Teachers Love SMART Boards

SMART Boards and More Flash Games

Hey Jim! How about some more of those fun little flash games you used to give away. I promise I'll use them strictly for educational use. :o)

Here are two games that work great with a Smartboard interactive whiteboard:

1. 3DReversi - Here's a fun version of the strategy game that has two levels of play.


2. Monster Memory - You have to be quick to win this one. It has a timer!


You should be able to right-click an download these flash games to your computer.

Enjoy, and remember to use these games for educational use only.

Sharing is Caring!

SMART Boards and The Magic Pen Game

I get requests all the time for more interactive activities that are not only fun but actually make the kids think. In my search for new and exciting web applications for the classroom, I always start at Danny Nicholson's The Whiteboard Blog. In my book, this is the best blog for teachers who use an interactive whiteboard in the classroom.

Danny has found an outstanding website for Science class called The Magic Pen Game. This game is amazing. I simply cannot stop playing it. The objective is to draw objects on the screen to try to move a red ball around so it hits various red flags that are located on the screen. You draw objects like ramps and balls and hinges where you determine where to place the fulcrum. All objects behave as if they exist in our physical world.

If you're a Science teacher and your students have access to a computer or an interactive whiteboard, quit reading my blog and head over to The Magic Pen.

In the example above, the object is for the red ball to hit the red flag. I drew two ramps and two circles. The green circle is falling and should hit the orange circle so it rolls onto the ramp and then it should hit the red ball which should roll down the orange ramp and hit the red flag. There are a lot of other ways to get the red ball to hit the red flag by drawing objects on the screen.

Enjoy!

Sharing is Caring!

SMART Board and the Set Game

Why not have the Set Game displayed on the SMART Board for kids to solve before they start class. This would motivate kids to get into class on time. You could even have a Set Game contest or challenge students to beat your best time.

The Set Daily Puzzle is very easy to use on the SMART Board and it has a different puzzle each day. Here's a screen shot:

You need to find all six sets. Here is the solution to the one above:

The final set is almost completed. Notice the single purple striped oval and the double green striped diamond are selected. Can you guess the which one completes the set? Hint: Since the other two are striped, it would have to be striped; since the other two are different colors, it would have to be different; since the other two are different numbers, it would have to be different. Since the other two are different shapes, it would have to be different. In this case we're looking for a striped, red, triple, squiggly.

As you can see, there are instructions for learning how to play. It gets addicting so watch out! If you ever get under a minute, let me know. My best time is 46 seconds. Getting under a minute is really really good!

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SMART Board versus the Blob

Get ready to have some fun because the Blobs are back and they're more fun than ever!

 

Blobs 2 is the perfect logic game for your SMART Board interactive whiteboard. This game is so addicting and it's a perfect companion for a Friday afternoon. (You can right-click and download the game to your computer or you can just click on the link to play inside your browser.)

Sharing is Caring!

 

SMART Boards and Grammar Ninja

I am so excited to about this post. I have found a great application called Grammar Ninja that really works great with the SMART Board interactive whiteboard. One reason this would be a great game to introduce to your students is because it was developed by Greg Lieberman who developed the game as part of High School Independent Study Program in Videogame Design.

You can check out the game by going to Greg's Grammar Ninja website. However, playing the game is not where the real educational value comes in. Greg has also developed a way to add your own sentences to the game by typing in a sentence and then applying the correct parts of speech to each word. I think this is where the real learning takes place. Check out a screen shot of applying the correct parts of speech:

The application that creates new sentences also works great with a SMART Board since you simply drag and drop the correct parts of speech over each word. When you're done, you simply paste the code that's given to you in file on your hard drive.

Here's a video showing how to download and use the Grammar Ninja application. I honestly believe that the best educational use for this would be to let the students create their own Grammar Ninja sentences and then play Grammar Ninja using their sentences. Here is the link to the zip file that contains all of the files you see in the video.

                             

Please share this wonderful application with your Language Arts or ELL instructors. A big thank you to Greg for creating such a fun education tool. Keep up the great work!

