Talking SMARTBoards & Much More!

Stumbled across the best Jeopardy template I have yet to come across. It was created by Lynne Bailey using Powerpoint.  Lynne not only created this fabulous template complete with the Jeopardy theme music (including the Daily Double and Final Jeopardy), comments by Alex Trebek, but also included very user friendly, helpful tutorials to guide you through setting up your own game.  This template is amazing to use on the SMARTBoard- you just need to remember to double click the questions to make it interactive. Wednesday I used the template to create a review on analogies for the 3rd grade teachers and the tmeplate was very easy to use.  I think it took me 30 minutes from start to finish (of course I had all of my questions prepared). I was with a 7th grade math teacher yesterday who used this template to review fractions with her students (actually her students challlenged another classroom)and it was the best 48 minutes I had had in school in a long time!!! A teacher said to me- “This is like the Cadillac of Jeopardy templates” and I have to agree!!  A great big THANK YOU to Lynne for making this available. ENJOY!

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!

Ok, so I just learned about this really, really cool text-to movie application from L Parisi over at Twitter called– XtraNormal.  If you can type you can create a movie- how motivating is this for students to be able to express their thoughts and knowledge in a creative way. I love it!  As long as you can type you can create a movie.

“Xtranormal’s mission is to bring movie-making to the people. Everyone watches movies and we believe everyone can make movies.  Our revolutionary approach to movie-making builds on an almost universally held skill—typing. You type something; we turn it into a movie. On the web and on the desktop.”

 For students who struggle with speech and oral presentations this would be a wonderful alternative for them to express their ideas. It also would be beneficial for teachers to create movies to introduce a lesson or reinforce a concept– talk about catching and keeping the attention of students! And if you have a SMARTBoard the movies would present fantastic on one. It is currently in beta form and you must register to make a movie (must be 13 years old or older), but it’s free. ENJOY!

I just received an email from “the guys at Animoto” — GREAT NEWS– they have added a feature where you can now add text to your Animoto videos- YEAH!!! As they stated in the email,

“It’s true: you can now insert text into your Animoto videos.  And we’re not talking about boring caption-like text–we’re talking about text the way it’s done in tv & film!” 

This is something I have been looking forward to since I first discovered Animoto– did I say YEAH!!!!  From an educational standpoint it will allow students to label and narrate their work- AWESOME!  I haven’t investigated this feature yet– heading over their once I finish this post– but I’m sure that adding the text will be seamless.  So head on over and check it out! ENJOY and oh yeah a big THANKS to “the guys at Animoto”.

I was very anxious to watch 60 Minutes this evening as I knew Scott Pelley was reporting on a story about the Brain Computer Interface. Here is a link to the video in case you missed this remarkable report.   It showed how people who are completely paralyzed due to illness or trauma are getting help communicating with a new technology that connects their brains to a computer-the Brain Computer Interface (BCI).  It was remarkable to watch a man with ALS communicate his thoughts and ideas by wearing a cap that picks up the electrical activity of his brain and allows him to select letters simply by thinking about them. The computer then turns his sentences into speech.  Scientists believe that in the future this technology will move beyond communication and enable those with paralysis to move their own arms and legs again.  If you want to be inspired and amazed take the time to check out this video. ENJOY!

I can’t believe how quickly Halloween is creeping up on us.  When planning any Halloween themed lessons, one positive is there is an abundance of resources, games, activities, etc. on the Web for teachers to access. Even more encouraging is the fact that there is an increasing amount of activities that are interactive, educational, engaging and wonderful to use with the SMARTBoard.  Conversely the problem is also just that–there are so many to pick from it can be overwhelming, or at least for someone like myself, who just doesn’t want to miss any!!  I have put together a short list of new interactive Halloween resources/activities/games that I have added to my lists from previous years and also listed a few “oldies, but goodies”!  As with all resources you need to preview each activity to ensure it is appropriate for your classroom (especially since some Halloween themed activities do incorporate the “scary factor”). Unless I note otherwise, all the sites mentioned would work well with the SMARTBoard- ENJOY!

Haunted Alphabet- on the idea of “I Spy”- students must locate the alphabet letters that are hidden in the haunted house- a very fun way to reinforce/review letter identification.

I Spy Library- Halloween is the perfect time to play this interactive game.

Scary Spuds- a fun way to allow creativity to flow in students, coupled with practicing eye/hand coordination, mouse skills, following directions, etc.

Trick or Treat Maze- a Halloween maze- great game for a “reward” activity in a computer lab to practice keyboard skills.

