Hi, friends! It’s officially summer here in the Northern Hemisphere. I hope you are enjoying some time off or having fun in the sun! 🌞 This week, I’m chatting about fun ways that you can incorporate Google Slides activities into learning in the classroom, at home, or on vacation. I’ve even got some ideas for homeschoolers. Also look for a bunch of colorful, engaging activities at the end of this post that will get you started or add to your collection of digital resources. Don’t forget that digital resources can also be extended to hands-on learning.
Google Slides Activities for Your Class
There are so many fun ways to use Google Slides in the classroom! Just as you would project a PowerPoint presentation to your class during lessons, we can use Google Slides resources for whole-class instruction. A lot of Google Slides activities come equipped with lessons to teach important concepts. You can work through these lessons as a class, modeling concepts as you are projecting the file onto a large screen/whiteboard/projector. Keep reading for some Google Slides activities that do just this.
Even if some Google Slides activities don’t include lessons, you can work through some of the task cards together as a class as you explain and teach the concepts. I really enjoy working as a class, and so do my students! You can introduce concepts to your students by working through some of the interactive task cards included in your activities. You can give students their own dry erase boards to practice equations/tasks as you’re demonstrating on the big screen. We all know how many small, dry-erase boards we’ve purchased from the Dollar Store, so we should have plenty. 😉 Students can show you their board for you to gauge how much of the concept they comprehended.
Creative Ways to Use Google Slides Activities to Extend Learning
Another popular way to use Google Slides activities is to extend learning into math centers. Students love having the option of using technology during math centers, especially since it became so familiar to them this past year.
Use fun, engaging Google Slides activities to set up 1 or 2 math centers. Then, have another 2 centers with hands-on, tangible props/activities. This will provide a well-rounded experience with the concepts, so they gain the knowledge through understanding. You will also be able to reach more learners when you provide a variety of activities, including technology.
If you are using Google Classroom, you can easily assign or send students the activity through the platform. They can then log into their account during their math-center time. Then, they complete their work and turn it in to you via Google Classroom. With this set-up, you can also stroll the room, peeking over shoulders, checking in with students as they work on the activities. Checking on Google Slides activities is similar to checking in during a worksheet activity or other hands-on activity.
More Individualized Instruction
Many teachers also use Goggle Slides for one-on-one or small-group instruction. As we all know, students learn in their own individualized way and at their own pace. Sometimes, it’s beneficial to pull a student or a small group of students aside to work through some fun, engaging, and effective digital activities that might be more encouraging and helpful for them. We might even have a student or two who aren’t quite motivated enough to grasp a concept through conventional learning, but when you offer them an iPad to work on their math activities, they might get super excited about it! 🤩
Google Slides Activities at Home
We probably all know how well Google Slides worked during the past school year, and you might be tired of using them. 🙄 But, let’s not forget the great things that we love(d) about Google Classroom and Google Slides. Assigning Google Slides activities for homework via Google Classroom allows you to easily assign activities a couple of times a week for your students to practice concepts at home. This really provides a quiet space to learn, and they can go at their own pace. Even if you don’t use Google Classroom, you can also “make a copy” of any Google Slide activity and email or send it home. This also makes it easy to individualize learning by sending relevant activities home to the appropriate student(s). Additionally, Google Classroom lets students “turn in” their work when they’re done. If you are struggling with Google Classroom, comment below or email me. I’d love to help! 😊
Note to parents and homeschoolers: If you’re working with a student at home, be sure to check in with them every few minutes to see if they are understanding the concepts of the lesson. Use task cards to demonstrate the lesson, and complete a few together before the student tries their hand at it alone.
Homeschool Learning with Google Slides
If you are homeschooling your child(ren), you can make a copy of any activity for use on their tablet or computer at home or on the go. Take learning on vacation with you! 🌴 As long as you have access to the internet, you have instant lessons. Even as a homeschooling family, you can create a Google account and a Google Classroom. It can make learning a little more “school” like. You can keep track of lessons that you do together, and you can assign work through the platform. The children create their account, complete their assigned lessons, and turn it in to you when finished. Google Classroom and Google Slides are FREE applications, so take advantage of the cool benefits and features. Let me know if you have questions navigating Google Classroom.
Google Slides Fun!
One fun way to use Google Slides activities is to use them for early finishers who might just love to keep learning! I might have been one of them! 😉 You might want to purchase more challenging sets of activities for extra enrichment. You could also get the next grade level for those who need that extra challenge. Many teachers I know purchase both the 1st and 2nd Grade Complete Curriculum Bundles because the opportunity and ease of differentiating learning makes things so much easier for them. Check out the 1st Grade Bundle and the 2nd Grade Bundle!
As I’m sure you already know, Google Slides activities are a HIT for distance/virtual learning. Most teachers set up a Google Classroom so they can easily track student data throughout the school year. Google Classroom makes it easy to assign work (or particular slides) to your students, and then they just “turn them in”. So easy! You receive a copy of their completed work, and you can skim through and check for understanding just as you would a worksheet. And, students love Google Slides over boring worksheets. Google Slides activities are interactive, meaning you can usually type responses in text boxes and/or move around images to complete work. Kids love this!
Additional Tips
Be sure to purchase Google Slides activities that include lessons and examples, along with student task cards, to make teaching life easier. These features also make distance learning a breeze! Some teachers are still teaching virtually or have moved to tutoring online.
You can also share your screen during a Zoom meeting with your students, and go through the lessons together as they follow along. Walk them through the examples, then model 2-3 of the task cards. From there, you can simply assign a selection of slides for them to complete.
Some Colorful, Fun Google Slides Activities
These include lessons, examples, and tons of student practice cards. They even come in my favorite colors! 😉 Click on each image to see more of the activity.
I hope you enjoy these ways to use Google Slides and incorporate them into your classroom. Let me know if you struggle with Google Slides or Google Classroom. I’d love to help! Don’t forget to check out the digital resources above.
Have a great week!
Jess