Free Elementary Activities to Use on SMARTBoard December 31, 2008
Posted by anne marie in ELA, Games, Math, Science, Websites.Tags: SMARTBoard
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I came across 6 free sample Spark Island activities that I found on e-gfl.org that work great on the SMARTBoard. Each game is interactive, engaging, animated and fun! There are 2 games each that address Numeracy, Literacy and Science skills. The Learning Outcomes are based on objectives from Wales, Northern Ireland and England, but would be appropriate for just about any learning environment. In addition to the activities they also provide teachers with other options such as teaching suggestions and printable resources.
For literacy there is It’s A Goal which asks students to chose the correct vowel to spell basic CVC words. The correct answer ellicits a goal! Spin to Win is my favorite! It reinforces the use of prefixes and suffixes using a very cool word spinner.
For Science there is Animal Magic which asks students to group animals according to observable similarities and differences and Home Sweet Home uses scientific evidence to explain why animals live where they do.
For Numeracy there is Play Your Cards Right which uses probability to make guesses in a card game and Down on the Farm reviews basic counting to 5.
Hope these activities help you as you plan your SB lessons for 2009- ENJOY!!
Rainforest Maths December 29, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Math, Websites.Tags: Math, Rainforest Maths
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For those of you who have been eagerly waiting for Rainforest Maths to once again be up and running I have some great news—Jenny Eather has announced that the site will be returning on January 22nd. This is the BEST New Year’s gift I could have received! According to Jenny’s letter posted on her site Rainforest Maths will be “under the care of the educational team at Mathletics.” Jenny’s letter goes on to explain “Teachers who are not Mathletics subscribers, will be provided with free access to all Rainforest Maths resources for their class for 2009. Just email rainforestmaths@3plearning.com for details.” Needless to say I have already sent my email and will be doing a little happy dance on January 22nd when I can once again use this amazing math resource with students. So sending a great big THANK YOU to both Jenny Eather for sharing her fantastic resources and for the folks at Mathletics for giving Rainforest Maths a “good home”. ENJOY!
Museum Box December 26, 2008
Posted by anne marie in General, SMART Board, Websites.Tags: Museum box
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I came across this site, Museum Box, that I wanted to share. This site is particularly beneficial when encouraging students to debate, reflect, and assess issues and ideas. Basically this site was inspired and modelled after the anti-slavery campaigner, Thomas Clarkson , who carried a box of items around the country to demonstrate his views on why slavery needed to be abolished. Museum box allows you to place items (including images, videos, text files, sound) in a virtual box to support your view. What I like about this tool is the versatility in allowing students to collect, organise and present information in a creative and different way.
“This site provides the tools for you to build up an argument or description of an event, person or historical period by placing items in a virtual box. What items, for example, would you put in a box to describe your life; the life of a Victorian Servant or Roman soldier; or to show that slavery was wrong and unnecessary? “
You have the option of uploading your own images, sounds, etc. or you can use the galleries provided. Just a note that you need to be logged in to use some of these features. There is a teacher section for registration and to set up student accounts. In addition to students using this tool it would also be a creative way for teachers to introduce a lesson. Once a box has been created it presents well on the SMARTBoard. ENJOY!
Track Santa’s trip December 21, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Fun.Tags: Norad Tracks Santa
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With Christmas just 4 days away I thought it appropriate to mention Norad Tracks Santa 2008. This is a wonderful site that you might want to share with any one who has young (or old) children who are eagerly waiting for Santa to begin his yearly sleigh ride around the world. This site has a count down chart and will also replay Santa’s flight from last year. Of course the real fun begins Christmas Eve when the actual journey begins, but while you’re waiting you can stop in at the Kid’s Countdown link for some fun activities and daily updates about Santa. To play holiday themed actvities, scroll over the North Pole Village and click on a buidling that lights up. A new activity is added daily. So remember, if you want to track Santa’s flight Christmas Eve check back at 3AM PST. ENJOY!
CONGRATULATIONS! December 20, 2008
Posted by anne marie in General.Tags: Edublog winners 2008
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I just learned over at Twitter that 2 of my favorite blogs are winners of the 2008 Edublog Awards-YEAH!
Richard Byrne over at Free Technology for Teachers is like the energizer bunny of blog posts! He is always posting (most days multiple posts) about free technology resources. The one feature of his blog that I really appreciate is his “Application for Education” section. Richard always ends his post with ways to incorporate the information in a meaningful classroom lesson. His ideas for using technology in the classroom inspire and motivate me to try things I may not have thought of without Richard– and for that I am very grateful. Richard is also always willing to assist anyone who might be, shall I say, a little less tech savy then he. Richard is a true gem!
