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iboard: Alien Pairs to 10

December 27, 2009December 27, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3630 views

What it is: Alien Pairs to 10 is a fun warm up game for the primary math classroom. Students are given 60 seconds to find as many pairs of 10 as they can. The numbers students have to choose from are written on Aliens, with the target number (always 10) on the spaceship. Students drag pairs of aliens into the spaceship and check the answer to find out how many pairs that equal 10 they can find.

How to integrate iboard: Alien Pairs to 10 into the classroom: Alien Pairs to 10 will bring out the inner competition in any student. To use this site with an interactive whiteboard, split your students into teams. Have students face off to find out who can find the most pairs of 10 before their 60 seconds are up. This site was created with interactive whiteboards in mind but, to be honest, I think this site is best suited for classroom computers as a math center activity. Keep a running scoreboard next to your classroom computers where you post the high scores of the week.

Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased. Alien Pairs to 10 is one of their freebie samples.

Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: Alien Pairs to 10 in your classroom.

iboard: Treasure Hunt

December 22, 2009December 22, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1832 views

What it is: Treasure Hunt is an interactive game where students practice following directions to coordinates on a grid. Students are given a set of directions that they must follow to find a hidden treasure. Directions are in the format of left, right, up, and down.

How to integrate Treasure Hunt into the classroom: Treasure Hunt gives students a platform to practice direction. Students are given directions such as take 3 steps right, take 1 step down, take 4 steps left, dig. If students have followed the directions correctly, they will reveal a hidden treasure. Use Treasure Hunt for a whole class game. Split students into two teams. Have each team form a line at the interactive whiteboard. Team one sends up their first player to follow the first direction, then the next player on team one takes a turn, etc. If they correctly follow directions and dig up a treasure their team receives a point. Repeat with team two. Students could also practice coordinates at a math center on the classroom computers.

Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased. Treasure Hunt is one of their freebie samples.

Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: Treasure Hunt in your classroom.

iboard: Shopping to a Budget

December 22, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3081 views

What it is: Shopping to a Budget is another of iboard’s offering. Students are given a set amount of money to spend. They can choose to “purchase” a variety of candies to spend all of their money. This is a UK site so all of the coins are British (not US dollar). There are 3 levels of difficulty to choose from. With each level of difficulty, the amount to spend increases.

How to integrate Shopping to a Budget into the classroom: Shopping to a Budget helps students practice budgeting and counting coins. Shopping to a Budget gives students the opportunity to use and practice addition and subtraction. Students also practice using math language (“you’ve spent 10p, how much more to 27p? What is the difference?”) This is a fun little activity for practicing counting money, addition, and subtraction on the interactive whiteboard. Split students into teams and reveal the target numbers. Students can work within their teams to decide what their team would buy. Invite one team up to the board to demonstrate how they solved the problem. Other teams can offer ideas about how they solved the problem differently. Shopping to a Budget would also make a great practice center on classroom computers or in a computer lab setting.

Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased. Shopping to a Budget is one of their freebie samples.

Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: Shopping to a Budget in your classroom.

iboard: Crossing the Water

December 22, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments2154 views

What it is: Crossing the Water is a great logic game for the interactive whiteboard that encourages problem solving as students try to get a family across the water safely. Teachers can set up the activity with a set number of adults and children, students guess how many trips will have to be made to get the whole family across the water. If there is too much weight in the boat, it will sink.

How to integrate Crossing the Water into the classroom: Crossing the Water is a fun logic and problem solving activity for students to work out. Use Crossing the Water as an introduction mind bending activity to begin math class. Students can work individually or in small groups to work out their strategy. Call groups up to the whiteboard to demonstrate their solution. Compare the solution with the way that other groups solved the problem. Because you can change the number of adults and children in the problem, each day can present a new challenge. Crossing the Water could also be used as a math center activity on classroom computers.

Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased. Crossing the Water is one of their freebie samples.

Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: Crossing the Water in your classroom.

iboard: Balancing Animals

December 16, 2009Kelly Tenkely3 Comments3194 views

What it is: Balancing Animals is another fun activity for your interactive whiteboard that lets students use animals as ‘non-standard’ units to weigh others. Students can drag an animal (or animals) up to the scale, other students try to balance the scale by choosing animals that would cause the scale to be balanced.

How to integrate Balancing Animals into the classroom: Balancing Animals is a nice visual for students to use to learn about weight. Choose an animal to weigh and drag it to the scale. Encourage students to whisper a guess of how many animals it would take to balance the scale to their elbow buddy (the student next to them). Groups of students can come to the board and test out their guesses. This game could be completed on an interactive whiteboard or on classroom computers as a math center.

Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased. Balancing Animals is one of their freebie samples.

Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: Balancing Animals in your classroom.

iboard: Visual Numbers

December 14, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment1500 views

What it is: Visual Numbers is another great sample application from iboard for interactive whiteboards. Visual Numbers lets students add numbers (1-20) to the workspace above. You can show or hide counters to represent each number. This is a fantastic visual for students learning how to count, add, subtract, or multiply.

