Technology in the Curriculum

In preschool children and teachers are working on readiness skills and early literacy experiences. Technology can help to support these lessons when used in planned and guided manner.

Language Development and Emerging Literacy

Literacy skills increase from the conversations that take place between children and supportive adults, and between children and their peers as they work. Computers offer another resource for helping children develop language; technology can provide and extend language opportunities.

• Linking Words to Pictures: Children can make a connection between an object on the screen and its written label in the same way that picture books are used. Newer computers and software may also provide spoken text options, where words or phrases are spoken aloud..
• Creating a Story: Children can create their own stories with the help of an adult, using one of the software programs available. After drawing a picture (on paper or on the screen) the child can dictate a story to an adult or older child to type into the computer. Alternately, the child can tell the story into a tape recorder and play it back for others to enjoy.

Emerging Math Skills

Children work on mathematics in a variety of informal ways with manipulatives such as blocks and linking objects. Software can also be used to practice these skills if desired.

• Patterning: Seeing how objects and numbers relate builds a concrete understanding of math. Patterning or drawing software can provide children with practice in seeing relationships and predicting what comes next in a series. Many of these programs can be used in conjunction with building blocks, patterns in music, or other curricular activities.
• Classification: Learning to identify and sort objects by their attributes is basic to both science and math. Classification software encourages children to group objects by attributes such as size, color, and shape, as well as to create groupings of their own objects.
• Seriation: During the preschool years, children learn to order an array of objects by size. Objects can be manipulated on the screen in much the same way that physical objects can be ordered in the classroom.
• Numerical Relationships: Software programs can help children work with the concepts of “more than,” “less than,” and “the same as”

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Children in preschool are actively exploring and trying to make sense of their worlds. Adults help children make the connections between new situations and familiar experiences. A variety of activities allow children to follow their own interests, and group activities encourage cooperation and listening to others. The preschool program provides a range of learning experiences that foster development in all five domains. Activities and experiences help children develop language, pre-reading and pre-writing skills, and basic number concepts.

Learning & Development

Between the ages of three to five, children must accomplish many tasks in order to develop optimally in all five dimensions.

Social and Emotional Development

Children need to learn in a social context. They learn best when allowed to explore, with the support of helpful and responsive adults. Intelligence, academic success, and emotional stability are strongly influenced by the personal and language interactions children have with others.

Approaches Toward Learning

In the domain of approaches toward learning, there are several important areas that the child must develop.

• They must develop all of their senses as well as learn through the use, actions and interactions of all the senses.
• They need to learn to be powerful learners. Children need to control the materials they use (such as modeling clay, blocks, crayons, paints, dolls and trucks,) thus learning cause and effect and self-control. This encourages children to be active learners and problem solvers, and lays a foundation for internal motivation.
• Children need to develop their attention spans and focus clearly while resisting distractions. They also need plenty of time to engage their memory and practice visualization.

Language Development

Children are beginning to master the written symbols of words and numbers. They need time to work with the symbols enough to internalize them, and to make the connection between the concept and the written form.

Cognition and General Knowledge

Children need to learn causal reasoning (if I do this, then that will occur) and physically experience the results of their actions. They also need to learn and experience social-causal reasoning, which allows them to develop an understanding of how their actions affect the others in their lives.

Physical Well-Being and Motor Development

Children must make use of their whole bodies and the whole environment they operate in. They must make a physical connection to all that is around them and understand their relationship to other things. They need plenty of opportunity to develop small/fine motor skills in order to build the foundation for later writing.

How Technology has changed education

The education of a nation’s youth to a full height of academic rigor and standing is a complex process that nearly always spans more than a decade, requires tens of thousands of dollars, dozens of teachers, and of course, technology. Not always the most recent technology, mind you, but even the oldest Pentium One computer was once new.
Technology inside of education is a somewhat problematic premise, an idea that generates controversy from the earliest of primary school grades right through to the top of the academic pyramid, graduate school. As you well know, technology can be a powerful tool for learning, and it can be the same for cheating. It can be used to inform, and to distort. It can boldly open new doors, while flinging open some that were perhaps best left closed; not every topic is appropriate for all age groups.

Collaboration

Collaboration is becoming a real-time event. While this topic applies mostly today at the collegiate level, it will surely seep backwards down the grade scale to reach younger students. This has the impact that you might guess, increased productivity, but it has a host of secondary benefits that most students do not recognize until they complete their first project in such an environment.

Instant Research

Ask anyone over the age of 50 with a PhD what it was like to get the information that they needed and they will generally begin to swear and discuss how young people these days have it so soft.
They are not merely being curmudgeon-esque (well perhaps a few) but on the whole they have a point: nearly every fact is no more than a few taps of the keys from anyone, making the accretion of information, well, child’s play.

