Tired of losing books from your classroom library? Have a checkout system for students that's just not working? Wish you had a quick and easy way to figure out who checked out which book and when?
GOOGLE TO THE RESCUE!
Here's a great way to think about your classroom library check-out system for the upcoming school year!
Recently I've met with teachers to discuss the easiest way to organize groups. HA! I know that's a totally loaded topic, and there are about a million ways to organize groups in your classroom.... But here's one way to use Google Forms and Google Sheets to organize students quickly and not waste any extra unnecessary time! This is especially useful when you're working with other teachers, and students are moving in and out of your classroom! Check it out!
I don't know about you, but I LOVE my clipart!!! Problem is, I haven't always been the *best* at organizing it. (If you're reading between the lines here- I really have no idea what I have! And I have a lot!)
In an attempt to organize myself here, from now on, before I click "Purchase" on any more clipart, I quickly fill out my Google Spreadsheet!
I have a column for the artist's name, their logo (for when I need to create a credits page), a preview of the clipart pack, any tags to help me easily find it again!!!, and the store link (again- for credits page.)
To get the picture of the logo and the preview, I just take a screen shot! That's Command, Shift, 4 on a Mac!
Here's an awesome tip from Blair Turner about screen shooting! #gamechanger!
To get the picture into the field, there are a few quick steps.
I'll walk you through all of the steps in the video below!
You can also follow the steps here! (And download them HERE if you'd like!)
Your image will appear in the box, will stay where it's supposed to if other columns are rearranged, and will format to fit the size of the box!
Then you go quickly go through and fill out the rest of the boxes.
And don't forget to watch the video above! There are some great tips on how to quickly find something that you're looking for using Google Spreadsheets!
Now, tell me! How do you organize your clipart!?!?!?
Heading back to school can be completely overwhelming. With everything that is expected of teachers- PD, meetings, setting up a classroom, meetings, PD, getting ready for your new class, meetings, meetings, and more meetings.... It's incredible we even make it through the month of September.
Usually for me, the paperwork can be the most headache inducing part of Back to School season!
Google Forms can be a great way to eliminate *some* of the paperwork, and get yourself organized without having to do a whole lot of unnecessary work.
One way to use Google Forms is to have parents fill out all of the Back to School information you need via Forms! It's easy!
1. You create the form. (I'll help you with that below!)
2. You share the form with your parents through a link (I'll help you with that too!)
3. Viola! Parents just need to fill out the form and ALL of the information you need is organized and housed in one spot like this:
No more piles and piles of paperwork. No more organizing the piles and piles of paperwork. No more sending it home and receiving 12 out of 25 papers back, and of the 12, eight of them are incomplete and sending those back home... No more throwing yourself in front of cars during bus duty to ask parents where their information sheet is... (Yes, I've done that...)
I'll take you step by step through the process- there's a picture tutorial below, a PDF tutorial you can download and print at the end of this post, and here's a video tutorial to get your started!
You'll need to make sure you have a Google account set up first. Once you do, go to drive.google.com
I always give parents TIME to fill this out during the first few minutes of Back to School Night, which is like our orientation.
You can click the picture below to download the PDF of this tutorial!
Once you've got the hang of creating Google Forms, there are endless possibilities. Here are a few other ideas!
Get to know your students by creating a Back to School survey for your students to complete!
Set up a form for parents to sign up to volunteer!
Take class survey's about books! (We used this during March Book Madness last year!)
And when you really feel like you've got the hang of it, you can even have students create their OWN forms!!! (HELLO Data and Analysis standards!!!)
Have you used Google Forms in your classroom??? I'd LOVE to hear how!!!
I'll be back soon with more tips and tricks for Google Forms.
With the end of the school year only 15 days away!!!, I thought it was time for a little organizing!!! Not my favorite thing to do on a Saturday, but it always feels so great to have it DONE!
Here's what I was working with:
Before you judge, keep in mind that at the end of last year we had to be o-u-t on the last day of school- we left and gave up our keys when the kids left. So, as a result, everything got shoved into wherever it would fit...
Eeek! What a mess!!!
Yikes!
:-/ That white tub on the floor whacked me in the face when I opened this cabinet!!!
(Miraculously I knew exactly where everything was, though!)
And after four hours of sweat, blood, tears, and panic ;-)
Here's what I accomplished!!!
There's even an EMPTY cupboard on top!!!!
Ooooooooooo!
Ahhhhhhhhh! Nothing will be hitting me in the face now!
:)
However, our amazing janitor will probably not be happy to find this outside my classroom tomorrow morning.
