Think about all of the things you repeatedly say throughout the week. Think about all of the kids who are visual learners. Now think about how much time and breath you’ll save by making simple to do lists or checklist for your students using SMART Notebook! I prefer to use 3-5 simple statements coupled with a clipart image for each. The students will become so use to seeing and following the routine directions that you’ll smile and pat yourself on the back.
Wordle, www.wordle.net, is a website for creating word clouds. Simply type in a series of words using commas. The more often the word is included, the larger it will appear in the final word cloud. Then customize the themes, fonts, and colors. Use the SMART camera tool to take a picture and add it to your SMART file. There are a variety of classroom applications. Ask your students to write down five words to describe a character from a story, a scientific concept following the unit of story, or an upcoming holiday. This can be an individual or small group task. Or create a Wordle on a topic of study and use it to preview the chapter. Students can view it and make connections to prior knowledge. Or type each of your student’s names to create a class word cloud that can be an image on your classroom website or your classroom computer’s desktop background. TIP: Type your words in a Word document and paste them into the field on the site. Because if you decide to “go back” and add, delete, or change words, you will be sent back to the home page. Your work is not saved on the site. Also, for two words that you’d like to stay together such as United States, put a ~ between the words (United~States).
I sometimes use a traditional paper graffiti wall to accompany a novel study, read aloud, or thematic unit. It gives students an opportunity to express their thoughts in words and pictures and promotes a written discussion. The SMART™ Board takes this activity to another level. For a chapter book, you can have multiple SMART Notebook™ pages, one for each chapter. The larger electronic version of a graffiti wall also allows you to more easily discuss posted comments and questions with the entire class. It can be left up for students to use while the teacher reads aloud, during silent reading, or as a literacy station activity.
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
The Second Way to Build Your Seating Chart
Do you want students to have an infinite bank of coins to use in a SMART™ Board activity? Do you need many textboxes to create and manipulate individual student names? Save yourself time and/or space on SMART™ pages by using the “Infinite Cloner” function.
Using a SMART Board™ certainly motivates and engages learners of all ages. After awhile, you may find it more challenging to keep their interests piqued. Spice up your Notebook™ lessons by including the “Erase to Reveal” trick. Follow the three simple steps below.
1. Select a pen color that matches your background.
2. Color over the text you’d like to hide with that pen color.
3. Use the eraser to remove the ink and reveal the hidden text.
Try having the entire class concentrate really hard on the right answer. Then ask a student to rub the eraser tool over the area to reveal the answer. They’ll think it’s magic! Kids love to be entertained by their teachers and get involved in lessons. “Erase to Reveal” does both!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Kristen Foley 
