I wrote about some awesome things you could do with Google Sheets in this post, but I completely understand that it can be quite an intimidating app. I’m not going to lie – it was my least favorite up until last year. It wasn’t until I discovered these awesome features to make my Google Sheets experience more manageable! Here are five features of Google Sheets that I couldn’t live without!
One: Filter Button
Teaching in a departmentalized elementary school, the filter view is my best friend! I can quickly toggle between classes and quickly sort by grade. With the filter view you can also sort by name if you needed to and even by question!
Two: Text Wrapping
How annoying is it when you give an exit ticket on Google Forms and students write such an amazing response, but it doesn’t fit in the width of the column? The text wrapping feature will save you here! Simply click this button and the text will wrap nicely in the width of the column.
Three: Conditional Formatting
Conditional formatting is a great feature to make your data look pretty 🤩. I mean, you can make it efficient too. I use this feature when I am analyzing data from an exit ticket or post test to see what questions and skills need to be readdressed.
Four: Alternating Colors
This is another feature to make your spreadsheets pretty – alternating colors. This feature is great if you are inserting checkboxes to keep tabs on assignments and other things your students turn in. It also helps so you can be sure to be marking off the correct students when you are inputting grades.
Five: Insert Image in Cells
Okay, this one is fairly new and I absolutely love it! I insert pictures in a cell when I am creating pixel art for my students. It helps because students don’t delete the text on accident. It’s also a great feature for when you are creating activities for the students.
Bonus: Crop Sheet Add-On!
I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty OCD. I don’t like seeing hundreds of hundreds of cells around the data that I actually need. The Crop Sheet add-on is my favorite to battle this! You can crop to the data that is already there or select the cells that you want to crop to.
Creating pixel art is one of my favorite things to do with Google Sheets! It is tedious and time consuming, but students love it! Check out some of the activities I have with Google Sheets here.
alexandra
