General language arts uses for Palm handhelds:

n     Story Chains

o       Sentence starter on a topic is beamed to various student Palms, students add on and beam to the next person.

n     Acrostic Poems on topics

o       Use Viewpoint or SlideShow to Go; Type each line as a slide heading and then print in outline view

n     Memopad

o       Write questions on heading (prereading)—beam category to students; then they answer the questions while reading

n     Docs to Go

o       ***NOTE:  If using Docs to Go with a classroom, I would recommend turning off the synching capabilities for those files.  Desktops don’t understand multiple Docs to Go users, it seems.

o       Beam passage; students then format the font to show understanding or questions about certain sections.

o       BOLD: don’t understand

o       Italics: REALLY understand

o       Underline: had to reread, but now understand

o       Variations of the above can be used

 

Vocabulary:

o       Quizzler Quizzes to review and practice… take them in practice mode, then exam mode, etc.

o       Use Tasks (to-do list) and create a category for your terms.  Enter each term as a new “To-do list item.” Add a note to each one with part of speech and/or definition.  Encourage students to add notes or create a sentence on the Note and they will then have a personal vocabulary dictionary filed under that category name. Another really nice feature is that the whole category can be beamed to students instead of having to beam each vocab term individually.

o       Use Contacts in similar way as above.  For empty categories, add your own criteria… for example, country of origin, part of speech, etc.  Photos could be added for each entry if you use Contacts!

Math:

Flashcard software can be even more fun!
(from Learninginhand.com blog)

There are some fun ways for students to use flashcard applications like MathCard:

• Time yourself to figure out how many problems you can do in five minutes.

• See if you can reach a score of 100 out of 100. If you miss a problem, reset your score and try again.

• Play with a friend by taking turns answering questions on the same handheld.

• Use two handhelds and race against a friend. See who can get the highest score in five minutes.

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** Be sure to check out the lesson plans binder from Becky, Kelly, Kathy, or Katie if you want even more specific lesson plan ideas!