Interactive Game Website

I just found another interactive game website that will be fun for you to explore.

Academic Skill Builders

These are free math and language arts games that can be single or multi player. They plan on adding features that will enable you to save records, tailor content for differentiated instruction and pinpoint student problem areas.

I really enjoyed the Penguin Jump for math and Spelling Bees for spelling. All of the games would help you build a great center or independent study area.

I found a few other sites as well and bookmarked them onto the delicious.com site - check 'em out!

Checker Tool - LAT

I have posted about the Checker Tool before and just finished a video on how it can be used for worksheets that you capture material from. I apologize for the audio - am still working on getting my microphone to work! It is a really easy tool to use and makes every page one that can be completed by your students independently.

Checker Tool

Physical Science - Secondary Level

I ran across these simulations that can be used by anyone who is teaching physical science at the secondary level. Many of these can also be utilized by an intermediate teacher. They include electricity, density, buoyancy, friction, motion etc. There are also teacher guides for each simulation. I like that they are simple experiments that allow you to illustrate a specific concept.

PhET Simulations

Changing Toolbar Defaults

Changing the toolbar defaults is easy to do and necessary if you want notebook software to feel comfortable. As I have often said in my trainings, if we all have different pens in our pen cups on our desk, we should have different pens in notebook software.

The pen, line, shape and text tools can all be changed to fit your needs. Simply click on the tool, choose the one that you would like to change and click on the properties tab. In the properties area, choose the default setting that you would like for that item. Be sure to click on "save tool properties" to insure that it is there the next time you open notebook software.

Changing the shape tool is something that most people don't think about, but a great time saver. Every shape that is created is an outline of a shape and you must click on the black outline in order to move the shape. You can change all of your shapes to have a white fill. This will allow you to quickly create a shape and use it right away. Students can then easily click and drag them w/o you having to fill every single time you make one. You will still be able to change the fill color, but white works nicely as a default.

Stop Motion Animation

I KNOW that I will be doing this next year. I have always known people that used this process and have been curious to use it myself, but felt stymied by the process - seemed too difficult to explore.

After visiting this website and checking out the gallery, I definitely will be downloading and adding stop motion videos to my notebooks that are created by students. An awesome method of teaching and relaying information and the software is FREE!

SAM Animation

Differentiating with Centers

Check out this teacher tube video that was submitted by a teacher to receive their SMART Exemplary Educator status where she is using her board as a center for her students. She represents several good techniques within one lesson on ways that you can use notebook software to differentiate.

Video

If you are interested in becoming a SMART exemplary educator, please let me know. It is a fairly simple process and opens the doors to many opportunities. Besides being part of a network of other SEE in Illinois, you have opportunities offered by SMART such as trade show teacher. I was able to take advantage of this program a few years ago. SMART paid for me to fly to Boston to attend the National NSTA conference. While there, I worked in the SMART booth in the exhibition hall a few hours each day showing teachers how I used my board. It was a great experience and the entire thing from hotel, flight, meals etc. was paid for by SMART.

Page Grouping to Differentiate

One of the easiest ways to differentiate your instruction is by using page grouping. Page grouping allows you to create different pages that cover the same content, but have a different instructional approach. For instance, if your students are showing you through formative assessment techniques that they need more instruction, you can have pages ready that offer the type of instruction they need. Perhaps they need extension activities to broaden what they are learning because they have shown mastery of your objectives. Both ends of the spectrum can be remedied quickly with page grouping.

To group pages together click on "groups" at the top of the pages in the page sorter tab. Choose "edit groups" and all of your pages will be displayed in the work area. The first time you do this, they will all be in the same group. You can add groups by clicking on "add group" and also change the names of your groups by double clicking on the group. Move pages that you have created into different groups based on what they are. For instance, you could segregate your pages based on the learning styles that are featured. If you have bodily kinesthetic lessons you can group them all together - making it easy for you to find your pages by learning style. You could also group your pages if they are remedial or extension - although I wouldn't call the group that (of course). Once you are done grouping your pages click on the red X in the right hand top corner.

When you now click on "groups" in the page sorter tab, all of your new groups will appear. If you click on one that group will be moved to the top of the page sorter tab display - easily accessed. Groups can also be used for documenting student growth/regression. Name the groups after the students in your room you need to document and then add pages to the groups as you collect work from them. Since each page is automatically time/date stamped you automatically have a history of how they are doing week to week or month to month throughout the year.

Differentiated Instruction & SMART

Are you reading the EdCompass magazine monthly - if not, you should be. SMART has an online magazine that they send out and you can receive it by email if you subscribe. This month's edition focuses on differentiating your instruction when using your SMART board.

December EdCompass

Differentiation has been a passion of mine for years and the only negative about doing so many SMART trainings is that I no longer am doing any differentiated instruction professional development. As we all know, the more you teach, the more you learn. Check out this month's edition of Ed Compass to find out how teachers are using their boards to differentiate. The board makes differentiating easy since you have so many pages to work with and choices can be endless.

