Teachers Love SMART Boards

SMARTBoards and More Holiday Word Search Riddles

I've had a few teachers request a custom U.S. Thanksgiving word search puzzle for the Notebook software (see below). Please feel free to download the files and use in your classroom.

I should have time to do a few more by tomorrow so if you would like a custom puzzle, please fill out this form.

New Word Search Riddles from Teachers Love SMART Boards:

Thanksgiving Word Search - What are unhappy cranberries called?

Thanksgiving Word Search - Which side of the turkey has the most feather?

Thanksgiving Word Search - Why couldn't the turkey be in the band?

Thanksgiving Word Search - ¿Qué celebramos el jueves?

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You can find more resources on the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday Resource Page.

If you would like to learn how to create your own custom word search puzzles like the ones above, you can take the course Notebook Application - Custom Word Search Puzzle on Teacher Online Training.

For a limited time, you can get the first month of your subscription to Teacher Online Training for only $7.48. You can also cancel at any time.

Teacher Online Training is the most effective, affordable and fun way to learn how to use the Smart Notebook software. It's time to take your SMART Board skills to the next level.

Sharing Is Caring!

SMARTBoards and Creating Your Own Holiday Lessons

It's so much fun for me to see teachers creating their own interactive lessons for the SMART Board and sharing them with other educators.

Teachers seem more willing to share their skills and knowledge compared to other people in other professions. This is probably why "Sharing Is Caring" is such an appropriate sign-off for each of my blog posts.

Here are three U.S. Thanksgiving custom word search Notebook files that I created last year. Students use the highlighter pen to find the words and then they try to solve the riddle using the remaining letters in the puzzle. Please feel free to download them and use them in your classroom.

Word Search Riddles from Teachers Love SMART Boards

Thanksgiving Word Search - What is that red thing that hangs from a turkey's neck?

Thanksgiving Word Search - Name the Indian Tribe that celebrated the 1st Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Word Search - Name the ship that carried the Pilgrims to America in 1620

To keep with my theme of "Sharing," I will personally create 10 new Thanksgiving Word Search Riddles for the first 10 teachers who fill out the puzzle request form below. All you need to do is come up with 10 words to go into the puzzle and a Thanksgiving-themed question like the ones above. I will post the Notebook files on my Thanksgiving Resource Page on Monday.

Custom Thanksgiving Word Search Request Form

If you would like to learn how to create custom Notebook lessons like the ones above, you can subscribe to Teacher Online Training.

Teacher Online Training is the most effective, affordable, and fun way to learn how to use the Notebook software.

Starting today, you can subscribe to Teacher Online Training for only $7.48* (Offer expires on December 24, 2009 and applies to first time subscribers only).

*Click here for more details.

Sharing Is Caring!

SMARTBoards and Extending Themes in Notebook

Here's a short video tutorial on how to extend a Notebook theme farther down on the page. 

If you're unable to view the video, you can view it here.

I have lots of other free Notebook Video Tutorials on the Teacher Online Training site.

If you want to learn how to use the Notebook Software, Teacher Online Training is currently offering teachers a 15% discount on the first month of a monthly subscription.

Sharing Is Caring!

SMARTBoards and U.S. Thanksgiving Resourses

Last year, I created an entire page of U.S. Thanksgiving holiday resources so my readers could find everything in one place. It includes games, puzzles, historical interactive sites, clip art, quizzes, and a few custom word search puzzles created by yours truly.

I've tested and updated all the links and everything looks good to go. If you know of any other Thanksgiving-related interactive websites that work great on the SMART Board, let me know and I'll add them to the page.

I'll also add some additional custom Notebook files throughout the week and continue to add images to the Thanksgiving Clip Art page so you don't have to search the Internet to find what you need.

If you have any suggestions for Thanksgiving-themed custom Notebook applications, please let me know.

Sharing Is Caring!

SMARTBoards and the Halloween Safety House

Here's one more Notebook file that you can share with your students for Halloween. It's a fun application to help educate your students about important safety tips for Halloween. I call it the the Halloween Safety House.

To use the application, students would come up to the SMART Board and touch on one of the Halloween characters. If they find the right one, it will show them a new Halloween safety tip. If they touch the wrong one, the witch will scream with delight.

