Pinky Dinky Doo!

Pinky Dinky Doo has definitely brought the fun back into the ordinary reading. Our country has many children of young age who are struggling with literacy. The world that we know now is very technical that once these children get to class and have to open up a book, they don’t know what to think or how to feel. I don’t see this as an excuse to not teach them the correct fundamentals but we have to remember what type of world we live in and how to move with it. Pinky Dinky Doo puts the excitement and imagination back in to writing and reading through story telling that has animated pictures and sounds. This program can enhance my children’s cognitive and social abilities by using complete team work. The children can sit at the computer while trying to figure out what phrase should come next that makes the most sense. They will have to work together and come up with the next phrase together. This also helps their cognitive development because they have to think about what makes the most sense in the earlier part of the sentence. A developmentally appropriate use for using technology is to expand the children’s thought process. To make their words come alive before their eyes. An advantage of this website is to see their visions laid out on screen from an animated concept. The disadvantage from this website is if I do this in a group the children may not be able to compromise on one idea. I will definitely need to consider the time of the day to have them play this game on the computer. This helps with classroom management because I am sure that children will all want to join in and have a turn. We could also play this game off of the computer by writing them down on note cards with pictures attached to do as a board activity too.

Come Alive! Nursery Rhymes!

When doing my unit plan on Nursery Rhymes, I have chosen the software, Come Alive Nursery Rhymes!
This software is fun filled game to teach children the legendary nursery rhymes.  The songs included are, "Baa Baa Black Sheep", "Jack and Jill", "Twinkle Twinkle", "Hey Diddle Diddle", "Sing a Song of Sixpence", "Mary Mary", "Humpty Dumpty", and "Hickory Dickory Dock". The children will play interactive games that allow them to make rhyming words and place them together as well. It also gives the children an opportunity to sing all of the songs. This game also comes with a book that has 48 pages so that the teacher may get activities from to bring this game to life off of the computer. Rhyming cards(a set of eight) are also included in the case. These colorful cards are doubled sided as well with a word on the front and one that rhymes on the back. there can be many games played with this during free time or circle time. The publishers have also attached an audio CD that can be played in the classroom through out the day to enforce the songs that you want them to learn. One of the best assets to this game is that they give you wooden people pieces that you can put in your block area or make a table toy set out of as well. This way children can sit at the table and play while they sing their newly learned songs.

Mobile Technology

In your blog post this week, discuss the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating mobile computing devices in the classroom and how you might use this technology to enhance your students' learning if you were provided with a classroom set.

I think having mobile computing devices in the classroom is a great idea. But we all know that when their is a great positive in something, it always has a down fall.
I think that all ages are engaged in technology and it is easy for them grasp the concepts. I have no doubt in my mind that anyone by the age 3 and up can use any type of technological device.
I think they will benefit children and teachers by providing a more exciting source or learning, better interactions, help the teachers with a better filing system, be more beneficial to students with site problems and others who have trouble with mobility.
However, I still believe in "old school teaching" all of the things that we have now to me are also a distraction in education. Yes the children will learn new concepts but things come so easily to them now that something so simple as tying a shoe or holding a pencil correctly is almost taboo. These systems can also renig on us if they are dropped multiple times, if something falls on it, if something is spilled on it, or if it is misplaced. Hard earned/raised money will go straight down the drain and years worth of filing and a months worth of work will go straight down the drain if these systems fail us. I think most parents and some teachers find technology as their outlet time away from dealing with certain behaviors and use the term "times are changing" to make excuses for just doing the right thing. I am not against change in the technology world because I actually think that the Ipod and Ipad usage is really neat and creative, but I think that we need to master home base learning first.

NETS

The website for NETS for Students stated that these are the areas for the standards

• Demonstrate creativity and innovation
• Communicate and collaborate
• Conduct research and use information
• Think critically, solve problems, and make decisions
• Use technology effectively and productively

I feel that I apply all of these areas to my classroom. I think the one I need to utilize more are types of digital technologies in my classroom. We have two computers but some of the games are just what they are, games. They are not really teaching my kids anything strenuous which is why I limit their play on them. The only problem with me fulfilling this is the funding. I don't have the means to be able to provide my classroom with these types of technology. I know that some schools do fundraisers but we are only allowed to do two a year. To be able to fulfill this area, I am currently looking into getting a grant and asking parents to make donations. I have always had issues with being creative but I have been thinking out the box lately by using my resources and conducting thorough researches.  I have also been communicating more with other teachers at my center as well as having a brainstorming time. I see what things they have done, how it worked, what did it help improve in the classroom and with their children, and what would they change.

Isn't it just Delicious?

Delicious is a website that you can use for bookmarking. I know I have experienced forgetting the names of many websites to help when I go the library or I'm using a friends computer. Using the Delicious website allows you to put in these websites online for the next time you are away from your main computer, you can still find the websites with easy access without having to research them all over again. The aspect that I liked most about creating a Delicious account was that I didn't have to give them a lot of information because it was already linked to my Yahoo! account. The aspect that I didn't appreciate most was that after I put in one book mark, it was quite hard for me to find the link to add more. It took me quite sometime to find it because th elink was so small and I felt that if this was a site to add bookmarks that the link to add more would have been easier to find. This site would be a great use for when working in a group because I wouldn't have to jot down links for my group members, I could simply just have them go on to my Delicious page and click the links. Then they could easily save them to their account as well.

