Why I love SMART Boards

Last Monday, our a/c called it quits. Thankfully, we have cool air again  (after replacing the entire unit), however, we spent most of last week displaced.  The only empty room available was in the upper grade hallway on the other side of our school.

Anyone who has ever worked with early childhood kids knows that all it takes is a minor disruption in the routine to throw everything off. Well, this was not a minor disruption. This was the Gigantor of all disruptions. Monday afternoon was atrocious. I am thankful that it was my duty free day, leaving me the flexibility to move us, and then deal with the discipline issues. In the course of an afternoon, we had:

• 5 keep-keep-your-body-to-yourself timeouts
• 4 we-don't-spit-because-it's rude-and-gross talks
• 3 epic pencil wars
• 1 nurse visit as a result of the above pencil war

I knew that if we were going to learn anything that week, I had to do something different.

So I did.

One of the perks of being displaced was our temporary location had a mounted SMART board and projector. After doing a little digging, I found my morning math SMART presentation from last year, and set it up for Tuesday morning.

After picking up my class and making the trek down to our temporary spot, we set up for morning meeting and morning math. They were absolutely captivated. I guess in my almost daily use of the SMART board, I forget the magical effect that it has on kinders. But I am so glad it does!

We start the week back in our room tomorrow. I'm glad to be back "home," but I sure will miss the SMART board, and I'm sure my kids will too. (Hopefully, not for too long!)

I love my job!

Smartboard Saturday: 100!

The number 100 is practically magical to most kinders, and it is so fun to see them "discover" the concept of 100. The 100th day of school was this past Thursday (post coming soon), and our Smart Board was a great part of our celebration. Using the interactive objects in the gallery section of the Smart Notebook software, I created a 100 Day presentation (making it was very time consuming, so if you want a copy, let me know). The kids had a blast flipping 100 tiles on the interactive hundred chart, challenging one another to do something for 100 seconds using the timer, and popping 100 balloons. We also watched  on Discovery education which lead to a transition into our 100 day presentations. I'll be posting about our hundred day soon; I am waiting to get the rest of my pictures.

Have a great weekend!

Smart Board Saturday: Dice

I know, I know, it's been eons since the last Smart Board Saturday. But in my defense, I have been sans technology since August. We finally got our Smart Board delivered, installed, and operational last Thursday, and it is fabulous!

This year, our district has switched to the Everyday Math curriculum for pre-k and kindergarten. This curriculm has tons of games, one of which is the Roll and Record. To play, students are given dice and a graph. The dice is rolled and students count and record the number on their graph. My students love playing this game, however, it does lend itself to a center/ small group lesson. So when a variation of the game came up again, I decided to tweak it a bit to make it more whole group friendly. I opened up a blank Smart Notebook document, searched for dice in the gallery, and inserted two on a page. Each student was given a chance to touch and roll the dice, count the total number of dots, and then announce to the class the total. They LOVED it!  So, there you have it, a short, simple activity that provides practice for so many concepts.

Have a great weekend!

Smartboard Saturday: Fire Safety

October is Fire Safety Month. My team and I wanted to provide our kindergarten people with real, authentic experiences (like taking up the local fire department on their offer of a field trip, or perhaps inviting them out to our school), however, due to admin., budget, yada, yada, yada, it can't happen. So I have scoured the internet, and have found a little jewel that would make our fire safety lessons a tad more meaningful.

The good people at Owen Sound Fire and Emergency Services in Canada have created a virtual firefighter that displays and explains in great detail each piece of a firefighter's equipment. As you progress through the tour, each piece of the equipment is added to the firefighter, resulting in a fully dressed firefighter at the end. The information itself is a bit wordy for kindergarten people, however, the pictures are fantastic and a crucial part in discussing about not hiding from the "scary" firefighter in the event of a fire.

So there you have it people! Smartboard Saturday is back in action. Have a great weekend!

Smartboard Saturday: Sorry

I have been fighting sickness all week to make it through Parent Teacher Conferences. And I have succumbed to the illness today. Sorry, I will post two next week, but for now...SLEEP!

Smartboard Saturday: ABCya

Today's post is on the website ABCya.com.

