 Royalton-Hartland Family Guide
How Your Student Can Use Google Classroom, Drive, and School Bookmarks at Home
A quick, step-by-step guide for families. It takes about five minutes.
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| Before you start, have these ready |
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A computer with internet access (the Chrome browser is best, and required for school bookmarks) |
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Your student's school email address |
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Your student's school password |
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| Step-by-step: on a home computer |
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Open a web browser and go to Google Classroom On your home computer, open Chrome (Edge or Safari work too). In the address bar, type classroom.google.com and press Enter. |
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Choose the school account If you see a Sign in button, click it. If the computer is already signed in to a personal Google account, click the round profile picture in the top-right corner, then choose Add another account. |
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Enter your student's school email and password Type your student's school email address (the same one they use to sign in to their school Chromebook), click Next, then enter their school password and click Next. |
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Say “Student” if asked The first time, Classroom may ask whether you are a student or a teacher. Choose Student and click Continue. |
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Open a class Your student's classes show up as colorful cards. Click any card to open that class and see what's new. |
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Tip: keep school and personal accounts separate On a shared family computer, open a private (Incognito) window for school: press Ctrl + Shift + N on Windows or Cmd + Shift + N on a Mac. When the window is closed, your student is signed out automatically. For everyday use, see School bookmarks below to give your student their own Chrome profile. |
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| What you'll see inside a class |
Stream
Announcements and updates from the teacher. |
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Classwork
Assignments, materials, and due dates. This is where students open and turn in work. |
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People
Shows the teacher and classmates. |
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Grades
Your student can see returned work and grades here when the teacher has shared them. |
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| To turn in an assignment, open it from Classwork, add or create the work, then click Turn in. Google Docs, Slides, and Drive work with the same school sign-in, using the nine-dot menu at the top right of the page. |
| Getting to Google Drive |
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Open Google Drive While signed in with the school account, go to drive.google.com. You can also click the nine-dot menu at the top right of any Google page and choose Drive. |
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Find your student's files
My Drive holds files your student created or uploaded. Shared with me holds files that teachers and classmates have shared, including class materials. |
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Open or add a file Double-click a file to open it. To add something new, click New, then choose File upload or create a Google Doc, Slides, or Sheet. |
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Tip: check the account Check the circle at the top right. If it shows your student's school account, you're in the right place. If Drive says You need access, you're probably signed in to the wrong account. |
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| School bookmarks (Chrome) |
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Open the Chrome browser School bookmarks work in Chrome only (not Safari, Firefox, or Edge). |
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Add a school profile Click the profile picture or icon at the top right of Chrome, choose Add Chrome profile (or Add), then Sign in. |
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Sign in with the school account Enter the school email and password. If Chrome says the profile is managed by the school, click Continue. That's expected. |
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Show the bookmarks bar Press Ctrl + Shift + B (Windows) or Cmd + Shift + B (Mac). Look for the folder of school bookmarks, which opens the links the school has chosen for students. |
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Good to know: school bookmarks This profile follows school settings, so it's best used just by your student. Everyone else in the family can keep using their own Chrome profile. If the bookmarks don't appear, give it a few minutes and restart Chrome. |
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Phone or tablet? Download the free Google Classroom app from the App Store or Google Play, open it, tap Get started, and sign in with the school email and password. |
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Want to stay in the loop? Ask your child's teacher about Google Classroom guardian email summaries. When a teacher turns them on, you can get a regular email with upcoming and missing work. |
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| Having trouble? |
| I see my own Gmail or the wrong name at the top right. |
| You're in a different account. Click the profile picture, then switch to (or add) the school account. |
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| I don't see any classes. |
| Make sure the school account is the one signed in. If it is, the teacher may not have added your student to the class yet. Reach out to the teacher. |
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| We forgot the password. |
| Contact the school and staff can help reset it. Please don't try too many guesses, since that can lock the account for a short while. |
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| I don't see the school bookmarks. |
| Make sure you're in the school Chrome profile (your student's icon at the top right) and not a private window. Bookmarks only appear when Chrome is signed in with the school account. Wait a few minutes, then restart Chrome. |
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| A link or Drive file says “You need access.” |
| That almost always means the wrong account is signed in. Switch to the school account and try the link again. |
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| Still stuck? Contact your child's teacher or the district Technology Office through the school. We're happy to help. |
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