Back to School !? : 0 Need help with your best ideas!

[LisaD]

The Planet team is putting together a upcoming theme about "Back to School" and we were hoping that you would all share some of your Top Back to School ideas and flipcharts.

Here are some areas from which we would like to hear your ideas:

Top tips for introducing students to an Activclassroom. (Rules use of the pen, use of the Activotes, trying out the technology, student responsibilities)
Top tips for Welcoming Students: Ice Breakers or Getting to Know You activities and General Classroom Rules...)
Top tips for New Parents: introducing parents to the technology as well as using it to overview things like how homework works, how the teacher will communicate to the parents, overview of typical agenda and curriculum to be covered.
Top tips for Organizing teaching resources for the year....Please do share!!! :D:D:D

Also if there are ideas that don't fit into the categories above, send 'em on! :p

Thanks,

Lisa

[hlh422]

Lisa~
I'm not sure if this is what you are looking for but these are some of the things I do:

* Top tips for introducing students to an Activclassroom. On the first day of school, I show students all the great "toys" that I have: the board, Votes (now Expressions), slate, wand, etc. They have never used a slate so I pass it around and let them try writing on it. It takes awhile, but they love it. I also put up a blank flipchart page before we head to recess and I let students write their name on the board using the pen and changing to any color they want. This gets them used to using the pen and some of the other features. Of course by the end of the day, they're writing on the board all the time.

* Top tips for New Parents: This past year during Open House I had ACTIVotes sitting on the students' desks. The number one question was "What ARE these?" :D My whole Open House presentation was on a flipchart and I had an ACTIVote question on the main page asking parents to choose one of the areas they were most concerned about for 3rd grade (Homework, Class Rules, Curriculum, etc) after they voted they were able to see how their vote controlled my Open House presentation. Their concern was homework, so I flipped to the page on homework and took a long time to talk to them about it and ease their fears. I think they were shocked that they were not just merely listening to the teacher give a presentation, they were involved! A lot of the Dad's had to be forced to leave at the end of the evening as they were in awe of the technology. I can't wait to see them this year as it will be fun watching them text their answer using the Expressions. :p

* Top tips for Organizing teaching resources for the year.... I have found that embedding files right into my flipcharts have helped me organize units. If there is an accompanying worksheet that goes along with a flipchart page, I'll embed it onto the page so I know that I'll need to copy it or I can bring it up to show the students. My flipcharts have become my file cabinet!

[LisaD]

OOOOh, this is exactly what I am looking for! Do you have any example flipcharts for any of this?

Lisa

[Liam OMarah]

Thanks Heather - as Lisa said, this is just what we're looking for!

What about our other teachers in the forum from the UK and Australia etc. Do any of you have any tried and tested exercises to ease yourself and your class back into school life?

[srchlc]

On the first day of school, I use a flipchart to go over everything I want to remember to say in each class. There is a main menu page that links to all the pages. I have a page that introduces me, a page to talk about homework/tests, a page to show where everything in the room is located, etc. I used to hate it when a class would leave and I would think, "Did I remember to mention _______?" Now I know I hit all the main points with each class! :)

My Activotes live in the back of the room right under a table. When we are going to use them I open the box and set it on the table. Students see the box open as they come in and know that means to pick their's up.

In my flipcharts, I organize my lessons in different folders. I use a weekly calendar flipchart that organizes all my flipcharts for the week. Although, I have recently stolen the one on Planet that organizes them by month instead! :D A substitute that comes into my room will know exactly what he/she needs by looking at the calendar. It shows an icon of an Activote if they are needed that day, links to PDFs if necessary, has the appropriate lesson, and shows what the day's homework will be.

Holli

[lharvey]

For Parents: On back to school night my presentation is going to be in a flipchart, much the same way a lesson would be utilizing several features - hidden text, reveal tools, etc. - at the end of it I am going to have a 5 question fun "quiz", 1 for each type of response with Expression devices, so they can try them and see what they are about.

