QR Codes

  

QR Codes are an exciting way to engage technology in the classroom. Check out http://goqr.me/ to make your own!

 

Tech Tool Review

Pinterest in the Classroom

I absolutely love Pinterest as a resource center, especially when looking to add new and exciting ideas. Teachers have amazing minds however we cannot just imagine things out of thin air. I find myself often on Pinterest looking to add a random activity to my lesson or even a unique way to organize the room. I however learned from this activity you can edit the save and write your own info. A lot of the time I binge save ideas but cannot remember how I was going to change them. Typically, I see an idea I like however I personally would change it slightly. This feature will help me write my idea down fast before I forget!

I think Pinterest is an amazing sight it allows you to view ideas from thousands of people. It is easy to save pins and organize ideas. The amount of ideas, organization and just student activities is amazing. As a first-year teacher on my own I just sometimes do not know how to better organize the room. Pinterest saves me every time! However, if you are not specific enough with your search you can really get swept away in nonsense. I really don’t have any feedback for Pinterest as I love it, but I have used it for many years. I appreciate this application to really help me organize my ideas and give me inspiration for my classroom. 

Khan/ Koller Review

I knew nothing about this site however upon visiting it and exploring the math section I would totally use this. I love the interactive videos and quizzes used. Columbus state uses Aleks and it does work however I have always felt it was missing an interactive video part and my professor does not offer that this semester.

I see this site is for older students that my young ones however I would publish this as a tool for kindergarten readiness. Even in the math section it offers interactive counting in small numbers and the children could really receive help from this material. Especially this technology format, they would eat this up! With some coaching I believe the materials were easy enough to follow for even children to use it. now I briefly looked at the older math and it needs some finesse however it is just as easy to navigate and I love that. It offers amazing an immediate reactions to correct and incorrect answers like these. 

 

I really believe the price of education has become too high, most least wage workers cannot afford to go to school. Instead we rely on loans, we gain interest and end up still struggling for a while. I think through the online courses it not only offers it to a wider variety of people but it really encourages learning. You cannot just breeze through online courses, it truly needs self-dedication. I think these classes could mean a brighter future where education is accessible at everyone’s finger tips!

I wanted to look at some different material to get a pleasant view of how this site works. I went looking at the English section and found a course for STEM majors. I love the layout and the simplicity, though I wish I could get a sample video to see if this lecture style is for me I like how everything is played out before you enroll.

You can clearly see the syllabus and weekly assignments and see how they compare for the entire semester. Given the right information most universities accept this as transfer credit.

            I love the idea of instant feedback, while most of my professors do have video lectures I think making me recall info almost instantly would really keep my attention. I love the idea of learning on my time that is why I am in online courses. However, I think it could be difficult at times to pass the quizzes and stay on track. Some of these courses have more weekly requirements than some of my current online classes. I think if you are not comfortable with your teacher, or you have a tough time understanding them because of an accent or something else it is much harder to learn. Not only do you have to learn how to push through what they are saying you then must pull out specific knowledge you need and it is tricky, but very possible.

            Like I said before I think this technology is the future and I believe everyone deserves a chance at education. you must be driven to take these classes and I feel that if you put time and effort into something you deserve credit. Education should already be readily available, least wage is not cutting it anymore. I hope to see more of this technology improve and become widely used. 

Exploring Standards-Based Lesson Plans

Letters & The Sounds They Make

I have now decided to do preschool however a lot of preschool is preparing for kindergarten readiness. In a preschool classroom in my center you attend for two years and this upcoming year I will have older toddlers almost 4 and I will need to prepare them for kindergarten. Which means working on a lot of the pre-steps to start common core curriculum. I found a great teacher that posts her intros to these subjects and how they line up to the common core curriculum. The lesson I chose is about Beginning letter sounds. Children are expected to explore and begin to find the beginning letter sound in every day words.

This lines up with the standard “beginning sounds isolation, beginning sounds identification, and free beginning sounds production”. This lesson I line up best to the Language and Literacy domain found in the reading range referring to Phonological Awareness, “With modeling and support identify initial and final sounds in spoken words”.

This teacher uses games and different activities to introduce this subject. The first activity is letter awareness. The children use cut out construction cards each with a different alphabet letter and practice going through them and finding and item with the same letter sound. For example, E and the child says elephant. However, these cards can also be used to name just the sounds like A for aah.

Camping Beginning Sounds, using pictures of items commonly used during camping we begin to find the first letter. Using worksheets, you find a list of ten pictures and using words together the kinds can clap out the words and listen for the first letter they hear. Alternatively, there are smaller post cards with pictures on them and letters the kids match up the letter sounds to the picture. This activity is perfect for introduction and gives the kids letters to choose from.

There are tons of activities and really, I chose this lesson plan because I would use these ideas in my classroom. As my children age I find myself looking for increasingly activities that really push them to their full potential. We practice repeating words and our classroom is labeled by pictures and the first letter it corresponds with. Activities like these help me know I can prepare my children for the next steps of early literacy. Sometimes it is hard to match my lesson plans to common core standards but finding fun activities that push their knowledge really help me. Finding reliable teachers with helpful ideas are crucial because this is new for me. Since I have no experience with older children this will be my first year teaching this age in my own classroom. I will look to this woman for future resource.

https://www.kindergartenworks.com/kindergarten-teaching-ideas/beginning-sounds-printable/