Hide/Reveal - Flip around Axis

Another simple way to create a hide/reveal page in notebook software is by using the object animation "flip around axis." This type of hide/reveal is great when you use your board as a center and need students to independently reveal the correct answer to a problem.

For instance, if you want a word/object to be clicked and the correct answer to appear, you can use "flip around axis."

i.e. antonyms

1. Find two objects/words that are opposites and place on page side by side a few inches apart.
2. Right click on one of the objects and choose "flip." Flip it left/right.
3. Group the two objects together - right click and choose grouping - group
4. Click and drag object to the side of the page so the flipped object is off of the page.
5. Click on the object and choose the properties tab & object animation
6. Choose "flip around axis" - middle vertical - when object is clicked
7. Try it out - when object is clicked - correct answer or hidden object is revealed

Check out the youtube video if you need further help.

Awesome primary teacher website

This website is so great that I had to blog about it as well as tag it for my delicious account and add it to my give away folder. Mrs. Meacham is a kindergarten teacher who has linked hundreds of resources that she uses as well as SMART notebooks. Whether you like to know where to get cool fonts, reading resources, calendars or countless other things - this is the place to go.

Mrs. Meacham's Classroom Snapshots

Holiday Notebooks

Need a few notebooks for a fun holiday center? Try one with a word search that is offered by Teachers love SMART boards. If you sign up at Jim Hollis' website you can receive emails on a regular basis with great suggestions on how to amp up your notebooks or links to great sites.

IMPORTANT Smart Ideas info

For years, SMART has offered a free copy of SMART Ideas concept mapping software as an incentive to those who register their SMART product. You register your board online and a confirmation email is sent to you with your license code for notebook software as well as your code for SMART Ideas. SMART is stopping this process December 31. It is imperative that all boards are registered by then so you can take advantage of this free software.

In my opinion, Ideas is a much more powerful learning tool for your students than notebook. Why? Notebook is completely dependent on you as the creator of interactive pages. When life gets busy this can be hard to manage. Ideas is a way to put your discussions into a visual format. All students benefit by viewing and manipulating things that are talked about and connected. Plus, you don't need to spend hours putting a concept map together - it is something that is student led and driven by the direction that the discussion takes.

Don't miss out on having this wonderful software for free. Immediately contact the person responsible for registering boards in your district and find out if your board is registered and if it is, what your Ideas code is. If it isn't registered, offer to register the board for them to save them time. The product code is on the lower right hand side of your board on the outside edge. To register, use the online form.

Registration link

Please email me at shawns@bradfields.com if you have any questions.

SMART LE Response System offer

fantastic news from SMART...

Benefit twice as many students

The SMART Response™ LE interactive response system helps teachers gain insight into student understanding. For a limited time, with every purchase of two SMART Response LE systems you will receive two additional systems at no cost.

SMART Response LE is ideal for learners with special needs, enable them to engage in lessons and demonstrate understanding using handheld remotes. Large buttons ensure accessibility for students with fine-motor challenges, while colors and raised shapes increase accessibility for those with visual impairments.

Interested? Let me know and I will refer you to one of Bradfield's sales staff. This is a huge savings if you are looking at purchasing response systems.

SMART Suite contest

from SMART....http://smarttech.com/us/contests/SuiteContest2010?WT.ac=nov1910_enewsletter

Share your story

The Suite Talk Video Contest is an opportunity to show other teachers how SMART Classroom Suite interactive learning software makes a difference in your classroom.

Create a lesson activity with an embedded video that shows how you use SMART Classroom Suite software in your daily lessons. Your video should demonstrate how you can easily move between student collaboration, assessment, classroom management and lesson delivery, and how the software benefits both teaching and learning.

You could win one of the following prizes for your school:

• SMART Board 680 interactive whiteboard
• Either the SMART Response PE or SMART Response LE interactive response system with 32 remotes (clickers)
• SMART Document Camera
• SMART Classroom Suite 2010 software

Winning videos could also be featured on our website.

The Suite Talk Video Contest runs until February 10, 2011, at 11:59 p.m. (MT).

The contest is open to legal residents of Canada (excluding Quebec), the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are employed by a school or school district. See Contest terms and conditions for full details.

Adding Animated letters or text to Notebook software

Thank you JoLynn Plato and Krystal Lewis for making me aware that you could do this as well as showing me how. If you would like to add text from a web site that is animated or even individual letters you can add them to notebook.

Here is one site that offers some choices of letters and text - http://www.3danimatedtext.com/ (they even have my name!)

You can google animated text or letters and find many others. Once you find the animated text you like (I really like the welcome animations) right click and save image as a .gif. In notebook software, choose "insert" from the file menu and then "picture file." Find the saved .gif and add it. The text or letters will be animated. You can then click and drag them into your "my content" folder so they can be used over and over again. I am working on putting in the entire alphabet in red glow letters. They look pretty cool!

An fyi - some of the letters that you save will have the black background around them. Change your notebook background to black and it will disappear.

Special Effects

Want to learn more on how to make special effects using movie maker with your PC or imovie? Check out this site.

http://web.me.com/jbtv/Site/Special_Effects/Special_Effects.html

At the very top - click the appropriate link if you are a PC or Mac user. Creating movies with your students are fun and very meaningful. Being able to view your movies on your SMART board is extra fun since it is just like going to the movies. Don't forget the popcorn.

