Magic Studio November 22, 2009
Posted by anne marie in Web 2.0, Websites.Tags: Magic Studio
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Magic Studio is a Network of Interactive Learning that has been on my “need to explore closer” list since this summer. I started to explore it this week and have really found some of the features to be versatile for the SMARTBoards, classroom use (laptops) and on wikis (embed). One of the advantages is that if you create an activity to use on the SMARTBoard you can then embed that into your class wiki for students to use as a review– now that is AWESOME!!! I should note that you do need Macromedia Flash Player 8 or above to use Magic Studio. If you navigate to the Browse feature you will find “great images, video, audio, reference text and interactive resources to customise or to use straight away just as they are.” For example, here is a great pre-made drag and drop review to practice addition (2-10). To use with the SMARTBoard I would view it in full screen. There is a zoom feature so you can make the screen even larger. You could also embed this drag and drop into your wiki or blog as a student review. Here is a link to the Magic Studio Tour which give you an overview of the features. In addition to the drag and drop feature Magic Studio will also allow you to create an interactive image explorer, a timeline, presentation, quiz or a featurette ( text and media). Basically you are adding “hotspots” to create the interactive- very coool!! You can upload your own images, etc. or you can use content from their content channels. Everything you create remains private unless you decide to share it. You can sign up for a free individual account to save and create activities. They also offer an enhanced, paid for service to schools ”wishing to take advantage of cross-platform collaboration, sharing and community building amongst teachers, learners and parents”. ENJOY!
ABC Adventure November 22, 2009
Posted by anne marie in ELA, Games, Websites.Tags: Alphabet
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Harcourt Publishing has an ABC Adventure interactive game that teaches/reinforces the letters of the alphabet. A keyboard appears on the screen and the player uses their computer keyboard to fill in the missing letters. It has nice voice output and I like that the letters are highlighted. A very basic, effective activity. This is a great activity for students to review the alphabet and practice keyboarding skills. It presents well on the SMARTBoard and you could either have students use the computer attached to the SMARTBoard or use the SMARTBoard keyboard. ENJOY!
SMART Contest November 18, 2009
Posted by anne marie in SMART Board.add a comment
Steve Anderson over on the Blogging About the We 2.0 Connection in the Classroom Blog announced a contest that I wanted to pass along. The SMART folks have given him one copy (1 License, up to 40 Machines) of their SMART Classroom Suite Software to give away. So how do you enter and hopefully win this contest, you ask? Well you have to create a 1 minute video showing how you use SMART Products, post your video to You Tube and then fill out the Contest Form which is located on his blog page.
The contest started yesterday, November 17th and will be open until Dec. 15 2009. The winner will be announced on Dec. 21. 2009 with the winning video featured on his blog. So if you’re feeling creative and want a chance at winning this amazing software head over to Steve’s blog to get all of the details. Good Luck!
U.S. Thanksgiving Resources November 18, 2009
Posted by anne marie in Holidays, history/social studies.add a comment
With Thanksgiving shining bright on my radar screen I wanted to remind everyone of the resources on my Thanksgiving page. I would also recommend that you visit the Thanksgiving Resources posted by Jim Hollis over on Teachers Love SMARTBoards and Larry Ferlazzo’s Thanksgiving Resources on his blog, Larry Felazzo’s Websites of the Day. There may be duplicates, but all worth checking out-ENJOY!
Below are some additional sites that I gathered as sites of the month (November) for our elementary wiki. ENJOY!
Welcome to a Pilgrim Village- a Scholastic e-book with audio support for the text.
The First Thanksgiving- a wonderful interactive website from Scholastic that offers some great activities to help students understand the life of Pilgrims. This site also provides audio support.
What Really Happened at the First Thanksgiving- an interactive site from Plymouth Plantation that allows students to be investigative historians. Very fun and very informative!
Fill in the Blanks- A Thanksgiving Story- listen to the Thanksgiving story and then complete the missing words in the paragraph by selecting the correct word from the drop down menu. Here is a linkto another similar activity. Again listen to the story and then complete the sentences from the drop down menu.
Match Thanksgiving words- click and drag the Thanksgiving words to match the picture.
Weekly Reader: The Story of Squanto- an interactive video story of Squanto complete with a quiz!
Weekly Reader: The Story of Johnny Appleseed-an interative video story of Johnny Appleseen complete with a quiz!
See if you can locate the differences between the Tom Turkeypictures, the Thanksgiving Postmanand the Mayflowers.
Thanksgiving Poems and Rhymes- click on the links to read the variety of poems and rhymes.
PBS The Colonial House- a wonderful site filled with several interactive activities to help you learn about life as a Pilgrim.
Fractions November 17, 2009
Posted by anne marie in Math.2 comments
Fractions can be a difficult concept for some students to master and so I was asked by some teachers if I knew of any websites that were interactive and would help students reinforce and practice fraction skills. Below is the list I developed- ENJOY!
