Ever had kids accidentally delete a huge chunk of a Google assignment? Well there is a way to easily get it back. This quick video tutorial will explain how to use revision history in Google Docs.
While the steps are recorded in Google Docs, these same steps can be used in Slides, Drawings & Sheets. This is a great trick to have in your back pocket.
How To Use Revision History in Google Docs | Need Help?
In less than 3 hours, you can be a Google Slides master while creating assignments your students will love. Click here to join me in my easy-to-navigate course.
What questions do you have about using Google Tools? Feel free to direct message me on Instagram, @naomimeredith_ or send me an email, contactnaomimeredith(at)gmail.com, and I would love to chat with you!
Wondering how to make a text box? There are a lot of ways to be creative when adding words with the text box tool in Google Slides and Drawings. Easily create a text box, change its color and style in this video tutorial.
Want to share this video with students but YouTube is blocked at your school? Click here to find the same {free} video in my store and you can get the downloadable version of this video that you can share with your kids.
How to Make a Textbox in Google Slides | Need help?
As you become more comfortable with Google Slide creation, you’ll discover all the tricks within the platform.
Still need more help? Stop spending hours on YouTube finding the perfect video to answer your questions. Let me sit with you and guide you through the ins and outs of Google Slides.
What questions do you have about using Google Slides to create? Feel free to direct message me on Instagram, @naomimeredith_ or send me an email, contactnaomimeredith(at)gmail.com, and I would love to chat with you!
Are you wondering how to make worksheets in Google Slides? With these 5 easy steps, you can create interactive assignments for your students they will love.
Come and join in on the fun on Facebook, or watch the recording of this episode down below.
How to Make Worksheets on Google Slides | #1 Change the Page Size
Before creating the assignment, change the page size to be the same as a sheet of copy paper (8.5 x 11). To do this, go to the toolbar and click ‘File'–Page Setup — Custom.
This might seem like a strange step to start with, but there is a method to the madness. Although the goal is to create an interactive, digital assignment, having the option to print is a great backup. You never know when the internet will go out, a student needs a paper version for accommodations or someone has lost their computer privileges.
Having the page setup so that it can be printed is essential so the formatting doesn't get thrown off in the future. It's more of a pain to go back and change it later.
How to Make Worksheets on Google Slides | #2 Create & Insert the background
The background is the part of the assignment that you want to “glue down”. These are the items in the assignment you don't want kids to change.
Think of it like this.
When you make a photocopy of a worksheet, the students can't move the directions and graphic organizers around. They are to complete the assignment and add their answers on top.
To do this in Google Slides, create the background of the assignment, download as an image, then insert it as the background.
How to Make Worksheets on Google Slides | #3 Create moveable objects
Now that the background is in place, time for the fun part; the moveable pieces! Moveable objects can come in many forms digitally; drag & drop, typing in a text box or even watching a video.
While some question types can stay the same like traditional paper & pencil assignments, many can be enhanced digitally. With these moveable pieces, you're transforming the work where students can be creators with technology and not consumers.
How to Make Worksheets on Google Slides | #4 Make a Copy for the Kids
Once the essentials of the assignment are created, make a seperate copy for the students in Google Drive. We don't typically hand students the teacher manual with all of the details. Don't do the same thing with your master slides.
After making a copy, delete any unnecessary slides the kids don't need to complete their work.
How to Make Worksheets on Google Slides | #5 Share assignment!
Google Slides can be shared on a variety of platforms; Google Classroom, Seesaw, Schoology, Canvas and more! They can even be downloaded as PowerPoint files which is a great option for platforms that don't support Google Slide assignments.
Make sure when sharing, you're sending the student version that you made in the previous step.
How to Make Worksheets on Google Slides | Need help?
As you become more comfortable with Google Slide creation, you'll discover all the tricks within the platform.
Still need more help? Stop spending hours on YouTube finding the perfect video to answer your questions. Let me sit with you and guide you through the ins and outs of Google Slides.
What questions do you have about using Google Slides to create? Feel free to direct message me on Instagram, @naomimeredith_ or send me an email, contactnaomimeredith(at)gmail.com, and I would love to chat with you!