Jim Hollis over at Teachers Love SMARTBoards has been my “SMARTBoard Hero” for quite some time. Jim truly lives by his motto “Sharing is Caring”. Jim’s blog is the most comprehensive blog regarding SMARTBoard resources, ideas, lessons and how-to videos. Finding Jim’s blog when I first started using my SMARTBoard in the classroom was like winning the lottery! He inspires and challenges so many teachers with his SMARTBoard wisdom. It was Jim who encouraged me to start my own blog– a journey that has been such a wonderful learning experience for me. I was just saying to a co-worker at school last week that the one gift I would love to get this Christmas would be a full day SMARTBoard training with Jim… it’s nice to have dreams!!!
So CONGRATULATIONS and great big THANK YOU to both Richard and Jim for not only writing and maintaining these fabulous blogs, but for being two generous, all around nice guys who are always willing to share what they know with others!
Snow Globes December 19, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Fun, Holidays.Tags: snow globes
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In honor of our snow day I thought I’d share some fun sites that have a snow globe theme. As the song says….”Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow”! ENJOY!
1. The Weepies - click and drag the globe to shake up the folks inside–complete with music!
2. Penguin Playground - shake up the penguins as they slide down the ice hill.
3. Snow Globe card- pretty to watch and delightful to listen to!
4. GushyGram- a funny snow globe Christmas e card to personalize with your own photos.
5. Sony Ericsson snow globe - a nice Christmas e card that gives you a gallery of predesigned snow globes or the option to design your own snow globe complete with your own photo
5. Boy in a Globe- ever wonder what it’s like to live in a snow globe? Then watch this 2007 CBS video.
6. Elf Yourself- ok so this one doesn’t have a snow globe theme but it is such a fun, jolly, elfing card from Office Max that I had to include it on the list!
DEAFBLIND Online December 18, 2008
Posted by anne marie in ELA, SMART Board, Special Education, Websites.Tags: DeafBlind Online, free software, Special needs
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I have been utilizing the software from DeafBlind Online for quite a while, first learning of it from Dale Gardner-Fox at a HEC CCATT Center workshop I attended a couple of years ago. This amazing site offers some great FREE downloadable software. In my opinion, it rivals other software programs that come with a hefty price tag. It is very user friendly, easy to install and offers a variety of options.
“This website provides free software for people who are deafblind or have learning disabilities. This software can be used to enable them to learn, explore their surroundings and become more independent.”
They offer six programs which you need to download to your computer prior to being able to access the materials- which I might add are not only extensive, but wonderfully created. The downloads are quick and painless! They also offer the option of printing the user manuel in Word format for each program, which can be very useful in the event you encounter difficulties.
The 1st program is called Sense Factory. This can be utilized as a basic automatic slide show or can be set to practise cause/affect objectives using switches or touching the SMARTBoard to advance the slide. The photos and sound are excellent. It offers basic alphabet and dressing activities.
The 2nd program is called Everday Skills. This program provides you with a tutorial on how to create profiles for each student to access various life skill activities. Again, these activities are very well presented. The “What’s Right” option in this program is especially helpful to review learned skills. It presents two slide with a question and the student must touch the correct picture that illustrates the answer- working well with the SMARTBoard.
The 3rd program is the EdWord. This is a talking word processor that allows you to combine text with symbols. The only negative I found is that although it will speak words, it does not speak sentences and/or paragraphs, but it does speak words and is free! It can be used as a text/symbol or a symbol only processor, similar to Writing With Symbols. I should mention though that you will need to download the symbols from Symbol Set Maker (the 4th program). When downloaded it will instantly convert a file full of images into the correct format to be used in EdWord and EdWeb.
So this brings me to the 5th program, EdWeb which is downloaded with EdWord. EdWeb is a talking web browser that can display web pages as a combination of text and symbols. I have encountered some difficulty using this program and have been told by the Tech folks that it is due to the Network system at school.
The 6th and final program offered is Grid Maker. This program is an accessory for producing grids to use in EdWord and EdWeb. This download offers you the ability to create interactive writing and/or symbol activities. A huge plus!
So if you haven’t already explored this marvelous FREEEEEEEEEEEE site you definitely need to put it at the top of your “To Do” list for the new year! ENJOY!
