Skip to main content

Tech Tip: Google Slides for Newsletters

By Jessica Winstanley
Paul and I go to a lot of tech conferences/meetings as part of our jobs as Technology Integration Specialists.  We always enjoy the idea sharing and conversations we have with our fellow EdTechies, and every now and then we have one of those "Oh my gosh! Why didn't I think of that!" kind of moments.  Thankfully, our most recent "Ah-ha" moment is one that many of you have also been pondering, especially as we move to 1-1 with chromebooks.  I hope you find this little tip as awesome as we did!

Last week, we had the pleasure of attending and presenting at the MiGoogle Conference (#migoogle) at Lake Fenton High School.  During the conference, one of the presenters - Justin Knull (@Everyday_Genius), shared the idea of using Google Slides as a Microsoft Publisher replacement, specifically in regards to creating newsletters.   Finding a good replacement for Publisher has been a struggle for us as we have moved almost exclusively to the Google world since there isn't a Google equivalent for Publisher.  We have tried Google Docs, but it is hard to add all the pictures and images in a way that is flexible enough for creating super visually appealing newsletters.  We have tried Lucidpress - which is a great tool, but it's complexity is a bit more than most teachers want to tackle.

Now, enter Google Slides!  Slides is the PowerPoint alternative in the Google Apps Suite.  It works great for creating presentations, slides shows, posters, and more, but I had never thought to use it for Newsletters.  Apparently, my mind was stuck on the fact that Slides always appear in landscape mode.  Well, guess what!  You can change the size of the page to be 8.5 x 11!  Simply go to the file menu, select Page Setup.  Choose custom from the drop down menu, then put your page size (ex: 8.5 x 11) in the size box.  Make sure you select inches instead of pixels, points, or centimeters.  Select OK when you are finished.  TA DA!

You can now add images and text boxes, to your hearts content.  You can overlap images and text, and you can set a background or background color.  You can add multiple pages simply by adding another slide.  When you are all done, you can either go to the file menu and select "Publish to the Web" to get a link to the digital version of your newsletter, or you can download the file as a PDF in order to attach to an email, print, or send via Skyward.  The next week/month when you want to make your next newsletter, all you have to do is open the previous week/month's newsletter and select File -> Make a Copy.  Then input your new information.  Love this!

Here are a few example templates - feel free to use and customize, just go to the File menu and select Make a Copy:

Also, if you love Teachers Pay Teachers, many of their templates are done in PPT (PowerPoint) and can be easily converted over to Google Slides.

  

A couple other tips...

  • Name your files with the year first. Example: 2016-11-18 Newsletter.  The reason for this is because Google files things Alpha-numerically.  So if you put the year, then the month, then the day, the newsletters will go in the correct order for the school year.
  • Use the Tools->Explore to search for images to embed in your newsletter.
  • Looking for some fun, free, cute clip-art graphics?  Check out: http://www.mycutegraphics.com/ 
  • When you print your downloaded PDF, make sure you select the box that says "fit to page" that way it will add your margins in for you.
Remember, this great tip doesn't work just for newsletters/newspapers.  Have your students make posters, brochures, books, and more....there are so many ways students can use Slides to show what they know.  If you have a great idea of how to use Google Slides in the classroom - make sure you share it in the comments section!  We would love to learn from you, too!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Google Docs: Fonts for Early Elementary

By Jessica Winstanley
Sample of search results from fonts.google.com A couple weeks ago, I was sitting in a training with a bunch of my favorite lower elementary teacher friends, and several of them were lamenting the fact that it is hard to find "good" Google fonts for the little people they work with on a daily basis.  Specifically, it is a challenge to find the single story lower case a and the open 4 .  This conversation, of course, sent me out on a mission to remedy this for these fantastic people.  So, the next day I put on my headphones, turned up the tunes on Spotify, and dived into the website fonts.google.com .  This website lists all the Google fonts available.  It also allows you to type in your own letters and numbers and see them in all the various fonts.  For my purpose, I typed in "abckgy 1234 This is the font."  From here I could see all 877 fonts, and look specifically for the a   and the 4.  It was quite an adventure, and I came across a lot of really awesome font
Post a Comment
Read more

It's time to change your password!

By Jessica Winstanley
There are several times a year when it is important to change your password.  Your password will expire every 90 days. When your windows computer informs you that your password will be expiring soon, CHANGE IT THEN! It is also always a good idea to change your password before going on break so that you do not get locked out of your computer, email or gradebook.  Here is how you change your password from the school windows computers. On your Windows desktop/TEC computer , press the Alt, Ctrl and Delete buttons at the same time. Click on "Change a Password" on the menu below: Enter your username, if needed, and follow the directions on screen. If you are off site or working solely on a Chromebook , you can use the VDI (Virtual Desktop) to change your password.   Simply go to vdi.portageps.org.  Click "VMware Horizon HTML Access."  Click "Accept."  Login with your portage username (leave off the @portageps.org) and password.  Click "Login."  Cli
Post a Comment
Read more

Skyward Tech Tip: Unlocking a Closed Grade Period

By
Have you recently attempted to change a grade from last quarter only to be met with the statement “ This Grade Period is closed for Grade Entry “? This occurs because the date for the end of a marking period or quarter has past and that grading period has been locked in the Skyward Gradebook. Below you will find the process for changing term grades, assignment scores, and other information from past grading periods. Google Docs Version Go to your gradebook Let’s start with the gradebook for the class where you need to make a change. In this example, we will be adding a score to a missing assignment and removing the incomplete grade from the quarter grade. (Note: The process to open or unlock the gradebook is the same regardless the change you need to make.) This change will be made for marking period three, Q3. In that marking period column, click on the “Options” dropdown button. From the Options dropdown, choose “Grade Posting Status for Term QX”, whe
Post a Comment
Read more