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.

Another Fun Touch Screen Program

Bomomo is another free simple cause and effect painting program that works on touch screens or interactive white boards. It has six dots or balls that chase your movements making designs on the screens, making hand and arm movements highly rewarded. Yet, Bomomo also has higher level options making it work as an alternate slightly weird paint program for some students. Give it a try.

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
  

The Plasma Screen and White Board Room

Here is a link to a fantastic page of activities and resources for what is called in the UK P-scales special needs students (P-scales is what in Massachusetts is awareness level of the curriculum, elsewhere it is called emerging level or cause and effect level). I have not yet explored all of the activities, but the ones I have are excellent. The site is called the Plasma Screen and White Board Room. If you don't have a Plasma Screen or White Board, a touch screen will do. The link only seems to be working if you get to it by going through the ttrb SEN site and then clicking on the link to the Plasma Screen and White Board Room at the bottom of the page.

The activities are designed to work on Power Point, Opus or SMART Notebook (viewers are available if you do not have the applications). The areas of the curriculum offered match the UK national curriculum (kind of like logging into the UK part of Learning Grids for Clicker 5). Some notes: RE is Religious Education, PMLD is Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities (look here for cause and effect, scanning, social/sensory stories), Design and Technology often includes cookery, PSHE is personal, social and health education.

Take some time and explore some time and download some activities. Then upload some in return!

By request: things to do with an interactive white board in our classrooms

Learners at the sensory awareness level (and learners at all levels):

• play music (or audiobooks) using Songbird, iTunes or Windows Media with the visualization going on screen
  
• show movies or movie clips on your interactive whiteboard using the computers DVD player
• use a text to speech program to have the computer read books aloud to the class during down time, be sure to use one that highlights each word as it is read and encourages reading along
  

Learners at the cause and effect level:

• use the free music videos at Priory Woods and the interactive white board as an enormous switch (unless your user needs a particular switch, then the screen is still great as a giant screen)
• use the games at Hiyah and the screen as the switch
  
• use a switch based music player such as one created with Classroom Suite or My Media Player and the entire screen as the switch
• use any commercial switch or touch screen software and the screen as the switch
  

Learners at the basic skills/emerging communication level:

• use Boardmaker Plus or Boardmaker SDP, Clicker or Classroom Suite to create a Calendar Program (or download on from the sharing websites) and replace your chart with your interactive white board.
• use any drag and drop program and allow your students to move there whole bodies to participate
• make an enormous interactive word wall (with Boardmaker Plus/SPD, Clicker or Classroom Suite) with picture symbols and words that says the word and definition when the word and picture is touched
• use the interactive white board through out the day for choice making (again with Boardmaker SDP/Plus, Clicker or Classroom Suite) by having boards ready for all of the possible choices i.e. instruments for music, kinds of drinks for snack, break time activities, colors. Then you can have direct selectors touch the white board and set the computer to scan and have scanners just touch the white board any where when the white board scans to what he or she wants
• use any basic skills, art, or other software on the interactive white board - be creative
  

Fun Websites to Use:

• HelpKidzLearn
• Priory Woods
• Peepo
  

Articles about using an interactive whiteboard:

• 10 ideas
• Ed Facilities
• Inclusive Technology Article on Interactive Whiteboards
  
• The WYNNing Word
  

We want an interactive white board!

My class has a dream! (We actually have lots of dreams.) We want an interactive white board. We would love an interactive white board! It has been a rough year for us. We transferred to a barely handicapped accessible build and had many, many staff changes. We are hoping you want to help us out. Here is a link to our Donors Choose Grant to get an interactive white board!

Would you consider even giving us $20 of your tax refund?

Thanks!