Technology in Kindergarten

From School Computing

[edit] Introduction

There are a variety ways to integrate technology into kindergarten. Technology can help to motivate students and engage students in ways that other educational tools cannot. Technology isn't just computers and computer programs. Digital cameras, projectors, scanners and "Leap Frog"-type systems are also ways to incorporate technology into kindergarten. In Montgomery County, Maryland as well as other areas of the country, technology is becoming an assessment tool used within the classroom. Teachers are able to administer assessments and monitor their students’ progress through the use of computers. These technological advances are also allowing for better communication with parents in regards to their students' test scores and academic strengths and weaknesses. Technology is also a great way for kindergarten teachers to plan, research units and lesson plans and share ideas with other colleagues from all over the country.

[edit] Kindergarten Standards

The kindergarten curriculum in Montgomery County Public Schools is an intensive program which includes a 90 minute reading block, 60 minute math block, and science and social studies units. Within each of those main areas, students are learning about:
Reading - letter identification, phonemic awareness, oral language, concepts about print
Math - patterns, graphing, sorting, measuring, addition, subtraction, time, money, numbers
Science - Myself and others, Balls and Ramps, Living Things
Social studies - About Me, About School, About Family

To see more of the kindergarten curriculum:
MD State Voluntary Curriculum
Montgomery County Public Schools Curriculum

[edit] Rationale for the Use of Technology in Kindergarten

Kindergarteners need to experience a lesson or an objective multiple times and in a variety of ways in order to internalize the information. Using technology is a motivational way for the students to interact with the subject area over and over again in unique and exiting ways and helps to enhance and increase learning potential. Rationale for Technology in Education

[edit] Barriers to using Technology in Kindergarten

In kindergarten, age can be a barrier to using technology. At first, some children may have difficulty with the eye-hand coordination or fine motor skills. Things like pointing the mouse or double clicking the mouse can be tricky.

Some teachers may believe that kindergarten is too early to introduce kids to technology. Jane Healey believes that too much computer time can be detrimental to a child's creativity and motivation. Healey believes that no child needs to spend a significant amount of time on the computer until they are ten years old.

In addition to the age barrier, other barriers to technology include can be found here:Issues and Barriers to Integrating Technology

[edit] Hardware

Technology in kindergarten includes more than just computers. The following is a list of other useful way that technology can be integrated into the classroom.

Printers - printing student work created on the computer (ie. kidspiration sentences and patterns)and printing pictures of students.

Scanners - scanning pictures of students or other items (environmental print - i.e. cereal box) into the computer.

Digital Camera - take pictures of students, of student work, environmental pictures (building, staff members, field trips) to create books.

Palm Pilot - for administering reading assessments and progress monitoring between assessment windows.

Projector - to be used with the computer, class virtual field trips, slide shows, whole class research.

Leap Frog Products - has a variety of educatonal products to promote early literacy and math. Leapfrog has motivational materials such as phonics boards and interactive readers.

Language Audio Card Reader - to be used with audio cards, students can listen to pre-recorded words, sentences, and phrases, or record their own voices and play them back. Can be ordered from Lakeshore Learning Materials.

Television - can be connected to the computer so students can have a bigger screen to watch as the teacher goes through lessons(for those of us who do not have a projector). Can also be used with VCRs to show educational videos :)

[edit] Software

This list includes the title of the software, a link to the publisher, and a description of the activites available to students.

Software for Technology in Kindergarten

Also See: Technology_in_Language_Arts#Software for a list of reading fluency software

[edit] Examples of Integration

Reading/LA

Nursery Rhymes/ Fairytales

Math

Patterns

Science

Dinosaurs

Social Studies

Community Helpers

[edit] Resources

Resources for Teachers
Planning

The internet is also a wonderful place for teachers to collaborate and share ideas with one another. There are many great web resources, some specfic to kindergarten and others that are helpful to teachers of all grade levels. Here are a few of our favorites! We love them all, but ranked them in order by the ones we use the most!

Hubbards Cupboard A wonderful website by a kindergarten teacher with ideas for everything from room arrangments to lesson plans!

The K Crew The K Crew is a team of teachers that have made a website of their yearly plans. They share wonderful ideas for bulletin boards, management strategies, reading center and thematic units. There website is a fantasitc resource for any kindergarten teacher.

Scholastic Teacher Page Scholastic doesn't just have games and activities for students. Their teacher page is a terrific source for teachers. Teachers can get lesson ideas, instructional strategies, make rubrics and even set up a homepage for their classroom.

Kinder KornerKinderKorner is another website that is designed especially for kindergarten and early childhood classrooms. This is not just an informational and ideas website, it is also a listserv, linking you to primary teachers all over the country.

Inside KindergartenInside Kindergarten is a website maintained by a teacher from Missouri. She includes many lesson, theme, unit and management ideas for kindergarten. This site is very useful if you are looking for tried and true ways to update your kindergarten routine.

Early Childhood Early Childhood Links is just what its name implies a website with links for early childhood websites. There are links and ideas for parents, homeschoolers, teachers and Montessori programs. Many of the links that we utilize are featured on this website!

Alphabet Page Based on feedback we recieved from the Reading Teacher Listserv we've added a link to a Canadian school's website which has wonderful reading activities for Kindergarten Students and resources for teachers.

Assessmets

Mclass Reading Website Technology is also beginning to make its way into assessments. In Montgomery County we now do all of our early childhood (K-2)reading assessments using a Palm Pilot. Using the Palm Pilot allows our data to be hot-synched into the computers and then analyzed.

ESGI ESGI is an easy to use alternative to collecting kindergarten assessment data on paper. It is twice as fast as collecting the data on paper, and all you need is a computer with internet. Try it for free. ESGI allows you to put your own assessments into the system, so you do not have to change what you are doing. Check out the video at http://intro.esgisoftware.com

Software

Tom Snyder SoftwareTom Snyder Productions has wonderful computer programs for all grade levels and teachers.

Web Quests

Web Quest - Investigation Eggs Webquests are on-line activites that students can use to enhance a unit or theme.

Resources for Students