Need something interactive for rhyming, letter-sound correspondance, one-to-one correspondance and colors? Look no further…Sesame Street’s got you covered. Cute interactives that you can use whole group to model the skill and then hae kids play independantly…Let me know if you want me to model it for you in the classroom…
The title really says it all…PBS Kids has Interactive Whiteboard games. They cover all content areas, but most are at the K-2 level. Teachers in the primary grades definitely need to check it out. Also if you have an MCPS setup in your room, don’t forget that you can use these games with your wireless keyboard.
Let me know when you try it…
If you are interested at all in using Promethean software, you need to be a part of this user group. I have invitations, so if you need one and I haven’t given one to you, please see me. Folks will be sharing tips and tricks and talking about what works when using the software. Active participation will require that you come with questions and ideas. If you’ve made a flipchart, bring it. If you have an idea for a Promethean activity – bring it. You’ll need to sign up by Tuesday January 20th using the PPS survey system. You can only sign up while attached to the PPS network – here is the link: http://survey.pps.k12.va.us/TakeSurvey.asp?SurveyID=32Jm636Jl62KG
Sessions will be held from 4:30 – 6:00pm on Thursday January 22, Thursday February 19, and Thursday March 19. Participation in this activity (you must attend all three session for a certificate) will entitle you to 6 professional development points. In addition this activity counts as a “main course” for your Interactive Classroom Professional Development portfolio.
The team putting this together has made a great effort to make sure that folks are grouped appropriately by expertise with the software and by grade level and/or content area, so I think everyone will reap some benefit by attending. If you have questions, let me know.
Ms. Davis at Victory asked me to teach a lesson on measurement. I’m so excited ’cause we’ve been talking about my coming to her class for years…so I’ve got this really cool plan: I want to use the ActiveBoard with one or two of the Flipcharts I found on http://www.prometheanplanet.com/ and then I think I’ll use this interactive I found at BBC!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/maths/activities/measures.shtml
Ok, add these two for science – Electricity!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/activities/conductors.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/science/activities/changing_circuits.shtml
Obe Hostetter is a great Instructional Technology Resource Teacher (ITRT) in Rockingham County. He has created a site for teachers to share technology integration resources. The address for his website is: http://www.rockingham.k12.va.us/resources/soltechintegration.htm since the teachers who are submitting resources are all from Virginia schools, the resources (PowerPoint games, self-correcting excel quizzes, Kidspiration graphic organizers etc.) are all SOL correlated.
The site also has several Promethean flipcharts. You can use them even if you don’t have an Interactive Whiteboard. You just need to download the Promethean viewer to your laptop and set up a data projector. You won’t have all the interactivity, but you’ll be able to use the flipchart. If you need help with setting up a data projector, let me know.
This post originally referenced Danville Schools…They have subsequently changed access rights to their site. So I’d like to offer up a different resource instead. You can find many links and resources for Whiteboards at: http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/ict/IWB/promethean.htm
A highlight of my week was working with Ms. Greene at Brighton using Edugame. After getting some training on use of Edugame a few weeks ago, Ms. Greene decided to use the student response system this week. Since she had never used the system with students before, Ms. Greene asked me to co-teach. We had fun, and I lost the bet. (I bet Ms. Greene that her kids would get out of control as students often do the first time they use student response systems).
I am scheduled to co-teach with Edugame over at Victory next week. I hope everything goes as well there. It will if Ms. McMenamin and Mrs. Davis are as prepared as Ms. Greene was. I was pleasantly surprised when Ms. Greene checked in with me the day before our class was scheduled so that we could make sure the equipment was all working. It was a good thing too. The data projector wouldn’t work, so Mrs. Thomas (media specialist) provided a replacement.
Student response systems can be a great way to collect data on your students and find out if they understand information that you have presented. Setting up for the use of Edugame or any student response system can be a little tedious. You have to create a student database or grade book if you want to capture the student data. Ms. Greene was glad she took the time to do it right. The data we collected while the kids were playing will help her to know what topics need to be reviewed to prepare the students for assessment. Edugame is strictly a science initiative with the games and questions provided by the office of science. Up until this point, we have only had student response kits for 4th and 5th grade science teachers.
The really good news is that Brighton now has 2 sets of Promethean Activotes. These sets will be piloted by Mrs. Petry and Ms. Gibson as part of their MCPS classroom upgrade. The IT department will determine if other MCPS teachers will be able to use the Activotes when the pilot phase has been completed. Hopefully by the spring, all MCPS teachers will have access to student response systems. You can find more information about Promethean Activotes here: http://www.logicalchoicetech.com/classroom_solutions/menu/view/12.html
I love these little eggs!!