Weblist Checklist Sheet

Website Evaluation Checklist

Student Name:  Peaches Thurston                                                       Date of Evaluation:2-8-11

Name of the Website:  atozteacherstuff

URL of the Website:  http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/Themes/Nursery_Rhymes/

Accuracy of the Web Page	Yes	No	Notes
1.  Can you find the author of the page? Hint:  Scroll to the bottom of the page.  It may be an institution.		X	Author Name:
2.  Can the author be contacted: Hint:  Look for an “About Us” or “Contact Link”	X		Author email: webmaster@atozteacherstuff.com
3.  Do you think this person or institution is qualified to publish this webpage?	X		Why or why not? Yes because they have copyrights on the pages or they reference their information properly.
Authority of the Web Page
1.  Check the domain of the URL, particularly the extension.       Is this a commercial site?   The URL can give clues to the authority.		X	What does the extension tell you?
2.     Are there credentials listed for the author(s)? If not, try Googling the name of the author or the institution.		X	What did you find? No because this site basically just sends you to other sites for your information.
Purpose of the Web Page
1.  Read over the information on this website carefully.  Can you determine the purpose of this web page?	X		Why is this web page on-line?  Think critically about possible opinions or bias? It’s an easy access websites for teachers to get ideas or printout for them to do activities with their kids.
Currency of the Web Page
1.  Can you find a publishing date?	X		When was it published? 1997-2011
2.  Can you find the date it was last updated?		X	When was it updated?
3.  Are the links working and current? Click on some of the links to check.	X		What do you think about the links? The links take you directly to the information that you need.
Looking at your answers, do you think this website would be a reliable, credible source of information?	X		Why or Why not?  Yes I think this website is a liable source of information. It is also very use friendly. It is a site made up of other links and websites that you can go to. It gives you printable, songs, and activities that you can do with your kids. It gives credit to all the sites that it uses as well.

Content Standards and Benchmarks

Content standards are a guide or outline that tells a teacher what their children need to learn and master. There are areas that these children need to be able to master in such as language, math, history, and science. I know that in NC they strive for student excellence and want the children of our state to catch up to other states and countries. We have teams of professionals that link together to come up with end product for the children to complete accordingly.

Benchmarks help us to see which milestone our children have completed. In completing a standard, you must take it step by step. If you are wanting your children to add three digit numbers, you must see if they have mastered adding two digit numbers first.

To see if these standards and benchmarks have been met, teachers can do assessments in the classroom as well as test depending upon the age.

It is important that when teachers are planning their lessons they know what type of children they are dealing with. They need to figure out who are their hands on learners, visual learners and audio learners. i think knowing each child's strength and weakness as well as their interest are three of the most important things to learn about them. I say this because if you can play on strengths to improve their weaknesses by incorporating their interest that will make it easier for the child to grasp the concept that the teacher is wanting them to learn. In turn they will pass benchmarks and surpass the content standards.

People learn in very different ways. It is important that teachers know all of their students background information so they will know how to teach them. If your students have auditory problems or vision problems it can affect how they learn greatly. The process of learning is to receive information. You receive information by either seeing, feeling, or hearing it. After you  figure out the basis of the information that you are receiving you have to make a connection with it with something that you are already familiar with. If you are a student in class and your teacher is teaching three digit addition, you will have to connect your prior knowledge of using the same rules from the two digit addition. Then once you make the connection, you can apply it.

Adapting instruction is very important because you want to make sure all of your students are successful. So many children are overlooked because they may not pick up material as fast or they may have a disability but it is up to the teachers to do right by them. Adapting instruction is also important because it allows you to know what type of modifications need to be met for your student to continue to be successful.
        Three components of a good assessment are individual-referenced, norm-referenced, and criterion-referenced. Individual-referenced are assessments when a teacher compares their previous work to their own work to see what progress they have made. The norm-referenced assessment is standardized test. It is a test that is designed upon what a bunch of people feel each child should know. Lastly, there is a criterion-referenced assessment. The teach may come up with objectives for their lesson plan and then they see whether the child has mastered their objective.

One of the instruction cycles is labeled as, “Intended Instructional Outcomes”. This is the time that the teacher will discover what the standards are for a certain subject that needs to be taught. She will have it figured out about what they need to know and about how she wants to teach them. The second stage of “planning” the teacher should begin getting materials together for lesson plans that she wants to create. While she is in this stage of planning she also must know how she plans to assess these children on what she has just planned for them to learn. The third stage is the “assessment” stage. This is when the teacher will pick a type of assessment to see what the children have learned throughout this lesson.
        The curriculum is a guide of what the teacher will teach the children and how she is going to assess them will also guide her on how she will teach them. When a teacher is planning their lesson plan, she should give it a topic that comes from the curriculum. They will simply give it a name that helps children to have an inquiring mind. If you have to teach them about the solar system you could call it a “Journey to Outer Space”.