Simple Google Classroom Tips

Google Classroom is my ultimate go-to platform for sharing assignments and organizing student work. It doesn’t matter if you’re participating in distance learning or back on campus. Google Classroom is where it’s at for primary learners! These simple Google Classroom tips for Primary Students will help you get started with everything Google Classroom has to offer!

Sign up for Google Classroom

If you have access to Google Suite through Google Apps for Education, you can join Google Classroom from the nine squares (my students call it the waffle) where you find your Google Apps or by going to classroom.google.com. To create a class, you’ll just click on the plus sign and “Create”. Now, you’re ready to make your own classroom for your students!

Invite Students to Join

Adding students to do your Google Classroom is easy. Simply send them (or their parents if your students do not have access to email) the class code. You’ll see this alphanumeric code on the front “Stream” page of your Classroom in the banner. Students should join Google Classroom with their names. If your students do not have emails with your school domain, a school IT administrator must allow students to join from outside the domain. When your students join your classroom, they’ll click on the plus sign and click join to type in the code. You can also directly invite students and co-teachers (under the teacher section) by typing in their email addresses on the “People” page.

Invite Parents and Guardians to View Summaries

You (or your students) can invite parents from the “People” page in your classroom once their student joins. Next to the student name, simply click on “Invite Guardians” and type in the parent email. Students can also do this, or you may have your parents login to Google Classroom as the student and add their own email. Parents receive summaries, grades, and due dates of student assignments, not access to the actual work and material.

Create Posts for Students

When you click on the Classwork page, you have access to everything you need when it comes to creating posts for your students. Create an assignment, post a question, share material (like a year-round resource or extension website), and even reuse posts. The Classwork page is also where students can see all of the assignments and materials organized.

Make a Copy for Each Student

When you create an assignment, you have three options. You can share a view only copy, a copy that every student can edit, or you can make a copy for each student. When you share graphic organizers on Google Slides or digital Social Studies activities directly from Google Drive, you simply click “make a copy for each student”, and your students can instantly edit their own copy that I can see and monitor from Classroom. Once they are finished with their task, they hit submit, and you have ownership of the assignment until you return the work to your student.

Use Topics

Whenever you post an assignment on the Classwork page or from the main stream, tag it with a “Topic”. Topics keep all work organized, so your students can look at all “Math”, “Reading”, “Writing”, and “Science” assignments, for example, in one place.

I love using digital resources to keep learning going in Google Classroom during distance learning. Try these simple tips to use with even your youngest learners!