Math Fluency Centers Using Google Slides

Counting Centers in Google Slides




During the 2020-2021 school year math fluency centers are going to need to look a little different due to social distancing and students not being able to share materials.  Over the upcoming weeks we will be sharing some FREE digital fluency centers for K-2nd Grade and 3rd-5th Grade to provide opportunities for students to practice skills in a synchronous learning environment while interacting with a math partner.  Read on for some ideas on ways to use these slides during remote small group sessions.  


ACCESSING THE SLIDES
Click on the link to make a copy of the slides and add them to your Google Drive. Once you have done this you will be able to make additional copies of slides as needed for your students.

USING THE SLIDES DURING SMALL GROUP SESSIONS
Provide opportunities for students to practice skills while interacting with their peers by using the slides during a small group Google Meet or Zoom session.  Having all students in the group working on the same set of slides simultaneously makes it easy for the teacher to monitor and confer with students as they play the games. Alternatively, you can share different slides decks with different groups of students using Google Classroom.

GETTING STARTED
Share the slide deck with your students and give them editing access. You can do this is Google Slides by changing the link to "anyone with the link can edit" or in Google Classroom by selecting "Students can edit file." Prior to sharing the slides with students right click on the thumbnail and click Duplicate slide to make multiple copies of the pages you will need based on the number of partnerships in the group. To make for a smooth start to a session let students know ahead of time who their partner is and assign different slides in the slide deck to each partnership.  At the end of the game return all game pieces to the start position by clicking on File > Version History > See Version History and selecting the original version.

TROUBLE SHOOTING

  1. When sharing the file be sure to give students permission to edit.  If you share without giving permission to edit students will not be able to interact with the slides and move the game pieces.

  2. Google Slides are not interactive in Presentation mode. In order for the slides to be interactive you must be in edit mode (i.e. you can see the toolbar and slide thumbnails). Do not click the Present button. 

  3. If working on an iPad the Google Slides app must be installed. Once the app is installed the student can open a game and click on the arrow on the top, right hand corner of the iPad to open the Google slides app. If the slides have been shared in editing mode they will be interactive and the student will be able to manipulate the game pieces.

THINGS TO CONSIDER
Depending on the size of the group some students may find it difficult to focus when multiple partnerships are working simultaneously on the same file and sharing their thinking aloud. In this case you may decide to use breakout rooms (e.g. 4 breakout rooms with 1 partnership in each room = 8 students) and move from room to room to confer with students. 

TERMS OF USE
You may share the Google Slides with students on a protected site or platform (e.g. Google Classroom, a password-protected website, a password-protected Flip Grid, during small group Google Meet or Zoom sessions etc.)  Linking directly to our free download files online is prohibited.  Please see our Term of Use for further information.