Computer Labs

Hello,

My name is Kia Jones and I am a computer applications teacher in K-6 school. I have about 750 students and I see each class 2x per week for two marking periods. I am struggling with finding engaging and age appropriate activities for kindergarten. I do not have a textbook. I tried looking for one at the teacher's convention but the vendors did not have resources geared to the elementary level.

Any suggestions?

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Permalink Reply by Bernadette Roche on April 27, 2009 at 11:42am

Hi Kia! I feel your pain - I teach PS-8th grade as the technology teacher. I try to rotate through a set range of activities - internet usage, mouse/keyboarding skills, program/software use, and content integration. By the time my K's get to me, they're pretty good with mouse skills, but I use some free webgames to brush up on click, drag, double-click, etc. .I use www.starfall.com for both keyboarding skills and early reading practice. I use www.iknowthat.com for early math - counting to 12 and skip counting. Their favorites are Leon Movies and Leon DoJo. I also use Kid Keys software for keyboard recognition, not formal keyboarding (I don't do that until late 1st grade). I like the lessons at www.cybersmartcurriculum.org for internet lessons, safety, usage, etc. At the start of the second quarter, I teach the kids to log on with their own username and password. We also work on lauching programs and exiting programs as well as logging off/shutting down. Once a quarter (at least) I do an curriculum integration - 1st quarter we type a Halloween poem, 2nd quarter we type a winter poem, 3rd quarter we draw a space picture using Paint, 4th quarter we type our character ed lifeskills and do a safety book in PowerPoint. K is tough - there are many times I feel like I'm banging my head against a brick wall, but it's great to see the growth the following year.

Let me know if you need more ideas. I'm happy to share :)

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Permalink Reply by Kia Jones on April 27, 2009 at 1:17pm

Thanks Bernadette!!

I am always looking for new ideas. You said you start formal keyboarding in the 1st grade. Do you use a keyboarding program? What is kid keys? Where can I get it?

I would love to see the lesson plan for the space picture!! Sounds like fun.

Kia

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Permalink Reply by Bernadette Roche on April 27, 2009 at 1:45pm

Kids Keys is purchased software published by Knowledge Adventures. I have used Type to Learn Jr. by Sunburst in the past because it has an activity that does right hand - left hand practice. In other words, instead of just using their dominant for all keyboarding, TTL Jr. works on getting kids to use both hands. I like Kid Keys as the introductory to home row keyboarding. I do Kid Keys in 2nd also. For my 3rd-4th I use Type to Learn and 5th I use Typing Instructor. I also found a few internet sites for keyboarding, but not as good as the purchased software.

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Permalink Reply by Kia Jones on April 28, 2009 at 9:00am

We use TTL with the 3rd grade. I was hoping to get Read, Write and Type for K-2. It looks like a great program. Have you heard of or used it before? Is Typing Instructor a program?

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Permalink Reply by Matthew Allen on April 27, 2009 at 6:05pm

I teach first grade and had the same problems at the beginning of the year. With no tech help I've been spending a lot of time on my computer this year hunting out some good interactive and engaging sites. These are some of the best I have found.

www.abcya.com
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks1bitesize/
http://www.childtopia.com/index.php
www.readwritethink.org

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Permalink Reply by Kia Jones on April 28, 2009 at 9:06am

Thank you!! I used the Dance Mat Typing from the BBC with the fourth grade. The other BBC site is great. I can't wait to try it.

I have also spent countless hours searching for activities. It is so frustrating sometimes. I really appreciate your help.

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Permalink Reply by Matthew Allen on April 27, 2009 at 6:06pm

Also, PAWS jr. is a great typing program even for kindergarten

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Permalink Reply by R. Scott Young on April 30, 2009 at 4:45pm

Feel free to use my interactive web site. All the links are visual which makes it easy for little hands. Click on "Reading" then "Kindergarten" or "Math" then "Kindergarten" to see the activities.

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Permalink Reply by Kia Jones on May 1, 2009 at 9:15am

Thank you!!!

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Permalink Reply by Bernadette Roche on May 4, 2009 at 8:41pm

I just remembered - another school I was in used Disney's Adventures in Keyboarding for grades K-2. Since I taught older grades, I don't know how good it was, so I need to do some investigating yet.