If you want students to make a copy of a document instead of opening it, you can force them to do that by changing the link url.
In the sharing settings, set them to the usual "anyone at Greenwood can view" and copy the link. It should look something like this: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12J8rhJ_ZpDX5oSX4AMoO71bUN3TmDHiUCcojexgus3k/edit?usp=sharing.
To force a student to make a copy of the document when they click on the link, replace the edit?usp=sharing at the end of the link with the word "copy": https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12J8rhJ_ZpDX5oSX4AMoO71bUN3TmDHiUCcojexgus3k/copy.