Elearning for Kids- this is a great slide show/video that explains and demonstrates fractions. This presents well on the SMARTBoard.
Kids and Cookies- a very fun site that helps students to visualize the concept of fractions. This site can also be downloaded and is available in Spanish. As an FYI- the online version does not have sound,but the downloaded version does!
MathisFun- this site gives you various lessons on fractions- introduction, equivalent, proper/improper, etc. The one feature that I really like is the Interactive Fractions since it allows you to designate and visually demonstrate fractions.
Gamequarium- this site has a plethora of games and activities to help reinforce fractions.
Fitting with Fractions- this is a fun game where the students have to move specific butterflies to a jar and then calculate what fraction of butterflies you caught.
Update: I was sent another great interactive fraction activity from Laura. She wrote, ”This fraction flash file is an excellent and quick way to make different size fraction pieces for interactive display on a Smart Board.” Thanks, Laura, for sharing! 
EL Civics for ESL Students November 16, 2009
Posted by anne marie in Holidays, history/social studies.add a comment
During a Google search for Thanksgiving activities/lessons I came across this awesome website called EL Civics for ESL Students. It is filled with many mini lessons on civics, US Holidays, Famous Americans, Life Skills, US Geography, etc. The site also provides worksheets and activities to accompany the lessons. All of the lessons would present well on the SMARTBoard. There is a gold mine of information that is presented in easy to read format, complete with visual supports. I would highly recommend taking a look at this site- ENJOY!
ReadWriteThink Calendar November 14, 2009
Posted by anne marie in ELA, Websites, history/social studies.Tags: calendar skills, history, ReadWriteThink, Resource
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I came across the website, ReadWriteThink Calendar, and wanted to share. What I like about this resource is that it not only presents daily historical information using text and visual supports, but it also gives you links to lesson plans and other resources to give you ideas and to make lesson preparations easier. It also could be a springboard for students to research and report on specific events on the calendar. I envision it being a good resource to reinforce calendar skills, follow directions, cause/affect, etc. when incorporating it with the SMARTBoard. ENJOY!
I also wanted to mention is that some classrooms have incorporated the History Channel’s This Day in History Video into their daily morning activities with positive results. The site is linked to a picture on the SMART Notebook daily calendar and the students simply touch the picture to activate the video. Very direct, with immediate visual feedback– watching the video! ENJOY!
Learn about trees. November 11, 2009
Posted by anne marie in Science.Tags: Science, trees
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The fall always seems like the optimal time for lessons on trees and so once again as the leaves are changing colors and quickly falling to the ground in Massachusetts I’m thinking trees! There are two sites from the University of Illinois Extension that I find to be very good: Dr. Arbor Talks Trees (click on the index files at the top of the page to access lessons) and Exploring the Secret Life of Trees. I like both of these sites because they give very good visual and auditory support and present well on the SMARTBoard (the Secret Life of Trees can be viewed in English or Spanish). During each presentation there are opportunities for students to interact with the lesson being presented. The Teacher’s Guide in both programs are very informative and helpful.
Pete’s PowerPoint Station also is a very good resource forfree ready-made lessons about trees in PowerPoint format and it also offers various resources that can be incorporated into your lessons. Now I’m off to rake some of those falling leaves! ENJOY!
Alphabet November 9, 2009
Posted by anne marie in ELA, Games.Tags: Alphabet letters
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English Alphabet from NGfL, is a good activity for alphabet/letter review that works well with the SMARTBoard. The initial screen reviews the letters with visual and audio cues. You can then either touch each letter in the alphabet on the top of the screen or click on the arrow in the right bottom corner to advance letters. A new screen will appear with that letter on it. There is an icon box under each letter that, when clicked, will active different features: the pencil will trace the letter, the ear will sound out the letter phonetically, the speaker will say the letter and the 2 lines will stop a feature. Again- a good basic alphabet letter site that works well with the SMARTBoard- ENJOY! Oh yeah, I should perhaps mention that when speaking the letter “Z”- it is not pronounced in English.
Rhyming Words November 7, 2009
Posted by anne marie in ELA, Games, Holidays.Tags: ELA, Rhyming
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I have discovered some very cool, and new to me, sites that help assist with reinforcing and reviewing rhyming that I wanted to share. The first is by Golden Books called Cat at Bat. This activity simulates a baseball game- every correct answer scores a run and every wrong answer is an out. Players read the word that appears on the bulletin board and if the pitcher throws a word that rhymes with that word they would click on the word. This activity works well on the SMART Board.
The BBC Little Animals Activity Center also has a fun activity to reinforce rhyming. It offers three difficulty levels. Players must match the rhyming words that appear on the screen. If they pick the correct answer the ground hog will digdown to the word. This activity does have audio support and works well with the SMARTBoard.
PBS has a very cute, fun short rhyming video/activity starring Grover which presents well on the SMART Board. The younger children LOVE watching this one! ENJOY!
