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February 29, 2012
September 09, 2011
SMARTBoards and Fun Word Activities
These three interactive word games from the Merriam-Webster website are great supplemental resources for the SMART Board classroom.
The first game called Alpha-bot has a unique and very engaging method for spelling words. To play, students touch on the "Audio" button to hear the word. They then have to move rows and columns to spell out the word. The game has three levels
and can be zoomed to fill the screen.
The next game is called BIGbot and it challenges students to find the antonym or synonym for different words. If they get the correct answer, they can launch the word in
the BIGbot mouth. It doesn't really do anything more than that but it's fun for the kids.
The last game is Jumble for Kids. The game works great on the SMART Board and can be used as a fun lesson starter. The game has 10-12 Jumbles to choose from and it appears they have a new Jumble each week.
Please share these fun games with your fellow teachers and let parents know about them as well.
Sharing Is Caring!
September 06, 2011
SMARTBoard and Thinking Blocks
Sites like Thinking Blocks should be placed front and center on your school's list of Internet resources that work great on your SMART Board Interactive Whiteboard. This site was developed by Colleen King as a way to model Mathematical problems related to Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Fractions, and Ratios.
This site guides students step-by-step through the process of modeling a word problem. The model drawing method is perfect for students aged 8-12 to develop more advanced Mathematical concepts and algebraic reasoning.
Thinking Blocks contains guided instruction videos that do a fantastic job of explaining the modeling process for each type of problem. Once students are familiar with the modeling process, they can go through a more guided instruction. Each section contains multiple types of problems along with an accompanying modeling solution.
Perhaps the best feature is the Modeling Tool where teachers and students can select what area and what type of problem to model. It contains a vast collection of word problems for the students to model, or teachers and students can make their own problem. When the problem is presented, students can use the tools to build their own model based on the problem type.
This site contains much, much more and teachers should spend some time familiarizing themselves with everything this site has to offer.
Please share this incredible site with the other teachers at your school or in your social network.
Sharing Is Caring!
August 24, 2011
SMARTBoards and That Darn Cat
During my 5 year old's Kindergarten orientation, the teacher explained how the kids could get extra "explore" time at the end of the week for good behavior.
Here's a fun activity just for that kind of situation that works great on a SMART Board called Circle The Cat. The objective is to trap the cat so it cannot escape. To trap the cat, you need to encirle it with green dots. It's really quite addictive and lots of fun as well. The only tip I can give you is to pay attention to the green dots that are already in place when the game starts and try to utilize those as much as possible.
If you use the Firefox browser, you can download the Flash Game Maximizer addon to play this game in full screen. You can also use your browser's zoom capabilities to make the game as big as possible.
Enjoy!
Sharing Is Caring!
August 22, 2011
SMARTBoard and Starfall - A Perfect Combination
Learning To Read.
Teachers know that learning to read and learning to enjoy reading is one of the most important skills for Pre-K through 2nd Grade students. Trying to locate high quality reading resources for the SMART Board classroom can be very frustrating. In addition, too many interactive sites are riddled with advertisements or are too costly to use for the average teacher. The answer for many teachers is Starfall.
After all these years, Starfall continues to be the leader in providing high quality and engaging reading activities that work great on the SMART Board. Not only that, students will love being able to use the same activities and resources at home.
If you're a primary school teacher, you should really get the word out to all your parents about this site. One of the best things about Starfall is that it is free of advertising. Advertising is becoming a huge concern for teachers looking for online resources and Starfall has done a great job avoiding this educational pitfall. Instead of placing advertisments all over their site, Starfall created an affordable membership area containing additional resources.
Starfall has a lot of little extras including a complete Scope and Sequence Listing to help teachers identify which reading unit to use. It provides a detailed description of each story (unit) and summarizes the unit objective and provides detailed information and print resource links for each activity.
To get you started, here are a couple quick links to some fun activities on the Starfall site:
* Let's Make a Calendar (perfect for Back-To-School activity)
* Word Hunt - I just love this activity that lets the student choose a descriptive word and an action to word to complete sentences and complete a short interactive story.
Sharing Is Caring!
