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Andrea Beck Rawson Elementary Art

Lesson 1 The first lesson I tried to integrate use of the smart board went really well. We were learning how to make 3D snowflakes in 5th grade. I used the smartboard to project a website about 'Snowflake Bentley' then moved on to an interactive website that allowed students to create their own snowflakes by "cutting" out pieces with the mouse tool. Students worked on the smart board in pairs after they were finished with their 3D version. In general- the smart board made the lesson more interactive. The kids were excited just to have it in the room. They loved being able to use it themselves and it was easier to introduce the information about Snowflake Bentley by projecting it on the screen. Before, I used picture book. The website seemed to be more age appropriate for 5th graders. http://snowflakebentley.com/index.htm http://snowflakes.barkleyus.com

Because of the success of the interactive website where the kids created their own snowflake I used the smart board that same day with the 1st graders. My goal was just to teach them how to fold and cut a snowflake. We talked about symmetry and I was able to electronically demonstrate the "cutting" step. If students were confused I could erase and start over again as many times as I needed to. The kids were excited to watch the process on the board and even tried it out themselves. After cutting their own real snowflakes I asked the kids if watching the smart board demo helped them understand better what to do. They all said YES! it was fun! http://snowflakes.barkleyus.com

Lesson 2 I did a Joan Miro project at the beginning of the year and then had to send the kids' work off to a fundraising company. I have been wanting to re-do the project for display purposes and tried usung the smart board this time. It was much easier to introduce the images and talk about the artwork when it was up on the screen. I was able to draw examples and save them as part of the presentation. I even let kids "color" in a Miro painting outline on the smart board. As I have found with the other lessons- kids were more excited in general about the material because it was being presented on and with the help of the smartboard.

Lesson 3 I do a Radial Design/Mandala project with my 4th and 5th graders every year. Every class was finished except for one 4th grade class so I tried using some cool features on the smart board to explain and demonstrate the symmetry and properties of a radial design. Usually I have to gather the kids around a window to demonstrate how to trace the images into each section. It takes up a lot of time because I have to trace every line by hand to be able to show them the finished product. By using the **alignment** tool and some **rotating**, **cloning**, and **flipping** of my own drawing I was able to show them the steps to a finished product on the smart board faster and easier. I still had to demo the tracing process on the window- but because they had seen the creation of the finished product live on the smartboard it made much more sense to them! Cool! :-)

Lesson 4 As a filler activity or a pre-assessment for a generalized art history lesson I have created a smartboard page with pictures of many different famous works. In the 4 corners of the page are Labels: Impressionist, Abstract, Landscape, Cultural. Kids go up to the board and use their fingers to drag the images to the appropriate category. They really enjoyed using the smartboard themselves. It was a great small group activity. I have never done this lesson before so I can not say that it was different than previous experiences without the smartboard, but it was a great way to use the software, teach some art history, and get the kids excited. I thank Debbie Thatcher for sharing this idea with me!