SMARTBoards and a Fun Vocabulary Game

Here goes Jim again talking about Sharing ideas and resources...

This blog really is about sharing resources and ideas!

Here's a comment left by Tracey McGrath on the post “SMARTBoards and Wordle:"

Great Post! Here is another example of using wordle with an IWB. I created a wordle word splash using the vocabulary words to introduce a new story. After importing it to my notebook, I used the shape tool to cover the individual words. Students then came to the board to reveal a word. They had to give me a sentence, a synonym, an antonym or tell me the syllable count of the word they revealed. This activity is great for building vocabulary and also a great way to provide differentiated instruction.

One of the first things that caught my eye was Tracey's mentioning of "differentiated instruction." Since my creative juices were flowing, I thought I would try to develop a Notebook file that can be used on the SMART Board that not only utilized Tracey's great idea for using Wordle but also had a way for differentiating instruction.

The game is played by students coming up to the Smart Board and tapping on a colored bar. The bar will magically disappear to reveal a hidden vocabulary word (in this case from the book "Holes" by Louis Sachar). After the student selects the word, they tap on the spinning wheel to determine what they have to do with the word. If they are correct, they update the scoreboard.

Here's a quick video demonstration:

 
You may Download the Notebook File and use this application, however, it only has vocabulary words for the book "Holes." I will be creating a Notebook training course that will guide you through the process of creating this game using Notebook using any list of vocabulary words. If you're interested in taking the course when it is released, please send me an email at jim@teacherslovesmartboards.com and I'll send you a message when it's released. It should be ready by mid-October.

Thanks for the great idea Tracey!

Sharing is Caring!

Comments

[anne marie]

Thanks Tracey and Jim-- this is an AWESOME idea!
anne marie

[Tracey McGrath]

Jim,

I love how you took my idea, which I thought was pretty basic, to a new level. The kids are going to love this. The students are going to be motivated by the animations. Color coding the words for the teachers use is an ideal tool for differentiated instruction. I look forward to sharing this with my colleagues and building new flipcharts in other content areas which incorporate the same technique.

Thanks,
Tracey

[Brandi Speerly]

This is a wonderful idea! However, when I went to download it, it only downloaded the vocabulary and boxes. The spinner and points boxes had to be recreated.