Talking SMARTBoards & Much More!

Connect the States

anne marie — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 19:44:09 +0000

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, PBS also has a game to review facts regarding the U.S. states called Connect the States. This game has audio support and basically it is one player playing against Buster (much like a game of “Go Fish”). Each player has a picture board with 16 pictures. Buster flips each card one at a time and then looks for a matching picture on his board. If he has one he will click on it, if not he will tell you. Then it’s your turn- click on the matching picture if you have it, if not click on the deck of cards to see the next picture. The first palyer to get four in a row (up or down, not diagonally) will win! In addition to reviewing the states this is also a good game to reinforce cause/effect, picture identification, matching, etc. and it works well on the SMARTBoard. ENJOY!

Authored by anne marie. Hosted by Edublogs.

Geography game

anne marie — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:27:59 +0000

I discovered a very good PBS geography game for elementary students that tests U.S. geography knowledge in a game board format called Coast-to-Coast. The game is interactive and works very well with the SMARTBoard. It gives you the option of playing with one or two players, with some questions giving you visual supports. For each correct answer the player’s piece moves ahead one spot on the game board- very cool!! You do need the free plug-in for FLASH to play. So have fun travelling Coast-to-Coast with Buster and his friends! ENJOY!

Authored by anne marie. Hosted by Edublogs.

Adapted Learning

anne marie — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:25:05 +0000

The word is spreading– the folks from Mayer Johnson launched their new webiste called Adapted Learning. This free resource provides a place to find and share adapted curriculum created with the company’s popular Boardmaker Software Family products. Much like the Intellitools Classroom Suite Activity Exchange . You do need to register, but it is free. I briefly checked out the site last night and there are already 463 files uploaded!! So pass the word to everyone who might benefit- ENJOY!

Authored by anne marie. Hosted by Edublogs.

HS Science Resources

anne marie — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:28:22 +0000

Rose Marie Chute from the Lone Star College- North Harris has created some fantastic science resources that all of you HS science teachers will love– guaranteed!! The resources that I found to be most helpful for my students are her Science Animations, Movies and Interactive Tutorial Links. They are phenomenal! Here are the links: General Science Collections, Anatomy & Physiology I, Anatomy & Physiology II, Biology I. Each of these subject areas include several subcatagries with a plethera of resources. The main Biology Department website also has links (list to the left) that are worth a look as they include tutorials and WWW Resources. So I would encourage you to go, explore and bookmark all of the sites that are pertinent to your classes. Thank you, Ms. Chute! ENJOY!

Authored by anne marie. Hosted by Edublogs.

Free Science Videos

anne marie — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 22:52:44 +0000

Came across a website that offers Free science videos and lectures. There are nine categories (listed to the right), so if you’re looking for a science video to supplement your lessons take a look. ENJOY!

Authored by anne marie. Hosted by Edublogs.

Mean Runners Math

anne marie — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:28:15 +0000

For any math teacher teaching or reviewing the concepts of mean, median and range there is a great educational game from Crickweb called Mean Runners,that you most definitely should explore. The site gives very good instructions- the game is pretty simple. Students watch a race and then are given the results of the top 3 finishers. From that information they are asked to calculate the mean, median and range. Answers are placed in the input boxes -the boxes next to the input boxes give the answers so I would keep them hidden until you click on the check inputs button. This activity presents very well on the SMARTBoard. Just a fun way to address a math concept that may not be so exciting to some students! ENJOY!

Authored by anne marie. Hosted by Edublogs.

A Lifetime of Color shines BRIGHT!

anne marie — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:28:54 +0000

For all K-8 Art Teachers I came across a very nice site, A Lifetime of Color, that offers 4 comprehensive areas to explore and use- lessons plans, activities, study, play, teacher’s lounge. I really appreciated the Artist link in the study section as it provides a brief overview of 35 artists- most giving examples of their artwork. Also in the same study section is a comprehensive glossary section that provides a wealth of information relating to art lingo. The play section offers some fun interactive games. All in all a great site- oh yeah and most of the features present well with the SMARTBoard. ENJOY!

Authored by anne marie. Hosted by Edublogs.

Awesome Jeopardy Template

anne marie — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:12:58 +0000

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!

Authored by anne marie. Hosted by Edublogs.

More Thanksgiving Sites

anne marie — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 23:36:35 +0000

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!

Authored by anne marie. Hosted by Edublogs.

Xtra Normal is Xtra Special!!!

anne marie — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 23:34:21 +0000

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!

Authored by anne marie. Hosted by Edublogs.