So you're ready to teach your kids how to use Google Tools, but where do you begin? Here are my top 5 tips for how to use G Suite for Education with students. After using these tools when I was a classroom teacher, K-5 STEM teacher and even training adults, these strategies have seen positive results over the years. G Suite for Education tools are a major asset to have in the classroom and allows students to be using applicable skills they can build on with various assignments.
Come and join in on the fun on Facebook, or watch the recording of this episode.
How to Use G Suite for Education | Watch the recording down below:
How to Use G Suite for Education | #1 Assess Prior Knowledge
One of the biggest things I've learned when it comes to students using academic technology is to never assume. Although students might be proficient using video games and YouTube at home, this doesn't always translate to using academic technology. Kids are very capable and should know how to use basic technology skills proficiently; it might not be natural at first.
Before teaching a new technology tool, including G Suite, assess quickly what students may or may not already know about the tool. This can be a quick check in or even a class discussion with responses written down.
As a teacher, this will help with planning as to which skills should be taught first as a whole class, and others that may be taught separately in smaller groups.
How to Use G Suite for Education | #2 Keep Login Steps Consistent
When starting with a new technology tool, students need to know the exact steps for logging into the platform. Honestly, based on my experience, this step is the one that takes the longest and most practice for students. Don't be discouraged when logging into the platform takes 20 minutes the first few times; it's completely normal.
Create a class anchor chat with the exact steps as to how to log into the platform. Drawing, (or if you make a digital version, inserting images) images of what the step looks like is extremely helpful as well. This can be a great aid for all students when repeating this common step. Also, as a teacher, you can quickly point to the correct step when a student asks you, “What do I need to do next?”
Likewise, keep student login information where students can independently access it. It's important to have this information on hand as a teacher, but the goal is to have students be successful and advocate for themselves. Here is an example of how I've done this for Google Classroom.
Don't waste important class time passing out student log in cards when they can be taped inside of their pencil box, next to their keyboard or student planner.
How to Use G Suite for Education | #3 Use Universal Icons
Universal Icons are simple pictures that are used to represent an action in multiple platforms. For example, the ‘play' icon is seen on YouTube videos, phones and TV remotes. Google Tools also have universal icons within their platforms that signal a specific action.
Have students take note of these universal icons and notice what they mean. As you begin to use more Google Tools in your classroom, like Docs, Slides and Forms, students will recognize how these icons are across the platforms.
Keeping a running list in an area in the classroom or even student journals can help that visual recognition and build meaning. Here is one that I created for Google Drawings that can translate to many of the other Google Tools
How to Use G Suite for Education | #4 Explicit Baby Steps
It's easy to feel overwhelmed by all of the steps you want students to learn while using G Suite for Education. As a teacher, you may know most of the tools naturally and it can be frustrating seeing students who might not even know the most simple tasks.
In addition, think about the basics you want students to know when using the tool. Then, break each of those skills into their own, separate task.
As simple as possible.
For example: Highlight the word you typed. Find the U icon and click on it. What happens to your word?
For an even bigger impact, have each of the tasks build on one another so students can begin to see how the tool is connected and interacts.
How to Use G Suite for Education | #5 Focus on One Tool at a Time
Just as it may seem overwhelming with all the skills you want to teach your students, it may feel the same as to which Google Tool to teach students first.
Whenever I am teaching my classes new technology tools, I focus on one tool during a lesson. I'll use that same tool for multiple lessons throughout the week in various ways and subjects. When I see that students are becoming more comfortable using that tool, I'll integrate another they might already know from a previous lesson.
As the year goes on, I'll keep adding in new G Suite tools. Studente begin to see patterns within these tools as we use them for various assignments.
Here is the order I typically teach G Suite tools to students, but you can definitely change this up:
Google Docs
Google Classroom
Google Drive
Google Drawings
Google Slides
Google JamBoard
Google Forms
Google Sheets
How to Use G Suite for Education | Putting it All Together
After using G Suite for Education tools for awhile, you'll recognize how you want to teach the skills you've developed to your students. These are the steps that I've taken and perfected over the years.
