As I write this, I'm 2 days shy of the 7th month anniversary of my very first Fresh Look Fridays post. Time flies when you're having fun.
And that, my friends, is a reason to celebrate.
In honour of this not-so-traditional birthday celebration, I thought I'd take a look back at some of my all-time favourite websites that I've reviewed in the Fresh Look Fridays section of this blog. I also thought that I'd steal a blog post on the same topic that I initially wrote for a FANTASTIC Ning. It's not plagiarism if I'm the original author, is it? :p
So without further ado, here is a slightly abridged version of my original post from smartboardrevolution.ning.com. [side note: if you're a teacher who uses SMART products in the classroom and you haven't joined SMART Board Revolution...do it.]
I'm off to eat cake.
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I LOVE SMART Notebook. But I sometimes feel that 'we', as educators, get a little stuck in the software.
While Notebook is a fantastic resource to create interactive content, let's not forget that SMART Boards themselves are the interactive piece. Therefore, using them in conjunction with interactive content, regardless of the source, ensures that you use your SMART Board to its fullest extent.
I've found that with the explosion of interactive whiteboards, interactive educational content on the web has also increased dramatically. Generally, I find that the 'best' content to use in the classroom is that which allows for a small group of 3-5 students to collaborate around a common objective on the SMART Board.
This may be a basic recall/review game online or a problem-based inquiry activity; the key is to have the students use the SMART Board as a collaboration tool.
I've stumbled across a million excellent websites, but I thought I'd feature a few of my favourites today:
Practice trying to make secondary colours by having Peep jump on the correct tubes of primary colours. Use the hose to wash off your paint splats. Read my original post on this website
here.
I LOVE this site -- what a great visual to help students understand the concept of 'rep by pop'. I love that there is really no set objective here other than to get students exploring, making connections between colours and the national parties, discovering oddities in the structure (such as an NDP MP in Conservative Alberta) and questioning why Nunavut only has one representative. Read my original discussion of this site
here.
A great little virtual lab for students to experiment with. There are TONS of these available on the web, and while not meant to replace hands-on activities in the classroom, they provide a great supplemental activity when resources are sparse. My original discussion of this site is expanded
here.
Think you're able to replicate 2D images in 3 dimensions? Try it out -- it's harder than it looks! See my initial post on this awesome website
here.
These are just 4 of my favourite educational, interactive websites. I cannot express how many more awesome sites are out there to support small group collaboration on your SMART Board! All it takes is a good Google search.
Have a fantastic weekend!
Vanessa
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