Getting STarted
Follow the directions below to go through the basics of setting up a Google Classroom
- Be sure to read everything and watch the accompanying videos to see exactly how Google Classroom works
- Contact T. Davidson if you have any questions
✔️ CREATE A CLASS:
- Go to: classroom.google.com
Make sure that you are logged in with your Mt Sinai Google account, which is your school email address.
Email T. Davidson if you need help with your password. - Click on the “+” button in the top right to create your first class.
Then click “Create class.” - Add information about your class.
- Name: This is how your students will identify your class from other classes.
- Section: Optional, many teachers will use this field for the class period or year.
- Subject: Optional - How many Classrooms should you create? It comes down to personal preference, but here are some suggestions...
- Gr. K-4: need only one Classroom
- Gr. 5-12 and Special Areas: need a Classroom for each class/period taught
✔️ CUSTOMIZE YOUR CLASSROOM:
Before your students join your class, you may want to customize the header picture. You can choose from preset pictures or you can upload your own (such as a class picture or a photo of your classroom).
On the bottom right side of the header, click “Select theme” or "Upload photo" to change your header picture.
Watch the video to see how it is done.
** If you are ready to create your own custom header image, you can click here for a template to start with.
✔️ CLASS CODE:
Once your class is created, you will see a class code. Students will join your class using the unique class code.
Students can also join using an 'Invitation Link'. If you have a class website, you can post the 'invitation link' to your website and students can click the link to join your class.
👉 Sometimes the class code can be confusing... does it have the letter "l" or a "1"? Thankfully if you don't like the way that the code looks, you can reset it by going to the SETTINGS button. Click here for a short video clip on how to do this.
✔️ CO-TEACHERS:
- Co-teachers can be added to your Google Classroom.
- Any teachers that you add will have the same rights to the Classroom as you do.
- You can add teachers by going to the PEOPLE tab and typing in their Mt Sinai Google email in the TEACHERS section.
✔️ INVITE PARENTS:
Parents can get daily or weekly email summaries about their child's activity in Google Classroom.
- In order to set this up, you will need to have each parent's email address
- Go to the PEOPLE tab
- Click on 'INVITE GUARDIANS' and type in the parent's email.
- Parents will then receive an email from Google Classroom asking them to sign up for email summaries.
👉 If a parent has already joined another teacher's Google Classroom, then their email will already appear in the guardian list and you will not need to add it.
- Email summaries do not include grades.
- Email summaries can include:
- Missing work—Work not turned in when the summary was sent.
- Upcoming work—Work that’s due today and tomorrow (for daily emails) or that’s due in the upcoming week (for weekly emails).
- Class activities—Announcements, assignments, and questions recently posted by teachers.
- Here is an example of Weekly Summary...
Guardian Email Summary - Example.pdf✔️ CLASSROOM SETTINGS:
After you create a class, you can see or change your class details.
Class details include:
- Basic information, such as the class name, section, and room number
- Settings for posts to your Stream page
- Your class video meeting link
- Your class code
You can change class details on your Settings page. If you have multiple sections of the same class, changes made to one class do not apply to the others.
✔️ CLASSROOM NOTIFICATIONS:
- Learn how to customize your email notification settings for all of Google Classroom
- THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT… otherwise your email inbox will be overflowing with Google Classroom notifications! 😮
✔️ THE 'TABS':
- Teachers will have 4 TABS at the top of their Google Classroom: Stream, Classwork, People, & Grades
*** FYI- If you are on a tablet using the Google Classroom app, the GRADES tab will not appear!
- Students will only see 3 TABS: Stream, Classwork, & People
Watch the video for a quick intro about each tab
Stream Tab
Used to post 'announcements'... giving notices or reminders to your students.
Announcements appear in chronological order, but you can 'drag' them to reorder.
You can draft and schedule announcements and control who comments or replies to posts.
If you want, you can allow students to comment back and forth to one another... a great way to socialize if we are stuck at home.
Classwork Tab
Tell your students that THIS tab is where they will spend most of their time... this is where they will find their assignments.
Create assignments and questions by clicking on the Create button.
Keep posts organized by using Topics.
People Tab
View all members of the class
Option to invite co-teachers
View the students in your class and invite parents to set up guardian email summaries
Click on a student to view all of their classwork
Please note: While there is an option to email students and parents, we DO NOT have this set up for our District. You can send students a private message using the STREAM tab.
Grades Tab
Only teachers see the Grades page
View student work, enter grades, and return work
Students get their grades when you return their work
✔️ Change your profile Picture:
Profile Picture
Learn how to update your profile picture to help students easily identify your classes.
✔️ More Videos to help you Get started
Setting up a classroom & Assignments
Short Video tutorials
Check out this playlist for getting started with Google Classroom. There are currently 52 short video clips on how to use Google Classroom.
Click here to open the playlist in YouTube and you will see all of the videos on the right side. Be sure to scroll all the way down to see all 52 videos!
