Stop and Smell the Roses with Mrs. Dankanich

Using Google Slides to Create Task Cards and Handouts for Students

Have you ever wondered how to create professional looking handouts and activities for your students? If you haven't tried using Google Slides, then here's your guide to get started.

Google Slides is an easy way to create student handouts because you can easily add text and images to the page without dealing with the formatting issues you might run into when using a Google Doc.

Getting Started

In your Google Drive, go to New + and then click on Google Slides then "Blank presentation."

Next, you will need to size the page so that it matches a regular piece of printer paper. To do this you go to the File tab and then click page set-up. You need to decide whether you want your page to be portrait or landscape. If you want portrait, size your page 8.5 x 11 inches. If you want landscape size your page 11 x 8.5 inches.

Next, I like to delete the text boxes that are currently on the page. You can delete them by just clicking the outside frame and then using the "Delete" button on your keyboard.

To zoom in, use the magnifying glass on the top

To Make a Printable Activity you Plan to Laminate/Reuse such as Task Cards

The order doesn't really matter, but you will probably want to add a background of some sort and text boxes on your screen.

To add a background:

Click the Background tab at the top
Choose a solid color or click Choose Image
If you click "Choose Image" then you have the option of uploading an image you have saved or searching for an image (see below for an image showing you how to Search for an image)
Click Apply to Theme if you want the background to be added to all the slides in your presentation

Now that you have a background for your presentation you will want to add text boxes. If you are creating task cards or activity cards you want to laminate you will probably want to create multiple text boxes on the page.

For longer problems, I like to make two text boxes on the page. I find that these are big enough for a small group of students to view at one time.
For shorter tasks, that are usually shorter for students to complete, I will do 4, 6, or even 8 text boxes on the page.

Inserting Text Boxes

Click Text Box and then create a text box on your screen that is close to the size you want. You can adjust the size of the text box at any time.
Next, choose a fill color for the box by clicking the paint bucket icon in the tool bar. A box will drop down with a variety of color choices. Often times, I choose white to save ink for printing later.
Optional- You can choose a border around your text box by clicking the text box and clicking the pencil icon at the top and choosing the color you would like for the border. You can also download free clipart in the form of "frames" from Teachers Pay Teachers if you'd like. If you do this you actually insert the image behind your text box. This is more complicated but can make your end product look really nice!

Adding border lines:

Next, choose the font and text size that you would like in the box. This way when you copy the box, all your formatting will already be complete and you won't have to repeat steps.

After you have the text box as you'd like it, right click the box and click copy. Then click paste. You may want to zoom out of your presentation so you can see the whole page to do this. Drag the box to the lower part of the page. Now you will have two text boxes, perfect for two tasks for your students.

Adding an Image

To insert an image, click "Insert" from the menu, then "Image." You can search from an image by clicking Search the web, upload a saved file from your computer, or even add images from Google Drive, Photos, a URL or your camera.

After you add the image you can move it anywhere on the page. If you want your image to have text on top of it, simply add another text box on top of it and start typing. You can layer as many text boxes and images as you would like in Google Slides. You can change the order of the images and text boxes by right-clicking and then clicking "Order" from the options provided.

Duplicating Slides to Make Your Life Easier

A feature that I love about Google Slides is that you can duplicate slides. This saves so much formatting time!

To do this you simply right-click the slide you want to duplicate (you can even select multiple slides at a time) and then choose Duplicate.

Adding QR Codes

Adding QR codes for students to submit or check their work using Google Forms is super simple when using Google Slides. To see how to create a QR code in the first place see my post "How to Create a QR code for Google Forms and Files."

To Make a Handout that Students will Directly Write on

Making a handout for students is easy because you can insert text boxes and images as needed on your page. You will follow the same steps as above, except you can omit adding a background. See below for a reminder of how to add a text box.

When making handouts, you can add multiple text boxes and images on each page.

See the section above about Duplicating Slides because this will allow you to keep the same formatting throughout your document and will save you time. Similarly, you can add QR codes to these documents with links to Google Forms or documents easily!

See the images below for some tips to consider when making student handouts. Consider adding in a table so students can stay organized.

When adding a table, click "Insert" then "Table" and then choose the size you would like. For some reason the default color of the table is gray, so you may want to change the color to black by clicking the pencil icon at the top and choosing black. Make the table bigger by dragging the sides until it is the size you would like.

You can type into the cells of the table just like you would a text box. See the images below.

Ready for more? Check out the post "How to Use Google Sites to Create an Escape Room"

Google Sites

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