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Smart Learning Suite Online: Activity Creation

Tips and Tricks for Smart Learning Suite

Creating Activities

There are many ways to begin to build a SMART Learning Suite Online activity.  If you use Notebook software, you may want to start by simply bringing that file into SLSO and adding interactive features.  However, you can also bring in slide presentations from PowerPoint and Google Slides as well as  PDF files.  Sometimes you may want to build the SLSO lesson from scratch or use a pre-made template.  All of these are easy to do and the instructions below will show you how to get started!  

Existing Activity

Instructional ideas

Engage your students by importing existing lessons and resources and adding interactive activities.

  • Add an interactive activity or an assessment to the file you imported.

  • Find a copy of a historical document or speech. Upload it and add an assessment. Ask students to summarize the document using the short-answer question type. Add more questions based on the document.

Enhance your lesson by converting static pages to interactive handouts or collaborative workspaces that students work on individually or in small groups.

  • Import a file that contains an image connected to your lesson and turn it into a Workspace. Have students share things they notice, questions they have, and predictions. Add a Shout It Out! activity at the end and ask students to share their thoughts or conclusions.

  • Import a file with a perplexing math problem and turn it into a Workspace. Have student groups work to solve the problem in different ways and present their solutions.

Extend learning beyond teacher-led instruction.

  • Have students present their work from a file they’ve created and add Shout it Out! and Workspace activities at appropriate points to build in audience participation.

Creating a New Activity

Instructional ideas

Engage your students with a catchy title page and image to set the stage for your lesson.

  • Use rhyming words or a joke to grab student attention.

  • Connect your lesson’s title to a popular song lyric.

Enhance your lesson with a thought -provoking question or quote and have students respond in a Handout or Workspace.

  • Assign groups of students to respond from different perspectives in different pen colors (for example, past and present day perspectives).

  • Find powerful quotes and have students respond with connecting ideas, questions, and real-world parallels.​

Extend learning by stating objectives and converting a page to a Worspace or Handout where students can share what they know prior to coming to class.

  • Have students upload a picture to create a metaphor and explain their thinking.

  • Have students perform home interviews and record other’s knowledge on the topic.

Smart Activities templates

Instructional ideas

Engage your class using ready-made activities to help students demonstrate their understanding and frame their thinking.

  • Insert a KWLQ Chart for students to collectively share things they know, wonder about, and have learned alongside questions they still have.

Enhance your lesson by adding ready-made Handouts so students can respond on individual devices. These activities can focus on activating prior knowledge or enabling students to question and reflect.

  • Insert the 3-2-1 Handout. Have students fill it out with text and images for use as an Exit Ticket.

Extend learning and differentiate by assessing which activity students need or letting them choose.

  • Select different Handout templates for students based on a formative assessment.
  • Let students choose: Add three ready-made activity handouts and have students choose one to complete.

    TIP: If you share a student access link, students can complete the Handout in or outside of class.