Students can use interactive Smartboards for storytelling. First, project pictures from some favorite kid-friendly websites like Kidspace and Illuminations to prompt imaginations. Students then draw out ideas right on the board, after which they return to their seats to speak about them. The teacher can present other ideas on the Smartboard, adding to the pictures to capture whole ideas that formulate a story. A story map can be projected, with information to be filled in by the teacher once the picture ideas are completed. The story map will include a title, the character names, details and a final conclusion.
Smartboards make smart places to begin brainstorming ideas, especially when the entire class is involved. As students chime out their ideas, the teacher can write them on the board. Once the board is filled with a classroom full of ideas, all written in colored, hand-printed letters, they can be captured into text and used later to aid students in other ideas for other assignments.
Word walls are effective ways to help emerging writers and readers learn new vocabulary. Placing newly learned vocabulary words in one place gives students a reference point for using them in sentences and phrases when speaking. It also reinforces them throughout the school year as they hear, speak them and draw them out. A word wall written on a Smartboard can continue to be a work-in-progress as it projects the classroom word wall for all students to add to it one at a time, using the Smartboard pen. Once the classroom word wall has been updated, the Smartboard image can be captured and printed out, and students can cut out the new words to add to the physical classroom word wall.
PBS KIDS Island allows students to play around while interacting with important literacy skills. As they navigate an activity calendar to locate word-based activities such as finding holidays, students encounter and read associated sentences and phrases. They also become involved with timelines for activities using a calendar-based click-in. A click into Groundhog's Day has them participate in ground hog stories by predicting how much longer winter will last.