Wow, this was easier than I thought it would be.  I have a Wii at home, so I grabbed one of our wiimotes and brought it to work.  I stopped by a hardware store and picked up a pen flashlight for $2.99.  My computer has bluetooth built in.  If you don’t have a computer with it built in you will need to purchase a bluetooth adapter.

I connected the wiimote using the free download WiimoteWhiteboard for Macs (site has PC version as well).  *I did figure out that I have to turn my bluetooth off and back on every time I connect.

Once it was connected I set the wiimote on the top shelf of my projector cart pointing to my non-interactive whiteboard (any flat surface can work).

I turned my projector on.

WiimoteWhiteboard includes calibration.  I touched the four circles to calibrate.

That’s it!  I just have to make sure that my wiimote is pointing to my screen area and my hand or my body is not blocking that signal.

Here is a link to a pdf file that helped me get started.  It has great images to help you visualize the steps.
http://arch.eece.maine.edu/ideas/images/6/67/Whiteboard.pdf

At this point my district is doing some checking into this as a supported technology.  No decisions have been made at this point.

Do you do a Star of the Week or something similar?  VoiceThread comments would be a cute way to get your kids to interact with that activity.  Your kids would do a VoiceThread on why they like the student of the week.  I learned about this activity from another educator’s blog.  Click the link for an example.

http://poulingail.edublogs.org/

Shapes!

There are a couple of great websites that allow you and your students to learn about 2D and 3D shapes interactively.

2D and 3D Shapes
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/3d/index.htm

Image Source:  http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks2/maths/3d/index.htm

Interactives: 3d Shapes
http://www.learner.org/interactives/geometry/3d.html

Image Source: http://www.learner.org/interactives/geometry/3d.html

Our tech department also has a set of 5 cameras available for checkout. Your kids could get into small groups (with an adult helper) to go on a Shape Safari. You could give them a scavenger hunt form for them to take a picture of each shape you are learning. Those pictures can be shared in a PowerPoint, glog (refer to previous post on glogster for more information), slideshow, Animoto, VoiceThread, printable poster on Excel (which can be made into a big book)

There are also shapes in the Kidspiration 3 image gallery. Younger children can categorize shapes into 2D or 3D.

Image Source: Kidspiration Template

We have a wikispace that may be just what you are looking for.  We have developed a place for educators to go find websites that would lend themselves to use with a projector.  The websites are categorized by grade level as well as content.  There is also a section for websites that span all grade levels.  This wiki has resources for grade levels K-12.  If you would like to add resources you may request membership.  You can also just go on and find all the resources already there.

This is one worth bookmarking!

Image Source:  http://seaman-pie.wikispaces.com/

I was asked to help a student teacher integrate technology through clickers.  I made a copy of the directions for her ahead of our meeting and gave them to her to review.  When we met she was still quite disjointed as to what needed to be done.  As we discussed how she wanted to set up her lesson and what was the purpose of her lesson she began to realize what she needed to do to prepare for the lesson.  She will be using clickers for an end of chapter test.  She did not have the test ready to be synced with clickers.  We scheduled another planning session to put the test questions into the clicker software.  I will also help her when she implements her clicker lesson.

The moral of this story is that sometimes teachers need to plan how to plan. I need to remember that when I am offering support.  People don’t always know what they need to know and that is okay.  It is my job to find out what they know, what they need to know, what they want to know, and support them in gaining that knowledge.  It was a good experience for me.

There is a Rags to Riches game that is similar to Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. The topic of this game is Kansas State Reading Assessment Vocabulary.
This game could be played individually in the computer lab or with mobiles, whole group in the traditional way, or with clickers. The game could be projected and each student would click his/her answer choice. The teacher would then select the answer that the majority of students voted for. It would be a fun way to practice vocabulary the students may see on the upcoming state assessments.

http://www.quia.com/rr/94143.html

Image Source: http://www.quia.com/rr/94143.html

I learned of an alternative to Skype this morning.  It is a free website that does not require a downloaded application. All you need to do is register for free.  You can also record a message up to 10 minutes long and send it to someone.  This would be a great way to communicate with friends, family, other classes, or colleagues.  The preferences are easy to set and change.  If you are using a video chat program I encourage you to check this out.

http://www.tokbox.com/#

Many schools have a science fair or similar project based activity in the area of science.  I asked my Professional Learning Network (twitter) for any good science fair resources. @djherron sent me the following link full of great ideas.  Be sure you check out step 2.  There are some wonderful experiment ideas kids can choose from.

Image Source: http://www.ipl.org/div/projectguide/gettingstarted.html

Here are some sites that provide word problem practice.  Some are in the form of storys that you have to answer problems to advance.  Some are isolated problems with various operations.

Image Source: http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/mesg/html/math6web/math6shell.html

http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/me3usa/flash/index.html?goLesson=5

http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/me5l/html/math5.html?goLesson=1

http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/mesg/html/math6web/math6shell.html

http://www.berghuis.co.nz/abiator/maths/sa/saindex.html

http://www.quia.com/pop/13193.html

My colleague, RoJene Willard, shared this website with me.  It has some great resources for primary students on Abraham Lincoln.  I am adding some more links that will teach older students as well about Lincoln.

Image Source: http://www.siec.k12.in.us/~west/proj/lincoln/

More Resources:

http://voicethread.com/#q.b344695.i1828649 VoiceThread by @cindybrock second graders.  Learn from this activity or do a similar activity.

http://www.jenuinetech.com/Projects/lincoln2009/information.html Online collaboration project

http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/WebLessons/ProblemPenny/penny001a.htm Interactive Story

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/listen_read_6/path-of-president.asp Listen to a story about Abe

http://www.chenowith.k12.or.us/tech/cgcc/projects/bright/lincoln01.htm Easy to read timeline

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/history/us/pres/lincoln/ Enchanted Learning with printables

http://www.npg.si.edu/exhibit/lincoln/index.html Smithsonian Exhibit

http://www.history.com/presidents/lincoln The History Channel

http://abe.mpls.k12.mn.us/HotPotatoes/FamousAmericans/lincolnbio.htm Reading passage with comprehension questions

http://home.att.net/~rjnorton/Lincoln2.html Research site with detailed information

http://lincoln.georgetowncollege.edu/index.htm Lesson plans for all grade levels