How to integrate iboard: Visual Numbers into the classroom: Visual Numbers will help your students to visualize number concepts. Ask students to add all the numbers on the workspace without the spots, then reveal the spots for students to check their answers. Put several numbers in the workspace and ask students to order numbers from smallest to largest. Reveal the spots so that students can check their answers and visualize which numbers are smallest and which are largest. Teach beginning multiplication skills by putting groups of numbers on the board (for example three groups of eight). Students can visualize what 3 groups of 8 looks like by revealing the spots. Visual Numbers is wonderful for the interactive whiteboard or as a math center on classroom computers.

Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased. Visual Numbers is one of their freebie samples.

Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: Visual Numbers in your classroom.

iboard: Interactive Number Square

December 14, 2009December 14, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments2936 views

What it is: Interactive Number Square is another great sample application from iboard for interactive whiteboards. This number grid is versatile allowing you to hide numbers, change the color of squares, change the start number of the grid, add more or less columns and rows, and choose a step number.

How to integrate iboard: Interactive Number Square into the classroom: Interactive Number Square is a wonderful tool for teaching various number concepts. Hide some numbers and ask students to determine which numbers are missing based on those left on the board. Ask them if the numbers are in a pattern, go up in steps of 1, 2, 5, etc. Create a number pattern and hide the answers. Encourage students to keep the pattern going as long as they can and then invite students to check their answers on the Number Square. The Number Square can be used for everything from counting, to learning multiples, to skip counting, to adding, to introducing algebraic concepts and understanding number relationships. Students can interact with the Number Square on an interactive whiteboard or on classroom computers as a math center.

Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased. Interactive Number Square one of their freebie samples.

Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: Interactive Number Square in your classroom.

iboard: Counting Fish

December 14, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3665 views

What it is: Counting Fish is a fun sample interactive whiteboard activity from iboard. Students can count fish added to the ocean, add, group, subtract, and compare sets. Click on “Totals” to find out how many of each fish have been added to the ocean.

How to integrate iboard: Counting Fish into the classroom: Counting Fish is a great little web application that can be used in the primary math class. Use with the interactive whiteboard asking questions such as: “Can you count the creatures as I put them into the ocean?” “There are two lobsters already, how many will there be if we add four more?,” etc. Counting Fish can be used to help students visualize complex problems or word problems. Set up Counting Fish on classroom computers as a math center where students can practice adding, subtracting, grouping, and counting. Create question cards to accompany the center that students can answer with a partner when they visit the center.

Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased. Counting Fish is one of their freebie samples.

Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: Counting Fish in your classroom.

National Geographic Image Collection

December 11, 2009December 11, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3016 views

What it is: National Geographic is known for their poignant images. Now, those images can be viewed online in the National Geographic Image Collection. There are more than 11 million images that chronicle the world from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century. Students can also view the history of photography from daguerreotypes to digital through an interactive time line. The image collection includes images related to exploration, wild life, people and cultures, and science and climate change.

How to integrate National Geographic Image Collection into the classroom: The National Geographic Image Collection is an impressive set of images from around the world. The old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” proves to be true. These images are indeed worth a thousand words or more. Use these images to help you tell the story of our world as you teach students about history, science, wild life, and world culture. These images will help to connect your students with learning in ways that a textbook can’t. Use the Image Collection for creative writing prompts. Allow your students to choose an image from the collection to tell a story about. The interactive time line can be used to teach students about the history of photography.

Tips: I learned about this site from a Tweet by @McTeach a few weeks ago on Twitter, thanks Karen!

Leave a comment and share how you are using National Geographic Image Collection in your classroom.

Liberty Kids

December 10, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2165 views

What it is: Liberty Kids teaches about Colonial life in America through a variety of educational activities. Students can explore the animated “Now and Then” segments which compare and contrast various lifestyles, cultural, technological, and health issues from the Revolutionary War period and life in the 21st century. The Liberty News Maker lets students create newspapers that include headlines, stories, and pictures. Students can engage in games and activities that allow them to discover important information about how the United States was founded. The Revolution Archive allows students to learn more about historical figures of the Revolution. Here students will find artists renderings and historical facts about important people, places, and events from the time period. The site also includes a great teacher section that includes ideas for making the Colonial period relevant to your students, on and off line activities for students to complete, and scripts for short plays that students can perform where they will hear the voices of slaves and free men, American Indians, women, and a poor immigrant.

How to integrate Liberty Kids into the classroom: My 5th grade students LOVE Liberty Kids. They especially enjoy watching the “Now and Then” video clips together as a class. (In fact, their homeroom teacher has started using these clips as a reward in her classroom.) This site bring history to a kid level and helps them understand history as it relates to them. Students get a great view of what life was like during the Revolutionary War as well as learn about key events, people, and places of the Colonial period. Use the play scripts to connect your students to the lesser known voices during the Revolutionary War. Let them explore the site individually on classroom computers or explore as a class with an interactive whiteboard or with a projector. The animated video clips and Revolution Archive can be used with the whole class but the games are best for students to play individually on their own computer. After students have a good understanding of Colonial Life, they can create and print out a newspaper cover that they create.

Tips: There are some CBS advertisements on this site that will be very appealing to students. Make sure that they know which portions of the site are advertisements and which are part of the Liberty Kids website. This is a great opportunity to teach students about how to spot an advertisement and why websites use advertising.

Leave a comment and share how you are using Liberty Kids in your classroom.