Saving Time With Google Slides

I love saving time with Google Slides in my self-contained classroom!  

I’m so excited to show you a few tips and tricks that help my day run efficiently and help me easily prep with what little time I get.

My self-contained classroom schedule runs on Google Slides every day.  The ability to project my daily slides on the whiteboard for staff and students to see is incredibly beneficial for our structure and routine.  To make my time-saving slides, I bought this pack of slides from Engaging Early Learners.  These slides helped me build the foundation of my daily schedule and then I customized the slides in a way that works for me and my class.

Resetting Each Day

I save time with google slides by editing the version history each day.
Yes, I will be honest with you here and say that my initial slide setup was quite time-consuming however, I have set them up in such a way that I am able to reset them every day which saves me a TON of prep time. For starters, keeping my whole group routine every week is KEY to saving time.  
Once I did the initial setup and structure of my slides, I was able to have a fun whole group session with my students.  At the end of each day, I save time by simply going to “file”, then “version history”, then “see version history”.  Or, I click the clock icon next to the slideshow button in the top corner of Google Slides. 

Next, I find the edit from the day before (where I reset and updated the slides) and click on that.  Then, I go to each slide and update it as needed, for example, lunch choices, and how many days in school.  Once a week, I update my letter, number, and core word of the week. I also update our afternoon content which is typically science, social studies, or writing once a week.

Hyperlinking Videos

Using hyperlinks in my Google Slides is probably my favorite feature.  What is a hyperlink?  A hyperlink allows me to link to a specific webpage or video using a picture, word, or video.  I save time using hyperlinks in Google Slides by linking each of my circle time videos to each slide. 

Now, this method helps me save instructional time rather than prep time, but I am okay with that because my day with my students is truly jam-packed and I need all of the time I can get.

To hyperlink a video to my slides, I find the video I want to use on YouTube.  Next, I copy the link. To attach the link, I use a photo of the video from either a Google search or a screenshot of the video image.  Then, I select the photo, tap the “insert link” or press command K on my keyboard, and paste the link.  While doing morning meetings, I simply just click on my photo and the link pops up allowing me to click on the link.

  • Hot Tip:  Hyperlinks allow me to link anything into Google Slides.  This means I can link my attendance so I will never forget to submit it again!

To see more of my structured morning meeting, read this post and watch my YouTube video below. 

Let me know what questions you have and I will get back to you.  Thanks for reading!

Michelle Lindenmuth, M.Ed.
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