I use Google Classroom every.single.day in my 3rd grade classroom. Today, I am going to share with you some of my favorite ways to use it and share a video that shows you how I organize it!

Organization of Google Classroom

For me, I do not use the “stream” very often. I am typically only using the “classwork” tab.

At the beginning of the week I go in and schedule anything I might be using in the classwork tab, so I am ready to go. This is where I can see who turned what in, what I assigned, and I can organize it by tabs.

I also archive everything after students turned everything in or the week is done. This way the stream and the classwork doesn’t get overwhelming for parents and students.

The only time I use the “stream” is for a check in where I want students to answer a question and then comment to each other.

I teach my students to also only look at the classwork section as well.

Watch the video below to see my classroom.

Easiest Ways of Use

Slide Decks

I find the EASIEST way to assign something to students is in a slide deck. This means I create a whole weeks worth of assignments for a subject in one Google Slides.

For example, in reading, I will have videos for them to watch, close reads to complete, links to games I want them to play, and more for them to practice the skill of the week.

For math, I will have videos, task cards, anchor charts, links to games, and an assessment all in one slide.

This way they don’t have to jump around all week from one assignment to the next, it is all in one slide deck.

(I have slide decks already created for you here)

Check-Ins

I LOVE having daily or weekly check-ins for my students. I put a question up for them to answer and then they answer it. I always teach them to comment back to two other students.

Google Forms

I use Google Forms for many assessments. If I want students to take a quiz, do a close read, etc. I will have them complete a Google Form.

>>Grab this free close read to see exactly what this would look like<<<

Google classroom makes it easy for me to assign things to my students to do throughout the week in my classroom or in a home environment.