Talking SMARTBoards & Much More!

Want to share another great site from the BBC– KS1 Bitesize Games.  This addresses two areas: Literacy and Numeracy.  Both present with several subcategories including addition, multiplication, money skills under numeracy and spelling, alphabetical order, phonics under literacy.  Each category has three skill level options, presents with some verbal feedback, is animated and fun!  These games work well with the SMARTBoard. So if you’re searching for some fun, motivating games to reinforce literacy and numeracy skills look no more– just click on over to KS1 Bitesize Games. ENJOY!

I have been busy helping some of the math coaches in the district create resource wikis for their teachers and as I was searching for interactive sites I stumbled across Rader’s Number Nut.com.  This is a very comprehensive site filled with a plethora of math information and activities for review and direct instruction (K-7th grade). The two main areas of the site are Basic Math that includes topics such as shapes, time, operations,  etc. and Advanced Math  that covers decimals, fractions, money, percentages, etc.  On each of these pages you will see a Topic Section on the right, click on your desired topic to view a page with both information related tot he topic and activities to reinforce the skill.  They also provide the CA Standards and a Glossary of math vocabulary. When you select an activity it does give you the option to “Magnify the Activity which make it larger on the screen.  Many of the activities work and present well on the SMARTBoard, as does the information sections.  There are many aspects to this site so be sue to take the time to explore and bookmark the pages that will work for you and your students. ENJOY!

Train Timeis a site that reinforces time telling skills (elapsed time)  in a very fun, semi real life situation.  Students read the statements on the left of the screen and then have to click on the train with the correct answer.  If your answer is right the train will move on the tracks and you will be given the chance to complete another problem. If you are not correct it will tell you to try again.  There are only four examples so this would be good for a quick review after instruction using the SMARTBoard. ENJOY!

Make Five is a site that adopts the basic concept of tic tac toe to practice addition, subtraction and multiplication. You can play with either one or two players.  If you pick two players the questions are color coded. From the drop down menu in the right corner of the screen you pick which operation you want to practice. A number will appear at the top of the screen and you have to pick the correct equation form the chart. Once you achieve 5 correct answers in a row on the chart you win! This activity works very well on the SMARTBoard- ENJOY!

I apologize for not posting for a while, but the start of school and some personal priorities monopolized my time, but things are now settling and I hope to be back posting on a more regular basis.  Thanks to everyone who contacted me with words of concern.

Sooooooo, the site I want to share today is called The Mega Penny Project.  It is a great site for helping students (and adults) visualize large numbers such as trillions, millions, billions, etc.  The site asks a basic question “What would a million (or billion, or trillion, etc) pennies look like?  It utilzes some very good graphics and tables to demonstrate, including how much the pennies would weigh, the value, height, width, etc.  So if your looking for a site to teach about large numbers or if you’re just curious to see what a trillion pennies looks like, head over to The Mega Penny Project- ENJOY!

A while back, Jim Hollis tweeted about Super Math Games on Twitter.  There are some limited free games that work very well on the SMART Board.  Just click on the “guest” login.  The free games are indicated by the green check marks. ENJOY!

I am happy to report that Mr. Nussbaum has done it again– he has improved the wonderful interactive math application, Draggable Math.  In his words, Draggable Math now has “the ability to correct problems, drag numbers anywhere on the screen, change paper type from graphing, to lined, to blank, and to draw lines anywhere.” YEAH!!  He gives you the option of using it to practice addition, multiplication, division and subtraction.  You are also given several options to customize each selection.  These activities work well with the SMARTBoard– you just need to type in the answer, but could use the onscreen keyboard. So if you haven’t explored Draggable Math yet you might want to head over and check it out- ENJOY!

I came across a nice game/activity to review money skills from arcytech.com that I wanted to share.  This game works very well on the SMART Board since all students need to do is drag and drop the amount into the blue box.  Here is a link to the specific directions.

I also wanted to mention a money game I found on tvokids.com that reminds me of the Connect Four game I used to play with my brothers when I was young.  A money amount will appear in the green box in the upper left corner of the screen and players must click on the coins to match that amount.  I have not yet tried this game using the SMART Board, but I believe it would be fun–ENJOY!

Sharing a site that offers both an analog and digital clock to support the teaching/review of telling time when using the SMART Board.  Click on the purple start button at the bottom of the page and the analog clock will appear.  Click on the time interval buttons at the bottom of the page for a demonstration of how to tell time.  Clicking on the “now” button will have the clock show the present time, with a second hand.  Clicking on the purple circle with the double arrows will change the clock to a digital clock.  ENJOY!

Great news– Harevy Almarode has updated his wonderful website!  For those of you not familiar with Harvey he is a  reitred Mathematics Curriculum Supervisor and and Instrutional Technology Supervisor who currently teaches  mathematical methods and strategies to seniors at James Madison University.  Harvey created this website to share some of the wonderful Math SMART Notebook lessons he has created- it is an AMAZING collection! Sending a great big THANK YOU to Harvey for his continued committment to share his knowledge so all students benefit. ENJOY!