Sharing is Caring!

SMART Board and Litebrite

I know a lot of teachers are looking for some fun activities for the SMART Board this week. I am very disappointed with many of the Internet games I've found for the Spring/Easter holiday due to the number of advertisements contained on these websites. Therefore, I'm going to share with you another fun site that will allow your students to create, share, and save pictures using a "Lite Brite" online simulator.

You could have your students create a fun holiday picture or use it as an educational tool by having your students design patterns or different types of shapes. I think it's a simple and fun tool to use on your SMARTBoard interactive whiteboard.

Sharing is Caring!

SMART Board and Easter Befuddlr Photos

Here are some fun Easter holiday befuddled pictures for your students to unscramble.

1. Easter Basket Befuddlr

2. Easter Eggs Befuddlr (more difficult)

3. Easter Chick Befuddlr (more difficult)

Check back this week for more holiday resources.

Sharing is Caring!

SMART Boards, Networking, and Roy the Zebra

One of the best ways to share information with colleagues is to use social networking tools. I use Twitter to follow a group of technology integration specialists from around the world. I connect on a daily basis to ask questions, contribute to classroom learning, find out about cool resources, or simply to share a funny joke.

Yesterday, one of my favorite tweets, Lori, shared a great resource called Roy the Zebra. The funny thing was that I had just bookmarked that website a few days ago because I was planning on sharing the site with my readers here. I do not remember where I discovered Roy. I'm sure one of the blogs I subscribe to mentioned it somewhere or maybe I saw it in an educational forum. I usually make it a point to mention where I found something but sometimes the synapses just don't fire as often as they should.

What I'm trying to do is encourage everyone to subscribe to blogs, create their own blog, join a social network like Ning or Twitter, or do anything else you can think of to connect with other teachers who share your interests.

Okay, back to Roy the Zebra...

Here's what the site has to say on their About page:

The site is home to a package of interactive games, stories and resources that have been developed to help emerging readers learn to read. The site can be used at school or at home. It's one of the most comprehensive interactive literacy resources on the net that is freely accessible... no area of the site is password protected.

RTZ also aims to make life easier for educators who teach reading skills. We hope you enjoy the site's simplicity, fun characters and logical structure. You'll never be more than 3 clicks (...if that!) away from what you need.

Recently over 360 educators assessed the effectiveness of the resources on www.roythezebra.com - 100% of the respondents agreed that RTZ had helped their pupils become better readers, 100% agreed that the site made reading fun and 100% said that they would use RTZ in the future.

       

Once again, I have tested this site and I found it a great resource to use with your SMART Board interactive whiteboard. Here's a screenshot of an interactive rhyming game:

I would like to thank Lori for sharing this site on Twitter.

Sharing is Caring!

SMARTBoard and The Brainbox Challenge

While reading through my twitter messages this morning I ran across a fun website that was shared by my good friend Danny from across the pond.

It appears the BBC will be broadcasting a new show called The Brainbox Challenge. To help promote the show, the BBC has a website that has some great interactive brain challenges. The games Shaping Up and Total Recall are perfect games for the SMART Board interactive whiteboard. The other games are okay but they require you to use a keyboard.

Danny runs a great blog called The Whiteboard Blog that is not to be missed. It is such a great website for interactive whiteboard resources; his last post describes a quick lesson starter idea that uses a countdown clock. While you're there, check out his Think Bank site. You'll be glad you did!

Sharing is Caring!

SMARTBoard and Arcademic Skill Builders

Yesterday I discussed why I use the phrase "Sharing is Caring" and why the phrase is so important to me as an educator.

Two days ago, Bill Lingle made a comment on my post about a great website called Wicked that contains some great flash-based games for improving Math skills. In keeping with my motto Sharing is Caring Bill shared another great Math resource for improving Math skills called Arcademic Skill Builders. This site contains multi-user games where students can compete against students from anywhere else in the world. It also has some single-users games like Alien Addition (screen shot below) that work great with or without a SMART Board. It's such an addicting site and such a great way to mesh games and education.

Sharing is Caring!