Early Childhood faculty attended a presentation during the first week of school on how to use classroom websites to communicate with parents while involving students in the process.
The book Tech Tonic was referenced to emphasize when and how it is appropriate for young children to use technology, taking into consideration that it should support, not compete, with building relationships and a knowledge of nature. We also reviewed the Ten Principles For A New Literacy of Technology.
Tech Tonich quotes |
PK5 students have been learning about how they're similar and different from each other. We used the projector to view photos of children around the world and notice their characteristics. When we asked our students what they noticed, they said:
Students concluded we all have different hair, eyes, face, skin color, and clothes, but even though we look different on the outside, we are similar on inside; we all have a heart, a brain, lungs, a stomach, and bones.
Finally, we used Google Maps to find Guadalajara and then we zoomed out to find the countries the children in the photos where from. This app gave children the opportunity to travel to Japan, Africa, Alaska, South America, among other places. Once we found each country, we used street view so students could imagine standing on the streets of each place and have a quick look at the buildings and cities there.