Crayons and Paste for Me!

This week I learned about a lot of different tools and technologies out there to provide more enriching and captivating classroom experiences. Prezi is an alternative to PowerPoint that isn't so linear and organized. It seemed like a more fun and comprehensible way to show relationships between characters in a book or steps in a cycle, or the like. Google Lit Trips I found fascinating as one who loves to read. A Lit Trip maps out the path of characters from a book, like The Kite Runner or Make Way for Ducklings, and shows it to you on Google Earth.
Even with all this technology, I'm having a hard time figuring out how I might incorporate it into a kindergarten classroom. A lot of the interesting ideas presented in class didn't seem to apply. In my experience, younger children are bigger fans of hands-on type learning. Prezi presentations and Google Earth images aren't going to hold their attention.
The only idea I've had for incorporating technology into a classroom full of 6 year olds is for them to use some of the many and varied games available online. There are a lot of simple math, alphabet, simple spelling and color games available that would be a fun way to review or learn these concepts.

For me, I would still rather give them crayons, paste, markers and paint than an iPad with a drawing app. I would rather have them gather on the carpet to be read a story than give them all Leapfrog Learning systems. I would rather have them play math or alphabet games with each other, or at least with tangible objects than set them in front of computer screens. I would rather take them outside and show them colors than leave it up to posters or computers to show them.

Baby Jetpacks?

Welcome to the parents' bench for Ms. Melissa's classroom!
Visit this blog to see what your kids are up to during the week. I hope to post pictures and samples of student work every week, so that you can watch as your child and the class as a whole learn and progress throughout the year. Maybe you as a parent, and I as a teacher will learn something this year too. :)

In fact, I'm sure we will. I've already learned something this year. I was thinking about how technology will change education. There are some very obvious ways that technology has changed education already. Powerpoints and smartboards replace overhead projectors and chalkboards. Online and virtual classrooms are becoming more popular. New technologies like Baby Einstein, the Leapfrog learning system, and Baby Mozart are teaching children at younger and younger ages.

But how will changing technology affect kindergarten education? Usually when I think of technology, first I think of the internet. Then I think of things like robots. Jetpacks. Hovercars. But unless Fischer Price makes a jetpack model operational by 6 year olds, this isn't the kind of technology that will change kindergarten classrooms. I can't be sure what kind of technology lies in the future, but I am certain that it will change the way children learn, the way teachers teach, and the way parents interact with their children, just like it has in the past.