Teachers Love SMART Boards

SMART Boards and Algebra

For teachers looking for a fun way to use the SMARTBoard to help teach Algebra concepts, why not have your students create their own instruction videos.

1. Start by introducing your students to an Algebra concept using whatever textbook or handout you have available. (The boring method)
2. Next, go to Algebasics, find a similar problem, and display the problem on the SMART Board.
3. Tell the students they are going to be creating their own videos just like the Algebasics site
4. Divide students in to groups of three and give each group a similar problem to solve and tell them that they will be creating their own video to put on the Internet to help other students.
5. Check student work and ask them to prepare their video by breaking their problem into steps
6. Have them write the steps on a video preparation worksheet
7. Go to the Sketchcast website and have students record their instruction videos.
8. After the students create the instruction videos, work with your technology coordinator to get the videos put on a blog or school website. (If your Technology Coordinator is more concerned with locking out websites than supporting student learning, let me know and I can help with getting videos displayed on your own school blog).

 
This process works best in a student-centered learning environment and can be modified to fit into your normal class period. For example, you can break up this lesson into multiple days and have one group record their video each day. Students will be fascinated watching other groups record their videos and will be thoroughly engaged in learning. This lesson is highly effective with at-risk students since they will be sharing their knowledge in a unique and exciting way.

For more information on creating a Sketchcast, please see my blog post called SMART Board and Sketchcast.

This process is worth spending some time perfecting and it is a great way to impress parents, students, administrators, and especially your fellow teachers!

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SMARTBoards and Teaching With SMARTBoard Video Podcast

I definitely don't post enough about my favorite video podcast called Teaching With SMARTBoard.

If you're looking to increase your knowledge of Smartboards and learn great ways of using SmartBoards and Notebook in the classroom, this is the best resource available. Dave and Scott always have great tips for enhancing your lessons and using Notebook in ways that you've probably never thought of before.

Here's their latest video podcast called Process Circuits and Our Favorite Podcast and Blog. I can't wait to hear their choice for favorite blog!

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SMARTBoards and Interactive Websites for Math & Science

I really like this idea of putting website resources in a fun little slideshow to share with other people. Here Karen Brooks puts together a slideshow that has a whole bunch of cool websites with interactive activities for Math and Science.

Please comment back on which one you like the best. I really like the Science website Alliant Energy Kids that has some great learning resources and good interactive review activities that are perfect for the SMART Board.

| View | Upload your own

Thanks for sharing Karen!

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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 Lesson Podcast and Jigzone

As always, Ben and Joan have produced another great episode of their SMARTBoard Lesson Podcast. This week's episode (#125) highlights a lesson about the Bernoulli Principle. They also have a very short survey to help gather some information to make their podcast even better. It only takes a few minutes to complete so please help Ben and Joan out if you can.

One of the people who called into the show mentioned a fun website that works great with the SMART Board. It's called Jigzone and it allows you to create a jigsaw puzzle from pictures that you upload. There are a lot of ways to use this for educational purposes. For example, here is a graphic I created using a graphic editor (PhotoFiltre is good free graphic editor).

I can use Jigzone to upload this photo and then create a fun jigsaw puzzle for kids to put together on the SMART Board. When they're done, they have to tell the class which side has the correct answer.

Here's the puzzle (click on it to start) created from Jigzone and embedded here in my blog. You can use the controls on the left to change the number of pieces and automatically solve the puzzle:

Enjoy!

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SMART Boards and 1st Grade Mathematics

I found a great website created by a third grade teacher by the name of Christopher Wright. He's done a great job gathering and sharing education eLearning resouces. While browsing through his links, I found that most of them worked very well with interactive whiteboards since kids only needed to touch and/or drag objects to answer questions or interact with the information.

Here is a list of Mr. Wright's 1st Grade Math resources. I like almost all these links although the Elementary Test Prep link did not work for me and the aaamath site has a few too many ads for my taste. I absolutely love the Willy the Watch Dog game!

Rolla Public Schools: First Grade Links via kwout

Thanks Christopher for putting together such great resources!

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SMART Boards and Villainy, Inc.

I love fun and creative ways to introduce math concepts to kids. I just spent the last 30 minutes playing around with a Middle School (grades 5 thru 8) math site called Villainy, Inc. that lets kids play a game to learn about various mathematical concepts. The site is very well organized, it has a standards guide, and it has a very good teacher guide. I think this would be a fun way for the kids to spend a Friday afternoon. The site would be great for kids working in pairs in the computer lab or teacher could guide the class and play these games on the SMART Board. The kids will love working together to help thwart world supremacy.

Here's a screen shot of the main page. Go ahead and click on the links in the black menu bar below.

Villainy, Inc. | Maryland Public Television via kwout

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SMART Boards and Student Engagement

Here's a great example of student engagement using the SMART Board interactive whiteboard. Watch as a fourth grade student from New Hampshire demonstrates how to add fractions using the SMART Board, the Smart Recorder and a flash-based fraction object in Notebook.

Please read the blog post Adding Fractions - Flash - Student Explanation to read more about the importance of the SMART Board.  No other comments necessary!

                                

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