May 19, 2011
SMARTBoard Users - Mangahigh is now FREE
The online, games-based teaching resource, Mangahigh, announced recently that their entire service is available free of charge for all schools in the US, Canada, and the UK.
Mangahigh creates exceptionally high-quality, game-based learning resources to help Primary and Secondary students reinforce their Mathematics skills in a way that is both fun and engaging. In addition to all the great resources, the service includes assessment and analytical tools that enable teachers to monitor the progress of individual students. Best of all, these activities work great on the SMART Board Interactive Whiteboard.
As a certified Mathematics instructor, I believe it's important for teachers to rely on multiple methods of instruction including appropriately developed game-based instruction. This field of education is growing and the quality of the resources is improving all the time.
Providing these resouces free of charge is a fantastic opportunity that you should take advantage of immediately. Please share this information with the other teachers in your school as well as the school principal.
The image above is taken from one of the Primary activities called Flower Power. This is a extremely engaging activity that challenges students to place the flowers in the correct order.
If you want more information about Mangehigh, you can also read my prior blog post which highlights another activity called Transtar.
Sharing Is Caring!
April 11, 2011
SMARTBoards and Mrs. Hurley's ESL Website
My heart lights up everytime I see a teacher sharing high quality educational resources. I get doubly excited when the resources are selected because of how well they work with the SMART Board Interactive Whiteboard.
This is why I'm highlighting Mrs. Hurley's ESL website. It's obvious to me that this is one of the most helpful teacher-created sharing resources found on the Internet.
Not only has Mrs. Hurley gathered an incredible library of ESL resources, but she's also created an amazing SMART Board resource page containing links to many terrific sites.
Most of the resources are aimed at Kindergarten through 5th grade but Middle School teachers may find a gem or too as well and it's definitely worth taking a look.
Please pass along this site to the other teachers at your school. It's a winner!
Sharing Is Caring!
March 30, 2011
January 04, 2011
SMARTBoards and Between the Lions on PBS Kids
It's really easy to have some fun with the SMART Board and get the kids involved in new and exciting ways. However, sometimes it's difficult for teachers to know where to start.
Here's one of my favorite interactive websites for children aged 3 to 7 to help them with their reading and writing. It's called Between the Lions and it's based on the PBS television show with the same name. It's really an incredible site that contains games, videos, stories, printables, downloadable music, and much, much more.
Here is their description:
Between the Lions is designed to help kids ages 3 to 7 learn to read. Unique among the hundreds of programs aimed at children, this puppet, animated, and live-action show is based on a detailed and rigorous literacy curriculum. It was developed in extensive and ongoing consultation with reading professionals. The result is a lively, educational blend of phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, and other teaching methods for preschool, kindergarten, and first grade students. Several independent, scientifically-based reading research studies have shown that Between the Lions has a significant impact in increasing children's literacy.
You can also view the site contents here.
I'm excited to make 2011 the best year of "Sharing Is Caring" yet and I hope you will too. Please let the other teachers in your school know about this amazing resource.
Sharing Is Caring!
December 20, 2010
SMARTBoards and Finding Rudolph Notebook Activity
For Kindergarten and 1st Grade (5-6 yr olds) teachers who are still at school these last few days before Christmas, here is a special gift just for you.
It's a Notebook Activity called Finding Rudolph. It's a very simple lesson that has students answer a few vocabulary-related questions from the lyrics to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. At the end, they can touch on the image of Santa and Rudolph to listen to the song.
Please feel free to share this with any teacher who could use it before the holiday break.
Click Here to download the file.
If you experience problems opening the .notebook file, please use the Firefox or Chrome browser.
Have a very Merry Christmas.
Sharing Is Caring!
December 15, 2010
SMARTBoards and the "Search for the North Pole" Notebook Activity
Here's a fun vocabulary review Notebook lesson called "Search For the North Pole" which challenges students to find three elf symbols that will unlock the entrance to the North Pole.
The Christmas-themed lesson contains three vocabulary activities (alphabetical sort, word search, and definition) that students complete to find one of the lost elf symbols. Once they get all three symbols, they place them in the correct order to unlock the entrance to the North Pole.The lesson uses the following words: candle, chimney, decoration, present, ornament, and tinsel.
