Interactive whiteboards

I was thinking today about the amount of time I spend using my Smartboard (interactive whiteboard) and what a useful tool it is! The projector for my Smartboard needs to stop itself from overheating and will turn itself off if it is getting too hot. I've found that this is a helpful indicator for how much I use the board as the projector will turn itself off multiple times a day!

I use my interactive board for displays to guide and organise students at different times as well as as an interactive tool during lessons. Here is a photo of what the board looks like in reading groups while students are reading. Each book character is a different reading group and the image next to the character is the activity that the group is to complete once they have finished reading (today was based on phonics). This provides a great visual display for students so that you don't have 20 little people coming to you asking what to do!

I also love using the Smartboard as an introduction or consolidation to a new topic. I really like to use hands on activities however I find that the Smartboard is great for gaining an understanding of student's knowledge of the topic. If anyone uses the Maths Plus resources I've found that they have a great set of interactive white board activities which go with the text book and are excellent for getting students up to the board. Here's a photo of a Notebook file I used in introducing capacity.