Cheating

Nothing is free. Everything has a cost. While technology, as we have just seen, can have very positive effects it can also have some very negative impacts. Things such as cheating are now simpler than ever, and I don’t mean writing on your hand. Your class is allowed to use a graphing calculator for the test? Write a program on it that contains all the formulas that you need and presto, you pass the test. Chance of being caught? Zero.

Focus

Finally, and to wrap up, it may be said that for all the technology we put in the classroom all we do is distract children from actually learning. Are we showing children blinking lights instead of books and so forth? The complaint should be formed into a question: is there a way to employ new technology intelligently avoiding its pitfalls while reaping its rewards? Yes, by having strong and smart teachers who can use the tools that technology offers without falling on their sharp ends.

The Ten Building Blocks for Learning with Cell Phones

1) Build RelationshipsBreaking the ban starts with the building of relationships with key constituents. Here is advice on how to get started. 

2) Embrace ResearchIn today’s educational climate providing evidence that the work you are doing is aligned to research and standards is crucial! Here are some ways to do this.

In addition to content area alignment, ensure your cell infused lessons indicate alignment to the National Education Technology Standards.
This is a sample of a math teacher’s compilation of Standards-Aligned Activities with Cell Phone and Other Technologies
Incorporate the use of cell phones aligned to Robert Marzano’s nine research-based strategies.
You can think of your own or use some of these ideas shared on The Innovative Educator blog.
Demonstrate careful research of the use mobile technology to building principal and district administration. Provide specific data and examples that are up-to-date, not out-of-date. 

3) Plan Activities

• Planning is key. Create and develop a plan, lessons, and activities that you can share with those who care and want to know what you have in store for the use of cell phones in the classroom.
• Develop a well thought-out plan for embedding cell phones into instruction. Invite your students to partner with you in developing ideas to meet learning goals using cell phones. This plan can be shared on your class and/or school website as well as distributed to parents, guardians, and school community members.

 4) Pilot ProgramBe willing to start small, demonstrate success and work from there.

Meet with those key in your school and district decision making to map out an acceptable pilot program i.e. district technology coordinator, building principal and assistant principals.  

5) Access for AllAnyone interested in embedding cell phones into the curriculum has heard the argument, but what about the students who don’t have a phone??? Well, you do the same thing as you do when your class doesn’t have enough textbooks. You don’t say, I guess we can’t do our work. We find workarounds. Partner or group students. Have some extras on hand for those who don’t have. Reach out to the community for support, but don’t use that as an excuse to not innovate instruction. 

6) Partnering with Students to Use Cells for LearningWhen using technology for learning, Marc Prensky’s concept of partnering with students fits in well. Bring students into the conversation and ask them about ways they can meet learning goals in life, at school, and at home. 

7) Parent/Guardian PermissionBefore we use cells with students, we must have parent approval. By the time you ask for it, you’ve hopefully already begun some home school connection strategies with cell phones so you are on your way. 

8) Acceptable useJust like any other classroom tool, teachers need to work with students to establish acceptable use policies. In some classrooms the teacher just explains how the general policies apply to the use of cell phones, in others they create a new policy, in some schools the students help create the policies, and in some classrooms they invite parental input as well. Collecting everyone’s thoughts on acceptable use is easy when you use cell phone tools like Poll Everywhere and Wiffiti to do so. 

9) Cell Phone Etiquette
Adults often complain that cell phones are a distraction in class, but how much time have they really devoted to discussing proper etiquette? This can be woven into a general discussion around behavior and etiquette in different situations. Inviting students into the conversation about appropriate etiquette and what to say to those not exhibiting polite behavior usually works better than telling students how to best behave.

10) Classroom Management
As with the use of any technology in the classroom, when using cell phones in the classroom you must have classroom management procedures in place. The nice thing, however, about cell phones is that you don’t have to worry about distribution, collection, storage, imaging , and charging of devices. Consider working with your students to develop this plan, you may find that they build a strong, comprehensive policy of which they will take ownership and be more likely to follow. Once developed, the plan should be posted in advance of using cell phones in the classroom.

At One School, a Push for More Play Time

Some kindergarten parents at Public School 101, a graceful brick castle in Forest Hills, Queens, wanted more free play time for their children; so they decided to do something about it.

Gone were the play kitchens, sand and water tables, and dress-up areas; half-days were now full days. Instead, there were whiteboards, and the kindergartners, in classes of up to 27, practiced reading and math on work sheets on desks at P.S. 101, also known as the School in the Gardens.

