Sunday, November 9, 2014

Yes, we are very fortunate to each have a laptop, unlimited Internet Access and SMART boards in each of the classrooms where I teach. I think that, unfortunately, many teachers use them as a display board or as a device to simply show movies using the projector. Unless teachers are trained or willing to do some research, it is hard to see what a SMART Board is capable of doing and teaching. One of the tools that I will share is actually a site titled SMART Exchange. This is a place where lessons are already created and uploaded onto the site for you to download and use instantly on your SMART Board.
It is free to join SMART Exchange and most of the lessons are also free of charge once you are a member. All of the lessons on the site are interactive and it is a great opportunity for students to get up and show what they are learning. I will note that in order to successfully download and use the lessons as they are supposed to be used, your computer will need to have the SMART board software installed on it.

Once you are on, you can search by subject, grade or file type. If my subject happened to be 'moon phases' I would type that into the search box. I would also select 5th grade and science. Before actually downloading the lesson, you have the option of previewing it first. This will show you a few of the slides that you will see once you have completed the download. These lessons are great because they are all interactive and if any of them require a student doing work, there is an option to save the work that is done to revisit it later. I have found that I use the SMART exchange lessons to enhance my current curriculum. They are excellent for review and the grade levels are right on target. Even if you do not have a SMART Board or the capabilities, I highly recommend checking out this site for lesson ideas!




1 comment:

  1. Hi Melissa,
    I am glad that I am learning new stuff about the smart board. I think that the more you use it the more you discover a more creative way to use it.
    Thank you!

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