Building a math flipchart

My colleagues have told me that the math flipcharts that I have shared with them have been the most helpful in the classroom.  Due to this information, I chose to demonstrate making a flipchart using the math worksheets and manipulatives that I have shared with them.  I hope this is useful in inspiring people to try ActivInspire and using it as a tool to make your teaching more efficient.

Flipchart usefulness

I feel blessed and relieved to have the use of a Promethean Board in my classroom.  Unfortunately, I am the only teacher in first grade who has an actual board.  A few of my colleagues have the free version of ActivInspire and a few have the full version.  I sat down with one of my colleagues the other day to share this blog and ask for ideas on what else needs to be included as posts as well as what she has found to be the most useful flipcharts.
She told me hands down that the math flipcharts have been the most amazingly helpful flipcharts that have organized things and made teaching math so much easier.  Our school uses the enVisions program, the first version with newsprints, not the 2.0 version.  Having the mini-lesson chart, newsprints and all of the worksheets that go with each topic all together has made her math lessons so much easier and saved her a ton of time she told me.  Based on this information, I am going to work on a demonstration video of how I created a flipchart for a lesson within our math program.  There is a video component that is not available within my flipcharts because you have to be signed in to be able to view the video so the link to the video would not work unless we are signed in.
I have worried some about the copyright laws in using the enVisions created materials.  However, our school has a license for the online program and we buy the newsprints so my understanding is that as long as I am only sharing it with my colleagues, who have the legal right to use the program, I am ok. I will be using the image on my screencast but since people who do not have access t the program cannot print it out, it is not violated copyright.  Or so I think.

Page and resource browser

The page browser allows you to navigate quickly through a multiple page flipchart and gives you the ability to change the order of the pages.  The resource browser has activities you can use to enhance your lesson, there are a lot of them so it takes some exploration to see what is available and how you can use it.  It is definitely worth the time to explore.
It is also a quicker way to access frequently used documents by adding the document to papers so you can just drag it into your flipchart.

Downloading the free version of ActivInspire

There is a free version of ActivInspire available for people who do not have Promethean Boards in their schools.  This video shows how to search out and download the free version or you can click on the link.
ActivInspire Download
I downloaded the free version as a test and one of the screens for agreeing to licensing did not appear when I downloaded it for the screencast.  This is the screen that allows you to run the free personal edition:

Make sure you click in the box next to I accept the terms of license then run personal edition.

Object edit menu

The object edit menu is a tool that I use all the time.  Placing objects in front of other objects, reordering, or locking them in place are examples of how to make features in your flipcharts work better when students are also using the flipchart.

The next piece

Yesterday I was at school preparing for the next few weeks and ran into the IT department head.  He told me that the ipads that the PTF has bought for the first grade should be configured and available as soon as we go back to school after vacation.  This information will give me the next page that I will work on for this blog, using ipads in the classroom.  I have only had my personal ipad for a few weeks and have not used it very much.  I am now going to have to start learning about how to use it, what apps will be useful in our classrooms and figure out how to use apple classroom.

Another piece of information that I was given is that the Classflow tool that is at the top of flipcharts works with ipads!  Once I have experience in working with ipads, I can send questions to the kids using this tool and they can answer using their ipads.  I can't wait to try it.  (I'm also hoping to find a way to send a version of the phonics lessons to their ipads so they can practice dragging and dropping the words into the correct heading.)

Creation tools

The creation tools are features that help you to use your creative style to make your flipcharts reflect your personality.  When I first started using ActivInspire, my teaching partner and I had very similar styles but we had small differences in creative style that would allow our colleagues to tell which one of us created the flipchart.

Making a flipchart with dock tools

Once you learn some of the basic tools it is easy to make a flipchart and start teaching with ActivInspire.  You will find your creative style and feel comfortable making flipcharts with increasing complexity.  Here is a simple flipchart for teaching phonics using the Fountas and Pinnell system based on a sort made by a colleague.  We frequently use the flipchart version of the sort so that we can discuss word parts and, in this case, what makes a vowel and long vowel or short vowel.

Exploring tools

As I have created videos on the tools for ActivInspire, I have had to use some tools that I either don't usually use or that are new to me due to how I have created flipcharts in the past.  I feel excited to share ActivInspire with people since it is something that has helped me present information more easily to students as well as given me the opportunity to present lesson within a technological framework that more readily reflects the choices students make with their downtime-using some kind of screen.  I am learning about new ways to make flipcharts and really having to think about how I could use the tools to engage my students more.  This has been such a valuable project in making me look at how I use technology as well as how I teach.

Toolbox

The toolbox has some very cool features that can enhance the use of the program ActivInspire.  Using the dice or calculator can make math flipcharts more fun for kids to use.

Reflection on Videos

I have been enjoying making the videos for how to use ActivInspire and cannot wait to share with my colleagues.  This has been an affirmation that technology integration is the direction I would like to go.  After all, if it is fun to share via videos, working with people face to face will be even better!

Shape, fill, connector, insert media and erase tools

My goal was to keep all of these videos to under 5 minutes.  The shape tool is one of my favorite things about ActivInspire.  I use it all the time within all subjects and unfortunately, this video went over my time goal.  I could have gone on even longer but...I decided to just keep it to the basics.

Pen, highlighter, eraser, text and select tools

When I first started using ActivInspire, the first tools that I used were select, the pen, highlighter, eraser and the text feature.  Since they are first tools I used, they are grouped together within this screencast.

Importing a pdf

The most useful function of ActivInspire is being able to import a pdf. Any document that has been created on your computer can be turned into a pdf, you can also scan a worksheet or download pdfs from the internet. Once imported, the worksheet can be written on so that work can be modeled.

Promethean Board ActivInspire

One of the most useful programs that I use within my classroom is ActivInspire, a program created to be used with a Promethean Board. Scheduling time with a large group of teachers to explore ways to efficiently use the program is very difficult. In order to efficiently share strategies for creating flipcharts, I am going to make videos of ways to use ActivInspire so that teachers can learn in their own time and review the information. I invite anyone to share ideas on what I can add, or your own strategies, please share in the comment section. Here is an image of my plan.