Carbohydrates, in the form of glycoconjugates, have recently been shown to control a wide range of cellular processes. Accordingly, students interested in the study of organic chemistry and biomedical sciences should be exposed to carbohydrate chemistry. To this end, we have developed a sequence of experiments that leads the student from the derivatization of naturally occurring D-glucose through to the formation of simple alkyl and aryl glycosides, and in doing so this experiment provides a comprehensive overview of the fundamentals of glycoside synthesis. These experiments focus on the control of stereochemistry at the anomeric center and NMR spectroscopy for the structural elucidation of products. (Contains 2 notes.)