Click Here to download the lesson.
Please use the Firefox browser or Chrome browser to download the file if you are having difficulties using Internet Explorer or Safari.
This Professionally Developed Notebook lesson is being shared by Teacher Online Training and abcteach.
Sharing Is Caring!
December 09, 2010
SMARTBoards and Holiday Word Search Activities
If you're looking for some fun activities this Holiday Season, you can download, share, and use the following custom Word Search Notebook activities.
Each one has a riddle or a question hidden at the top of the word search puzzle. To find the answer, students use the Highlighter Pen in the Notebook Toolbar to find the words in the list. After all the words are highlighted, the answer is found by taking the first unused letters starting from the top-left of the puzzle. Each puzzle has a solution page and a reveal answer feature.
If you would like step-by-step instructions on how to create your own custom word search puzzle in Smart Notebook, you can take the Notebook Application - Custom Word Search Course on the Teacher Online Training Notebook training system. It's effective, affordable, and fun!
Now is a great time to sign up to Teacher Online Training. It's only $7.48 for the first month and only $14.95 for each additional month. You can cancel at anytime and even get a refund if you're not completely satisfied. All courses are online, self-paced, and can be completed in about an hour. No experience necessary.
Here are the word search files. Please use the Chrome or Firefox Browser to download or open the files since IE and Safari often times have difficulties recognizing the file formats.
Custom Christmas Word Search / Riddle Puzzles
How many reindeer guide Santa's sleigh? (eight)
Polar Express: What advice does the conductor give? (Believe)
*Recommended* What do all these words help us achieve? (peace)
How long should a reindeer's legs be? (Just long enough to reach the ground)
Who sang praises from on high? (the heavenly host of angels)
Who are the "Six White Boomers" (Kangaroos pulling Santa's sleigh)
Who led Santa through the Wintery Snow to deliver packages to young children? (Rudolph)
Qu'est-ce que le Père Noël aime manger? (les buscuits)
What does Santa have that's red as a cherry? (his nose)
Wie heißt der Abend vom 24. Dezember? (Heiligabend)
In what country do people write letters to Father Christmas? (England)
Why is a SMART Board smart? (It's smart because no one is bored)
Something to think about other than gifts during the holidays (Your health)
One last resource is a ESL/ELL Christmas Flash-Card application created in Notebook 10. I also put in a custom word search puzzle on the last few pages. Enjoy!
Sharing Is Caring!
November 18, 2010
October 23, 2010
Notebook Lesson - The Phantom Menace Review Game
A free gift to my readers...
I wanted to share a fun Smart Notebook review game to thank you for what you do in the classroom and for dedicating your life to the most important and rewarding profession in the world. I'm honored to share resources and support all teachers who love SMART Boards.
The game is a U.S. Western States and Capitals review game for two teams: The Grusome Ghosts and the Giddy Ghouls. Questions and Point Values are selected at random and the game is played until all the questions have been selected or one of the teams reaches a predetermined point total.
You can download the game here
Here's a short video showing how the game is played.
Click Here to go directly to the video.
Please use the Firefox or Chrome browser to download the file. Internet Explorer and Safari often times get confused and automatically rename the file to .zip. If that happens, you can save the file and then rename it back to .notebook.
If you want to learn how to created similar games and applications in Notebook, you can sign up to Teacher Online Training for only $7.48. The subscription is re-curring and you can cancel at anytime. We're so sure you'll love our self-paced courses that we will refund your entire payment if you're not completely satisfied with the courses. No questions asked!
The courses are online and teachers work at their own pace to create authentic lessons. Most course can be completed in only 1 to 2 hours and you can stop and start as often as you like.
Here is some additional course information if you're still not sure.
It really is the most affordable, effective, and fun way to learn how to use the Notebook software. And we have over 400 testimonials to prove it!
Sharing Is Caring!
October 14, 2010
SMARTBoard Halloween Resources
Halloween Clip Art
I have compiled an extensive collection of Halloween-related clip art so you don't have to spend time looking all over the Internet.
