I was recently introduced (Thanks Patty Cooper!) to an awesome app that allows me to get information quickly from students. It is called Plickers and from the pictures you can see that kids use symbols to show me the answers they choose to a particular question
On the SmartBoard I have a series of questions- in this case it was questions on telling time- I wanted to do a little check in to see how children were doing with the concepts and where I needed to provide extra instruction. The kids answered each question by turning their card to the correct answer (A,B,C, or D) and then I scanned the room collecting all the data. The feedback was instantaneous. Once we were done it allowed me to pull small groups and have one-on-one conversations with kids and the answers they chose. They love it- and so do I! (Pictures are a little wobbly because they were taken by a student :) )
PS If you haven't already seen I have updated the calendar section of the blog :)