Making Movies

Do you like making movies with your students - creating special effects for added enjoyment? I am now in Joe Brennan's Special Effects session at IETC and learning how to do simple things to create wonderful videos with free software. His blog is a great resource if you want to learn more.

One of the tidbits shared - film many people walking in the hallway at a normal speed with one person walking very slowly. Speed the movie up and it will appear as if the group is walking at a hyper speed and the lone person is walking normally. Great ways to enhance instruction and make learning fun.

http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/category/digital-storytelling/

Webspiration

Do you use kidspiration, inspiration or SMART Ideas? Are concept maps a way that your students learn well? Inspiration has a web based application that allows students to create webs cooperatively. This service is currently free and in beta format.

http://www.mywebspiration.com/



There are several templates already loaded for you to choose from that will help guide students through the process.

Google Books

Did you know that there are free books online to use with your students when teaching fiction and non-fiction reading online? Some books only feature a few chapters, but it definitely is a way to expose students to good reading skills when reading text online.

http://books.google.com/

Reading and Thinking Skills - eduscapes

Need help teaching students reading and thinking skills. I am currently at IETC in Springfield, IL attending a session called, "Straight from the Horses Mouth" led by Annette Lamb from eduscapes. Their website is a great resource for activities and ideas that help you use nonfiction web sources to motivate and facilitate students learning.

http://eduscapes.com/sessions/thinkers/s-identification.htm

Schoology

You MUST check out this new web application that is FREE. It is a social network system that you use with your students that is very similar to facebook. Everyone has a profile and there is a news feed. The cool part is that you can create classes, add events, message everyone and even send out assessments.

www.schoology.com is where you need to go and set up an account with Ryan Hwang - founder and creative director. Perhaps there will be a movie about him a few years from now. It is awesome and hard to believe that you can set it up for free.

OutSMART'Em with Kim & JoLynn

Kim Hall and JoLynn Plato will be presenting at this year's IETC in Springfield, IL on Friday, November 19. They are a great teaching duo and have extensive knowledge to share with fellow teachers. Check out their blog which is chocked full of great resources.

http://outsmartem.blogspot.com/

They will be presenting Friday's presentation at our SMART user conference on Saturday, April 2, 2011 if you miss them at IETC.

Themes

Themes are a quick and easy way to insert a background onto each page and/or text style and/or title. There are several themes that are available to you in the gallery, but you can also create your own theme. If you would like to add a theme from the gallery, click on the gallery and then "background and themes" in the bottom of the pane. Click on one of the themes (for instance ABC) and you will be prompted with 3 options.

1. Insert theme on all pages
Use this if you want to have every single page in your notebook to have this theme.
2. Insert theme on all pages of current group
If you have been grouping your pages, you can choose to add a theme to only one of the groups.
3. Insert theme on current page only
If you only want one page to have this theme, choose this option.

You will most likely find that you would like to create your own theme that is specific to the topic you are teaching. To do this, choose "format" from the file menu and then "themes." If you already have a background and pictures on a page, you can choose "create theme from page" and have that page begin your theme. if you choose "create theme" you will be starting from scratch.

The first thing you should do is create a name for your theme that is distinct and will allow you to find it at a later date. The words "the text style" appear in the edit box. Double click on them to open the text box, highlight the words and change them to the text style and size that you would like for your theme. THESE WORDS DO NOT APPEAR IN YOUR THEME. This is where you are setting the theme's font - not creating something to appear on each page in the theme. When your theme is added to a page, group or notebook, this font style will be applied to every page.

Change the background color, add pictures and graphics as well as a title if you want it to appear on every page. Anything you add when creating the theme will appear when you apply the theme. Be sure to click on save and your theme is now in your "my content" folder in the gallery and can be added to an individual page, page grouping or entire notebook. It's that easy.

I have created several themes that are nothing but font style and text sizes. For instance, I have a theme that is called papyrus. I add that theme to a notebook if I have been using a different font style and want to have every single page changed to papyrus font without changing each individual text box. If you have specific types of fonts that you enjoy working with, it is easy to create a theme with the style and size font that you prefer to work with and save it. You can then change a notebook's text style and font by just adding the theme to the notebook.

Error when printing to Notebook

The information below was just sent out by SMART for errors that are received when printing to notebook.

Error message appears when you use SMART Document Writer

Issue
The following error message appears when you use the SMART Document Writer on Windows® 7 and Windows Vista® operating systems:
Cannot open the file. If the file is from a newer version of Notebook software, try saving it as a version 9 document.

Solution
Adjust the user’s security permissions on the Windows Temp folder.

Features
1. Log on to the computer as a local administrator, or launch Windows Explorer as an administrator.
2. Browse to C:\WINDOWS.
3. Right-click Temp and select Properties.
4. Select Security > Users > Edit. The Permissions for Users screen appears.
5. Select Full Control or Modify, read and execute, and then click OK.

