I have 3 ways to go paperless in your classroom and why you NEED to.
First, let me tell you how my year starts out. Every August, my head custodian hauls in boxes of classroom materials. Mind you, these are just for my own classroom. Easily, there are 10 or so boxes filled with consumable classroom materials. Multiply this by 3 fifth grades at my school and we are talking mountains of paper.
Did I mention we are a school of kinder to sixth grade? Each grade has 2 – 3 classes at each grade level.
Now, I love word problems, so I am starting to get excited from a math perspective.
It’s a shit ton of boxes, is it not? This is happening ALL over my district, as well as ALL over my state. I presume this is country if not world wide.
Schools Waste a LOT of PAPER
So, in short, the reason you and I need to go paperless is because this is a lot of trees! According to the American Federation of Teachers, schools are the LARGEST waste generators of any city, county, or state in the United States!
At least 40% of school waste is PAPER.
So, we can all do our part by trying to limit the amount of paper we are using in our classrooms.
How exactly can we do this?
Remember, this post is 3 ways to go paperless in your classroom and why you need to. Now that we have covered the why, let’s talk about the 3 ways you can.
1.) Use digital versions of textbooks and materials
Textbooks and materials are more readily available in digital formats. If they aren’t, contact your district or volunteer to be a part of a curriculum council and request materials be purchased in digital form also.
Many of them include digital tools such as highlighters and comments that students can use to mark up text or highlight text evidence. I love that many of my textbooks make non-fiction accessible to my students by using a READ ALOUD function also.
2.) Use Google Suite, or similar platforms, to make resources digital or have your students work digitally
Google Suite offers great opportunities to engage students without paper.
I have been making digital puzzles and materials for my students in slides that allow them to do activities I would normally do in small groups or centers. Additionally, I have been using forms to give my students a variety of practice that takes grading off my plate.
As we start our new unit on fractions, and to encourage my students to review additive comparison word problems, I made these interactive winter themed puzzles for Google Slides. These are easy to grade and students will know that something is right if the puzzle doesn’t make sense.
Pixel ART is another interactive and fun way to ditch the paper. The bonus is how easy the work is to grade. If an answer is incorrect, the pixel does not change colors giving students IMMEDIATE feedback.
Other platforms, like Kami, allow you to turn PDFs into interactive resources. Plus, you can use your Bitmoji stickers to correct you students’ work.
3.) Engage students in digital games created from paper based materials
I use a variety of games in my classroom throughout my day. Gimkit, Kahoot, Quizziz, and Quizlet are all within my daily repertoire for teaching, distance or otherwise. My students stick around and show up to my meetings because I use games like Gimkit. If you use Kahoot, which I also like to use, then you will also enjoy Gimkit. They are always coming out with different modes such as Trust No One Mode. This is modeled after the popular, among my fifth graders at least, Among Us game.
My students LOVE this mode, as well as the other Gimkit features that allow them to use power-ups and hinder the success of their classmates. It is not uncommon for us to play on various platforms throughout the day including Gimkit, Kahoot, Quizziz, and Quizlet.
These games not only get my students to show up, but the Trust No One version of Gimkit keeps them around. What I love most about Gimkit is that it reinforces concepts, or even front loads my students with information prior to a lesson. The format for the most part means I do not have to screen share, and students are playing at their own pace.
I take practice problems form workbooks and put them into these digital game forms that allow us to practice the concepts in a fun and exciting way. Most of them allow you to save the results of the game so you can do a formative assessment of what your students know.
I love this way to go paperless in your classroom and think that if there was a reason you need to, student engagement and attendance is definitely a big one!
Want to learn more?
Alexandra at Tech About Math is launching a new membership on going paperless. The membership includes grade specific resources each month as well as relevant technology to use in the classroom. It also will include a blue print for going paperless in your classroom.
You can find more information about her course by visiting HERE.
These were my 3 ways of going paperless in your classroom and why you need to. Do you have others that didn’t make the list? Share in the comments below or connect with me on social media. I can’t way to hear how you are going paperless in your classroom!