Calling all Musicians! December 17, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Music, SMART Board, Special Education, Websites.Tags: Music
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I was asked by a Special Education teacher if I knew of any websites that would incorporate computer mouse skills with music- she has a student who is very motivated and interested in “making music”. I remembered this site called Muxicall that I learned of this summer. It is a basic and very powerful flash tool designed to help teach music composition. You simply click on the various musical signs to hear that sound. When you click on play it will give you a choice of instruments- piano, strings or drums. It also is coupled with corresponding colors which is very cool! If you hold the shift key down, the mouse hovers and you can play the music continuously. It works great with the SMARTBoard since you simply touch the music signs to hear the sound.
So back to the original request– the student loved this activity! During his free time activity he is able to independently use the computer to compose all of the original tunes wants! It also has proven to be reinforcing for other students to address cause/effect objectives– especially when using the SMARTBoard. ENJOY!
**Quick directions to activate the hovering mouse when using the SMARTBoard (thanks to Jim Hollis for help with these directions). Go to your SMART tools in the task bar, select control panel, select SMART Hardware settings, make sure the pen and button option is selected and click on the picture of the mouse & keyboard. On the left side drop down menu select right click, on the right side drop down menu click floating mouse. So now the right click button on the tray launches the hovering mouse feature. To deactivate this feature simply touch the board and to reactivate it touch the right click button again. If you need to do a right click when in this mode you can still accomplish this by touching the SMARTBoard for 3-4 seconds.
Free educational movies December 15, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Websites.Tags: Educational movies
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I was recently asked by a teacher if I knew where she might download some free, educational movies to incorporate into some lesson and so I thought I’d share my answer with everyone!
The Free Educational Movie section from Kids-Know-It Network immediately came to mind. They have a myriad of free movies covering several subjects and learning standards and they add to their list monthly. Each movie begins by introducing students to the topics that they will be learning about, and ends with an online quiz. The movies are narrated by computer generated voices, which can be monotonous and sometimes difficult for some students to comprehend, so please be sure to preview.
Although Brain Pop has a membership fee to view all of their movies, there is a free movies section which offers 21 free movies to view.
Let’s not forget the plethora of free videos that National Geographic, National Georgraphic Kids and History.com offers. I often download and link these videos into my SMART Notebook lessons to reinforce a specific lesson, since in general the videos are short in length and beautifully filmed. Perfect to add a little pizazz to a lesson! I also should mention how I would use the link to This Day in History during our morning group activity.
NOVA online has a very good collection of educational videos. Just be aware that many of the videos are not available for download. The videos also offer closed captioning and are arranged by chapter for shorter viewings.
For math videos I would suggest math-videos-online.com. There are several videos explaining a variety of math categories. I also like mathtrain.tv which is a place where middle school students teach students as part of a wonderful project developed and maintained by Mr. Marcos in Santa Monica, CA.
For science videos head over to Freesciencelectures.com where you will find a large selection of free science videos in a variety of categories including Physics, Biology, Chemistry, etc.
I also check Teachers TV, Teacher Tube and even, You Tube. You might be surprised at the array of educational videos that you can locate on these sites. Last year when I was creating a lesson on the Civil Rights Movement I was able to download a video clip of the funeral train of Robert F. Kennedy- a very moving, very effective teaching tool. Of course, it goes without saying that, as with all videos that you will be presenting in the classroom, it is your responsibility to take the time to preview the video and insure that it meets the criteria for your school district.
Of course there are many other resources out there that offer free educational videos– but I hope these help get you started. ENJOY!
Christmas Activity update December 13, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Games, SMART Board, Websites.Tags: Christmas, UptoTen.com
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Tonight I was checking out the website UptoTen.com and discovered that they have a very nice Christmas activity, Santa Clauss’s Trip, that would work very well with the SMARTBoard. The activity reminds me of a “Simon Says” type game. Students view a map of the world, shown the route that Santa will take to deliver toys and then they have to touch the countries to recreate his route. Very fun! When the correct country is touched students even magically travel to that country to see the gifts delivered. Make sure your speakers are turned up so you can hear Santa’s sleigh bells!
Now just a quick note about this great site. UptoTen at School offers free teacher accounts. According to their site once you register you are given free access to:
You get 50 pre-set lessons to use with your classes. All 1292 games and activities are available. It is 100% ad-free. The games are full screen. It is safe to use in class. It is free for schools. Just apply below. Above all, the children will really benefit from these great activities
So if you are an elementary teacher (recommended to students up to age 10) I would suggest heading over and taking advantage of this great opportunity. As an added plus, many of the activities and games I tried would work very well with the SMARTBoard. ENJOY! Oooops, l almost forgot to send a BIG THANK YOU to the folks over at UptoTen.com for this wonderfully generous gift to teachers and students.
