Non-Tech Ways to Go Paperless

As we all know, I hate paper and avoid it like the plague. Many people just assume that this means I do EVERYTHING on computers. It's true, I use technology quite a bit. But as an educator, I do recognize that somethings need to be done by hand. Some students need to be able to touch things and move them around. Some things need to be handwritten either to practice handwriting or to help our brains take in what we are writing. If you have tablets in your classroom, you probably have found ways to incorporate drawing and handwriting using styluses. Not to mention, our kids really shouldn't be looking at a screen ALL DAY, even for educational purposes.

There are a lot of tech ways to make things paperless, which I love. But let's look at some NON-tech ways to go paperless (yes, there are many!).

DRY/WET ERASE and MAGNETS

As a paperless teacher, I wanted everything to be dry erase and magnetic. I found dry erase tape at the office supply store and went crazy with it.

Center Work

If you haven't already, you might invest in some dry erase pockets for your classroom. I had some full size and some half size to use for center practice. I like these because sometimes you need to make an activity last minute. I find a printable, print a couple out and put them in the pockets. The students love using dry erase. 

If you are better about planning ahead and like to have things to reuse throughout the year (and future years), create a folder that has laminated cardstock copies of games and activities that you can pull out and use over and over again!

Accountability Sheets

For daily 5, we always had the students fill out little sheets to help them keep track of their Daily 5 activities. It was mostly to make sure that they had something to show for their time, such as writing the title of the book that they read and saying something about what they read that day. Since this was something that was a quick check in and done EVERY week (or day, depending on how you structure it), making it laminated and having the students use wet erase markers helps keep the copying and wasting of paper to a minimum. At the end of the week, you use a wet wipe or wet washcloth and wipe them all clean, ready for the next week.

Dismissal Tracker

Again, anything that you are having to make a new copy every day/week, should be converted to a dry erase surface. Every day at our school, we are supposed to put our dismissal tracker for the week in our mailbox. This way, if there is confusion about a students' dismissal method, the secretary can pull out our sheet and see what the teacher had marked the student as. Inevitably, I would forget to print out a new sheet or would run out of the copies I had made. Finally, I realized I could laminate it, use a wet erase marker and not have to print anymore!

Homework Tracking

Honestly, I track homework on an excel spreadsheet, but I know many teachers who really like to be able to have their clipboard with all their trackers and things on them. They have a checklist that they mark on paper then of course go and put it in their grade books. If you are transferring the information to a digital format anyway, then you probably don't need the paper trackers too. Make it reusable! Check off assignments with a wet erase then wipe it clean after putting the information on the computer.

Library Labels

Organizing and reorganizing my library was always difficult for me. Some teachers probably are able to print and laminate their labels for their bins and never have to do it again. My library seemed to change so much. I constantly change the way they are organized. I finally used dry erase tape on my bins so I didn't need to keep printing and laminating new labels each time I needed to reorganize.

Hall Passes

Print out a template that has a place for date, time, location, and student. Laminate a few copies and have at your desk for when you need to send a student out of the room.

Name Plates

I didn't even actually make name plates for this. My kids' desks were PERFECT dry/wet erase surfaces. I took a wet erase marker and wrote the students names directly on their desks. When a student moves, get a wet wipe and wipe it clean for the next student. When I needed to make students switch desks for whatever reason, I wiped them clean and rewrote their names. For desks that aren't great for writing on with dry erase markers, the good old laminating and wet erase trick is great.

Scratch Paper

My students had lap boards inside their desk and dry erase markers that they used as scratch paper for math tests that were on the computer or other times they needed scratch paper. After I started doing this, my room stayed so much cleaner! After I moved rooms and had the great desks I wrote about above, I actually just had students use their desks as scratch paper! Of course, they absolutely loved that, and my students who normally wouldn't even use scratch paper started writing their work out on their desks.

Line order

Every time I changed my line order, I would print out a little copy and put it up on my door jamb using a magnet. I then thought about just making little magnets of each students names (I used dry erase magnets) then was able to rearrange them easily. This made it much simpler, especially for those times that you just moved one or two students to fix an issue with behavior. I hated having to print a whole new list for that. You could also use a small dry erase board and rewrite the list. The reason I liked the rearrangeable magnets better because if I only changed one student I could just move their magnet.

Any other great ways to go paperless and make your job easier? Leave them in the comments!

Google Assistant in the Classroom

What is Google Assistant?

You probably have used the Google search bar on your smartphone at some point. You may even have learned that you can use the microphone button on the search bar to say what you are searching instead of typing. Some of you might even have learned that you can simply say, "OK, Google" and your phone will start listening for you to say that search. This is your Google Assistant, and it can do a lot more than just do Google searches! (I know, my love affair with Google is not letting up...)