FREE videos for secondary teachers

Often, most of what is free for teachers is geared towards elementary students. Khan Academy (non-profit organization) offers free videos for secondary teachers. There are over 1800+ videos available in many subjects.

http://www.khanacademy.org/

More more more sites to enjoy with your board!

Electric Circuits

http://www.andythelwell.com/blobz/guide.html

Where are they going?

http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthemove/games/game1/game1.html

Herd a Word

http://www.herdaword.com/?action=newgame


Several math games for Pre-k to 2nd grade

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/numbertime/games/index.shtml

Prefix & Suffix

http://www.e-gfl.org/e-gfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/teacher/other/Spark/spinwin/gamelaunch.html

Check it out - fun interactive game to review prefix and suffixes.

Make a Silly Turkey

Just in time for Thanksgiving - create a silly turkey with this site and your board.

http://www.highlightskids.com/Magazine/Nov06/h1magazineFlashObjects/h11106NovemberArtist.asp

Cleaning your SMART board

Check out this site to find out the best way to clean your board. It also gives instructions on how to remove dry erase and permanent marker stains.


http://etoolbox.wikispaces.com/file/view/Keeping%20the%20Writing%20Surface%20Clean.pdf

SMART User Conference - April 2011

Bradfield's next SMART user conference will be Saturday, April 2, 2011. It will be held at Bloomington Junior High school and the day will be filled with fun and engaging SMART sessions. I am currently recruiting teachers who would like to be presenters on that day. I am looking for a wide variety of backgrounds that will cater to the hundreds of teachers that we expect to be there. We will be charging $24.99 for participants to attend and if you present one session, you will be able to attend for free. The fee will cover four 50 minute sessions, breakfast, lunch and access to the handouts of every session. It will definitely be a great learning environment for everyone. Email me at shawns@bradfields.com if you are interested in being a part of this event. Open registration for participants will begin after January 1st.

SMART wireless slate

Do you have a slate, but need to have more info? Below is the address for the slate's user guide. One of the things that most teachers forget is that you can customize your slate. Check out pages 19-28 to find out all the ways that you can customize your slate to fit your needs.

http://downloads01.smarttech.com/media/sitecore/en/support/product/smartslate/ws200/guides/140795guidesmartslatews200v23nov09.pdf

Data driven instruction

If you are writing a grant for clickers and need some quick information about data driven instruction, check out this power point. It clearly lists the advantages (as well as disadvantages). If you are new to data driven instruction it will also help you understand the why and how of implementing it in your classroom.

Data Driven Instruction

View more presentations from Tman.

Video - New SMART board

http://vault.smarttech.com/demos/885ix/800series.html

check out the new board in action - super cool!

New SMART board!

A new board is being introduced by SMART this week. Here are its features:

Multitouch experience – Enables two users to interact with the interactive whiteboard simultaneously with no special tools or multitouch mode selection required

Freestyle interaction* – Enables two users to work together, performing different tasks, anywhere on the board

Smart ink – Ink-smoothing algorithms make handwritten annotations look smother and more refined

Touch gestures* – Accepts common multitouch gestures currently recognized in Microsoft Windows 7 and Mac Snow Leopard, including one- and two-finger gestures, such as pinching, zooming and tossing. Gestures will be available for use in SMART Notebook lesson activities after the release of SMART Notebook 10.7 software

Object awareness – Distinguishes between a finger, pen or other object to recognize what action the user is taking

Multiuser Pen Tray – Enables two users to pick up and use a pen tool and begin writing. Easy-to-use buttons on the Pen Tray make switching ink color, right-mouse clicks and accessing the on-screen keyboard effortless

Durable surface – Surface is optimized for projection, producing no hot spots, and is compatible with dry-erase markers

Modular design – Pen Tray enables the quick and easy integration of accessories, such as the extended control panel

Locking pen mode – Locks the SMART Board interactive whiteboard in pen mode so students can write, draw and make annotations with a finger, pen tool or other object

Warranty – Includes two-year standard warranty and five-year warranty with product registration

SMART product integration – Seamless integration with the full range of SMART hardware and software products, including SMART Notebook software version 10.6 or later. Full gesture recognition and multiuser functionality is available using SMART Notebook 10.7 software, expected by March 2011.

I can't wait to experience one! It sounds great.

http://smarttech.com/us/About+SMART/About+SMART/Newsroom/Media+releases/Recent+Releases/October+19+2010

High School Math Blog

While teaching a group of teachers at Lincoln in Davenport, I came across a math high school teacher's blog. There are great resources for teaching math mentioned as well as things that will work well if you have a SMART board. If you teach math at the secondary level, you will definitely want to check out his blog. Many great teaching ideas.

David Sladkey's blog
teachhighschoolmath.blogspot.com

Lucky Star- FREE download for SMART Notebook

http://pbskids.org/cyberchase/whiteboard/

This PBS game is specifically made for smart notebook and FREE. Specific directions on how to download and load into the gallery is included on the website. This is primarily meant for grades 3-5. The download took awhile on my laptop, BUT I was using free wifi from my hotel room. I'm sure it would have been better if I was home using my comcast wifi.