In fact, to help you save time, I have created and continue to keep updated my Google Tools Scavenger Hunts.
Each hunt comes with a pre and post assessment while also giving students specific, basic tasks to complete to learn each tool. The hunts can be printed or shared digitally.
Also, there is an editable version that comes with a mini-lesson to support teaching this tool to your students. (The non-editable version doesn't include the mini-lesson).
Learn how to add a timer to Google Slides with this video tutorial. This tech tip can can help students manage time in your classroom. In just a few clicks, classroom productivity can be enhanced.
How to Insert a Timer to Google Slides Video
When picking the video timer to add to the slides, double check the timer sound first. There have been many occasions when I've had a timer that's made the worst sound. Sometimes it's even sounded like the fire alarm going off!
7 Tips to Creating a Classroom Website for Teachers
Majority of businesses these days have a website; it’s the digital version of a business card. Think of your classroom the same way by creating a classroom website for teachers that works.
Building a classroom website that you can actually use is easier than you think. No coding skills are required. In fact, your classroom website should be a working document and something that you (the classroom teacher), the students and their families should be interacting with year round.
This isn’t a “create in August and never look at it again” kind of thing. Let your website fo the talking and answer questions that you get emailed about the most.
Classroom Website for Teachers: #1 Let them learn about you
Typically when you hear about a new product, place or service, you head their website and click on the ‘About’ section first. Create an ‘About Me’ section on your classroom website; typically your first page tab. The families of your new students are going to want to do the same thing. They want to know who their kid is spending their time with all day! Share a short typed bio, but also try other mediums as well!
Classroom teachers get A LOT of emails daily and it can be hard to keep track of all the information to relay it effectively to parents. Create the ‘Home’ page of your website as a place to store all of the weekly announcements.
Send your weekly email out to parents to direct them to your website for the new announcements for the week. This will help families be accustomed to going to your site to answer their questions and have one place to keep track of everything.
Over the course of the school year, families will be looking to your website first because they know you most likely have the information posted there. In turn, less emails filling up your inbox!
Classroom Website for Teachers #3 A Hub for your lessons
Make this website work for you. Create a ‘Lessons’ tab where you post videos, presentations & digital materials that go along with your lessons. This will help keep all of your materials in one place as you are teaching.
This can also help students share the lesson with their families. Also, help families stay connected as to what they are learning in class (and even be an extra homework helper). You will also be grateful for this section on your website when students are absent for a few days or if your principal wants to know what your class is up to for the week.
#4 Get rid of those paper schedules
When I was a classroom teacher, I remember all of the piles of paper I would print for parents to take home the first week. One of those was a schedule, and of course, there would be changes throughout the year.
In turn, I quickly realized that I didn’t need to print paper schedules for families any more and could easily post it on my website. That way, when changes came up, I could quickly update my website in a couple of minutes. No more waiting at the copier to print 25 schedules that most likely end up in the trash or get lost in backpacks!
Classroom Website for Teachers #5 No more homework mysteries
It’s important for students to be responsible for knowing what their homework is daily/each week. Having students write down assignments is an important skill. However, what if they left early for the day? What if the bell rang and they couldn’t write down all the information? What if the students left their planner at school?
There are endless scenarios that can happen. Simplify homework communication by creating a ‘Homework’ tab on your classroom website. Post the assignment and any relevant resources that might help them accomplish the task. Parents WILL THANK YOU!
When assigning homework, direct students to your website. Depending on the age of your students, let them access the information independently to help them learn how to use a website to gain information.
Try using Google Classroom as a way to house all your assignments while referring to them on your website.
Google Classroom is also a great place to house all of your assignments. You can refer students to your website for general information, then go to the platform to get all the materials. If you need help with Google Classroom, I have a free, 3 part video series you can access here.
An additional tip is to think of ways you can make part of your homework digital. An easy way to start is with your weekly reading log. We want to hold students accountable for their reading, but have them respond digitally. Again, less paper everyone has to manage and the end goal is the same.
