Tips & Tricks for Using Google Slides in Your Classroom

Are you looking for some tips & tricks for using Google Slides in your classroom? This online learning tool makes it simple and easy for students to practice specific grade-level tasks.

Google Slides also allows teachers to manage assignments, grade work, and give students feedback. It is quite like PowerPoint but is free to use and can be a powerful classroom resource.

1: What are Google Slides?

This online presentation app lets you create and format presentations and work with others. It is easy to share and collaborate anywhere there is Internet access. Google Slides is just as easy to use as the programs PowerPoint and Keynote.

Google Slides is a presentation program and is included as part of a free, web-based software office suite offered by Google within its Google Drive service. The service also includes Google Docs and Google Sheets, a word processor and spreadsheet.

2: How can I use Google Slides in my Classroom?

There are numerous ways teachers are using Google Slides with elementary students.

Six Ways to Use Google Slides:

Visual Presentations: Supplement what you are saying with a visual presentation.
Student Feedback: Google Slides makes it easy to encourage student participation. There are tools that make it possible to get feedback from within Google Slides.
Collaborative Teaching & Learning: An assignment can be designed so that students create their own or collaborate on slides for an engaging student presentation.
Distance Learning: Students can use teacher-created slide presentations activities or assessments to learn new material at home, practice new skills learned, and be assessed on objectives that have been learned.
Digital Journals or Notecards: Students can brainstorm, research, organize, and then present their research projects to the class on Google Slides. They also can be used to memorize vocabulary or other materials. Google Slides can be used as a log, journal, or tracker with a new slide for each day.
Drawing Program: Google Slides have many of the features of a drawing program. Students can draw, paint, make shapes, or create on a slide.

3: How Do I Set Up Google Classroom?

Google Classroom is a free web-based platform that integrates your G Suite for Education account with Google Docs, Google Slides, Gmail, and Google Calendar. It saves time and paper and makes it easy to create classes, distribute assignments, communicate, and stay organized.

Steps to getting started with Google Classroom:

Create an account: Teachers and students need G Suite for Education accounts to use Google Classroom that is set up in your school.
Create a class: Google Classroom is a space where your students can receive assignments and read your announcements. Head to classroom.google.com to get started
Enroll Students: Invite students to your classroom in order to enroll them. This is done by an email invitation or code.
Grading System: Set up a grading system and grade categories. If you choose a grading system for your class your grades will be calculated for you.
Assignments: Create assignments that can be posted to multiple classes as well as to individual students. You can give feedback on assignments, grades, and return assignments.
Assessments: Create quizzes, import quiz grades, and return grades to students.
Virtual Classrooms: Set up live online classes, video conferencing, or digital office hours.

4: How DO I Get Google Slides?

Google Slides can be made by individual teachers or can be purchased on a variety of learning sites. Two sites that have a variety of grade levels activities for students are either the Teachers Pay Teachers site or the BOOM Learning site.

On either site, you can search to find the BOOM Decks that meet your students’ instructional needs. It is important that you make sure that what you are purchasing is for digital use and can be used in Google Classroom.

There are also many free materials available on both the BOOM Learning and Teachers Pay Teachers site. Many teacher-authors offer activities for a variety of skills or as a preview of a larger resource that you can purchase.

Once you have purchased or clicked on a free digital resource, they are yours forever. You will always have access to assign this material to your students throughout your years of teaching.

5: How DO I Assign Google Slides to My Students?

Teachers in Google Classroom can quickly make assignments that include attached materials. After you post the assignment, your students receive an e-mail notification of the assignment, after which they complete it and turn it back in.

Steps for Making Assignments:

Log in to your class and click the Stream tab.
Click Assignment.
Type in the title of the assignment and an optional description. The description is a great place to add instructions for the assignment.
Click the due date to change it if you need to.
Click Add Time to add the time of day on the due date that the assignment is due.

Adding Materials:

Paperclip: This option attaches a file to the assignment. Here, you can upload the file from your hard drive, which will be stored on your Google Drive.
Google Drive: This option also attaches a file to the assignment but takes you right to your Google Drive to find the file.
YouTube play button: This option enables you to attach a YouTube video to the assignment. When you click this button, you can search for the video on YouTube or copy and paste the YouTube video URL. When you search for a video, YouTube results display right in the same window, and you can preview the video as well, so there is no need to visit the YouTube site.
Link: You can click the chain link button to paste in an external URL to the assignment.

Uploading Documents:

View only: Choose this option if you want all your students to read the same file but not change it. This is good for reference materials only.
Edit: Choose this option if you want all your students to make changes to the same This is good only if students are expected to collaborate on a single assignment.
Make a copy for each student: Choose this option if you want each student to have his or her own copy of the assignment. Students can make changes and turn in the assignment separately. This is best for typical homework assignments in which the student is responsible for his or her own work.

In summary, there are many tips & tricks for using Google Slides with elementary students. They allow teachers to easily monitor their students’ progress on specific academic skills. They are designed with a variety of features that keep the student actively engaged in their learning.

Google Slides in conjunction with Google Classroom allows teachers to assign students an assignment that each student receives. When they are done with their assignment, they just turn it in, and it can instantly be graded online. If you have not tried Google Slides yet, you may want to give it a try!

Find some more reading activities and assessments in my store, The Teaching Scene by Maureen.

To read more topics check out my blog, “Seven Effective First Grade Assessment Tools”