Teachers Love SMART Boards

SMARTBoards and Downloadable Science Animations

While the content of interactive educational resources is growing on the Internet, very rarely do you find websites that allow you (and provide assistance) for downloading the content to your own computer.

Freezeray is a one of those few places where teachers can find and download interactive resources for Science investigations. In fact, these resources were developed specifically for Interactive Whiteboards.

The site organizes the resources into various categories including Physics, Biology, Technology, and Chemistry. They even have a fun place to practice  Science-related literacy. The resources here include a hangman type game and various key-idea interactive resources.

As I mentioned previously, the interactive resources are downloadable and can be used freely for non-commercial purposes. The really good thing about these resources is that they are flash-based and can be imported into your Smart Notebook files. 

While the site has instructions for downloading the resources by searching your Temporary Files folder, there is an easier way, especially if you have the Firefox web browser.

Here's a short video that shows how to save the flash-based (swf) version of these activities to your computer using the Firefox browser and import the file into Notebook. (This video is iPhone compatible.)

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SMARTBoards and HippoCampus Homework and Study Help

Okay, I got one for you...

Q. How can you get a hippo to do whatever you want?

A. Use hippo-tism

Now that's a really bad joke and I apologize. To make it up to you, I'll let you in on one of the greatest online resources for High School teachers called HippoCampus.

The goal of HippoCampus is to provide high-quality, multimedia content on general education subjects to high school and college students free of charge.

Once you see all the amazing resources on HippoCampus, you'll soon agree that they have met their goal. HippoCampus currently has 10 subject areas each of which have additional sub-topics to choose from. I also like that they have Spanish versions for both Algebra and Calculus.

After you choose a subject area, you can then choose to view the course outline for that subject or choose from a list of topics for that course. These courses are well organized and it's very easy to find what you're looking for within each course.

HippoCampus has another amazing resource. They have a listing of the popular textbooks for each subject. Teachers or students can select their textbook and then scroll through the list of topics in that textbook. When they click on a topic, it will take them to the location in the course that corresponds with that particular topic.

Since teachers and students can control the content of the courses using the SMART Board, they are able to quickly pause the course material and take notes at any point during the course. The courses also contain assessments that students can solve on the SMART Board and then put their answers in the space provided to receive feedback.

Even if you don't use the resources in class, the course material is a great way to get ideas to enhance your existing lessons.

It's very rare to see such a valuable resource on the Internet that's provided free of charge so please share this with your fellow teachers.

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Why SMARTBoards? See What Teachers Have To Say

I've put all the comments from the Why SMART Boards? Wallwisher into a PDF document so it is easy to print and share with your administrators.

Thank you to all the teachers who participated. Your energy will do a great deal to help convince more schools to get SMART Boards into the classroom.

Here's a snipit of the document:

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"Why SMART Boards?" Wallwisher

I need your help in doing something that's a lot of fun and has the potential to put more SMART Boards in the classroom.

I would like to help school administrators better understand why teachers love using SMART Boards in the classroom. The more informed they are about the benefits of having a SMART Board in the classroom, the more likely they are to start putting SMART Boards in the classroom.

A Wallwisher is a special web page that allows anyone to add their own comments. It's fun, it's easy, and in this situation, it can be an extremely valuable resource to help convince administration to purchase more SMART Boards.

If you're a teacher who loves their SMART Board, then please go to the "Why SMART Boards?" Wallwisher and write a short comment about why you think SMART Boards are such a valuable tool to have in the classroom. To use the Wallwisher, just double-click anywhere there is an open space. You can also edit, move, or undo your comments. 

I am going to create a new page on Teachers Love SMART Boards that contains information about the effectiveness of SMART Boards in the classroom. The first addition to that page will be this personalized Wallwisher.

Teachers who want a SMART Board in their classroom also need to be pro-active. They need to take the lead and help demonstrate to their administration that having a SMART Board in the classroom and learning how to use it effectively to improve learning is an investment that just can't wait.

Please help me in creating this resource and remember...

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SMARTBoards and WordAhead Vocabulary Review

If you're a teacher looking for a good online resource for studying vocabulary, you might want to review the WordAhead Vocabulary Videos and Flash Cards site. One of the reasons I like this site is it allows students to take a greater role in their own education, whether they're studying for the SAT or the ACT or whether they are using the site as an ESL resource.