#6 Provide resources for when you’re not around
When you show the class an awesome video clip for your science lesson or start reading a new read aloud book, often kids want to relay that information back to their families. However, by the end of the day, they might forget what you actually shared with them!
Create a ‘Resource’ tab on your website. Post relevant links, videos, online games and printables for students to access at home. Again, these can be a great homework helper! This will also bring the content to life for families as to what you are teaching all day.
#7 Streamline monthly team newsletters
‘If your school requires a monthly team newsletter, or even if you want to start one, this is another great opportunity to utilize your website. Your team is most likely going to type the newsletter anyway, might as well post it on your classroom website.
Honestly, this may be the least looked at part of your website, but you have it documented and all in one place. What will also be nice is when you create your classroom website the next school year, all of the information will be easily stored in one place.
Next steps:
You might be thinking, “Ok Naomi, this all sounds great, but how do I set this up and make sure my website looks nice? Oh, and I don’t want to use a platform that I have to pay for or is super complicated!”
Friend, I had the same exact comments when I was a classroom teacher! With trial and error, I figured out a classroom website system that worked for me, my students and their families.
I want YOU to have access to this process to save you hours of time when researching best website practices, and actually get to creating your content. No coding skills are required!
I’ll give you step-by-step videos and checklists to guide you through the website creation process. In addition, I’ll also help you create a classroom website for teachers like you that you’ll actually use all year. Long gone are the days of creating a classroom website in August and never looking at it again until the following school year!
Emojis are a modern day version of hieroglyphics; they visually convey a lot of meaning and emotion. Learn how to use the emoji chrome extension, and bring this tool into the classroom.
Emoji Chrome Extension: Getting Set Up
First, add the extension in your Google Chrome toolbar. Chrome extensions are like little apps that you can use to enhance your experience only when using this web browser.
{Optional} Close out of Chrome & restart computer to ensure extension was added properly with full functionality
Emoji Chrome Extension: Organizing your Google Drive
Google Drives can get messy fairly quickly. However, there are ways to streamline organization and keep it visually appealing and easy to access. Of course you can color code your folders (which you can watch that video tutorial here)
Why not make your Google Drive organization EVEN BETTER by adding in an emoji in the title? With color and a picture, it will make searching for your go-to files so much easier (and a little more fun!)
Struggling readers and even strong readers love pictures. No matter what reading level someone is, having a visual to match the words increases reading comprehension.
Use emojis when labeling assignments and directions. My favorite places to do this are in Seesaw and Google Classroom. While I love both of these platforms immensely, both streams can get overwhelming quickly. Try and match the emoji to the assignment name and the kids will be even more excited to click on the assignment.
Often when I am swiping through student posts on Seesaw while watching The Bachelor, I’ll throw in some emojis to help students pay attention to the comments I am giving them. The emoji keyboard on your phone is also great asset for the classroom!
Emoji Chrome Extension: Student Responses
For most written assignments, I don’t encourage students to use emojis within their work since the goal is to have them write in complete sentences. However, when it comes to quick assignments where I want to know their thoughts on a topic, using an emoji might be more appropriate.
This is a topic as a classroom teacher you want to be very clear on the boundaries and when emojis are/aren’t ok on certain assignments.
I also have Google Tools Scavenger Hunts to help students learn the basics of Google Drive, Docs, Forms and Slides. Assignments that are typically created with these tools are easily integrated into Google Classroom. Help your students feel successful when navigating them.
Every year as a classroom teacher, I always stressed out about having the perfect gift for my students to give to their families during the holidays or at the end of the school year. As a person who enjoys giving gifts myself, I try to ensure that my gifts are purposeful and unique. I believed in the same concept as to what I was going to have my kids make. While I am a big fan of crafting, with 24 children, it can go bad real quick. Also thinking about how much it was going to cost each student to make their gift can get expensive! After some thoughtful planning, I thought of a way to integrate students' use of technology into their family a gift to save time, money and still create something personal.
That's where I came up with the Selfie Station Calendar. With a new year approaching, a calendar is very useful! I know that teachers will often times have their kids decorate each month with a little art project, but honestly, that seemed like a lot of work to me.
