Body Parts March 23, 2009
Posted by anne marie in ELA, SMART Board, Science, Special Education, Websites.Tags: Science, SMART Board
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I discovered this interactive body part identification website that works great with the SMARTBoard. It is a basic program for elemenatry students- identifying only 12 body parts, but is available in 6 languages. Students drag and drop the words to match the pictures. Clicking on the pictures or words will ellicit a verbal reinforcement. Works great on the SMARTBoard- ENJOY!
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.
Singing Reindeers December 5, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Special Education.Tags: Music
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Since it is already Decemeber 5th (YIKES) and Christmas is right around the corner I thought I’d share a fun site called The Rain Deer Orchestra . It is a great motivating site for number recognition 1-10 because it incorporates music… and my students LOVE music! Using the SMART Board students simply touch the nose of the reindeer ( a white glove squeezes the nose) and it elicits a musical note. I should mention that for some of my students the fact that the number is listed below the nose can be confusing (they want to touch the number). It also is effective for addressing cause/affect objectives. It does give you the option of following a pattern to play 3 Christmas songs or you can opt for free play and create your own beautiful music. ENJOY!!
Poisson Rouge— ooooo la la!!! November 10, 2008
Posted by anne marie in ELA, Math, SMART Board, Special Education, Websites.Tags: Poisson Rouge
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I just discovered this interesting site called Poisson Rouge. It contains lots of free, fun and educational games and activities for children (approx. 3-7 years old). The most interesting fact about this site is that there are no instructions, and I love the reason for this– “ When small children pick up objects, they invent new ways of holding and using them. Thus there is no right or wrong way of using anything on this site. It’s up to the children to find what they want and to grow their naturally exploring mind.” They have provided adults with a quick guide to all the games, activities and animations on the site. It is a site that elicits exploration and self direction while learning basic skills. As an added bonus, many of the games and activities work very well with the SMARTBoard ENJOY!
Freeware October 29, 2008
Posted by anne marie in ELA, Fun, Games, Math, Special Education, Websites, history/social studies.Tags: Freeware software
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I attended an Easter Seals Conference today and was reminded of Marianne Wartoft’s wonderful educational freeware website. Her software is downloadable, free and AWESOME! Much of the software works very well with the SMARTBoard. All of the system requirements are listed on her site as well as the multitude of languages the software supports. This software rivals those that you would purchase, making this site a true jewel—-ENJOY!
Seterra is a geography software that teaches about countries, states, flags, cities and capitals all over the world! It is a challenging educational geography program with 70 different exercises.
Sebran’s ABC helps students learn letters, numbers, simple math, and reading.
Minibran is a suite of early learning games for students 2-6 years old.
Intellitools and the SMARTBoard September 2, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Assistive Technology, ELA, Math, SMART Board, Science, Special Education.Tags: Intellitools
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In my new role as the Instructional Technology Specialist I have been asked by the Special Education Director to create an Intellitools training for teachers and therapists. As I started to design the Notebook Presentation I was again reminded about how well Intellitools works with the SMARTBoard. Classroom Suite 4 is very user friendly, with pre-made activities/templates along with fantastic directions and how to’s to individualize your lessons. They offer a 30 Day Trial Download (at bottom of page) so you can explore the options and see if it is something that would enhance your curriculum. There also is a great Activity Exchange page (you need to register) that is overflowing with premade activities that have been submitted by teachers- an awesome resource! ENJOY!
Wheelchair Canopy August 11, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Special Education.Tags: Wheelchair canopy
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Today I headed to Boston for a day of fun with my two sisters– it was GREAT! While we were sauntering around Fanueil Hall ater having a delightful lunch ar Cheers, I noticed a young girl in a wheelchair and attached to the wheelchair was an apparatus over her head, giving her protection from the sun. My curiosity was peaked and I immediately thought “what a great idea” so I approached her and her parents to inquire about it. Her mom informed me that it was called a “wheelchair canopy” that was made by the wheelchair vendor who designed her chair– how cool!! I can’t believe I have never seen one of these before! It appeared to be a piece of leather over a metal frame that is attached to the back of the chair using mounting poles (easily removed). The strange thing is that Friday I attended a wheelchair fitting for my Timmy, so needless to say I will be getting in touch with his PT to have this added to our list of needs for his new chair. This will bbe perfect for Timmy since he refuses to wear a hat or hood to protect him from the sun, rain, snow, etc. If anyone has any experience using a canopy or suggestions of what works and doesn’t, I’d love to hear from you. Here are a few links I found of commercially made wheelchair canopies– Weather Breaker Canopy, Flipshield, Rollershades (this looks like what I saw today).
AT Blog Carnival July 1, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Assistive Technology, Websites.Tags: AT BLog Carnival
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The latest AT Blog Carnival, Edtion #4 has been posted- thanks Lon! This latest edition is a grab bag format with 10 submissions (even one from me!!), each one filled with some very worthwhile information and definitely worth a look. I find this Carnival format to be very convenient and helpful- sort of like one stop shopping for some wonderful ideas! So if you want to learn about several AT topics head on over to the AT Blog Carnival– guaranteed you won’t be disappointed.
Hiyah.net updated software June 29, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Assistive Technology, ELA, Fun, Games, SMART Board.Tags: Hiyah.net
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One of my favorite websites is Hiyah.net. Developed and maintained by Sara- a mother of two young boys who encounter difficulty accessing a computer using a mouse. So this very talented, very generous mother created a series of educational software based on a variety of subjects for her sons. The most amazing part of this story is that Sara then created this website to make each and every one of these programs available to anyone who could benefit from them– yes they are all FREE! You simply download the program (some you can use online) and enjoy. I receievd an email today notifying me that Sara has added 7 new programs to this marvelous collection- she even has one for the 4th of July! So if you’re in the market for some free educational software geared towards students aged 18 months to 4 years (also perfect to address cause/affect objectives) head on over to Hiyah.net and be amazed! The download versions are made to run on Microsoft Windows compatible operating systems. The Play Online version works on Macs or PCs. I should also mention that these programs work great with the SMARTBoard. ENJOY and THANK YOU Sara!
