September 2007

Many S.M.A.R.T. Activities in Henderson Enhanced by SMART Boards!

With so many schools having SMART Boards installed (no relationship to the
S.M.A.R.T. Program but it seems EVERYONE wants to be smart!), we loved what we heard was taking place in Henderson!

"I use the SMART board for our high frequency words, Spanish words, and spelling practice.  I darken the room and have the sight words on a slide show, written in a large font.  As they flash, the children follow the directions given to them. Or I type words in different sized fonts, and/or I place the words at different places on the board to allow for eye movement.  Most of the time I type the words in red but there are times I use different colors too.  I can also program the words to appear in a vertical line one at a time or to show all of them.  
The SMART board comes in handy for Near/Far Focus also.  I pass out a near focus chart to each child and then the far chart is on the SMART board.  This is kind of cool.  We can all do it at the same time.
Visual Discrimination with shapes is practiced on the SMART board by having rows of different shapes and then having shape pieces that the kids slide with their fingers to match the shape to the one in the row above. The shapes in the rows are like the game board and the pieces below are like the pieces the kids slip into place.
Another idea we use is scanning.  I type the letters I want the students to loop or fill in the circles, within a continuous line.  They can fill in a space with a poke of the finger.  The students do the looping with one of the SMART board pens.
I also use the SMART board for tracing (like Wagon Wheels or mazes for eye movement exercises).  I have drawn and scanned pictures into the system and the students trace them slowly with their fingers, first with one eye, then the other eye, and then with both eyes. We trace figure 8's and large circles on the SMART board also.
There are so many games offered on the SMART board also, like spelling games. One of them has a spelling word hidden and the shade slowly exposes the word and the kids guess the word as the word is exposed.  There is sound involved in this game also, for correct pronunciation.
B and P sorting can also be one on the SMART board.  X's and O's also. This is just the beginning.  I am waiting anxiously for my workshop on how to use the SMART board!"

Faith Sohns

S.M.A.R.T. Team Leader, 1st grade