Games
Hangman - Fun graphics, more advanced word list. (3 stars)
Halloween Hangman - Good, simple hangman game for Halloween (3 stars)
Halloween Pairs Game - Zoomable and very easy to use (4 stars)
Halloween Word Search - Good interactive word search. Might be a little small to use (3 stars)
Stacking Pumpkins Game - Might be a fun way to reward your students (3 stars)
Halloween Math Games for K-6 - Great games courtesy of the Oswego City School District
The Hallowman House - A hangman-type game for Hallowe'en (middle / high)
PBS Kids Halloween Collection - Lots of games and activities from PBS Kids.
Spelloween - Practice your spelling by identifying correctly and incorrectly spelled words. You may want to bypass the part that asks you to type the word correctly since this is difficult to do on the SMART Board (middle / high).
Frankenbrain - Find the brain if you dare! (primary / middle)
Halloween, Halloween, What do You See? - Primary reading activity based on the famous book series (primary)
Jigsaw Puzzles
Animated Bat Jigsaw Puzzle - Fun puzzle. Works great on the SMART Board (4 stars)
Bat Jigsaw Puzzle - Another bat jigsaw puzzle created from Jigzone (3 stars)
Halloween Jigsaw Puzzle - More good puzzles created from Jigzone (3 stars)
Winnie the Pooh Jigsaw Puzzle - More good puzzles from Jigzone (3 stars)
Informational Activities
Halloween Safety Game - Fun game to play to educate your students about trick-or-treating (4 stars)
Interactive Halloween History Quiz - Nice game from the BBC (middle)
History Channel's History of Halloween - Some nice resources including videos and slideshows. (all grades)
5 Minute English - ESL History of Halloween includes vocabulary with an online Halloween quiz.
Create Your Own Activities
A Horror Movie - Create your story by picking words. You'll have to type in the words. (3 stars)
Creepy Coloring - Have fun coloring in a pumpkin (primary).
Carve a Pumpkin - The best online interactive pumpkin carving site. You'll love this! (primary)
Monster Band - Create your own band! This is a flash file that can also be inserted into Notebook.
Notebook Resources
Halloween Jokes - A Notebook file containing 10 different Halloween jokes. Lots of fun for the kids.
Wizard Spell Ordering Numbers - Have the Wizard conjure up five numbers and then use a counter-spell and place the numbers into the correct order. (Shared by Peggy DuBose)
Halloween Word Search Riddle - Who started the tradition of Halloween? (Celts)
Halloween Word Search Riddle - Where do baby ghosts go during the day? (Dayscare)
Halloween Ghost Countdown - Keep track of correct
answers using this fun Notebook countdown that announces a winner after five correct answers (4 stars)
Halloween Random Number - Generate a random number and student say whether it is less than, equal to, or greater than the late great Lucius Creven who died at the age of a hundred seven.
TeqSmart Halloween Word Bucket (Notebook Gallary item) - Create fun and interactive sorting activities, word lists, Foreign language activities, math fact reviews, and more with a Halloween theme.
Halloween Sound Files
All the sound files below are in mp3 format and can be imported in Smart Notebook
Monster Mash (song)
Next Time (fun & scary negative feedback)
Sharing Is Caring!
October 11, 2010
SMARTBoards and the Fifty Nifty States and Capitals
Today, while searching for a Geography Notebook activity to highlight on the blog, I came across a simple United States map activity that utilized the U.S. background and the U.S. State images from the Gallery. I've seen and used these Gallery objects in the past and I really like them because the images fit perfectly into the U.S. background image.
What I didn't realize was that the background image has a special built-in feature - it actually "snaps" the state images into place if they are dragged close enough to the correct location. I'm not sure how I missed that before but I think it's pretty cool.
I found a wonderful interactive activity on the SMART Exchange called 50 States - Political Map created by C. Austin and added a page where the students drag the State names on to the map. I also included a solution page. Click here to download the Notebook file.
In addition to the U.S. Notebook activity, here are some good interactive sites intended to help students practice learning their States and Capitals.
