Let the Craziness Begin

So my lesson plans for 3 days are out the window!!!  So much for working with my Smart Slate or anything else.  We have had so many "unexpected" activities thrown at us and to top it off we are supposed to get our first snow today.  If you have ever been around little kids when the weather changes you know what that means for keep control.  I already have plans to come in on Saturday and just pretend to teach using my Slate so that I can show the kids.  I do have to say though.  A quiet way to get their attention is to use the SMART Dice.  You just type a number at the top and then keep clicking until that number appears.  They have to be in their seats with desks cleared before the dice come up that number.  Hint:  try to use 6, 7 or 8.  Those seem to come up the most when using 2 dice.
The primary grades will sit for awhile and watch that then when they think the number has popped up they look to see who didn't make it.  (No punishment, just a said face!)

One week to go...

I had a fairly productive weekend!  I think I have some Smart techniques that I am going to attempt with my class this week.  One is with rolling dice to help them add.  I am going to use the Smart Slate to use the Smart dice.  It is hard to create things at home and then try them out at school in the morning.  Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't so I have to have an alternate plan for the times things don't work, but at least I am plugging away.  I really can't wait for January (although I love Christmas) because I can see where having the board will be so much easier than being sure that I always have the Slate charged and making sure that my hand doesn't rest on the board when I am writing.  I will keep you posted how it goes.  Hopefully it will happen tomorrow!  :)

Podcast of Camping Lesson

Here is my podcast for my camping lesson.  I like that I can put this on my blog.  I didn't realize that was possible without a lot of clicking and changing.  This is for a unit that I will be doing in a few weeks with my class.  We will be having a campfire in the land behind our school (yes, it is owned by the school).  It is surprising how many children don't camp anymore or even travel much so I felt this would be a nice tie-in to the lesson with some extra information and pictures.  Enjoy!