Easy Table Reveal

If you've tried the table trick that I posted about a few days ago, you might be leery of trying another. That one is a little complicated and has quite a few steps. However, this is a super easy trick that will allow students to check their answers on their own.

Create a table and have one column be the "reveal" column where the answer or hidden message is revealed. Highlight the column, click on the properties tab and fill with a color that contrasts with your background color. For instance, if your background is white, make the color a dark color that a white font will show up well on.

Select an object or graphic that will be linked with the correct answer. Type the correct answer or reveal message and place it next to the object/graphic. Change the font color to the color of your background and group the two together. Now when the object is selected and moved into the colored cell, the font will be visible.

A very quick and easy way to create a reveal. Good luck!

Checker Tool - LAT

I was reminded today of a tool in the Lesson Activity Toolkit that I had completely forgotten about. Thank you Shannon for helping me check it out. I haven't had the chance to use this as a classroom teacher, but know that when I head back into the classroom that this is one that I will try.

The "checker tool" is located in the lesson activity toolkit and can easily be found by using the search engine in the gallery. Click on the edit arrows and type in the correct answer. This can be a number or word(s). Click on the edit arrows again. The front of the tool says, "Drag text here." Students can drag in a word or number and if it doesn't match what you typed in as the correct response, it will show a red X - if it is matches, it gives you a green check mark. A great way to have your board be a center that students can use on their own.

Free Stuff!

Are you looking for free resources to use with SMART notebook software? Check out tequipment's Educator Resource Center. You can purchase some great gallery items that are less than $2, but also enjoy some freebies. Check out what it is available and spread the word!

http://community.teqsmart.org/download.php?list.60

Cool Table Tool trick!

Do you want to create a cool game that can be used with your students? I wasn't aware that you could fill a cell in a table with an image (just hadn't thought of it) and loved that you can use this ability to create a background for students to match something to in the table.

Create your table and resize your cells to fit your needs. Right click on a cell and choose properties, fill effects and then image fill. Fill the cell with a picture that you have previously saved. This could be a picture of an animal if you want students to match the sound with the pic for instance. You may have to resize your cell since the image may become tiled. This allows for just one image to be highlighted. Continue doing this for each cell until you have created your "game board."

Choose objects that need to be matched with the image filled cells or you can create a shape with a number that is linked to a sound (such as the sound of the animal pictured in one of the cells). Choose sound from the pull down and attach the sound that you have saved to the object/picture. Students can play the sound and then click and drag it into the cell with the matching picture.

Do you want to create a simple answer key? Pull the correct answers into the table and capture the table. Using the tool in the gallery called, "question flipper image," drag the image of the table into the tool. Edit the front with text and write "click here for answer." The tool along with the choices and table will all be one one page.

Need an example to follow? Email me and I will be happy to share one with you.
shawns@bradfields.com

SMART Table for special needs students

http://downloads01.smarttech.com/media/video/table/texas_july10/table_video.html

Learn how Alvarado, Texas' speech pathologists use the multitouch, multiuser capabilities of the SMART Table to help students build language, communication and social skills. It is amazing to see how engaged students are when using the table with their peers. If you are interested in more info on obtaining your own SMART table, email me.

Kerpoof!

http://www.kerpoof.com/#

Check out this interactive and multimedia web application that will help you use your board to keep students engaged. You can create story books, doodle or spell words to create a background. It is FREE and a good tool to use with your students.

Gallery & Lesson Activity Toolkit

SMART is continuously updating their software as well making additions to the gallery and lesson activity toolkit. To insure that you have everything that is available you can check for updates to the gallery and LAT.

In notebook software, open the gallery tab and click on "gallery." Click on the wrench that is to the right of the search engine. From the drop down menu, choose check for updates and then choose gallery or LAT. If you wish to add languages to either, you can do it from the update screen by clicking on the "languages" tab.

Don't forget to check for software updates as well on a regular basis. Click on your SMART tools icon in the windows notification area and click on "check for updates." The system will check to see if your computer has the latest updated version that is available online. If you don't have the latest edition, it will prompt you to update.

Brain Pop & SMART Response

If you use Brain Pop and have a set of SMART Response clickers, you can easily use your clickers to take the brain pop quizzes. First, you have to have the newest update of SMART notebook software so you have the new transparency layer icon on the toolbar. If you don't have that - go to your SMART tools icon in the windows notification area and click on "check for updates" to update your software.

While an image or quiz question is visible from brain pop - open notebook software. Click on the response tab and choose instant question (choose the type that fits what you will be asking). Click on the transparency icon on the toolbar and notebook will become transparent and students can see the question or image in brain pop. You can move around the T/F, Y/N or ABCD (based on what type of question you selected) to match where things are on the brainpop page. Students can now use their clickers to respond to the question.

Need more help? Below is the link for a webinar that was hosted by brain pop. It first explains how to use brain pop with Promethean boards and printing quizzes. If you go to the 17 minute mark, he begins showing how to use brain pop with SMART notebook.

https://brainpop.na4.acrobat.com/p97842771/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal

Recognize Table function

I often forget about this function in notebook software and was excited to be re-introduced to this via tequipment's video blog.