This website was introduced to me by a colleague who used it as a tutoring tool on her interactive white board. After observing her and the student work on it together, I was totally hooked. The activities provided would be great for center time, both on the computer and on the Smartboard. Check it out, and bookmark it as a favorite.

Have a great Saturday!

Smartboard Saturday: Morning Math

Unfortunately for my class (and myself!), this year the classroom we are in does not have a Smart Board. According to the powers that be, we are priority #1 when it comes to budgeting, and we should be receiving the aforementioned piece if technology before the year's end. Here's to hoping!

The lack of a Smart Board, however, will not stop me from finding and collecting amazing resources and lessons to be shared! Smart Board Saturday has returned!

Morning Math is the foundation of almost every kindergarten day. Also know as Circle Time, Calendar Time, and a plethora of cutesy names, it starts the day with critical routines that are built upon for the rest of the day/year/educational career. The Smart Board is a great tool to integrate into this morning ritual. I stress integrate for a reason. There are many classrooms that rely solely on the Smart Board for morning routines, which is great if the classroom teacher can guarantee that she/he will be there everyday, and that the technology will work every single day. In the event that the teacher is not available, or the technology goes down for whatever reason, it can make for a very, VERY stressful start to the day. Those who teach, especially the lower grades, know that the morning routines are imperative to how the rest of the day will go.

How can I integrate the Smart Board into our morning routine, you ask? Fantastic question! There are several templates floating around cyberspace that can easily be found using your favorite search engine. I do have a particular template that I am partial to, and would be very willing to share to any who ask for it. Most templates are in the SMART Notebook software, so if you don't have it, get it!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Smartboard Saturday: Kidspiration

In the past few weeks, we have been learning all about life cycles. An awesome software to use when creating life cycles, or any other kind of graphic organizers, is Kidspiration, a K-5 version of the Inspiration software.

This software can be used for much more than graphic organizers, however. Students use the graphic organizers to expand on their thoughts in the Writing View. In the Math View, students use manipulatives to explore concepts such as counting, place and value, and fractions.

When paired with the Smartboard, Kidspiration becomes an awesome tool for whole group lessons. It is also great for a center-time activity, giving children the opportunity to explore a ready-made activity, or elaborate more on an idea that was discussed in an earlier lesson.

My favorite part however, is the free trial. There is nothing like checking something out for yourself, so check it out!

Smartboard Saturday: Nonsense Words

It is a fine line that most teachers walk  to teach the skills that are assessed, but not "teach to the test." In our state, we use DIBELS as an assessment. During one section of this test, students are asked to sound out or read nonsense words. This is a difficult task for many students, mainly because they want to recode the nonsense word into a "real" word.

On a tip from a friend, I started to use my Smartboard to do quick nonsense word exercises. In the Gallery of the Smart Notebook software, there are consonant and vowel dice. I pulled three dice in a CVC format onto a blank page, and let me children touch and roll. They LOVED it. We sound out all the sounds, recode into the word, and discuss if it is a real word or a silly word. Now, it is part of our transition from Morning Meeting to our Reading Block.

Tip: Use the search bar to find specific things in the Gallery, i.e. type "dice" to find CVC , blank, number, or dot dice.

Smartboard Saturday: Harnessing the Power of Touch

As one of of my favorite kinder-bloggers wrote in a post, there is something transformative and captivating about touch in the kindergarten/early-childhood classroom. Reveal a new item to a group of kinders and you are sure to hear "Can I touch/hold it?" That is what makes teaching with the Smartboard so awesome.

At first, when wearing my rational adult hat and thinking about how expensive this awesome piece of technology is, I was terrified for my kids to be around the Smartboard, let alone touch it, lest they besmirch it with paint/marker/booger covered fingers . However, my inner creative teacher won out, and I now daily utilize  our Smartboard in student-centered or student-led, interactive, engaging lessons.Granted, I am still a stickler about students using/touching the Smartboard without permission, but with the appropriate modeling and procedures, my kinders have a healthy respect and appreciation for it. The point is, don't be afraid to let your kiddos touch and learn.

Tip of the Day: If you don't already have it, go to the Smarttech website, and download the thirty day trial of Smart Notebook software, and explore what it has to offer. This software is designed to enhance classroom use of the Smartboard, and has so much more to offer than PowerPoint.