Meet Harry the Hamster! March 18, 2009
Posted by anne marie in ELA, Fun, Games, Math, SMART Board.Tags: Fun4theBrain
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I stumbled across this cute little hamster while I was exlporing the website Fun4theBrain.com. If you want a little pet hamster of your own to love, here is the link! Watch Harry run on his wheel, drink water, and eat the food you feed him by clicking your mouse in the cage. Click the center of the wheel to make Harry hop back on the wheel for a run.
Now about the site Fun4theBrain.com. This site offers some great, fun math games to review and reinforce addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. It also offers games in the areas of English, Reading and Science Tutorials. In their own words-
”All games here were made by Exuberant Games. Each game goes through important information for a certain subject matter for grades Kindergarten through 6th grade. The math games are great if you need to review your math facts for addition, subtraction , or division. Be sure to check out our new games for other subjects.
- English games to review parts of speech
- Reading games to help learn sight words
- Science tutorials and games are coming soon”
Many of these games will work wonderfully on the SMARTBoard. ENJOY!
A2ZKB.com March 10, 2009
Posted by anne marie in ELA, Fun, Games, SMART Board.Tags: ELA
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A2ZKB.com is a fun site that offers a variety of activities for young learners. You access the activities by clicking on the side tabs of the book.In the Games tab you will find Make a Snowman (follow directions) and Pop the Balloon. Our House is also great for object identification- students touch the object in the room, a pop up screen appears and when the speaker is touched it states the answer. There also is an e-book called The Farmer and the Sun. To practice letter and color identification I use the Board tab. An alphabet board appears with a color palette in the left hand lower side of the page. For example, I ask students to make a yellow A and they have to touch the color yellow and then the correct letter– like I said great for a review! ENJOY!
Valentine Text Fun! February 9, 2009
Posted by anne marie in ELA, Fun, Websites.Tags: text design
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With Valentine’s Day knocking on our door I thought I would share this really cool text tool that a friend shared with me. This tool will transform typed text into the coolest heart shape!! Students absolutely love this! It’s found on Festisite Tools. There are six tools (all very cool), but to achieve the heart shape you would have the students write type their text in a Word Document, copy the text, click on “Valentine”, click the text button (remove any text that may appear in the text box), paste the text in the text box, click effect and pick the font options, click print and your one of a kind design is ready to be printed!! Students are very motivated to complete a writing assignment if they know at the end they can create a special text effect! ENJOY!
Just as a side note- don’t forget to check out some of the other tools this site offers. You could have your students write short essays about the planets and then use the circle feature to make the text simulate the round planets. They could then take that “round” text and glue it onto the corresponding planet– this could make an inspiring bulletin board! Feel free to share any other ideas you might have.
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!
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!
Christmas FUN & the SMARTBoard December 11, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Fun, Games, General.Tags: Merry Christmas!
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Monday night we watched the delightful Christmas movie “Blizzard” so it got me in the North Pole, Merry Christmas, Sanat Claus, Rudolph, Ho Ho Ho state of mind! So below are some websites that I think are particularly worth a look if you are searching for some interactive Holiday activites.
Rudolph is Missing is a wonderful interactive book that takes students on an adventure to find Rudolph for Santa. As an added bonus, during the adventure students are asked thoughtful questions to answer. This is definitely a fun activity that works well on the SMARTBoard.
Northpole.com is a wonderful place to find some great Christmas fun! For the SMARTBoard make sure you check out the Elves’ Game Chest since it is filled with several interactive games including, checkers, word search, crossword puzzle and even a game to reinforce telling time and making change! Santa alaso offers a plethera of free Christmas themed worksheets in a variety of categories for ages PreK-3. In Santa’s Secret Village you will fins more than two dozen original stories with hand drawn or painted artwork. They also come complete with audio! And for the next game, grab your hot chocolate, turn up the volume and have some fun with Disco Dancing Santa!!
Merry-Christmas.com- this is the jackpot in interactive Christmas games and they all work well with the SMARTBoard. There are 5 themed Christmas mini quizzes, decorate the Christmas tree, tic tac toe, a Santa puzzle, etc.
