Google Sites

Link to my site:
Mrs. Barnhart's Class Site

Google Sites is a great tool to use as a teacher.  I can communicate with not only my parents, but my students as well.  The elementary school I will pursue a job at after graduation has a website.  On that website, each grade level teacher has their own website for their class where they give information specifically for their class like schedule, homework, etc.  If I do get hired there, I would definitely use Google Sites to make my classroom site.

I first started with choosing my layout and design. I began by making a home page.  I used the home page as an opening to welcome the students and parents to my site.  I then wanted to create tabs on the side for my different pages.  I had a little bit of trouble with this.  I was able to create a classroom resources, but I wanted to also create other columns for other pages.  Under my classroom resources, I made a class schedule.  I originally made the schedule and tabbed over to make the "special schedule." I then revised my page and created a two column layout so that my special schedule was over to the right separated. 

I then created a calendar.  Originally I inserted a classic Google calendar.  I then decided to revise the calendar and add the American holidays to it, because we would not have school those days.  If it was my real classroom, I would use the calendar to insert any field trips or special activies and tests into it.  The calendar feature is extremely handy to use so that the parents can look ahead and know what will be coming up.  I then added a page for parent resources.  I would edit this page throughout the school year.  I began with the resources for beginning school.  Kindergarten is a big step in both the children and parent's life, so it is good for the parents to have resources on how to prepare their student.

I enjoyed learning about Google Sites.  While it is still completely new to me and I have never ever made a webpage before, I learned quite a bit.  I would definitely want to play around with this more and learn many other features to make my webpage more appealing (mines seems a little dull.)  Overall I like Google Sites and plan on using it in the future.