Tone Matrix (and some things for your iTouch)

Tone Matrix is designed as a tool to write/create music. For our learners it can be a fantastic tools to use light and musical tones to encourage cause and effect using a touch screen, interactive white board or even a head or eye tracker.

Imagine one of your learners swiping his hand across the SMART Board to to make a glowing song and then clicking a switch (set to "space bar") to clear that song and make another!



If you are lucky enough to have an iPod touch or iPhone for your classroom you can do pretty much the same thing wigh the app Melodica or in color with the app Tripper. Another cool app that doesn't look like these (it is prettier), but meets the same purpose is Bloom (and I think it sounds beautiful).

Thanks to NCS Tech for the Tone Matrix tip.

Cause and Effect for Touch Screens/Interactive Whiteboards

Check out this cool kaleidoscope to use on a touchscreen or SMART board.

Hint: Click on one of the resolutions at the bottom of the screen such as 800x1200 for fullscreen.

Cause and Effect on a Touch Screen

This little online program, Koosh Generator, could be fun for cause and effect and encouraging upper body range of motion at the same time on a touch screen or interactive whiteboard.

10 Days Left to Help My Class Get an Interactive White Board

There are only 10 days left on my class's Donors Choose grant application for an Interactive Whiteboard. Right now only $611 out of $2,833 has been funded (by two individual donors, both women, both from Massachusetts. Thank you so much Kirsten and Laura!

Regular readers of this blog know the many exciting ideas my class and I have for using an interactive white board. We plan to use it for every subject, from using it with Boardmaker SDP as an interactive talking calendar and weather map during morning meeting to using it with sites like Silly Books or Tumblebooks with the mouse on the arrow for single switch users to "read" a giant interactive book to their friends. We will use it for all subjects. To read about how other teachers are using interactive whiteboards check out Talking Smart Boards or Teachers Love Smart Boards.

With just a little over $2,100 left and an average of 200 visitors a day all it would take is 15 dollars a visitor during the course of just one day to fund our interactive whiteboard or even $100 from one or two visitors a day for the next ten days. Please, if you appreciate this blog and the time and effort put into it please donate to this Donors Choose grant or one of our other Donors Choose grants below:

• A Tablet PC for AAC and more
• Mid Range Technology AAC Devices
  
• Morning Meeting Materials
• Sign Language Learning Items
• Switches
• Smart Readers Adapted Audio Books
  

Smartboard and Starfall - A Video

For those who have asked about ways to use a Smartboard, here is a video from You Tube. The website they are using is the free beginning reading site, Starfall.

Some Interactive White Board Resources

Image via WikipediaOne of the topics I frequently get e-mails on is white boards (SMART Boards, MIMIO Boards, etc.) in the special education classroom. Here are some resources online:

• Crick Web
  
• BGfL White Board Resources
• Kent NGfL White Board Resources
• NGfL Northumberland
  
• eChalk
• SMART Education Resources
• Interactive Whiteboard Ideas
  
• Tutorial on Using SMART Boards with Power Point

Don't have an Interactive White Board? Don't forget most of these resources work with a touch screen or on a Tablet PC.

Here is a link to apply for a grant for a MIMIO Board.

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