Today was my first real experience with Google Classroom, and I have to say that it was awesome! Since we are using Google so much in the classroom it seems like the natural thing to do is to start using Google Classroom. Like me, Mr. Whichard at Kaechele was using Edmodo in his classroom in the past, so when we started working together Google Classroom naturally came up. The whole 3rd grade team wanted to get started on it, which was really exciting for me! Today all of the students logged into Classroom for the first time, joined a class, watched a flipped video on subtraction with regrouping, and did an activity with subtracting. We also wanted them to have practice turning in an assignment, so we posted a place for them to start a Google Doc to reflect.
Assignments may have been my favorite feature! The students have the option of uploading something from their Drive or they can create a Doc, Drawing, Presentation, or Spreadsheet. When they click create the Doc, or whatever they choose, automatically saves to their Drive in their Classroom folder and names itself the assignment title and their name. When I was in the classroom there were countless papers turned in without names, so this solves that problem! We have been setting up folders that the students share with the teachers to turn in work, but Google Classroom also takes care of that! As a teacher Classroom sets up a folder in your Google Drive called Classroom. Within that folder a new folder is created for each assignment and the student work goes directly into that folder. I LOVE that it stays organized without the teacher having to put it in folders. We are just starting to scratch the surface with this powerful tool, and I’ll be posting different ways we use it throughout the year.
Thanks for being so awesome KES 3rd grade team!!