Play came in the form of “choice time,” a roughly 30-minute afternoon period during which each child chose what blocks or toys in the classroom to work with, and at recess, which was often truncated by the time it took for every child to calm down and form an orderly line back to class.

About a month ago, about half of the kindergarten parents signed a letter to the principal, Valerie Capitulo-Saide, asking for more unstructured time in the school day, an extra recess period and better procedures in recess. Ms. Capitulo-Saide gave them one extra gym period a week and no longer required students to form perfect lines at recess, one parent said.

P.S. 101 “is a high performing school,” Ms. Capitulo-Saide said in an e-mail. “Our collaborative decision-making process includes input from parents, teachers and administrators. As a result of our collaboration, we have added 30 minutes of additional physical education instruction per week for kindergarten students while maintaining strong instruction.” 

Time and space for imaginative play in city schools seem to be shrinking as the academic emphasis on reading and math grows, said Clara Hemphill, who researches the city’s schools. “Across the city, we’ve seen dress-up areas taken away and replaced with computer desks,” Ms. Hemphill said. That has brought a quiet backlash from some parents.

Some parents at P.S. 101 said they wanted to see a greater emphasis on play on days when children cannot go outside; now, they are sometimes plopped down to watch television cartoons. “We wanted something like board games or Simon Says, but I think the staffing was too much to organize,” Donna Chin, a kindergarten parent, said.

The school also organized an effort to win money from an online competition to fix up a disused outdoor area into a garden it is calling a “kinder” (rhymes with minder) garden. The school is asking for $25,000; the deadline to vote is Jan. 31. The goal is to use the garden as an alternative learning site that creates an enriching outdoor learning environment instead of an all-day confined classroom model.

Early childhood homework is another issue. Each Monday, the kindergartners get a packet of worksheets they are supposed to complete by Friday. There are generally 10 to 12 reading, writing and math worksheets each week. Parents are also asked to read to their children.

children songs

Apples and Oranges

I like apples and oranges.
I like apples and oranges.
Apples and oranges are so sweet .
Apples and oranges are good to eat.
I like apples and oranges.

Orange juice is so sweet,
Apple sauce is fun to eat,
Apple pie with ice cream -- what a tasty treat.
I like apples and oranges.
I like apples and oranges.

Apples and oranges are so sweet .
Apples and oranges are good to eat.
I like apples and oranges.

Orange juice is so sweet,
Apple sauce is fun to eat,
And apple pie with ice cream -- what a tasty treat.
I like apples and oranges.
I like apples and oranges.

Apples and oranges are so sweet .
Apples and oranges are good to eat.
I like apples and oranges.

Orange juice is so sweet,
Apple sauce is fun to eat,
Apple pie with ice cream -- oooh, what a tasty treat.
I like apples and oranges.
I like apples and oranges.
applies and oranges
apples and oranges (repeat to fade)

 Bingo

There was a farmer had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.

B-I-N-G-O!
B-I-N-G-O!
B-I-N-G-O!
And Bingo was his name-o!

There was a farmer had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.
(Clap)-I-N-G-O!
(Clap)-I-N-G-O!
(Clap)-I-N-G-O!
And Bingo was his name-o!

There was a farmer had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.
(Clap, clap)-N-G-O!
(Clap, clap)-N-G-O!
(Clap, clap)-N-G-O!
And Bingo was his name-o!

There was a farmer had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.
(Clap, clap, clap)-G-O!
(Clap, clap, clap)-G-O!
(Clap, clap, clap)-G-O!
And Bingo was his name-o!

There was a farmer had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.
(Clap, clap, clap, clap)-O!
(Clap, clap, clap, clap)-O!
(Clap, clap, clap, clap)-O!
And Bingo was his name-o!

There was a farmer had a dog,
And Bingo was his name-o.
(Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap)
(Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap)
(Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap)
And Bingo was his name-o!

Pre-school education

What is meant by pre-school education?

It is the first level of the Chilean education system. Serves children integral to
from birth to entry to basic education, without becoming as mandatory level.
 
What is your goal?

This level of education, is designed to promote a systematic, timely and relevant quality learning for all children under six years until his admission to Basic Education through various agencies and institutions as a complement to education undertaken by families

Why is it important to attend nursery education?
a. Because the first years of life children are fundamental to intellectual development, since during this period the brain is developed enormously and thousands of cells are born, grow and connect with each other to be shaping intelligence, personality and behavior social.
b. Because it enables children to better learning, greater opportunities for their future lives and also affects their performance and stay in the school system.
c. Because it allows women heads of households work more quiet.