Mrs. Blossom's Blog

Flash Warning

Mrs. Blossom — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:35:07 +0000

You know that an item is created with Flash when you open the Interactive and Multimedia folder in Notebook and see that the item is attached to a red circle containing a blue letter f. The items in the Lesson Activity Toolkit are also flash items. Your file will behave better if you do not put multiple flash items on one page. Keep it simple!

Happy Learning!

Mrs. Blossom

Financial Tracking

Mrs. Blossom — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:56:58 +0000

The stock market is a unique place that can remain a mystery if not explained properly. Why not have students pick out a portfolio and track the stock values in an Excel sheet? Students can buy and trade stocks while trying to ‘earn’ the most money. This is an exciting way to learn how to use Excel’s most basic spreadsheet functions as well as how to read stocks online.

Happy Learning!

Mrs. Blossom

Importing from PowerPoint

Mrs. Blossom — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:31:39 +0000

Let’s not reinvent the wheel! If you have already created lessons in PowerPoint, you can import them directly into Notebook where you can spruce them up and add more interactivity without having to type in the notes and import the individual images. Click on File, Import, and then browse to your existing PowerPoint File. Now go through and improve on that original lesson by making it interactive for the students.

Happy Learning!

Mrs. Blossom

Cloning Pages

Mrs. Blossom — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:08:16 +0000

Sometimes I make a page that I really like but I want many students to use it as part of an activity center. NO problem! If you click on the thumbnail of the page, in the page sorter, you can select the drop down menu and clone the page as many times as you want. Remember to get the students to sign their pages when they have finished the activity.

Happy Learning!

Mrs. Blossom

Tennis balls on the SMART Board?….yes!

Mrs. Blossom — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 19:10:52 +0000

Sometimes I have students who cannot use the pens well because their fine motor skills are not developed. The solution is to pick up a pen from the pen tray and hand them a tennis ball. Using that you will find that they can write smoothly and the lines drawn will be no thicker than the pen lines.

Happy Learning!

Mrs. Blossom

Thinking Math

Mrs. Blossom — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 13:15:35 +0000

Some lessons can be quick and simple. I like to put the multiple dice on the board and change it to show 4 cubes. When a student rolls the dice, I ask the class to use brackets, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing to come up with both the biggest and smallest total based on the numbers on the faces of the four dice.

Happy Learning!

Mrs. Blossom

Beat the Clock

Mrs. Blossom — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 20:47:03 +0000

I like to have the students discuss what they want to write about and then time how much they write. Drag the timer out of the gallery and set it for ten minutes (or whatever amount of time suits your grade level). Discuss what the story will be about or go to Scholastic’s story starter website (http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/storystarters/storystarter1.htm)

Tell the students to write as much as they can in ten minutes. Start the timer and when time is up, have the students count the number of words they wrote. The goal is to beat that number the next time. NOTES: Spelling and sentence structure don’t count for this and so these stories should not be read to the class as good or bad examples.

Happy Learning!

Mrs. Blossom

Updating the Gallery

Mrs. Blossom — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 12:39:39 +0000

When you click on your Gallery Essentials, you should be able to see 6708 different items. If you have less than that you should update your gallery – Click on the wrench icon beside the Search Field in the Gallery and then Check for Updates. Click on Gallery Essentials and away you go!

Happy Learning!

Mrs. Blossom

Classroom Handouts are easy with Notebook Software!

Mrs. Blossom — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 14:11:36 +0000

Using SMART Notebook Software we can use the print feature to print our notes in a variety of ways. We have the option of printing thumbnails, thumbnails with a place for notes or entire pages. The option to print with a place for notes is great for students with Learning Disabilities because you can print out the notes ahead of time and they can follow along and make additional comments to help them better understand the material instead of stressing about the information on the pages.

Happy Learning!

Mrs. Blossom

Modifying your Pens

Mrs. Blossom — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 13:15:15 +0000

The default for the first four pens in Notebook Software (the ones in the pen icon in the toolbar) are identical to the pens in your pen tray. Why have two of the same tool? To modify the pens in Notebook software, click on the pen you want to change and then click on the properties tab (the one with the square with 4 colours, the A and the lines) and change the pen to what you want to have. Now click on Save Tool Properties and you will have that pen at your disposal whenever you click on the pen icon!

Happy Learning!

Mrs. Blossom