The British Council has a couple of fun activities. Santa Rodeo is a very fun way to have students practice spelling skills. Two predetermined words appear on the screen and they have to click on the word that is spelled correctly. There are two levels – the easier level being kids and the more difficult level being adults. Students love to see and play this game on the SMARTBoard. They have a concentration-type Christmas theme game- match the pictures with the words. Christmas Balloon burst- several balloons with letters on them float through the air and students use the mouse to pop the balloons with the correct letters to spell the word of the picture in the box. Using the SMARTBoard students enjoy the halleneg of popping the balloons usng thier fingers.
TeqSMART- the marvelously merry guys over at TeqSMART have added some great Christmas/Holiday themed premade Notebook lessons in their Holiday Themed Activities. You have to register to have access to download, but it’s free and well worth it!! So put on your skates and head on over there!!!!
Northumberland has two basic numeracy activities with a Holiday theme: Christmas Tree and Santa. Both work well on the SMARTBoard.
The WONDERFUL Jim Hollis over at Teachers Love SMARTBoards has a Christmas Holiday Resource page filled with resources, games, activities with a Holiday theme.
SantaAdventCalendar- this is an absolutely beautiful site. Like an advent calendar, beginning on Dec 1st you click on the number 1 and it reveals the beginning of a wonderful story. Each day when you click on the next number another chapter is revealed. This would present well on the SMARTBoard, but also would be such a nice activity to do with your children at home.
The last site I want to mention is just a nice way to bring a “guest reader” into your classroom at Christmas time. Head on over to Storylineonline.com and have Lou Diamond Phillips read one of my favorite stories “The Polar Express” to your students. It presents awesome on the SMARTBoard– just don’t forget to view it in full screen mode. This site also offers other complimentary activities to use with this book
Ok- time for me to make a hot chocolate (with LOTS of whipped cream) and check in with my friends on Twitter. ENJOY!
UPDATE- I just learned from my friend Richard Byrne over at his amazing blog Free Technology for Teachers about a site called Speakaboos. This site offers free online children’s stories and they have two great Christmas selections: The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Andersen and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. You can watch the stories on line for free or download them to watch in full screen (which would be great to view on the SMARTBoard). Some features are only available once you complete the free registration.
Snowman Fun on the SMARTBoard! December 9, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Fun, Games, SMART Board.Tags: Build a snowman, SMARTBoard
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This morning on Twitter Danny Nicholson shared a fun snowman activity that works great on the SMARTBoard. It lends itself to a wonderful activity for having students follow verbal directions, review basic counting, usng verbal language or just for creative fun! So this activity got me thinking — how many other interactive snowman activities might I be able to find that would work well on the SMARTBoard. All of the sites have the same basic concept- drag and drop items to build, create, dress and bring the snowman to life. And for those school systems that discourage the Christmas themed activities these might be a nice alternative. So here I go….
1. South Florida snowman- some very cute items are provided to build this sunshine state snowman who is relaxing on the beach!
2. Ten Little Snowmen from Enchanted Learning- a great interactive book that asks students to complete a specific task to create a snowman. Great for following directions.
3. Kent nGfl Snowman- I love the background graphics in this activity- the falling snow, the blue sky- so beautiful!
4. Build a Snowman: An Artistic Adventure- you need Java to run this activity.
5. Build your own Frosty- don’t forget to first drag the snowballs to make the snowman.
6. Snowman Band e-card- Hallmark has a very cute e-card where you pick the instruments you want the band of merry snowmen to play. So have your speakers turned up and ENJOY!!!
7. Build your own Snowman from Merry-Christmas.com- what is fun about this site is that it has some “unusual” items to use to create your snowman.
8. Ben & Jerry’s Virtual Snowman- you can make a very “groovy” snowman here!
9. Dress Frosty- some cute graphics
10. Build a Snowman
So, as you can see, I found 10 sites- WOW! If anyone has any other interactive snowman sites they have found, let me know and I’ll add them to the list! ENJOY!
Animated Text December 6, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Fun, General.Tags: text generators
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If you’re looking for a way to “JAZZ-UP” your SMART Notebook lessons you might want to try using a free graphic generator and then copy and paste it into your page. It is sooooooooo easy and soooooooooo cool and everyone will think you have amazing computer powers!! So here are my top 3 sites to use….
