Google Calendar

Google Calendar is a really easy way to keep track of personal, school or business events.  You can create as many different calendars as you wish and share them with as many people as you'd like.  You can color code your calendars and events, as well as view your calendar in different ways (day, week, month, etc...).  The video below will give you a brief tutorial of Google Calendar.

The personalized features in Google Calendar really get fun and more helpful when you start to utilize some of the things in your "Settings" and "Labs."  I will share with you some of the features I enjoyed setting up in my Calendar this week.  1.)  Sending Google Calendar Daily Agenda to G-Mail Inbox;  2.)  Hiding Morning & Night; 3.)  Getting the Weather Forecast in your Calendar; 4.)  Adding Interesting Calendars

Sending Google Calendar Daily Agenda to G-Mail Inbox

I check my e-mail first thing in the morning and several times throughout the day.  By setting up this feature, google calendar sends my daily agenda to my inbox at 5 am showing me all the events for that day.  Just in case I can't or don't check my calendar, this is a surefire way to get that information so that I don't miss a morning meeting or an after school event.  Click HERE to see a video of how to set it up.

Hiding Morning & Night

This is a Lab feature that allows you to block off unused portions of time (aka "inactive hours") that you are not likely to use most of the time (i.e. 12 am-5 am).  This really comes in handy when you use the daily or weekly calendar as those are sectioned off into hours.  Click HERE to see a video of how to set it up.
Additional Tip:  To hide weekends:  Go to Settings (gear icon on top right), scroll to "show weekends," click No and Save.

Getting the Weather Forecast in your Calendar

Being a PE teacher, I tend to go outside several times throughout the year for my team sports units (mainly baseball, football, soccer).  However, the weather is on it's own agenda and there is nothing I can do to stop it.  Getting a "heads-up" ahead of time does help if I need to make changes or adjustments to my lesson plans for the day or several days.  Setting up the weather forecast feature gives me a 4-day look at the weather in my area.  Click HERE to see a video of how to set it up.

Adding Interesting Calendars

If you are a sports fan like me, or you like to know when the holidays are in, say, Brazil, you will like this feature.  For example, I am a KC Chiefs fan so I subscribed to that team.  On my calendar, there is a football in the corner on the days that they have a game scheduled so I know all the dates and times.  In addition, it tells me if it is a home or away game (i.e. GB @ KC or KC @ Oakland).  In addition to the professional level, they also have college and international levels to choose from as well (that means that KU Jayhawks basketball will also be added to mine--ROCK CHALK!).  Click HERE to see a video of how to set it up.

Those are just 4 of the many settings and labs that you can choose from to further customize your calendar to make things easier and more convenient for you.  Please check out the links below if you want further information.

For more information on Google Calendar Settings:  Click HERE

For more information on Google Calendar Labs:  Click HERE

For Information on Creating & Editing Events: Click HERE

For information on Sharing Calendars:  Click HERE
MORE Tips for Google Calendar:  Click HERE