The first day I am going to introduce the students to all the tools - and we will probably "play" for awhile - much the same way I did when the kids walked in last Nov. and saw it installed afer a week off.:D

This will be my first year with Expressions (or any response system). I put together a flipchart for myself as much as the kids on using them - it is on the planet, but I also attached here if anyone wants it... it has not yet been opened in expressions so you can edit it to fit your needs ;)

[htemske]

I have attached a short flipchart that I use on the first day. In the notes I put the limited activstudio features I was showing - since the boards were new to the kids in 4th. It's definitely simple but it gives a little idea of a couple of cute things. Some are from copyrighted stuff but each could be easily recreated from scratch I was just taking the easy way out. Last year I also had a Getting to know Ms. Temske flipchart with multiple choice questions about me so they could try out the votes. This year I have expressions so I will be changing the getting to know me to incorporate more of the response types.

[lsmith2]

Heather, Heather, lharvey and Holli,

AWESOME STUFF!!!!! I absolutely love the expressions flipchart and plan on changing up my open house and first days of school activities now that I am inspired by you all.

Heather T., - I would love to know how to play Name-O. Thanks!

Laura Smith
4th grade
Avon Lake, OH

[htemske]

Laura,

It's just like bingo - for learning the students' names. I take pictures of each student at open house and then print the complete class set "contact sheet" size for each student. They cut them out and place them around their game board. Then I pull the names out of a cup and they mark them. I have an electronic version up on the board for following along.

[lsmith2]

Heather,

Thanks so much! What a great idea! I can't wait to try it!+wave+

Laura Smith
Avon Lake, OH

[mrsb]

Heather,
You are just a treasure trove of information, inspiration, and wonderful ideas! Love the first day flp. I also love how you use Name-O. Last year I used my digital camera to take pics of my 3rd graders, which I added as a folder in my Images section of the resource library. Throughout the year, their images were included in flip charts, used to assign class jobs for visual reinforcement, and sometimes to shout out students who were showing good citizenship, behavior, etc.

Two quick questions:
1. Did you create the puzzle in puzzlemaker.com? And if so, how did you get it to look so neat in your page? I tried this and the dimensions of my puzzle changed and the spacing of the letters was messed up also.

2. Did you take a pic of the worksheets with the Estimation jar activity and then paste them to the page in the flp? Or did you scan them? It is a really neat, professional look.

Thanks for sharing the ideas!
Leteshia

[htemske]

Thanks!! :-/



Two quick questions:
1. Did you create the puzzle in puzzlemaker.com? And if so, how did you get it to look so neat in your page? I tried this and the dimensions of my puzzle changed and the spacing of the letters was messed up also.

2. Did you take a pic of the worksheets with the Estimation jar activity and then paste them to the page in the flp? Or did you scan them? It is a really neat, professional look.



1. I actually made it in Essential Teacher Tools which is a Tom Snyder Program that I've had for years. If you can't get puzzlemaker to layout properly you could always send me a typed list of your kids names and I could make one up for you. It's super quick.

2. I used the camera tool and snapped the picture while it was in the side by side view in Word. BTW I just attached the word file (and another slight variation - more for others) in case you would like to adjust it for your 2nd graders.

[mrsb]

Heather,

Thanks for volunteering to create my puzzle for me. I don't have my class list yet but will send u a private msg when I do. You rock!!!!!!!!:D BTW, can Tom Snyder's program be bought online or anywhere else currently? Thanks also for attaching the docs and for being so willing to share what works for you.

Leteshia

[LisaD]

Have you tried this site?

http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/

It seems to have great tools to make games for the Activboard including word search. I used it almost every week with my 10 year olds to help him in learning his spelling words.

Once you create the puzzle, you can use the camera tool to "shoot" the puzzle (and again to "shoot" the answers for another page!)

It's really easy to use!

