Using SMART Boards in Your Math Lesson Plans

Using SMART Boards in Your Math Lesson Plans
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SMART Boards can be used in the classroom with your math lessons or for simple math examples and activities. The tools, pictures and multimedia resources can be incorporated into simple lessons or used with regular daily routines. The educator resources provided with the SMART Board notebook software have many usable math tools in the mathematics folder.

1. Using the Writing Tools

Use the different colored pens to write out math questions. Then select the equation or question and use the “recognize text” feature to convert it to typewritten numbers. The teacher will love how easy it is to convert their printing to text. This feature can be used to write out patterns of similar questions and have the students complete the series or pattern.

Use the different markers such as the happy faces and stars to set up counting or addition questions for grades 1 and 2. Have students draw the correct number of happy faces to illustrate understanding of 2 add 3. They can draw a circle around the correct amounts of objects when trying to show 3 groups of 2.

Use the shapes on the tool bar to draw geometric shapes such as triangles, parallelograms and pentagons, easily. The fill tool can fill them with different colors to help children see hidden shapes. Select a shape and use the copy option to demonstrate multiplication. Show how shapes can fit together in patterns called tessellations. Choose a tessellation from the pictures to display a premade shape tessellation. Use the locking feature to keep 2 shapes

Tools

Counting shapes

Drawing numbers

Tangram Puzzles

Tesselations

A Teaching Tool for Math

2. Using the Pictures and Backgrounds

There are notebook pages that can be used to help draw graphs and grids. The background pictures also have predawn tables for data and tally charts.

Use pictures of coins in Canadian dollars, American dollars or Euros to teach lessons on money. Have the students insert the correct amount of coins into a box to equal a nickel or dime. There are pictures of cash registers and dollar bills to help teach the concept of money.

Use the thermometer to show temperature increases and decreases. This helps teach positive and negative numbers. Use the clock face to teach about time. You can draw in your own hands on the clock. Use the shape pictures to teach geometry.There is a shapes background page and shapes on the toolbar such as arrows, stars and diamonds.

The parts of a tangram are provided. The tangram puzzle pieces can be used to create certain shapes. Use the protractors to teach about measuring angles. There is a 360 degree and a 180 degree protractor included. There are many pictures to aid math concepts.

Images

Time Clock

Thermometer

Coins to add

3. Using the Multimedia Tools

The rolling dice feature can be used to randomly select numbers to multiply for questions. Use the rolling die to choose how many homework questions a student has to do. Choose the 8 sided dice to roll for higher amounts. You can also spin 2 dice together at once to generate amounts up to 12.

Use the clock as a timer to time mad minutes at the beginning of a math class. Set the clock for the amount of minutes of silent work. Use the clock in timing for games. There is also a spinner to choose among 4 colors. Use this to teach about probability.

The interactive thermometers help students to record temperature changes. They can be used to record temperature on the thermometer, convert temperatures and compare highest to lowest temperatures.

The interactive coins can be flipped for use in probability questions. The chances of getting a heads or tails can be recorded in a chart, and the actual heads and tails flipped can be recorded.

There is a multimedia story called Teddy’s picnic to help students choose directions on a small grid. The concepts of left and right, forwards, backwards are easily shown by the movements of a teddy bear, his footprints and his arms indicating directions.

Images

Rolling the dice

Directions on a grid

Moving spinner

4. Using Online Lessons

Interactive whiteboard resources can be found at this link: https://www.globalclassroom.org/ecell00/javamath.html

These were developed by the WMNet (West Midlands Network) Interactive Whiteboard Resources in the UK. The interactive whiteboard resources are divided into 10 sections. In section 1, Primary Math Whiteboard resources, will then connect you to 90 math activities. These range from algebra, bingo, dart board, division, fractions, graphs, grids, percentage and shapes. The link to Primary Math Whiteboard resources is:

https://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/15.cfm?s=15&m=429&p=250,index

In the Numeracy Resources you will find these categories of whiteboard resources: clock, dividing by zero, handling data, irregular shapes, measuring length, money, multiplication puzzle, random numbers and developing formula in Excel.

The numeracy resources from WMNet are found here:

https://www.wmnet.org.uk/14.cfm?s=14&m=80&p=78,index&zs=n

There are many online math games that can be done on computer or interactive whiteboard. If you try the pinball math game or the tunnel blaster game with a mouse it is fun, but with a whiteboard, you can touch the board interactively for more hands-on fun. Try this games website for some very hands-on games. https://www.playkidsgames.com/mathGames.htm#

There are many ways to use the SMART Board in mathematics lessons. The manipulatives, counting bars, number lines, graph paper, grid paper, rulers, thermometers, protractors and many counting or measuring tools are fun to move around. The interactive movements and sounds of dice, clocks, and spinners create a hands-on and motivating math lesson. The interactive lessons and games provide more fun and motivation. This teaching tool in math is invaluable.

References

  • Teaching experience; author’s own photos.

This post is part of the series: Smart Ways to Use the SMARTboard Series

This 3 part series will show ways to use the SMARTboard in the areas of 1)Daily Activities, 2)Math Lessons and 3)Science Lessons. Sample lesson ideas and activities will be provided. Interactive websites, Power Point games, SMART Tech activities and resources will be included.

  1. Smart Ways to Use the SMART Board
  2. Easy Ways to Use the SMART Board in Your Math Lessons
  3. Smart Ways to Use the SMART Board in Science Lessons