Drumming up some fun! May 8, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Music, Our Classroom, SMART Board, Websites.Tags: Music, SMART Board, Website
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Today the U-Mass Drumline visited our school and our class was invited to attend this wonderfully fun, loud, impressive show! My students were mesmerized by the rhythm, beat and precision that these very talented young adults demonstrated by “hitting the drums”. As the show concluded, keeping a beat with invisible drumsticks, many of my students asked if they could “hit the drums”. Enter two websites: 1.Virtual Drumming -play drums using the keyboard. Great to watch on the SMARTBoard. The drums as very life-like and the drum sticks move to the beat. 2.Drums Online Player -play drums with the keyboard or mouse- so perfect for SMARTBoard interaction as it allows students to touch the drums to make music. Here’s a sample of Scott’s musical talents using the keyboard to showcase his “Ringo Starr” moves on the Virtual Drumming site: scott-drums.wmv
Batter’s Up Baseball May 6, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Math, Notebook 10, SMART Board, Websites.Tags: , addition, Math, multiplication, SMART Board
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In honor of the start of Red Sox Fever, I thought it appropriate to share a website that I have found to be very motivating and fun, when reviewing & reinforcing addition and multiplication skills… Batter’s Up Baseball. This game is very user friendly, mimicking a baseball game– sound affects and all! It also works great with the SMARTBoard- an added plus, in Notebook 10, is that you can easily access the on-screen calculator for those students who require that assistance. Directions from the site…
“After you select the pitchers challenge, a screen will come up with a math problem. Get the answer right and you move your men around the bases. Get it wrong and you get a strike. Three strikes equals an out. If you get 3 outs the game is over.”
So as the song says….take me out to the ball game!!!
Our ANIMOTO video April 29, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Math, Our Classroom, SMART Board, Special Education, Websites.Tags: Animoto, SMART Board
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Here is our very first ANIMOTO Class Production– Parallel and Intersecting lines. The students found pictures on the internet and then took photos of intersecting and parallel lines in the school to create this video. I am sooooooooo PROUD!!! It really is quite easy and VERY motivating. Just wanted to share….
Shedd’s Aquarium April 27, 2008
Posted by anne marie in SMART Board, Science, Special Education, Websites.Tags: Science, SMART Board, Special Education
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Spent the day sprucing up our pond area and getting reacquainted with our fish after a long winter’s hibernation! Our neighbor, who is 10, also discovered LOTS of frog eggs on the edge of the pond– too cool! Took a few pictures to share. Since fish, water and frogs were on my mind today I thought I’d share a website that has some terrific K-12 information, lesson plans and interactive activities regarding aquatic science- Shedd Aquarium. It is very user friendly, but remember to stay out of the water when the sharks are swimming!!!!
Back to school tomorrow after a week’s vacation- wish me luck!!!!!
Sharing Notebook 10 Ideas April 26, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Autism, ELA, Notebook 10, SMART Board, Special Education.Tags: ELA, Notebook 10, SMART Board, Special Education, Spelling
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I had some time today to explore some of the new features in SMART Notebook 10 and thought I’d share some initial ideas/thoughts I came up with. I am very pleased and excited that some of the interactive options are image friendly– this feature makes a HUGE difference when creating lesson for my students who need visual supports/PECS to complete and be successful in participating in lessons. So if you want to check out some of my ideas click here: sharing-some-ideas.notebook
And if you have some ideas you’d like to share, I’d love to hear from you!
StarFall- an oldie, but very goodie!!! April 17, 2008
Posted by anne marie in Down Syndrome, SMART Board, Special Education, Websites.Tags: computer, literacy, SMART Board, Special Education, Starfall
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Today as I was assisting some of my students set-up on the computer for their free-time activity, I realized how much I LOVE the StarFall website, but more importantly how much my students enjoy using the site- it’s AWESOME! There is a wonderful variety of activites at the PreK-2 grade level (perfect for many SpEd classes). I know it’s one of the oldies, but deserves an updated round of applause with two thumbs up! I also use StarFall with the SMART Board since many of the activities are interactive and are perfect for review of ELA objectives.
Life Cycle Websites April 12, 2008
Posted by anne marie in SMART Board, Special Education, Websites.Tags: Life cycles, SMART Board, Websites
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It was a near perfect 10 kind of Saturday here in New England today– I enjoyed every minute I could outside. We raked, took the dogs for a walk and played- it was AWESOME! I love clearing the gardens and seeing the plants coming to life- it is truly a miracle. So in honor of this miracle of life I thought I’d share websites about Life Cycles that can be used with the SMART Board.
BBC- School Science-Life Cycles: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/9_10/life_cycles.shtml
McCain Corporation: http://www.thepotatostory.co.uk/default.aspx
Woodland’s Junior School: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/revision/Science/living.htm
Hope you were able to enjoy this day as much as me. I’m looking forward to watching the Lifetime Movie–The Memory Keeper’s Daughter– it starts in just about 10 minutes.
The Magnificent Word Magnet Website! April 10, 2008
Posted by anne marie in SMART Board, Special Education, Websites.Tags: ELA, SMART Board, Special needs, Spelling, White Board
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Not sure how I came across this site, but I often use with the SMART Board for letter recognition, spelling, etc. My students enjoy it- love moving the “magnets” on the SMART Board. The basic principle is simple- you type letters or words which turn into individual magnets that the students can then manipulate on the SMART Board to address your objective. Very cool, very motivating, very fun! Oh yeah, almost forgot– here’s the link… Word Magnets.
Little Fingers make it BIG on the SMART Board! April 3, 2008
Posted by anne marie in SMART Board, Special Education, Websites.Tags: SMART Board, Special Education, Website
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It has been a wonderfully beautiful spring day here in New England– have to admit I couldn’t wait for the final bell to ring today so I could rush home to take a walk with my dogs! But before that could happen it was a day filled with swimming, recycling, learning about animal habitats and trying out another website on the SMART Board.
Today we used LittleFingers Games and I’m happy to report that it was another success! There is a variety of PreK-3 educational games addressing a range of skills- we particularly enjoyed the Color Counting, Apple Pickin’, Number Aquarium and Space Germs. Space Germs got a HUGE thumbs-up from the students- they LOVED the challenege of trying to touch the aliens as they flew across the SMART Board (great for eye/hand coordination). I should mention that you will need the Shockwave plug-in to view these games.Enjoy!
Childtopia March 29, 2008
Posted by anne marie in SMART Board, Special Education, Websites.Tags: education, SMART Board, Special Education, Websites
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The website, Childtopia, was passed onto me by a friend and it is OUTSTANDING to use with the SMART Board! It is a free online resource for early learning activities and can be accessed in five different languages- English, French, Spanish, Catalan and Basque. It is very user friendly- for example, when you rollover each category (and there are several) the name of the activity is spoken. This option is great for students who are non-readers, as it allows them to make independent choices by touching their option. All of the activities are available to purchase on a CD-ROM. Most of the games work well with the SMART Board. The Listening and Comprehension activities are marvelous- the stories are very engaging and if you choose the option to have it read- the words are highlighted as it is read and the comprehension questions give you 3 answers as options. I would recommend that you explore every inch of this website to take full advantage of all of it’s options!