I love using my Google Assistant to help me do everything. In fact, I even recently got one of those fancy Google Homes for my house! While I'm working I like to be able to just say "OK, Google, text my hubby I'll be home in 30 minutes." And she says "OK! Sending text!" Over time I have learned even more things that the assistant can help me do. She adds items to my grocery list, reminds me to do things, sets alarms, starts timers, plays music, turns on my lights, makes calls, 

Recently I started thinking about how I could use this more than just for my work productivity but actually in the classroom... And now I'm extremely excited. What makes these great is that you are not searching for a ton of different apps or having to gather material. It also is great to know about for those awkward little in-between moments (like a guest speaker running late) that you need something to do with the kids but don't want to start an actual activity. If you're like me, you always have your phone on you.

Most of these activities are "Talk to [name of activity]."

Practicing Mindfulness and Yoga Master

Practice Mindfulness-This is the command that started this whole post. My teacher friends that have been doing all of the mindfulness training will love this. If you say, "OK Google, practice mindfulness," a two-minute mindfulness clip plays. As a support teacher, this is PERFECT for starting the classes. They come in all wild and rambunctious so a little quiet breathing and mindfulness time is great to get us ready for the class. 

Another great thing is that it is exactly two minutes. Since playing with it I found that if I send a student away to get it together for a minute, I can start this and set it next to them. It helps the students consciously get their bodies and brains back in control and it also gives them a guide to when to come back. When the clip is done and says "Enjoy the rest of your day," the student returns to their computer and gets to work. Classroom teachers that use a safe seat or "calming corner" could really find this useful. 

I like that I can get it going with a simple command (no set up) and it is quiet enough that the student can sit in the corner and go through it. 

Yoga Master-If you say "Ok Google. Talk to Yoga Master" it starts your yoga session. You can choose to "Start Lesson" or "start meditation". The meditation option just plays nature sounds for you. The lesson goes through some yoga poses with you. It describes the poses and shows a picture.

Vent it out- Another option for students who are needing to separate themselves to get calm. For students who need to vent, but don't want to talk to a teacher about it, they can vent to Google. Help them feel like they have a place to vent even when they don't want to talk to you.

Brain Breaks and Ice Breakers

Google Assistant has a lot of interactive games that are meant to use with your kids with the Google Home. I found that a lot of these are great for in the classroom-especially if you have younger grades. 

Freeze Dance-Ask the assistant to play Freeze Dance and it plays fun music and pauses at different times. It even has a winter edition right now! Since Google Assistant is in control, the teacher gets to play with the students! It also calls out ways to dance like "wave your arms like ribbons while you dance"

Musical Chairs-Similar to freeze dance, the assistant is in charge of starting and stopping the music. At the beginning of the game, she asks how many are playing.

Sound Pet-You and your class can have a virtual class pet! Once you find your pet with the first game, you name it. You can visit the sound pet with the command "Play sound pet" to take it on a walk, feed it, and check in on it.

Susie Says-"Talk to Susie Says" starts a Google version of Simon says.

Never Have I Ever-Great for older kids, this is the classic icebreaker game that helps people get to know each other a bit!

You can also find trivia games, jokes, and other fun things!

Math

Multiplication Tables-Exactly what it sounds like. This game asks different multiplication facts. The command is "Talk to Multiplication tables"

1-2-3 Math- "Talk to 1-2-3 Math" has 3 difficulty levels of word problems. 

Language Arts

Vocab Geek-Practice new vocabulary words. This game has 3 difficulty levels and gives the player 3 hints and two choices. Great for a Word Work option.

This is just one of MANY vocabulary options for Google Assistant. 

Mad Libs-Mad libs have always been a great way to practice parts of speech. "Play Mad Libs" starts the game. She asks for different types of words and the student can answer. After she gathers all of the words, she reads the silly story to them. I like this, for students that you want to practice parts of speech, but write slowly or get caught up on spelling. This allows them to practice the actual objective of parts of speech.

Read a Story-Great for Listening to Reading for Daily 5. The Google Assistant can access MULTIPLE storytelling apps to read a story to you. If you simply say "Read me a story," to your phone's Google Assistant she sort of gives a joke story.  You have to specify where to get the story. Google Home has more option but there are some for your phone. 

Story Tree ("Ask Story Tree for a Story"-interactive stories (like choose your own adventure). The con of this one is that it is robotic sounding, but the pro is that the students are interacting with the story.

Study.com-Covers multiple subjects and ask questions for the player to answer. An easy English question that I had was "What does a sentence need to have to be complete?"

Have any other great ideas for how Google Assistant could be used in your classroom? Leave them in the comments!

Don't forget to visit my store on Teachers Pay Teachers for paperless resources!