Lisa

[mrsb]

Heather,

I regularly create puzzles on puzzlemaker.com, but the problem with the camera tool capturing the whole puzzle has been frustrating. I usually can't get the entire puzzle unless I take pics of 2 pieces of it and then group them together. Even then, sometimes the alignment of the letters is off and students have a hard time finding the words they're searching for. I will play around with it some more and see. Thanks for responding though.

BTW, I Googled Tom Snyder's Essential Tools for Teachers. Here's the link if anyone else is interested in these resources.

http://www.tomsnyder.com/products/product.asp?SKU=ESSCLA (http://www.tomsnyder.com/products/product.asp?SKU=ESSCLA)

There are a great deal of wonderful resources at this site. Look into some of the other areas such as Science, Math, Kidspiration 3, etc.

*Leteshia

[LisaD]

Here's an example of a word search puzzle I did in Puzzlemaker. I did take it in two shots but I did one for the words and one for the puzzle.

Lisa

[mrsb]

Lisa,

Thanks for attaching an example. I have been playing around with the site and created a puzzle, then saved it as html since I was pasting it. It came out much better than usual, so I will use this option when I intend to incorporate in flps. Appreciate you being so thorough in clarifying this.

Enjoy the rest of your day!
* Leteshia

[cjurgensen]

Heather H,
I am still new to the whole Promethean world but I have a question. How do you embedd a pdf file in a flip chart? Also what have you found to be the best way or place to put them, on the actual page with an icon to click on or on the last page of the flip chart. Sorry if this is a little confusing but never thought to add in actual files (worksheets) into a flip chart and my mind is racing with ideas. It would be great to have the worksheets needed at my finger tips. Thanks

Cassy J????????

[hlh422]

Hi Cindy,

The best way that I embed is to link an image on my flipchart to my pdf or any other file. I usually pick some pic from the resource library that has to do with the topic of my flipchart and place it on my flipchart page. Then I place the action "Open Embedded Document or File" from the properties box, click "set" and then find the file on my computer. That's it. I have documents embedded in flipcharts and the kids don't even know they're there because they think it's a piece of clipart! :p But I know if I needed the pdf I could quickly open it from the flipchart page and place the flipchart overlay on it and I'm all set to go. There's no need to worry about lost worksheets in your file cabinet because it's already in the flipchart.

I hope you followed all this. If not I'll be happy to walk you through step by step.

[srchlc]

Sometimes I do the steps mentioned in the previous post to attach a worksheet in my flipcharts. But sometimes I use the camera tool only. I teach math and I usually do not want to work all the practice problems on my worksheets at the same time. If I want to only focus on a few problems on the worksheet, I use the camera and take a picture of only the problems I want. I can blow them up much larger to be easily viewable, they still look exactly how they look on the worksheet, and I do not have other problems distracting us from the ones we are discussing.

Holli

[LisaD]

I agree. I think that if you want to have the pdf "handy" to print out for student work, it's best to "attach" it, but if you want students to actually interact with it on the Activboard, it's probably better to capture portions of it on each page so that it is easier to read and write on.

Lia

[hlh422]

I take snapshots all the time of worksheets or workbook pages that we will do together in class and put them on the flipchart page. But if there's a page that they are doing independently, I'll attach it to the flipchart and bring it up just to go over directions or to show what to do.

[mrsb]

Really good idea for reviewing directions with worksheets, Heather. I intend to use this when assigning independent work after the students have worked at the flip chart.

[lharvey]

Two quick questions:
1. Did you create the puzzle in puzzlemaker.com? And if so, how did you get it to look so neat in your page? I tried this and the dimensions of my puzzle changed and the spacing of the letters was messed up also.

Leteshia


EdHelper.com has a Back To School section and they have a wordfind feature that you plug your students' names into - it comes out lined up nicely ... but you have to be a member - it is $20 for an entire year I believe.

