BrainPOP

BrainPOP

Let Tim and Moby escort you and your students on a topical adventure! Use these approximately two- to five-minute animated videos at BrainPOP to enhance your reading, writing, English, math, science, social studies, art, music, technology, etc. lessons. The best feature is the ten-question multiple-choice quiz that follows each video. Get all of your students involved in responding to these comprehension checks! Activity ideas and worksheets accompany each topic as well. This is one of my favorite sites to support the skills and topics of study I teach. While you’ll need to purchase a subscriptions to fully take advantage of this site (and its partner sites BrainPOP, Jr. and BrainPOP, Espanol), there are several free videos. Click on “Free Stuff” to see it all. BrainPOP, Jr. is intended for K-3 grades and BP is geared toward 3-12 grades. Preview the video you think you’d like to show before airing it. Sometimes the vocabulary and content is too challenging for my third graders, so not all videos are appropriate to show.  You’ll also want to register for the free “BrainPOP Educators.”  Gain access to all of the activity pages, various graphic organizers, ideas for using BrainPOP in your classroom, and a lot more!

Set Picture Transparency

Set Picture Transparency

When you find free clipart online or through programs like Microsoft Word and want to insert it into a SMART Notebook™ file with a colored background, do you ever find that a white box appears around the graphic?  Follow these steps to remove that distracting block by making it transparent.

1.  Click on your image.  A blue line will appear around it to signify it was selected to have an action performed.

2.  Using the drop-down arrow, select “Set Picture Transparency.”

3.  Use the eyedropper to select the places you’d like to be the same color as the background of your page.  The white area will be removed.  These areas will become transparent.  Select “OK” when you are done.

Online Stopwatch

Online Stopwatch

Do you give your students timed tasks?  Do you use a kitchen timer, sand hourglass, stopwatch, or the classroom clock to mark the time?  Last year a colleague of mine turned me on to www.online-stopwatch.com.  The students are actually able to watch the countdown as it happens on the SMART Board™ and better pace themselves.  Teachers can choose from several versions including a digital clock, analog clock, egg timer, bomb, or split lap timer.  I use this site for giving math fact timed tests or oral reading fluency timed assessments.  It is also useful for counting down to the end of group work or setting time limits for transitions between tasks.

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.

Magic Pen Tool

Magic Pen Tool

The Magic Pen tool is an additional gadget in the latest version of SMART Notebook™.  It allows users to spotlight, to magnify, and use disappearing ink.  Simply click on the Magic Pen icon on the top toolbar with your finger (or mouse cursor) to select this function.  Then use your finger to write a word or draw a line.  After a few seconds, the magical blue ink vanishes!  Draw a complete circle and a spotlight will appear.  The size and location can be altered by dragging up/down, left/right in the center of the circle.  Draw a complete rectangle, and you’ll get a magnifying tool.  Play around with this amazing feature, and you’ll find many ways to use it in your teaching.

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.