Some Silly Spring Fun with Online Easter Eggs

Who said Easter Eggs are just for kids? Google Easter eggs are hidden messages or features that can be found on the Google search engine or other Google products. They are a fun way to engage students and add a bit of humor to your class. They are also a bit more fun than the T-Rex game we see kids play when the internet is down.

Here are my favourite ten Google Easter Eggs (yes there are more). Most of these work better if you start from the Google home page (https://www.google.com/):

    1. Barrel roll – Type “do a barrel roll” into the Google search bar and watch the page spin around.
    2. Google Snake Game – Type “Google Snake Game” into the Google search bar and click on the “Play Snake Game” button that appears at the top of the search results. This will take you to a classic game of Snake that you can play right in your browser.​
    3. Google gravity – Type “Google gravity” into the search bar and click on “I’m Feeling Lucky” ​and watch the Google homepage fall apart.
    4. Google sphere – Type “Google sphere” into the search bar and click on “I’m Feeling Lucky“​then ​watch the Google homepage turn into a 3D globe.
    5. Atari breakout – Type “Atari breakout” into the Google image search bar and click on “I’m Feeling Lucky” then play a game of classic Atari breakout.
    6. Blink HTML – Type “Blink HTML” into the search bar and scroll down to watch the search results blink.
    7. Askew – Type “askew” into the search​ bar and watch the page tilt to one side.
    8. Friends – This one is for fans of the classic show Friends.  Type in the name of any of the main characters, then click on the image to the left of their name:
    9. Google in 1998 – Type “Google in 1998” into the search bar ​and click on “I’m Feeling Lucky“​ then see what the Google homepage looked like in its early days.

…and last but definitely worth checking out…

  1. Cha Cha Slide – Type in “Cha Cha​ Slide” and click on “I’m Feeling Lucky“​ then click on the microphone you see at the top right. This one is super fun! Go through the whole song and have your class do the movements 😊
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Spending Time on World Book Timelines

I can’t resist another opportunity to share the resources that Lisa Read from Focused Ed shared with us a few weeks ago. ​World Book Timelines is a powerful tool that can help your students visualize historical events. With this tool, students can create and explore interactive timelines that feature a wide range of events, topics and periods, including art, music, politics, world history, science and more.

Here are a few ideas for using World Book Timelines:

  1. Assign a timeline project: Ask your students to create their own timelines on a particular topic. For example, they could create a timeline of important inventions​ or they could create a timeline of a events that occurred in a novel. Encourage them to include multimedia elements, such as images and videos to make their timelines more engaging.
  2. Use timelines to learn about historic events like the Prime Ministers of Canada.
  3. Create collaborative timelines: Divide your students into small groups and ask them to create collaborative timelines on a particular topic. This can be a great way to promote teamwork and encourage your students to learn from one another.​
How to get to World Book Timelines:
1. Go to Learn71.ca and click on Library Commons and then​ Research Databases or just click on Research Databases ​(the third button down on the right).
2.  Click on Encyclopedias and find World Book Timelines:
​3. You shouldn’t have to log in when you are at school but you can also use them at home. Log in using your school password (these can be found by logging in to the Destiny library search and then clicking on Passwords)..
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Topic Search for Narrowing Down Topics and Finding Information

Lisa Read from Focused​ Ed was up last week and she showed us the Gale Topic Search. I had forgotten how awesome it is! Do you have students in your class who have a difficult time coming up with research topics for Inquiry projects?  Perhaps you have students who say “I’m going to my project on Hockey”?  Gale Power Search is a wonderful product that you can use to narrow down searches and come up with topics. It also instantly provides you with some articles to read about your newly narrowed down topic.​
 
To find Gale Topic Search:
1. Go to Learn71.ca and click on Library Commons and then​ Research Database or just click on Research Databases.
2.  Click on Database then choose one of the Gale databases (pick the one that is related the closest to the topic you are looking for).
3.  You shouldn’t have to log in when you are at school but you can also use them at home. Log in using your school password (these can be found by logging in to the Destiny library search and then clicking on Passwords).
​4.  Click on ​Advanced Search
5.  Click on Topic Finder
6.  ​​Now comes the cool part!  Type in your topic in the Search spot at the top right and click to search.
Now you will see a wheel with other topics branching out of the original.  Move your mouse around the circle to explore the other topic and click on ideas to see articles on the right.
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