[mpatton]

Heather...oooo flipchart guru..... can you share your Back to School for Parents FC with us or is it already posted? Astounding creativity![clap]

[mrsb]

lharvey,
Thanks for the reminder about edhelper.com. I used to have a subscription, but didn't renew it last year. I will revisit the site and may join up again since the resources were so useful. Appreciate your response!:)


Leteshia

[LisaD]

Heather did submit her Back to School lesson. I think this must be it:

Back to School Ideas
http://www.prometheanplanet.com/server.php?show=ConResource.15142

Lisa

[htemske]

I did, but I think they are actually talking about Heather Hamker's parent one that she mentioned. I don't know if that is posted. I had a PPT one last year (that I revised from before I had the ACTIVboard) but I want to change over to a more interactive flipchart. I'd love to see Heather's as a model too. :)

[hlh422]

Heather~

I'll be posting mine soon. I had this "little" problem where my computer crashed and the comp. technician could save everything BUT my flipcharts. :( Luckily I had some backups on my school computer, but the Open House flip only had bits and pieces saved so I'm piecing it all together and reworking a few pages. But I haven't forgotten about posting it. :o

[hlh422]

Hey guys,

I'm attaching my Open House flip. It's not perfect, but it's a guide to what I'll be doing. I do plan to incorporate the Expressions more at Open House, but haven't had the time to add it into the flip.:)

[mrsb]

Heather,

Wonderful flipchart!!!! [clap][clap][clap] I especially love the smiley face background and the animation on the first page. BTW, where did you find that adorable bird in the bow tie? :)

Leteshia

[hlh422]

Thanks Leteshia! The animation I got from www.animationfactory.com. I LOVE that site for animated backgrounds.

[lharvey]

Great Job Heather ... I've been trying to decide how I want to do mine - gave me great ideas. I like the first page - having the parents vote what the want to know - will give them a chance to use the response system - for those that have one ... I'm thinking of adding a quiz at the end to see who was paying attention :rolleyes:

[mrsb]

Heather H,

Thanks for the website info for animations. I checked it out................Way cool! Appreciate you sharing. You and Heather T are just awesome! I'll have to submit both your names (along with Ben Posner and Gautam Saha) for MVPM. (Most Valuable Planet Member) :D

Take care, and I look forward to reading more of your posts!+wave+

[clap][clap][clap]

[lalcala1]

Heather,

Your Open House flipchart is amazing! We're just about to post our Back to School theme and I think this would be a great addition to the list of flipcharts for the theme.

Do you mind uploading to Planet for all to see?

Thank you! And thanks to all of you who contributed your wonderful ideas for the theme! [clap]

Lori Alcala
Promethean Planet Team

[hlh422]

Thanks Lori!

Hopefully it's being uploaded right now. :)

[Lara]

What about our other teachers in the forum from the UK and Australia etc. Do any of you have any tried and tested exercises to ease yourself and your class back into school life?

We were only just finishing for the holidays when this thread appeared - might explain the lack of UK responses!

One of my favourites is to divide the board into four quarters and then each child comes up at some point over the first few days and personalises a square with their name and decoration, drawings, clip art. I then snapshot each child and store them in a folder n My Resources to use as name cards in lessons throughout the year - I also print them off to use as part of a class display.

I'm gearing up for my second Disney World experience so chances are my back to school stuff will have a WDW theme in September! Will share when i've chilled enough to start thinking about next year! {}

[LisaD]

Check out the Back to School Theme. It was posted today:

http://www.prometheanplanet.com/server.php?show=nav.15668

Back to School

Jazz up your lessons with the creative Welcome Backgrounds, School Calendars, and colorful images of classroom objects and school supplies in our Back to School Resource Pack. You’ll also find fun flipcharts with first-day activities and classroom rules and procedures for students of all levels. New and veteran teachers alike will especially appreciate the Back to School Survival Guide website!



