Integrating technology in Kindergarten

I teach in a full day multicultural Kindergarten in Abbotsford BC. I am interested in integrating more technology ie. digital cameras and video recorders in my classroom and more specifically, getting the students to use the technology while they inquire into topics of interest. One project area I'm considering for the beginning of the year is exploring the school environment and would welcome any ideas to integrate technology.

Tags: based, early, learning, project, technology

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Permalink Reply by Alline Sada on August 18, 2010 at 4:01pm

Hi John, I am the mother of 3yr old twins and the Technology Coach for a k-8 school in Mexico.

My children love making movies on the Flip video camera, its easy enough for them to use.

They also enjoy the Leapster handheld, each can hold up to 5 users.The Leapster 2 can be plugged into a computer and you get a "Progress Report" on each child's skills.

For Web Games, try http://www.alline.org/euro/games/kids.html

For Ipod Touch games try http://alline.org/euro/preschool_apps.html

Hope it helps!

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Permalink Reply by Tina Dahlby on August 18, 2010 at 9:20pm

Hi Jon,

I came across an article in Science and Children (2009) that may be of interest to you - "A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words" by Sarah Davison. You would need to access the online journal through EBSCO or Eric. In the article the author discusses how she had second grade students form inquiry questions before a field trip then had students answer their question using photos taken with digital cameras. After the photos were taken the class made a question-answer type of nonfiction book. Interesting read.

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Permalink Reply by John Foote on August 20, 2010 at 10:11am

Thanks Tina! I found the article and it looks interesting :)

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Horst on August 18, 2010 at 10:41pm

I use TuxPaint with my kindergarten students to do a variety of lessons. I have created templates to help with computer part naming and have created several .png files that you can load into TuxPaint as either stamps or backgrounds.

I also load their school pictures in and have them make an "about me" poster where they use their picture and we help them type a few sentences in with their names, etc.

If I had cameras I would have them create an "ABC" book with items found around the school.

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Permalink Reply by McDougleC on August 19, 2010 at 1:02am

I think a creating a class color book would be really fun with kindergarten. They could take pictures of different things they find at school of each color. Add some text and you have a very engaging book (physical and digital) for students. How do you plan on introducing the camera to the students? or would they have "helpers"?

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Permalink Reply by Ashley Culverhouse on March 10, 2011 at 9:46am

I think this would be cute and fun. This will allow children to know their colors and understand that colors come in all different shades. Many things in nature are a combination of many colors. Doing class color book would allow students to be interactive with their learning as well as starting to learn to use technology since that is where all classrooms are headed.

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Permalink Reply by Doug Walker on August 19, 2010 at 5:37am

I have worked with kindergarten teachers in my district to create digital stories using MS Photostory 3. The students draw pictures on an assigned topic. THey then compose one or two sentences about it. We take pictures of the drawings using a digital camera and import them into photostory. The students record their narration on each picture. We add a title page and some music. The kids absolutely love the entire process. We make the stories available on one of our district blog server for parents and family to view and comment on.

Here is an example of one of our kindergarten class projects:

http://blogs.jefftwp.org/wordpress/miltonschoolproductions/category...

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Permalink Reply by John Foote on March 8, 2011 at 12:27pm

Doug, those photo stories are great! I plan to do them with my Kinders.

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Permalink Reply by John Foote on August 20, 2010 at 10:10am

Great ideas. Thanks Alline!

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Permalink Reply by Brandon Horst on August 20, 2010 at 10:23am

I was curious as to whether my lower aged students could use cameras effectively and without too much trouble. My main problem is that I have actual classes just for technology so I am working with 20 kindergarten students at a time and am running solo. The noise level and time needed to record voices has always been challenging. I would like to try recording their voices with the Photostory drawings, and might have to see if I can get a parent to volunteer for some extra duty :)

I tried with first grade and they had no problem after I explained how the camera worked and showed them good and bad photos with the cameras. It helped that I hooked the camera up to our projector so they could see what I saw on the LCD too. We went over how to hold the camera, etc. and they I had them shoot and pass (take a pic of their neighbor and hand the camera to the next one).

The

I am going to grab a few kindergarten students later and see how it goes. I just wish that my classroom actually had a bag full of cameras :) I get frustrated that my students have better and more abundant tech than they do in my classroom.

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Permalink Reply by John Foote on March 8, 2011 at 12:22pm

Hi Brandon,

I relate to your frustration with not having the technology around to use with the students. Normally, I only have my camera to use in my classroom with the K's. However, once or twice a year, I get to borrow a set of 10 cameras from the school district tech. department. They were great to use with the K's and I did a similar plan as you by teaching the K's how to use the cameras, letting them practice and then showing them how to take better pictures. We took the cameras on our forest walks to take pictures of nature and them discuss them with as a group back in class. With only one camera, I've given the kids an opportunity to be the class reporter and take photos of learning going on at centre time. It was a great way to capture learning going on( without me taking the photos) and then discuss them at the end of the day. Let me know how it goes with using tech. with the K's.

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Permalink Reply by Jacqui Murray on August 24, 2010 at 2:54pm

I use Google Earth with my kindergartners. I create a tour of places that relate to what they're studying in the classroom (i.e., rain forests, cultural symbols, etc.) or where their family came from around the world. I let them scroll in, explore, and then get distracted. It introduces geography and tech skills. Usually, once I start it in the class, we're done! They don't want to go anywhere else.