The WordAhead site allows you to choose from hundreds of words to review in video format. Each video uses graphics, text, and audio to describe the word, give it's definition, and present the word in various contextual situations to provide a deeper understanding of the word. You can also view the videos in fullscreen which is great for displaying on the SMARTBoard.

The WordAhead site has a Word List section which lists words alphabetically and provides a short definition. Students can click on the word to watch the video. It also has a Study Room where students can choose a word to watch the video review, go through a series of flash cards, or even create their own word list.

Perhaps what impresses me the most is that WordAhead is promoting the idea of students making their own videos and uploading them to their Video section. If the video passes the review process it will be incorporated into the list of words in the Study Room. This really sounds like a great project to do with your students and I think that using Smart Notebook would be a great tool to use in creating the videos. 

The WordAhead site has an extensive YouTube Channel and they also allow you to embed vocabulary videos in your blog (see below).

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Get SMART with SMART Boards Podcast - Episode 4

Harvey Almarode and I return with episode four of Get SMART with SMART Boards.

Harvey's theme for this week is "manipulatives" and he not only shares a wonderful website packed full of virtual manipulatives that work great on the SMART Board, he also shares a Notebook file containing a collection of manipulatives that teachers can use immediately.

I thought I would provide listeners with a brief overview of the new Smart Exchange that has just been released in beta by Smart Technologies. The new Smart Exchange allows teachers to find and share resources for the SMART Board quickly and easily. I also share a fun Notebook file based on the game of Tic-Tac-Toe. Teachers can customize the game and can even save their customized games to the Gallery.

Finally, Harvey and I talk about the Smart Screen Capture tool and discuss how it can be used effectively in creating Notebook applications. You can even watch a short video tutorial of how to use the Smart Screen Capture Tool.

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SMART Boards and ReadWriteThink Interactive Student Materials

One of the best websites for finding K-12 Language Arts lesson plans and high quality web-based activities is ReadWriteThink.

On their site, they also have a section called Student Materials which contains a great library of interactive activities. When you click on the activity name, you go to a page that links to the activity and provides a list of lesson plans that utilize the interactive resource.

Most of the activities require data input since they focus on writing skills. These activities are still extremely useful to present and use on the SMART Board although you'll probably require an actual keyboard to enter in the data.

The Student Materials section contains some very good activities that do not require keyboard input except to enter in the student or teacher name at the beginning.

ABC Match

ABC Match is a game that has students practice letter-recognition fluency while honing their memories. Students match initial letters with pictures, playing either with a timer or without.

Construct-a-Word

Using Construct-a-Word, students generate words by adding a beginning letter or blend to a word ending. This engaging tool helps students with letter-sound correspondence.

Picture Match

Picture Match is a matching game that reinforces the concept of beginning-letter and short- and long-vowel sounds by prompting students to identify a series of pictures and match them to the first letter or the vowel in the words they represent.

Enjoy these great activities and remember...

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SMARTBoards and Mathsframe

When teachers ask me for interactive SMART Board activities for Mathematics, I always send them to Mathsframe. The activities found on Mathsframe are well designed, engaging, and extremely effective. When you use the activities, you can tell right away that they were designed by an actual teacher.

The wonderful people at Mathsframe are big believers in helping teachers and they provide an incredible library of free resources. They have over 10 activities and each activities has various options and levels to choose from depending on the level of the student.

They also provide schools with an extremely inexpensive site license for their Mathframe Block A - Counting, Partitioning and Calculating which is designed around the Primary Framework Mathematics Block A. The license does not require the Internet and it can be loaded on all the computers in your school. The license provides over 40 activities that cover learning objectives across Key Stage 2 (students aged 7 to 11). 

I just read this morning that they've made improvements to their complimentary interactive number line activity and they also added a bunch of new levels. 

If you're a Twitter user, you can follow Mathsframe to stay up-to-date on what's going on.

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SMART Board Professional Development

Take your SMART Board skills to the next level!

Teacher Online Training is the most effective, affordable, and fun way to learn how to use Smart Notebook in the classroom. From now until October 15, 2009, Teacher Online Training just got more affordable!

Teachers

Take advantage of the School-year Subscription Special. Sign up now to get Teacher Online Training for the entire year (ending May 31, 2010) for only $72.00. The earlier you start, the more you save.

