Making a Powerpoint or PDF into an Interactive Flipchart

Interested in starting to create flipcharts to make some aspects of your lessons more interactive? Have you been a Powerpoint or Google Slides user and think it's too late to switch over to ActivInspire? It's easy to import Powerpoints or PDF files into a flipchart and make it into an interactive white board lesson.

Open the Powerpoint presentation. Go to File and choose Save As.

In the next dialogue box, select the place you want to save it (I always choose Desktop for projects like this.). Then in the Format drop down menu, select PDF.

Then open ActivInspire and create new flipchart. Go to File and select Import, then PDF. Choose the PDF of the Powerpoint from your desktop.

Then select the file from your desktop and click Open.

Your PDF file will now appear in ActivInspire as pages of a new flipchart. Be sure to name and save this new flipchart.

Do you have resources that are PDF files? (Ex. practice pages you have scanned, basal resources in digital form, project ideas & templates you've downloaded from the web) You can also import those and make them into interactive activities.

Open the PDF file. If it has multiple pages, click the menu icon from the top left, then select Thumbnails.  Hold the Command key and click the thumbnail images to select the page/pages you want to add to a flipchart. Drag the thumbnail images to your desktop. 

You will see an icon like this .

Open a new flipchart. Click import and select the file from your desktop.

Consider making a page of text interactive by turning it into a cloze activity. Use the pen tool to color over a word. Students can use context clues to determine the meaning of the word, then a student can erase the coloring to reveal the word. This can also be accomplished with a small rectangle box placed over the desired word. Students can simply slide the box aside to reveal the word.

A vocabulary page can be displayed on a flipchart in order for the teacher to model the steps for completion. It can also be a shared activity. Just make a text box with each vocabulary word. Students can take turns moving the word to the sentence.