What good ideas do you have to use a SmartBoard in a classroom?

Question

I teach 5th grade, and this year I will be getting a SmartBoard in my classroom permanently. I have used a projector and PC for years now, but was wondering some of your good ideas on how I can maximize its use in my room. I teach all subjects but S.S. and love technology. Currently, I run a slide show each morning using Power Point with announcements including: morning work, morning procedures, lunch menu, a short United Streaming video, and any communication I want to relay. I have always thought other teachers, parents, and peers have the best ideas! Thanks for all of your suggestions!

Answer 1

The only teacher I ever had that really tried to utilize the smart board was my high school math teacher.

She used it for announcements at the beginning of class, too, but also all of the key notes in her lessons, and when we reviewed homework.

I always really liked the way we reviewed homework, it was really effective. She would hand out sheets with the correct answers, and if a student had a question about how a problem worked they would write the number of the problem on the board. Then a different student would volunteer (although, everyone had to volunteer at least once each quarter) to work the problem out on the board and explain it to the class. I always thought it was really effective, because when a student has to explain how they solved a problem to another student, and how they knew what to do, it really helps them to understand the process better themselves.

Other than that, we never really used it, except as an overhead screen.

Answer 2

For geography, we have drawn maps (physical, demographic, political) together.

I have had the kids "tap" a state name/capital in text on the side of a map and "tap" it into the right place.  

I have had kids practice handwriting write on board and if the Smartboard can't read it...how can anyone else...LOL!

The kids all love taking a turn!

Answer 3

If you have any program that you can run on your computer, you can pretty much run it on the smart board. So that means if you want to do something from brainpop.com, or any other web program, just run it through the projector and have the kids use the pens like a mouse to click on the right answer. My kids like do to anything on the smart board that they can. They'll ask to do math problems on the board, any software program they love. There are also bluetooth hand held devices that let kids use the smart board from their seat. This is extra nice for shy kids or kids that can't physically use the board.

Answer 4

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