1. TEXTANIM.com- just type your text, pick the font, size, pick your desired pattern (and there are several choices), etc., click generate and voila your wonderful animated text will appear for you to simply copy and paste it into your Notebook lesson- YEAH!
2. Cooltext.com- this one comes by way of Obe Hostetter over at SMARTBoard Revolution- so thanks Obe! Again, type your text, pick the image you want (my favorite is the burning logo style), choose the font, size, etc, and then click on render logo to see your creation. Copy and paste it into your SMART Notebook page and dazzle your students!!
3. FLAMINGTEXT.com- this site has a gallery list to the right of the page. Scroll down to see the animated options. Again you type in your text, make your choices for font, size, etc. and then click create logo to have the logo generated and ready for you to copy and paste into your SMART Notebook lesson for all of those oooooooo’s and ahhhhhhh’s!!!
Hope these text generators help you to give your Notebook lessons a little “spice”!!! ENJOY!
Frog Fun! December 3, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Fun, Games.Tags: Games
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If you want to have a little fun while teaching students to work cooperatively to solve a problem check out the Frog Leap Test. It works great on the SMARTBoard and can be challenging, frustrating and lots of fun! Click on the frogs to have them leap. It was designed as a 2nd grade computer test for students in China, but can be used at various levels. ENJOY!
More Thanksgiving Sites November 12, 2008
Posted by anne marie in ELA, Fun, General, SMART Board, Websites.1 comment so far
Some teachers have been requesting some additional Thanksgiving sites (previously I mentioned The First Thanksgiving from Scholastic) that would work well with the SMARTBoard so here is a list of sites that I have found-
The guys over at TeqSMART have two great elementary Notebook lessons available with a Thanksgiving theme. The first was created by Lindsey Angelo teaching parts of speechand the second was created by Emily Peterson and it is Translating Word Problems into Algebraic Equations. I also hear rumblings that a Mayflower Math lesson will be available soon???????
Caleb Johnson’s MayflowerHistory.com offers extensive resources about the Mayflower/Pilgrims. There is a page dedicated to helping teachers navigate the site. The site is geared for older students, but there is information that would be helpful to elementary teachers. This would be a great link for a webquest since it has a plethera of historical information. Mr. Johnson even includes the Mayflower passenger list, complete with biographical information about each of the passengers. All information would present well in the SMARTBoard.
The History Channel offers 5 videos with a Thanksgiving theme. I particulary like the History of Thanksgiving since it is a little over 3 minutes long and gives a nice overview of the origins of Thanksgiving. It presents well on the SMARTBoard and is a great short video to embed into a Notebook lesson on Thanksgiving.
Turkeys Anagram game- students unscramble letters to discover a phrase about turkeys. Students would simply drag the letters on the SMARTBoard to the correct position. A fun game!
BillyBear4Kids has a fun animated turkey puzzle. Students would move the puzzle pieces on the SMARTBoard to create the puzzle. When a piece is placed in the correct position the connection flashes in white.The fact that the puzzle is animated just adds to the fun!!
Plimoth Plantation’s You are the Historian is a great resource, filled with some very good interactive activities as students discover clues about what really happened in 1621 at the “First Thanksgiving”. It works and presents well using the SMARTBoard. The site does indicate that during the Thanksgiving season you might experience a slow response so they do give you the option of downloading the file to your hard drive.
The folks over at Lookybook.com have some very nice Thanksgiving books available on their website. Typically the book present well on the SMARTboard, but just preview before using any book with your class.
National Geographic offers a great ativity for practicing part of speech with a Thanksgiving twist called “Wild & Wacky”.It is a fill in the blank activity for students to generate their own Thanksgiving story. Using the SMARTBoard the teacher could demonstrate/explain the activity and then students could use the lab to create their own stories. It does give you the option of printing the story so that students can read their stories to the class and/or take them home.
The Cartoon Factory (also from National Geographic) offers a Thanksgiving themed cartoon for students to narrate. They present well on the SMARTBoards- students love to see their work bigger than life on the SMARTBoard! Last year a 5th grade teacher used this activity with her students and when each student had completed their cartoon she “published” it so they all had a Thanksgiving comic book. It was a great way for the students to share their creativity!
Pete’s Powerpoint Station has a plethera of premade Thanksgiving themed powerpoint lessons.
Hope these additional resources help- ENJOY!
