Seating Chart

Seating Chart

Do you still make paper and pencil seating charts?  Now with SMART™ Notebook, you can create a template of your classroom floor plan and manipulate the students’ names whenever you feel it’s necessary to switch things up.  It also eliminates the need for the teacher to move the desks after school.  Let the students view the setup and work with a partner to move desks to the new arrangement.
 

The First Way to Bulid Your Seating Chart

  1. Use the square drawing tool to make a desk.  Add a fill color (tan) to the square, if you’d like.  Use the infinite cloner option by clicking on the drop-down arrow of the first desk.  Drag 24 (or the maximum number of students in your room) squares from the original.  Remove infinite cloner from the first square.  Position the desks in the arrangement you would prefer.  Lock them in place so that they don’t move accidently when you attempt to adjust the name textboxes later on.
  2. Add shapes for necessary furniture, the SMART™ Board, or the classroom door if you’d like.
  3. Make one textbox with your longest students’ name.  Use the “Infinite Cloner” option by clicking on the drop-down arrow of the textbox.  Drag 24 (or the maximum number of students in your room) textboxes from the original.  Remove infinite cloner from the first name.  Position the names on each desk.  Double-click on each textbox to change the name.
     

The Second Way to Build Your Seating Chart

  1. Use the square drawing tool to make one desk.  Add a fill color (tan) to the square, if you’d like.  Use the infinite cloner option by clicking on the drop-down arrow of the first desk.  Drag 4 (or the maximum number of students in a table group or row) squares from the original.  Remove infinite cloner from the first square.  Position the 4 desks in the table or row arrangement you would prefer.  Group the table or row of desk by marquee selecting them all, choosing one of the drop-down arrows, and selecting “Grouping” and the sub category of “Group.”  Infinitely clone this group of desks until you’ve filled the page with the maximum number of tables or rows you need. Position them before marquee selecting all of the tables or rows and “Locking” them in place so that they don’t move accidently when you attempt to adjust the name textboxes later on.
  2. Add shapes for necessary furniture, the SMART™ Board, or the classroom door if you’d like.
  3. Make one textbox with your longest students’ name.  Make 4 textboxes by using the “Infinite Cloner” option.  Position the 4 textboxes in one of the table or row arrangements.  Group these four textboxes (not the desks) marquee selecting them all, choosing one of the drop-down arrows, and selecting “Grouping” and the sub category of “Group.”  Infinitely clone this group of 4 textboxes until you’ve filled the page with the maximum number of names you need. Remove infinite cloner from the first group of textboxes.  Position the textboxes (grouped) on each table or row before selecting “Grouping” and “Ungroup.” Double-click on each textbox to change the names.

Lunch Count

Lunch Count

One of the first pages I created to help facilitate classroom management was a lunch count page in SMART Notebook™.  As the students enter the classroom each morning and begin their morning tasks of turning in homework and notes, putting away their bags and coats, sharpening pencils, etc. they take 3 seconds to read the hot lunch option and drag the textbox with their name to the meal they’d like for the day.  When the students have settled into their seats to work on spelling, I can glance at the SMART Board™ and clearly see how many students selected each lunch option and who is absent.

SMARTtech™.com

Searching through various websites with SMART Board™ lessons can be overwhelming.  Allow me to showcase one site at a time to help you navigate these collections.

www.SMARTtech.com

My favorite resource for pre-made SMART Board™ lessons is www.smarttech.com.  It allows you to filter your search by grade and subject.  You can also view Two-Minute Tutorial videos or read Quick Reference Guides on the basic features of SMART Notebook™ and other SMART™ products/software.  Here are the direct links to the ones I’d recommend for new users.

SMART™ Lesson Activities (U.S.)

SMART Notebook™ 10 Toolbars Quick Reference Guide

SMART Notebook™ 10 Gallery Quick Reference Guide

SMART Notebook™ Software Learner Resource
This is a 38-page booklet with everything a new user needs to know to get started.