Schools

Sign up ten or more teachers for 6 or more months and get Teacher Online Training for only $8 per teacher per month. The future of Professional Development is here. Teacher Online Training is the most effective way to learn how to use Smart Notebook and it is a fraction of the price of normal Professional Development programs that simply do not work in a school environment. 

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Benefits:

• Learn how to create custom lessons that can be used year-after-year that increase learning in the classroom
• Increase your motivation and your confidence in using the SMART Board
• Proceed at your own pace and on your own time
• Access courses 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year
• Learn Notebook by creating authentic applications for the classroom using Adult Learning Principles
• Share and exchange ideas and lessons with other teachers
• Get free technical support

Find out More:

View the course listings

Take a complimentary course

Read some of the hundreds of testimonials from teachers (feel free to click around on your own or use the menu to advance)

Click here to view testimonials if testimonial window does not appear.

 

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SMARTBoards and Creating Original Artwork

Here are five of my favorite websites for creating original artwork. These sites go way beyond just drawing a picture on the computer and they all work great on the SMART Board. Enjoy!

artPad

This is one of my favorite sites for creating original artwork. In addition, you can do various things with your artwork like playback the drawing, include the drawing in a art.com gallery of other paintings, and view and modify other drawings in the art.com gallery. The interface is fantastic and it works great on the SMART Board. 

Bomomo

This is a very unique painting site that uses abstract paint brushes to create extremely imaginative and beautiful artwork. One of the things I like best about this site is the ability to save your artwork directly to a "jpg" file.

Mr. Picassohead

Believe it or not, the name of this says it all. You create your own Mr. Picassohead using various "picasso-like" features for face, hair, eyes, nose, etc. It's really quite engaging and definitely a lot of fun.

Repper

I'm really addicted to this site that allows you to use your own images to create patterns. This site is very easy to use and the patterns you create can be used as backgrounds. The site has a short video that shows you how easy it is to use Repper and take the pattern that you create and share them or use them in various ways.

 

Thisissand

This is sand. Yes it is. To use this site, you touch on the SMART Board and sand will begin pouring from where you are touching. You can change colors of the sand and you can drop the sand from anywhere on the screen. Click on the small box in the upper-left corner of the screen for instructions. One of the neatest things to do on this site is look at the gallery of images other people have created. Some of them are simply amazing.

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SMARTBoards and MP3 Audio Resources

 One of the great features of the Smart Notebook software is that it allows you to play a sound by clicking on an object. This is a great feature to have and it really adds to the overall effectiveness of a lesson if used appropriately. I especially like using sound in conjunctions with animation to provide an additional form of feedback to the students.

However, one of the challenges for teachers is where to get sound files that will not only work with Smart Notebook but are engaging and appropriate to use in the classroom.

To use a sound file in Notebook, it must be a "mp3" formatted file. This is not the biggest issue since there are various websites that will convert other types of sound files like "wav" into "mp3" formatted files. My favorite site for converting audio (and video) is called Media-Convert. It's free, it's fast and you do not need to download any software.

The biggest challenge for teachers who wish to use sound in their Notebook applications is where to find the files. Here are a few places where teachers can go look for sound files:

1. SoundJay.com - This is maybe the easiest site I've seen to download "mp3" formatted files to your computer.

2. SoundBible.com - This is a good site for searching for sound files. Just type in what you're looking for in the search field. Very easy to download files.

3. Soungle.com - This is a great site that functions as a sound search engine. Just type in a keyword and it will provide you with a list of sounds that you can listen to and download. Many of these sound files are in "wav" format and will need to be converted to "mp3."

4. Wavcentral.com - Don't let the name fool you. This site is full of mp3 files and is one of my very favorite sites for finding short clips from TV and Movies. You'll get a few pop-up ads but nothing too concerning. Here are some new ones I just downloaded:

    Ferris Bueller: Mind Your P's and Q's

    Star Trek: Primary Power Offline in 10 sec

5. MovieWavs.com - Another great resource for Movie and TV sound bites

6. Lit2Go: MP3 Stories and Poems - This is an incredible site that has hundreds of stories and poems that you can download in "mp3" format. You can also download and view the stories in text format to accompany the audio. This could be one of the most valuable resources for audio media I have ever seen.

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SMARTBoards and PBS KIDS Interactive Whiteboard Games

It's about time.

More education-based websites really need to follow the example of PBS KIDS and  begin building libraries of activities that are developed for teachers who will be using the activity on an Interactive Whiteboard like a SMART Board.

