once you're signed in, this screen will appear. There are 4 tabs across the top. The first is 'Public Templates', this is where you will find hundreds of templates you can use. To sort through the hundreds, use the 'sort by' options on the left side of the screen, or specifically search for what you're looking for using the search bar at the top.

The second tab is labeled 'Roland-Story Schools Templates'. That appears for me because I am logged in with my Roland Story school email address. If I select that tab, all the templates created and uploaded by Roland Story users will be shown. The third tab is labeled 'Templates I've used'. Once you begin using templates, all the ones you use will be shown in this tab. If you ever want to go back and use the same one again, it can be easily accessed using this tab.

The last tab is labeled 'My Templates'. This is where you can upload your own template you've created. Why would you ever want to create your own template? Well, there are many reasons!

1. You have a document you wish to use again (i.e. lesson plan, newsletter, etc.)
2. You have a document you wish your students to have access to and edit (i.e. an assignment you set up that they must edit)
3. You want to reuse the same form every week to assess your students.
4. You give the same presentation every year with new information.

Even if you don't want to create your own template, try out the ones available to you! They are useful and there's many options.