Check out how easy it is to create a table after you have your content on the page.

http://blog.teqsmart.org/2010/09/teqcast-5-recognize-table-graph-tables-in-smart-notebook/

They also explain how to create a table and add a graph using the new SMART math tools that are an add on feature to the notebook software.

Need help with Grants?

Check out the current issue of SMART's newsletter - EdCompass. Besides grant information, how to fundraise to get funds for SMART products is also highlighted. While checking this issue out, be sure to subscribe so you can receive the newsletter via email on a regular basis.

http://downloads01.smarttech.com/media/sitecore/en/pdf/smart_publications/edcompass/currentissue/edcompass-sept2010.pdf

Object Animation

Make a simple and easy interactive multiple choice formative assessment by using object animation. Simply write out your question and type the choices in separate text boxes. You can make the incorrect choices fade out to nothing and then have the correct answer spin. Click on the text box and then the properties tab - choose object animation and the type of animation that you want for that choice. It's a simple and easy way for students to receive feedback.

Scholastic & SMART

Check out Scholastic's SMART resources - the famous people notebooks are very nice.

http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3748726

Product Guides, Quick References, How to etc. from SMART

http://www.smarttech.com/us/Support/Browse+Support/Product+Index/Software+Products/SMART+Notebook

Are you having trouble with your SMART software or drivers? Check out the above site to find guides, references and how to PDF files that will help you solve your problem.

10 Great sites to use with your SMART board

http://www.slideshare.net/hhurley/10-great-websites-for-the-smart-board

Check out this slide show with greats sites.

Solar System Jigsaw

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/space/playspace/games/jigsaw/jigsaw.shtml

A great site to use on your SMART board if you are teaching the solar system.

Glogster

Check out this site to create interactive posters with sound. It's free and a fun way for students to express themselves. It also would be a great thing to create to introduce yourself to your students and their families.

http://www.glogster.com/

Quizzlet - Flashcard and test creator

Quizlet is a free Web 2.0 site for building vocabulary. At this site students can learn vocabulary in an interactive and engaging environment. Quizlet allows one to create and share flashcards on a wide variety of subject areas.

Flashcard options include playing Scatter, a matching game where when your right the words disappear. This game works really well on the SMART Board. Some of the subject areas already represented at the Quizlet site are english and foreign languages, standardized test vocabulary, history and geography, math and science.

Check it out and begin making your own flash cards that can be used on your board.


http://quizlet.com/

Pen Tray

I believe that every teacher is a reading teacher and I love using a highlighter when I am introducing text. Whether I am highlighting context clues, vocabulary or simply parts of speech it always comes in handy. Since I use this tool often, I prefer to have one of the pens in my pen tray a highlighter. Besides being easy to use, it allows students to pick up a pen and highlight something easily.

You also may want to change a pen if you have a favorite color that isn't red/blue/green or black or simply want a different thickness. For instance, secondary teachers often like a thinner pen since they are writing more sentences in cursive whereas a primary teacher may want a thicker pen. Whatever your reason, it is simple to change the defaults in your pen tray.

Click on the blue square SMART tools icon in the windows notification area. Some say it looks like a white donut and others a peppermint lifesaver. Choose control panel and then "hardware settings." The pen tray is the first item that appears whose settings can be changed. Click on the pen that you wish to change and a properties window will appear. Choose the line style that you wish and change the transparency if you wish for the pen to be a highlighter. Click on "save tool properties" and then "apply" and "ok." The pen now has the properties that you gave it. Changing hardware settings in SMART changes it on the computer that you used. If you are moving room to room with a laptop, the changes go with you. If you share a room, you will want to communicate with others about any changes made to the pen tray. To go back to the defaults you can go back into hardware settings and click on the "defaults" button. All of the pens and buttons will go back to the factory settings.

An FYI - you can only change SMART hardware settings when you are hooked up to a SMART board.

Favorite Text and Pen properties

Often, we have favorite text styles that we like to use or a favorite color and thickness of the pen tool. You can change the pens and text styles in your toolbar very simply so they represent what your needs are as a teacher.

When you click on either the text or pen tool in notebook software, a series of styles appear below the tool bar. Click a style that you want to change and click on the properties tab. Choose the style that you want for that default (color, thickness, font type etc.) and be sure to choose "save tool properties" at the bottom of the properties pane. This style is now available at all times when you click on the tool. Take time at the beginning of the school year to save settings for several text and pen styles that you wish to use. This will make it easy to select and use choices that you prefer throughout the school day.

Embedding Video into notebook

Embedding a video into notebook allows you to archive it in the "my content" folder in your gallery rather than having it saved in a notebook file. This allows you to have it at your fingertips. The only type of video that can be embedded is an .flv - flash video. There are many free converters out there that will allow you to take a video that you already have and convert it to flash. Zamzar.com is one of them. If you want to grab a video from youtube or teachertube you can use keepvid.com to convert the url to a flash file.