If any companies or developers are looking for what makes a good interactive whiteboard activity, I would be more than happy to send you my rubric for how I evaluate sites that I recommend. For example, activities should have a full screen mode or at least allow the teacher to increase the size of the activity to fill the whiteboard. 

The PBS KIDS Interactive Whiteboard Games collection is simply outstanding and definitely deserves the credit it gets. For reasons that should become obvious, it is also the #1 website shared by the teachers who I follow on Twitter. 

When you go to the site, you can click on the subject area and it will do a fun scroll to that particular subject area. In addition, you can also sort on title, description, level, topic, and audio by clicking on the corresponding word in the header for each subject.

Please share this wonderful resource with other teachers and even parents. They'll be glad you did.

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SMARTBoard Resources on Twitter

Hey teachers, I'll be the first person to admit that Twitter makes an awful first impression. Do we really care what Ashton Kutcher is having for breakfast? The very simple answer is "NO" (that's an emphatic "no" - sorry to all you Ashton Kutcher fans).

The point is, most people don't really care what I'm doing (writing this blog post) or what I had for breakfast (coffee and a Chewy Chocolate Chip granola bar). So why follow me or anyone else for that matter?

The answer is that I don't use Twitter to let people know what I'm doing. I use Twitter to connect with teachers. I Tweet about great Smartboard resources; I "Re-Tweet" (pass along someone else's Tweet) when someone shares something interesting; I update teachers with the status of my blog and my podcast; and I share information about Smartboard Professional Development. I occasionally Tweet something that I think is humorous to help with the daily stress of teaching.

Let's take a look at what resources were shared on Twitter this morning that relate to SMART Boards:

smartboards OR smartboard - Twitter Search

Just from this morning, here are the links that people shared about SMART Boards:

http://www.subtangent.com/maths/flash/measures1.swf

http://stujeopardy.com/

http://www.alsi-usa.com/ir_trial/mathspack1/angle/angle.html

http://www.mcq.org/momies/

I think you'll agree that Twitter, when used like this, can be a wonderful resource. So, what's the next step?

The next step is to set up a Twitter account and make sure you include a picture of yourself and some information in your bio. It's very difficult to get other people to follow you if you don't let them know who you are. You will then need to start following people so you get their Tweets to come to you. This is where you'll want to find some good people to follow.

You can begin by following these people who Tweet about education and Smartboards:

web20classroom AngelaMaiers dougpete coolcatteacher paulhami elemenous itrt KatStaton skipz langwitches cedpaine annemarie80 macharvey 

There are so many other great people to follow. Here are a few guides to help you get started:

A Teacher's Guide to Twitter

A Slideshow called Introduction to Twitter for Educators

I also recommend going to the SMARTBoards Twibe website and join the Twibe. A Twibe is a website that grabs all the Twitter messages related to a particular subject. The SMARTBoard Twibe will show you Tweets related to SMART Boards. It will also provide you a list of other teachers who are members of the Smartboard Twibe. You can find some great people to follow using this site. As of this blog post, there are over 250 members of the Smartboards Twibe. 

Good luck with your Twittering and don't forget to follow me on Twitter too.

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SMARTBoards and Interactive Reading for K-5

I would like to share with you a collection of interactive stories for students aged 5 to 10 that was gathered together by the Oak Street Elementary School in Plattsburgh, NY. This is a fantastic example of how a school can provide easy access to wonderful interactive sites that work great on the SMART Board.

I really had a lot of fun going through all of the links. I only found one or two links that were not active anymore.

To use these sites, you'll also need a good speaker system hooked up to your computer (or Smartboard) so the students can hear the story.

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Let's make this year the year of...

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SMARTBoards and Beginning of the Year Surveys

TeacherLED Interactive is definitely one of my favorite sites for interactive resources for the SMART Board. I thought it might be fun to use one of their resources called "Survey Talking" to do some beginning of the year surveys of your students and then have the results be displayed in a either a pie chart or bar graph.

"Conduct a class survey from your interactive whiteboard.  Demonstrate the use of tallies and frequency charts.  Immediately generate a pie chart and bar chart from your results and compare how useful they are in presenting data.  Random data can also be generated."

The "Survey Talking" resource is very easy to use and even has a very easy to follow 3-page instruction document. To begin using the activity, click on the Survey Talking link and then click on the "Go Learning Resources" link.

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