Instead, each month was decorated with their child and different props to represent each month. My first year doing this project, I brought in some items like sunglasses, hats, and all sorts of crazy stuff and a parent helped me take 12 different themed pictures of each child. As this project evolved each year, it's been more student centered and less work for me. After all, it's THEIR gift that that students are giving to parents! What did you use for the calendar? I created a calendar template for each month using Google Slides. The top portion I left empty for students to insert their pictures. I shared this template with the students in my class using Google Classroom so that it made a copy for each one of them. This also was great management when students needed tech support and I could hop onto their piece and work with them to solve the problem.
When the calendars were finished, I could easily find each students' name and print. Another added bonus was for students who had divorced parents, I could easily print multiple copies and they didn't physically have to make more than two. What did you use for the props? As I mentioned in the beginning, my first year doing this project, I brought in all sorts of random stuff I found at home and in my classroom. Any costume item that I owned was in my room for over a week. As this project evolved, I actually created my own printable props that were themed for each season of the year. This actually turned out a lot better because students had more prop choices for their photos, I could store them easier in just one file in my filing cabinet, and they actually turned out to be more vibrant and photogenic!
I printed and cut out each theme, sorted them by months and wrote in pencil on the back which month the prop represented. I then sorted the months around the room and students would grab one prop at a time to take their photo for that month. How did they actually add their pictures?
Students helped one another face their computer camera at the proper angle to take a picture for each month of their calendar and then insert in to template. You can have students make their own calendar or work together collaboratively and have a class calendar! That way, you will only need to print one! How did you manage their projects to ensure they were finished in time? Since my 3rd graders hadn't ever done a gift like this before, there was a huge amount of buy in. They also thought that the props and my example calendar was funny so they were super excited to make their own. I also started this project the month before break so I could print and bind each calendar and then have students wrap them. That way if students were absent, I had plenty of time for them to make to make it up.
As far as the prop management went, I told students that they didn't necessarily have to go in order for their calendar. That way not all the January props were gone at once!
We worked on these for about 30 minutes a day for 3 days and the majority of my class was finished. Those who finished quicker were able to help others or even type in important events within their calendar. How much did this gift cost you? Zero dollars. That's right! Since I made the props and calendar template myself, it was free-99. I also had the benefit of having colored card stock paper to print on for the props and binding I could use to bind the calendars. I did have to print in black and white a couple of years because of restrictions we had on our school's color printer. They still looked really cute! I also told the kids that they could definitely print in color at home and send to other family members as well.
I know that the cost might vary for different classrooms, especially if you use my template and props to get you all set up. Overall, this is a low cost project that is highly engaging for your students. There was a reason why I did it many years in a row. The families absolutely LOVED them!
How have you used a selfie station in your classroom?Let me know and send me a message on Instagram @marvelousmsm
Finally have an email signature created but not sure how to add it in your email? Once added correctly into GMail, the signature will be automatically added after the body of the email. Follow these easy steps on how to do this in GMail.
Gmail Email Signature Video Tutorial
Having an email signature is essential. This allows your audience to know exactly who you are and other ways to contact you in the future. It’s also an opportunity to add a face to the name. With your email signature, you want to make sure people know who you are when it’s best to reach you and other qualifications that make you stand-out and be memorable.
After changing the size dimensions of the Google Slide and editing, this can then be downloaded and inserted into your email platform. If for some reason the image turns out blurry after downloading, screenshot the image. This can sometimes get a more clear image for your email.
Email signatures can be added at the end of all of the message automatically. This isn’t something you need to do manually every single time.
Not a Gmail user? Click here for the steps on how to add a photo email signature to Outlook.
Don’t feel like formatting the dimensions of the Google Slide on your own? I’ve saved you time with my Photo Email Signature Template. Just open, edit, download, and add!
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok
Other Blog Posts You Might Enjoy: 
Other Blog Posts You Might Enjoy: 
Learn how to add a timer to Google Slides with this video tutorial. This tech tip can can help students manage time in your classroom. In just a few clicks, classroom productivity can be enhanced.