Once the video is an .flv you can click and drag it into the working area within notebook. You can also choose insert from the file menu and choose flash video and find the file. Once in notebook, drag it into the my content folder. You will want to rename it and add key words. Click on the video's drop down menu arrow in my content and choose properties. Rename the video and add key words that will help you find it years later.

SMART Ideas

Did you know that SMART has a software like Inspiration that allows you to make concept maps with your SMART board? If you have a board, SMART gives you one free copy of this fantastic software. The software is much easier to use than notebook and is student centered. You can create maps on the fly or create one ahead of time that you want students to view.

To obtain the code for your free copy, talk to whoever registers your boards in your district. The code is emailed to them with the email that they receive stating that their registration was received.

Anyone can have a 30 day trial - check it out and see if it is something that you want to use.

http://smarttech.com/us/Support/Browse+Support/Download+Software/Software/SMART+Ideas+software/SMART+Ideas+software/SMART+Ideas+software+for+Windows

Online Plan book

Try out this new online plan book that allows you to share your lessons with colleagues and/or students and their families.

http://planbook123.appspot.com/

It is free the first year and only $7.95 each year after that.

Check it out.

Next step - "grabbing" text with transparency layer

Now that you have mastered "grabbing" text and putting it into notebook, work on the next step using transparency layer. Open the PDF, word document, web site or other item where you want to be able to "grab" text. Open a notebook file. Click on the transparency icon in notebook which makes notebook software transparent so your document/site can be seen. You can grab text and it will automatically be in notebook. If you desire, you can create a transparent box or oval that says "main idea" or whatever concept you are looking for so students can click and drag the text into that area. When you take the transparent layer off, the text you grabbed will be in the working area along with the transparent shape that you created.

Importing Text

Did you know that you can easily "grab" text from a word document or web page and bring it into notebook? Open a notebook along with the page or document that you want to "grab" text and resize them so they both fit on your screen. Highlight the text that you want to move and click (while holding down your left mouse button) and drag into the notebook. Your text is now in notebook and can be edited if it is double clicked. Try this quick and easy method of bringing in text and making it dynamic rather than static.

More ways to use Wordle!

http://clifmims.com/blog/archives/2626

Check out this site for 46 ways to use Wordle in the classroom. Many of these are made even more effective by using them with your SMART board.

Screen Capture - Travel the World from your Classroom

Put yourself or your students in scenes from around the world by using the screen capture toolbar. Take pictures of your students with a plain background. Using the screen capture toolbar's freehand option - outline the student in the picture carefully. The solid background makes it easier to outline them. Also, it is much easier to use the free hand option if you are using your finger and your board rather than a mouse. Place the captured photo onto a scene from around the world.

SMART sponsored FREE training event

http://chicagouserconference.eventbrite.com/

Saturday, September 25

Free light breakfast and lunch provided

Enrollment is limited! Sign up soon to insure a spot.

Want to win a SMART board?

http://us.smartloveoflearning.com/

Write 250 words or less about your favorite teacher and enter a drawing for a SMART board.

Delicious

A few of the sites that I think are well worth checking out as well as some resources.

Check out my delicious site:

http://delicious.com/shawnschwerman

Transparent Layer

Transparent Layer is by far one of the coolest new tools in 10.6 notebook. It has many possibilities and since it is a new function new things are thought of every day. Check out SMART's video showcasing things that you can do in the transparent layer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYwGBztZjz8

A shout out to JoLynn Plato for sharing the link with me. Youtube and teachertube both have many videos that help you find your way with your SMART board. Check them out!

Crayon Physics

http://www.crayonphysics.com/

In my classroom, this was the most requested game for students to play with on the SMART board. Students use their finger to create shapes that instantly become two dimensional. Problem solving is needed as they venture on to harder puzzles. Check out the demo and get into the action. The demo may be all that you need!

SMART Speller & Number Cruncher

Many people are not aware of two FREE software programs that can be used with their SMART boards. SMART Speller is a spelling program that is easily used with your own spelling words (you upload them and then have to attach the sound of your voice saying the word) or one of the hundreds of lists already provided. Number Cruncher is a math program that allows students to do addition, subtraction, multiplication or division with the board. Both software programs are easy to use and quick downloads. Both programs will only work on a computer hooked up to a board and is meant to be used with pens from the pen tray. The spelling software is appropriate for anyone who teaches spelling since you can upload your own lists (K-6 lists available). The math software allows you to do single digit addition up to division of decimals so is best for grades K-8.

SMART Speller


Number Cruncher

Keyboard Shortcuts in Notebook

When creating notebooks with a keyboard, it is often faster to use keyboard shortcuts rather than clicking on an object, selecting the pull down menu and then choosing the function.

Try these instead:

Ctrl+G - Group objects
Ctrl+R - Ungroup objects
Ctrl+K - Lock anobject
Ctrl+J - Unlock an object
Ctrl+D - Clone and object
Ctrl+M - Insert blank page
Ctrl+PgDn - send object backwards
Ctrl+PgUp - Bring object forward
Ctrl+Shift+PgDn - Send object to back
Ctrl+Shift+PgUp - Send object to front

Double Tap

I had to share this as soon as I saw it in action on teacher tube. http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=11760

I wasn't aware that this could be done and am anxious to be with a board to try it out. The video shows it in action, but basically if you have an object in one place and want to move it to another without doing a click and drag you touch the object and touch the place you want it to go and the piece moves half way (this occurs whenever you touch the board in two places at one time). You then lift up your initial contact and the object moves to where you want the object to go. This could be a full "trick" to show your students.