Ben's Interactive Games - Place the State
This is an outstanding resource that has two activities for placing the States in the correct location as well as one activity for placing the State Capitals.
In this resource, students touch on a State and then select one of three possible answers for the capital.
Sheppard Software - U.S. Geography Games Page
This is one of the best interactive resources for reinforcing the states and capitals. The activities range from beginner to very advanced and teachers can utilize the supporting detail when using the activities.
YouTube - Fifty Nifty United States song
Popular version of the Fifty Nifty song. You can search and watch other versions appropriate for your students.
If you have difficulties opening the Notebook file, please switch to another browser like Firefox or Chrome. Internet Explorer and Safari have difficulties recognizing .notebook files. If you have to use one of these browsers, then save the file to your computer first and make sure the file extension is .notebook and not .zip - if it's not, you'll need to rename the file and change the extension back to .notebook.
Sharing Is Caring!
October 06, 2010
SMARTBoard Games and Puzzles from Jefferson Lab
The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science funds the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility also known as Jefferson Lab. Part of Jefferson Lab's mission is to "serve the nation and its communities through education and public outreach." In connection to that mission, they have developed a wonderful collection of teacher resources dedicated to Math and Science teachers.
The Online Games and Puzzles section contains so many useful interactive resources that you'll want to take some time to explore everything that they have to offer. These activities work great on the SMART Board interactive whiteboard.
Your students will get hooked on the "Who Wants to Win $1,000,000?" game as well as SpeedMath Deluxe. SpeedMath Deluxe presents a Math problem without any operators and the students need to select the correct operations to make the equation true.
Science teachers will love the Element Balancing and the Element Hangman activities and the Element Concentration game is really a great way to let your students have some fun at the SMART Board.
Teachers can use the interactive practice tests and select the number of questions, the type of questions, as well as the specific state standard strand (Virginia).
Please share these wonderful interactive resources with your technology department and the other Math and Science teachers in your school.
Sharing Is Caring!
October 04, 2010
SMARTBoards and Count Us In Games
Pre-K and Kindergarten teachers can use the Count Us In website to play some very engaging Math concept games on their SMART Board interactive whiteboard. Each game is very simple to use and allows students to interact with the information in a fun and engaging manner.
Three of the activities require a keyboard input but the remainder of the games can be played by touching and/or dragging objects to the correct location.
Teachers can also download these activities and run them directly from their local computer. This is a good way to make the activities fit on the entire SMART Board.
Don't forget to share these activities with your fellow teachers. Remember...
Sharing Is Caring!
October 01, 2010
SMARTBoards and Spell a Picture
Awesome! This is the best word to describe all the wonderful activites on the Kerpoof website. I've recommended this site once before and I'm happy to report that it keeps getting better.
I've been utilizing a new activity they have call Spell a Picture. It's such an incredible learning tool for the classroom and it's highly engaging. Your students will be begging to come to the SMART Board to spell out words.
As the student begins spelling out a word by touching one of the letters, different pictures appear on the page that begin with that letter. As the student touches more letters, pictures become larger if they are being spelled correctly. Students can click and drag a letter to remove it if they make a mistake.
When they spell a word correctly, an arrow points to a picture to let them know that they can add it to the page. Once they add a word, they can move it around the page. You can even spell some action words like "chat" and "sing" to provide some action from the characters on the page.
Teachers can use this activity in many different ways and it works great on the SMART Board interactive whiteboard. The website is free to use although they have some membership options that might be appealing to some teachers.
Sharing Is Caring!
September 28, 2010
SMARTBoards and The Magic Key
The BBC has a wonderful interactive site called The Magic Key based on the Oxford Reading Tree learning program. The site contains nine literacy "adventures" for children that all work great with the SMARTBoard Interactive Whiteboard.
The Magic Key website is aimed at children aged 5-6 years and follows the TV programmes in which Kipper, Biff, Chip, Wilf, Wilma and Floppy go off on their adventures.
Each adventure contains an online interactive activity, a corresponding worksheet, and a teacher resource section that describes how to use the resource and provides curriculum key skill information.
I now you'll enjoy these simple but highly engaging activities inside your classroom.
Sharing Is Caring!
