Tide Pool
A classroom behavior board for the smartboard. Every student is a cartoon fish, students earn pearls to dress up their fish, and the tank reacts to the class.
- Free
- Behavior board
- K–3
- Smartboard
- No sign-up
A behavior board where every student is a fish
Add your students and each one gets a card with their own fish. Everyone starts the day Swimming. The up arrow moves a student toward Shining, and the down arrow moves them through Drifting and Hiding to Calm cove, a quiet cave for a fish that needs a break. At the end of the day every student earns pearls, and pearls are never taken away for behavior. Students spend them in the Treasure chest on hats, colors and patterns for their fish, and the class spends its own pearls on things for the tank.
How Tide Pool works
Tap the arrows
Type your class list in Students, or paste it with one name per line. Each student gets a starter fish. The arrows on each card move a student's mood up or down, and the fish changes with it: it sparkles when Shining and hides in the seaweed when Hiding.
Switch to the tank
Tap Tank in the top bar and the cards make way for the fish. Each one swims with its name under it, high in the water when Shining and low when Drifting. Tap a fish to change its mood from a small bubble.
End the day and count pearls
End the day in Settings, or set a reminder for the time school ends. Every student earns at least 1 pearl: 3 for ending the day Shining, 2 for Swimming and 1 otherwise. A student who comes back up from Hiding or Calm cove earns 1 more. Students spend pearls in the Treasure chest, and anything they buy is theirs to keep.
Treasure box time
Start treasure box time from the Treasure chest and the board turns into a grid of big fish buttons. Each student finds their fish, picks a hat, color or pattern with their own pearls, and taps Done. A timer of 1, 2 or 3 minutes keeps turns moving, and you hold a button to end it.
What's in Tide Pool
Use it from the keyboard
Tide Pool works without a mouse. Tab moves from student to student on the board and in the tank, the arrow keys move a mood up or down, and Esc closes a fish's bubble. A screen reader reads each fish as its name, mood and pearls.
- Tab
- Next student
- ↑
- Mood up
- ↓
- Mood down
- Esc
- Close the bubble
Built for K–3 classrooms
- Readable from the back of the room, with big fish, names and arrows. Up to 35 students fit on one screen.
- Pearls only go up for behavior. They go down only when a student spends them.
- The tank reacts to the class, from Calm waters to Rough, and you choose whether one student or a share of the class sets it.
- Animation can be turned off in Settings, and the tank stays still on computers set to reduce motion.
- Tide Pool opens with example students to try it on. Nothing is saved until you choose Start my own class.
No accounts, and names stay on your computer
Tide Pool needs no accounts and sends nothing to Flint. Student names, moods and pearls are saved only in the browser on that computer. First names or nicknames work fine. Save to file in Settings downloads a backup, and Restore from file brings it back on this or another computer. Tide Pool reminds you when it has been a week since your last backup.
Tide Pool questions
What is Tide Pool?
A free classroom behavior board for the smartboard. Every student is a cartoon fish with a mood, from Shining to Calm cove, that you move with two arrows. Students earn pearls each day to spend on their fish, and the class earns pearls for the tank.
What are the moods?
There are five: Shining, Swimming, Drifting, Hiding and Calm cove. Everyone starts the day Swimming, so there is room to move up. You decide what moves a student a step, so the moods can match your class rules.
How do students earn pearls?
When you end the day, every student earns at least 1 pearl: 3 for ending the day Shining, 2 for Swimming and 1 otherwise. A student who comes back up from Hiding or Calm cove to Swimming or Shining earns 1 more. The class earns up to 3 pearls for a calm tank.
Can pearls be taken away?
Not for behavior. Pearls go down only when a student spends them in the Treasure chest. If pearls were earned or spent away from the board, Adjust pearls in Students lets you add or remove a few.
What can students buy?
In the Treasure chest, students buy shapes, colors, patterns, hats, glasses and fancier extras for their fish. The class spends its pearls on decorations and buddies for the tank. Anything bought is kept for good, and changing what a fish wears is free.
What is treasure box time?
A turn-taking mode for the board. Each student taps their own fish, dresses it up with their pearls and taps Done. You pick 1, 2 or 3 minutes a turn, and hold the button in the corner to end it.
I used Classroom Weather. What happens to my classes?
Your Classroom Weather classes come with you. Open Tide Pool on the same computer and browser you used for Classroom Weather, and your classes, students and history are already there. Sunny days show as Shining. A backup you copied from Classroom Weather can also be pasted into Tide Pool in Settings.
What grades is Tide Pool for?
It's made for K–3 classrooms, from kindergarten through 3rd grade.
Do students need accounts?
No. There are no accounts or sign-ins for you or your students.
Where are student names saved?
Only in the browser on the computer you use. Nothing is sent to Flint. Save to file in Settings downloads a backup you can keep or restore on another computer.
What do I need to run it?
A web browser on a smartboard, projector or laptop.
Tell us what your class thinks
Send an idea or a bug. Every message goes to the Flint team that built Tide Pool.