Monster Match- I have to admit this game had me and my husband hooked!  You have to rearrange/switch Halloween pictures to make 3 in row.  This is a great activity to use for a team building activity.

Billy Bear Concentration- for younger children to reinforce memory skills and encourage language.

Halloween Jigsaw Puzzle-   All of the puzzle pieces are scrambled  to the right of the puzzle board and students need to drag and drop them to creat the correct picture.  There is a hint feature and it allows you to set the amount of pieces– I dare you to try the 40 piece puzzle!!! Another great activity for team building/cooperation lessons. 

Squigly’s Halloween Games/Activities- there are 17 games addressing a variety of skills at different levels. There are also several activities including story builders, picture matches, jigsaw puzzles, word scrambles, etc.  You will need to explore and find what would meet your needs, but trust me you will not be disappointed.  I will again reinterate that these are Halloween themed activities and some may be too scary for some students.

Lookybook- I have talked about this site in the past (it’s one of my favorites!), but wanted to mention it again beacuse they have some really cool Halloween stories available and they are all FREE to view and read-YAH! You will need to register, but it’s free and it will allow you to save your favorite books for quick reference- sort of like having your own persoanl librarian:) Some of the books, depending on the size of the text, page, etc. present very well on the SMARTboard and are interactive to the degree that you can turn the pages by touching the board and trust me the younger students LOVE to read the books using the SMARTBoard!

History of Halloween- for anyone addressing lessons regarding the history of Halloween the History Channel is a fantastic resource for this purpose. They offer some great videos relating to this topic and also have some hauntingly fun games!

Also want to mention that Jim Hollis over at Teachers Love SmartBoards has two posts listing other great Halloween sites - Halloween Activities Part 1 and Halloween Activities Part 2.

Happy Halloween and ENJOY!

Wanted to share the latest and greatest from the folks over at SMART Technologies. “The SMART Table is a versatile learning center where groups of students can create, explore and discover together on the durable screen.”  Here is a  video link and the press release about the SMART Table interactive learning center for students ages 4-11. I for one can’t wait to see one up close and personal!

With Halloween quickly approaching I thought I’d share my top two sites that address the very important issue of Halloween safety with elementary aged students.  Both sites are interactive and work very well with the SMARTBoard. They also are very good site for parents to use when discussing this with their children at home. ENJOY!

Hershey has a Halloween Safety Quiz- discusses Halloween saftey using an interactive quiz format
Halloween Saftey game- in line with the previous site–a game to quiz students about what they should do if certain situations arise when trick or treating.

Today I finally had time to create a Flickr Badge(it has been on my “to do” list for a while) and I must say it was very easy, quick and fun.  I decided to make one using pictures of my wonderfully loving, beautiful dogs. Check it out at the end of my Blog roll!! There are so many different, creative ways you could use this tool to highlight classroom achievements– as they say, the possibilities are endless!!  You do need to have a Flickr account which is free and very easy if you already have a Yahoo ID.  ENJOY!

Well last Friday was my last day in the classroom and I left with such bittersweet emtotions– excited to begin a new chapter in my career, but very sad to leave “my kids”.   I am very thankful that I took with me so many wonderful memories– memories that I will cherish forever.  It’s kind of weird not having a classroom filled with students, and calling an office “home”, but it’s all good, and I am very happy with my decision.

So Monday I started in my new position as an Instructional Technology Specialist.  Yep, that’s me! I have to admit, though, I found myself looking around each time someone would introduce me as the new “ITS”–guess it will get some getting used to!!  I feel so very fortunate to have been given this opportunity  and I just want to take a minute to thank someone who touched my life for 13 years and I believe had a role in securing me this opportunity-THANKS Monica!  Anyone who knows me knows how important Monica was in my life. I first met Monica hen she was just 3 years old and I was asked to be her home tutor, since she was to fragile to attend a school program.  Our relationship quickly turned into a friendship, sharing a bond that was filled with love. When Monica passed away last year at the of 16 in many ways, for me, it was a blessing, for her suffering had ended and I believed she was at peace, finally in a place that would allow her to run and talk and play and smile.  I also knew that if there were angels– I now had one, named Monica.  Fast forward to the night of my interview for the Instructional Technology Specialist position– as I walked into the conference room for my interview and Iooked over at the table, much to my surprise I saw my friend, my angel, my Monica.  I’m not what you’d call a religious or spiritual person, but I believe that Monica was with me during the interview and that she had a part in giving me this opportunity.  Love you Monica and thanks for helping me believe that dreams can come true!