The SmartBoard lesson I have created is intended to compliment a grade 1 mathematics lesson in which students are working with the equal sign. This is a highly interactive SmartBoard lesson that the students should be engaged in and have the opportunity to come up to the board to participate. The SmartBoard is a very interactive tool that helps students grasp challenging concepts. The purpose of this activity is for students to understand that the equal sign does not merely mean 'the answer', rather it means 'the same as' and 'equal to'.
Please see the following link for access to a PDF overview of the the SmartBoard lesson. This version is limited and does not portray the interactive aspect of the lesson, if you would like a full version please contact me at [email protected]
One way to use technology efficiently in the classroom would be to use it as a means of communicating with students’ parents. The podcast I have created can be used as one method of keeping in touch with parents in an interactive way. Not only does sending a short podcast each week explaining what students are working on in math one week allow parents to be refreshed on and corrected on mathematical terminologies, it ensures that what students are being told is consistent. Podcasts serve has a valuable tool that parents may be more inclined to listen to for 2 minutes than actually read about in an e-mail.
www.sumdog.com is a unique approach to mathematics. This is a distinguished kids that successfully makes math fun. Although students will spend their free time playing for fun, teacher love it because it can be used as a means of evaluation. Teachers can create a login and develop a class list for their students to play this game (at their individual level) and the teacher can see their progress. Furthermore, students can compete against one another answering different math questions without knowing that their game is tailored to their level. Sumdog is the kind of tool that can be integrated into the classroom; if there are computers in the room this website would be ideal as a filler for students who finish work early.
Unlike the previous websites this one is designed and geared towards students parents. There are a number of tips available to help parents know how they can help their children with their homework, where to look for answers etc. This site was created in conjunction with the National Council of Teacher of Mathematics making this a comprehensive, accurate and trustworthy site to check for answers. This is a tool that would be valuable to offer parents at the beginning of the school year as the majority of the math question they would have are explained on this website. Furthermore, this website does have a sections where students (aimed for middle school age students- but could be used for enrichment at the elementary level) can work on their problem solving skills. There is a teachers corner where valuable resources can be purchased.
Although there are countless math-related websites available to students on the Internet, there are few that offer the range of difficulty and accommodate students grade levels as well as this site. Additionally, this website stuck out to me because it incorporates a number of familiar and interactive games. For example, one of the games available is math baseball. Not only can the level of difficulty be modified, but students are also given the choice to play using addition, subtraction, multiplication, division or all of the above. As a teacher, this is the kind of website that I would recommend to all my students. It is something that if we had the resources they could play at school, but it could equally be used as practice or revision for all students.