My Oh My! They've Created a Google Site!

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I'm always amazed by what my third graders can do with their devices. When I began thinking of ways to make my students' work visible, I had many ideas and no idea where to start. It wasn't until I began my own website that I started to think, "Maybe my students could make their own site to showcase their work". I finally set my mind to student portfolios using Google Sites!

In a perfect world, I would have all my students following each step with me to create the perfect site all in one day; but, I quickly learned their sites would be a process!

Home Screen 
Day 1: Students went to the google sites and created a new site. They created a title for their site, chose a background for the title and took a picture for their introduction page. I also made sure they put their site in our shared folder in Google Drive. This allowed me to have access to their site and put their site on our class site.

Day 2: Students created an "I Am" poem to put next to their picture. At this point, I was able to show them how to insert a picture and reposition it. I also had them insert their "I Am" poem and reposition it.

Day 3: Now that the students had something to publish, I showed them how to publish and create their URL. As the students have work to publish to their site, I show them how to create new pages (reading, writing, math etc.).

From this point forward my students were responsible for adding work that they wanted to showcase to a greater audience. I'd like to expand this next year to be more consistent and showcase everything we do in our room!


I am so excited to continue creating student portfolios with Google sites! They are excited to create something to showcase their work; while, also being able to work on their Chromebook. Some my students expressed how cool it is that they get to have their own website to share with the world! 


Amanda Bower

3rd Grade Teacher, Odyssey Elementary 

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