EduTech’s West Central Region Blog

Last Friday, I attended the North Dakota Association of Technology Leaders Spring Face to Face Conference in Fargo.  While there, I learned about these fun classroom games and activities that are easy to use with an interactive whiteboard from Nancy Conkins.

Jeopardy Labs

Purpose Games

Class Tools

I hope you and your students will enjoy using these in your classrooms!

I’ve recently been introduced to a website that Promethean Learning has created to certify teachers in ActivStudio and ActivPrimary Foundation Skills for Mac users.  It is a Moodle site and you will need to register (even if you already have a Promethean Planet account).

Here is the website:  http://www.prometheanlearning.com/us/index.php

Once there, click on the orange Mac Level 1 Activstudio or Mac Level 1 Activprimary links.

Let me know what you think after you complete the course!

I have been teaching a lot of workshops on interactive whiteboards lately. At one of my workshops, a teacher recommended this website http://www.oswego.org/staff/cchamber/techno/games.htm

There are a lot of games there that can be used with any interactive whiteboard. Check it out and let me know what you think!

Hope you all have a happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Recently I taught a SMART Board™ workshop and found a great website that contains a weekly SMART Notebook™ lesson, a podcast and resource links. Here is the site address: http://pdtogo.com/smart/ The podcast can be delivered automatically to your iTunes or email address. Past lessons can be searched by category.

Also, on March 7, 2008, SMART Technologies began working with Scholastic to design lesson plans that provide teachers with digital resources to complement their SMART Board™ interactive whiteboards and Senteo™ interactive response systems. The microsite features SMART lesson activities for Notebook™ collaborative learning software, resources to help with lesson activity creation and links to customizable tools and templates. Math and science lesson activities are currently featured, and additional lesson activity subjects will be added regularly. http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/lessonplans.jsp

Ideas For Using The ActivBoard in the Classroom

Get the most out of your lessons by using the ActivBoard in your classroom. Here are just a few ideas that I found on the Promethean Planet website:

• Annotate over an image or text (pen or highlighter) to make corrections or add punctuation
• Draw lines to match concepts
• Use images from the resource library to tell a story
• Link to a short video and ask students for the main idea and supporting details
• Create templates for completing story elements such as background, character, and plot
• Use spotlight to illustrate location or identity of an object
• Use the paint bucket to color certain words or objects.
• Travel to different continents and explore foreign countries using “Google Earth”
• Drag objects into Venn diagram to establish similarities and differences

Whiteboard Interactive Links

These links are not just for whiteboard use, but work well with them because of the interactive factors each contains.
1. EdHeads is a science site containing interactiveness with simple machines, virtual knee surgery, and weather. http://www.edheads.org
2. K-3 math sites http://www.juliethompson.com/SMART.html
3. K-12 math sites http://www.d131.kane.k12.il.us/Bardwell/smartboard.html
4. Learning Planet http://www.learningplanet.com
5. Set Game http://www.setgame.com/index.html
6. eFieldTrips http://www.efieldtrips.org
7. National Library of Virtual Manipulatives http://matti.usu.edu/nlvm/nav/vlibrary.html
8. Various Science Sites for High School Students http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/tools/science-hs.html
9. Various tools to enhance Math education for Elementary and Middle School students http://www.arcytech.org/java
10. Various engaging math games for students grades preK-7 http://www.learningplanet.com
11. Interactive lessons to boost a child’s success in school. http://www.dositey.com
12. A multitude of web sites aimed at assisting foreign language teachers. http://www.internet4classrooms.com/flang.htm
13. Another site that contains foreign language resources. http://www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/eslsp.html
14. Comprehension and phonics site for pre-school to 2nd graders. http://starfall.com

Interactive Research Sites

1. The National Student Research Center recommends these science sites for high school students. http://www.youth.net/nsrc/webs.html
2. Locate historical pictures, maps, music and more at The National Geographic site. http://www.nationalgeographic.com

Streaming Video Sites
1. Brainpop contains K-8 math, science, social studies, technology, math, English, and health video clips and quizzes that are tied to standards. http://www.brainpop.com Many videos are targeted toward 3rd Grade and up, but Brainpop junior is found at http://www.brainpopjr.com and is targeted for the lower grades.

2. United Streaming is a digital video-based web site featuring more than 5,000 full-length videos divided into 50,000 content-specific segments. This site contains lesson plans tied to standards, quiz builders, writing prompts and more. http://www.unitedstreaming.com

3. KidsHealth contains an abundance of health information pertaining to kids, parents, and teens. Phy-ed and health teachers will find this site useful as it has streaming videos, an interactive treasure hunt, healthy recipes and more. http://www.kidshealth.org

4. Google Video contains free and for pay videos for educators. http://video.google.com

Smartboard and Activboard Resources

1. K-12 whiteboard templates http://www.center.k12.mo.us/edtech/SB/templates.htm#K2
2. SMART Technologies web site http://www.smarttech.com
3. SMART Technologies education site http://www.smarttech.com/education/
4. EdCompass http://edcompass.smarttech.com/ec/en-us/
5. Promethean Planet site http://prometheanplanet.com

As I have been teaching ActivBoard and SMARTBoard workshops across the region, some of you have expressed a desire to change the background color of your interactive whiteboards to make them easier on the eyes.

To change the background color setting on your ActivBoard:
1. Click on the Main Menu button
2. Select Studio Settings (PC) or Preferences (Mac)
3. Select Flipchart
4. Check the box Replace white surface with the following color:
5. Click on the white box to the right and select a color from the color wheel
This will now be the default color every time you use your ActivBoard.

To change the background color on your SMARTBoard:
1. On the Main Menu, click Format
2. Select Background Color
3. Select a color
This will not change the default color. You will need to change this every time you create a new notebook.

I hope this helps. If you find other tips and tricks, please let me know and I’ll share them with others. Thanks!

Check out these podcasts on interactive whiteboards!

ActivBoard Tips http://www.prometheanplanet.com/us/server/show/nav.1252

ActivBoard Teacher Ideas http://feeds.feedburner.com/PrometheanPlanetTeacherFeature

SmartBoard Podcasts http://pdtogo.com/smart/?page_id=28

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Whiteboard Interactive Links

These links are not just for whiteboard use, but work well with them because of the interactive factors each contains.

1. EdHeads is a science site containing interactiveness with simple machines, virtual knee surgery, and weather. http://www.edheads.org

2. K-3 math sites http://www.juliethompson.com/SMART.html

3. The Futures Channel http://www.thefutureschannel.com/index.php Mathematics Integration

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