Thanks for all of your great ideas!



lisa

[Kaylea]

Lisa,
Starting the first day of school I introduce my students to a daily review (starts the first week and goes throughout the year) ..."Jump Start Your Day" ...
As the students enter the room the lesson is on the board. Students have a small notebook just for morning review. They correct language sentences, answer Social Studies questions, or write a short paragraph from a prompt. They are given from 5-10 minutes to complete and then the answers are checked.
Names are drawn from colored sticks (picture attached) to select what student will go to the board and give answers.(a perfect way to get the day started with a positive attitude and review material already taught).
I believe that students need to enter the classroom with a positive attitude and a desire to learn. They need organization and structure during the day.
The students can't wait to get into the room to see what creative, funfilled, or magical JUMP START lesson I have prepared for them..

I also have the tickertape going with any daily announcements or reminders. It's a big hit with the students because they never know what other "headlines" will be posted like: "Thanks, John, for sharpening the pencils yesterday" ... "Madison, your vacation story was awsome" ... "Happy Birthday, Keaton ... Have a great day !!!" [clap] [clap] [clap]

[Kaylea]

I love all the ideas and suggestions that everyone is sharing. It helps in preparing for this school year. Can't wait to get things started. :)
Have attached some of my classroom management that helps me get things organized and started for the year. Am looking forward to other great posts.... Brenda

[mrsb]

Brenda,

I LOVE your classroom set up! It is so organized and well structured so that students get to work on their ability to be responsible individuals. Kudos to you!![clap] Do your student computers have the student version of AS or the regular version? Just curious to know. Keep up the great work and have a wonderful school year. +wave+

[Smithtl]

I think you can start off the school year on day 1 by using the Activotes as a "Get to Know Your School" or "Who's Who at Your School". This activity would include questions like:

Who is the guidance counselor for your grade level?
Who is our new Assistant Principal?
Which administrator would you see if you need a locker or parking decal?
Where do you go to get an admit after being absent from school?
How many tardies are allowed before discipline action is taken?
(You can even include pictures of the people, especially if you have new administrators or counselors in your school)This could be designed as a multiple choice format and then could lead into a discussion on school rules or classroom procedures. Just another way to engage the students while reviewing the school handbook &/or other school or classroom procedures! ;)

[mrsb]

Smithl,

Welcome to the forum! +wave+Great ideas mentioned in your post. Keep contributing to the Planet, and I'll see you around the forum!

Leteshia

[ictfacilitator]

What about with some fun with the digital camera built in or setup.... take the photos and manipulate. Especially easy if using Photobooth on the Mac.

On a mac take them in photobooth and drop them straight into a page of comicLife. Pupils add one at a time on the board and you will have a fun gallery by the time all the kids have had a go.

[jvines]

I teach second grade, got my board up and running in January of 08, I also got a Lumens Doc. Handler and laptop that all work together for us. I let my students have ownership of all the tools, but we learn how to use them together. My parents all showed up for our Meet Your Teacher hour and they were glad to have their child in a classroom with and ActivBoard. They were really happy to learn that another school system hired me for the summer to train their teachers on ActivBoard Basics.

I turned my board on before school started Wednesday morning and we used it all day. By Friday, all I had to do was turn it on and nod to the class and they were in front sitting correctly. I read on another tread here about another way to seat students around the board that I will try.



Top tips for introducing students to an Activclassroom. we just jumped right in using our board, then we made some rules when they realized a free for all was not the best thing for learning. So they made some very good rules... sit and pay attention, boys had the wand to girls and girls hand to boys, can't sit in in front of the computer table that sits to the right of the board go give moving room for me and the students.
Top tips for Welcoming Students: Ice Breakers I used our What's For Lunch flip chart to do this.
Top tips for New Parents: We had a Meet Your Teacher before school started, I had a flipchart to show parents what we will be doing during the year. The parents seemed to love it. We have an Open House in September... I plan on parents coming up and using the board that night.
Top tips for Organizing I keep all our tools together, I have shown several students how to turn on the camera, ActivStudio, the projector- it is their job to do those thingsI love seeing what everyone is doing... change is good, improving is good....