September 17, 2010
Notebook Activity - Role Model
This is a fun little Notebook activity called "Role Model" that guides the student through a series of short calculations. When the students get their final answer, they use that number to determine their perfect role model.
The fun part is that no matter what number the student starts with, the result will always be the same number - nine. Since you know what the answer will be, you can place "your" name at position 9 to show that "you" are their perfect role model.
Instructions: Before using in the classroom, you will need to edit the text object on the last page and enter your name in the 9th position. To do this, you will need to move the image out of the way and then double-click on the text object that is underneath. After you finish editing the text object, place the image back over the list of names. You may also want to lock your objects when you're done and re-save the file.
You can also change the other names and add additional pictures to the main image to reflect the current trends or personal preferences as long as you don't remove Jennifer Lopez. :o)
If you have difficulties opening the file, please switch to another browser like Firefox or Chrome. Internet Explorer and Safari have difficulties recognizing .notebook files. If you have to use one of these browsers, then save the file to your computer first and make sure the file extension is .notebook and not .zip - if it's not, you'll need to rename the file and change the extension back to .notebook.
Sharing Is Caring!
September 14, 2010
SMART Boards and Tagxedo Word Cloud Generator
I am in awe of one of the latest entries into Word Cloud Generators called Tagxedo. The options for creating word clouds are simply incredible and best of all, the site makes it very easy to save your work as an image file without the need to "capture" your work.
The flash-based results are a lot of fun to use and when you are using your SMART Board, you can touch on a word to make it enlarge and come to the forefront.
Here's a word cloud image I created from the words in my post from yesterday:
The site allows you to change almost any aspect of your word cloud including font, colors, number of words, shape, orientation, etc. When you're finished, you can Save your work in various sizes and formats.
This site is spectacular but be ready to spend a little time playing around and having fun. Please share any classroom ideas you have in the comment section.
Sharing Is Caring!
September 13, 2010
Notebook Lessons - Writing and Spelling
These two amazing Notebook lessons for the SMART Board were created by two amazing teachers, Becky Arnett and Sherri Fricker. These two lessons are very special to me because each one utilized techniques found in the courses from Teacher Online Training. As a matter of fact, Becky's "Writing Prompts" lesson was the grand prize winner of the SMART Exchange Contest Challenge.
Becky and Sherri went way beyond the techniques found in the online courses and each one created a lesson that made my jaw drop.
Becky's lesson is called Random Writing Prompts:
Use the random selectors to choose writing prompts for kids writing assignments. Reluctant writers love to use this tool to come up with a writing idea. Topics include citizenship, favorite things, remember a time when... and many others.
Click here to download
Sherri's lesson is called Spelling Bee:
Students can practice their spelling words by "typing" them on this keyboard. The keyboard is sensitive and doesn't like the wrong keys to be pressed.
Click here to download
Thank you Becky and Sherri! Your creative abilities are simply awesome!
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February 11, 2009
SMARTBoards and the Crickweb Flash Resources
I was searching through my past blog posts and I'm quite surprised that I have not written a post about the amazing flash-based resources found on Crickweb. This site contains hundreds of quality interactive resources for
children aged 4 to 11.
For my U.S. readers, the activities are organized into three age groups: The Early Years (age 4 to 5), Key Stage 1 (age 6 to 7), and Key Stage 2 (age 8 to 11). Within each age group the activities are organized by subject area.
The basic subject areas include Math, Science, History, and Literacy. However, there are also activites for Geography, Religion Education, French, Spanish, and even Design & Technology. (Please note that since this site is from the UK, the money activities use British Currency. However, teachers from other areas should still explore these activities.)
The resources contained on this site are all interactive and very few of them require keyboard input. Best of all, all of the activities work great on the SMART Board Interactive Whiteboard since most of the activities only require students to touch or drag objects. (If you would like to download and use the Promethean Flipchart files that are available, you can import these using Notebook. Just open Notebook, select "import" from the file menu, change the file type to "All Promethean Files.")
I've included a few screen shots but the best way to find what your looking for is to browse around and play with the activities. I can promise you that you'll find something fun and exciting for your classroom!
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