If they make it to the end, they can touch Frankenstein to hear the Monster Mash song.

Here's a short video to show how it works.

If you can't see the video, you can click here.

Download the Halloween Safety House File (the file is rather large because of the audio)

I hope you enjoy using this. Have a fun and safe Halloween!

Sharing Is Caring!

SMARTBoards and Inserting Sound Into Notebook

I have had a few inquiries about how to insert the Halloween sound files located on the Halloween resource page into the Notebook software. The easiest way to demonstrate how to do this is to create a short video tutorial.

This tutorial demonstrates how to save a sound file from the Internet and insert it into Notebook so it plays when an object is touched. Notebook only uses sound files that are in the mp3 format. If you have a sound file that is in a different format, you can convert it using the Media Convert website.

The sound file used in the video comes from the SMART Boards and Halloween Resource page.

Sharing Is Caring!

SMARTBoards and Some Halloween Jokes

I was going to wait until my next podcast to share this custom Notebook file but I thought it would be a lot more fun to get this out as soon as possible.

I created a fun application for teachers to use during this spooky Halloween season. It's a Notebook file containing 10 Halloween jokes. Each page contains a different joke. The jokes are told by some of the creepiest Halloween characters you've ever seen. To get the answer to each joke, students go up to the SMARTBoard and touch on one of the creepy characters.

You can use the pages as reward pages for getting a correct answer or use can use it at the end of the day just to have a little fun. I'll also add this file to the Teachers Love SMART Boards Halloween Page that contains online games, activities, and informational websites. It also contains custom Notebook files, Halloween clip art, and some fun Halloween mp3 sound files to insert in your Notebook applications.

Sharing Is Caring!

SMARTBoard Halloween Collection

I have gathered various Halloween resources for the SMART Board and placed them on a special Halloween Resource page.

The page includes Clip Art, Games, Creative Activities, Informational Sites, Notebook Files, and Sound Files

The Clip Art Photo Library contains free clip art that you can add to your Notebook files. You should find exactly what you're looking for here without the need to scour the Internet...I've already done the legwork!

I've also gathered some fun mp3 sound files that you can save to your computer and import into your Notebook file. Sound is a great way to get the kids excited about using the SMART Board! 

I also have various Notebook files including word search riddles, a number sense game, and a ghost countdown.

I will continue to add to this page as we move closer to Halloween. If you know of any additional Halloween resources that work great on the SMART Board, please share the resource in the comment area and I'll try to add it to the page.

Please share the Halloween Resource Page with the other teachers in your school.

Sharing Is Caring!

Get SMART with SMART Boards Podcast - Episode 5

Episode 5 of Get SMART with SMART Boards has some really great resources for the SMARTBoard including an amazing video tutorial for customizing the Random Number Generator found in the Notebook Gallery. 

Harvey Almarode shares one of the very best clip art resources for teachers called Free Clip Art from Phillip Martin. He also talks about and shares his custom Notebook application called Cubes and Balances.

I focused on various methods of selecting random information by sharing the ClassTools.net Random Name Generator as well as a Notebook file containing information on how to create your very own random spinner using the tools found in the standard Notebook Toolbar.

The video on customizing the random number generator shows you how to incorporate a random number generator into various images and themes to help increase student engagement. If you want to really impress your students, you can create your own Random Student Picker inside Notebook by taking the Notebook Technique - Random Student Picker course found only at Teacher Online Training.

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SMARTBoards and Punctuation Campground

I love the site from Harcourt School Publishers called Punctuation Campground. Very  few online Language Arts sites dealing with proper punctuation can be used effectively on the SMART Board. However, Punctuation Campground does not require any keyboard input, it's easy to navigate, and it provides great feedback and reference material to help both the student and the teacher.

In the activity, a sentence is presented for the student. The student then has to determine what punctuation to add to the sentence to make it correct.

To enter the punctuation, students touch where they want to enter some punctuation and then they touch on the punctuation types listed below the sentence. If they need to move the cursor, they can touch on arrows to place the cursor exactly where they want.

The activity has a hint button that shows where punctuation needs to go but does not tell the student what punctuation is required. Also, below the activity are links to a glossary where students can learn when to use the correct punctuation.

I really like this activity and it can be used at almost any grade level.

Why not test your punctuation prowess before using in the classroom.

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