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: 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!