Transparency Layer & Response software

One of the best things about the new transparency layer in notebook is the ability to quickly create assessments for your Response clickers. There are several web sites that offer multiple choice questions that work seamlessly with your curriculum. When you have the site open, and are in notebook software you can overlay the question options (A, B, C, D etc.) onto the website. Simply go to the response tab and click on "add a question." Click through the question and answer choices and you will just have the letters in your working area. Be sure to select the correct choice. Click on the transparency layer icon on the toolbar and your letters can be seen on top of the website. Move the letters into the appropriate place. You now have an instant question that didn't need to be typed into notebook. This can also be done quickly and easily by taking a screen capture of the website and entering the correct choice into the software.

Formative on-going assessment is necessary for data driven instruction, and SMART notebook and response software makes it easy. Feel free to email if you have any questions.

Voicethread

I was busy preparing some items for a session that I am helping to present tomorrow at tech feast and came across this site. I will be sharing what Front Row Audio can do to enhance instruction when you use SMART recorder. I came across this fantastic site that will work really well with the recorder feature.

http://voicethread.com is a site that allows you to take pictures or videos and record your voice over it. They are then shared with friends via email or uploaded to the site. Comments are made about the voice thread and can be done by web cam, typed or recorded. This would be a great tool in the classroom since students would be creating the videos/pictures as well as the comments. The microphone and speaker system from Front Row audio will further enhance this making it a wonderful experience.

Check it out - I listened and watched how to make a voice thread, registered, uploaded a video and recorded comments all in 10 minutes. It is very easy to use.

SMART Notebook Express - Beta

Did you know that students and parents at home can open notebooks and even create notebooks using a few of the tools in the toolbar? A beta web based version of notebook software has been available for awhile and is very successful in allowing parents and students to view notebooks that you create at home. Now you can link notebooks that are used for teaching to your web site. Students who are sick, or simply need additional review, can see the exact same thing that is being seen and used in the classroom. It does take a few seconds to open and is still in the trial stage. Feel free to contact SMART with any feedback that you have.

http://express.smarttech.com/#

Great interactive website

I just found this site that has several interactive games that will work well with the SMART board.

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/

The site includes every subject and is best suited for K-5 or older students with special needs. Check it out!

Wordle and Hide & Reveal

www.wordle.net is a great site that can be used with notebook. Create a word "cloud" in wordle by typing in your words, pasting in a list from word or typing in a url. Words that are repeated will be larger. Choose randomize to quickly change the look for your wordle. Once your wordle looks the way that you wish, use the screen capture toolbar to capture it and bring it into notebook.

Once it is in notebook you can hide the individual words so they can be revealed using a few different methods. You could choose to hide the individual words by changing your pen to white (or the color of your background) and covering the individual words with ink. They can then be revealed with the eraser.

You could also have each word linked to a page in the file with the definition or any other additional information that you want revealed. To do this, use the screen capture tool to capture each individual word. Be sure to go to "view" on your menu bar, go to zoom and change to 100% so your capture matches the size of the original word. Overlay the captured word and link that object to the page in the file/web site or even sound.

A third way is to create boxes that cover each word filled with the same color as the background. Each box can be animated with object animation in the properties tab to fade out. Thus, when the box is touched, the word is revealed underneath.

Need additional info or help with this? Email me and I will send you a notebook file with examples and step by step directions.

Student Documentation

Teachers are continuously having to provide data and documentation for RtI, 504's and IEP's. Notebook has a simple way to allow you to do this and easily communicate to parents during your meetings.

Any student that needs to have their academic progress documented should have their own notebook. Groups can be created using page grouping that further organize their documentation based on many factors such as their IEP goals or subject. The student's work is transferred to notebook or actually done on the notebook page. If processing is an issue you may choose to record the student finishing an activity using the page recorder.

Each page is automatically named with the date and time it was created. This allows you to see progression or regression as you move through the pages. Pull tabs can also be used to write ancetodals that are pertinent. This can include the student's demeanor as they did the activity or outside forces that may have impacted the outcome. For RtI you may want to include the class average for the assignment to determine if the student needs additional accommodations or modifications.

The notebook can be shared by the teacher or have a student led conference with the student sharing their pages in the notebook. Notebook is a great way for you to supply information to the team and parent.

Hide & Reveal

Hide and Reveal is an easy way to create interactivity in notebook. There are several ways to create a hide and reveal activity. One of the quickest ways is to first change your background color to anything other than white. The second step is to create a long rectangle that is large enough to reveal a sentence of text. Fill the rectangle with a color that is lighter than the background. Lastly, write your text on the page and make it the same color as the background. As you move the rectangle down the page, the sentences are revealed. You can choose to add a handle to the rectangle such as the hand from the graphics folder in the lesson activity toolkit.