At the end of the school year, my son came home with a project. He
was asked to design and teach a lesson to his kindergarten class.
We spent time talking about the things he knows a lot about. My
son knows a lot more about the sun than the average kindergarten
student. I'm not talking about facts like the size or temperature. He
has to apply sunscreen 30 minutes before he goes outside, wear a hat,
and wear long sleeves daily to keep his body safe. He is very sensitive
to ultra violet rays.
Together, we worked on a book
writing project. He read the story to his class and created uv bracelet
kits to try out a few challenges with his classmates.
Here is his book, The Sun, on iTunes.
Here is his book, The Sun, in BookCreator On-Line.
During
the summer, Kirsten and I shared the process of publishing student
created books with the Book Creator App. You can view our examples and
others that we discovered while preparing for our session. You'll also
find a collaborative book that was created by our teachers during the
session. They are so talented!
I've been wanting to learn more about coding in elementary school and introducing teachers in my area to integrate robotics in the curriculum and during the school day. I'm loving code.org and feel like I'm am only in the beginning phase of exploring and learning. My goal is to work with the Wonder Robots and turn around sessions to share with my area TCEA Community and spread awareness in my school district and surrounding districts.
Most of the time, the extra learning has to happen at home. I really don't mind when learning is this much fun and includes bonding with my children.
I've spent two short time frames over the last two weeks working with my 4 yo son. We've been using the Go and Path App. So far, I think they are great for pre-readers. It is visual and enjoyable for a child to explore.
I will document our learning here in my blog as I continue to explore and learn. Here is the first video that shares my son's trouble shooting and first challenge with Dash.
Torture
At the beginning of the school year, I felt like homework with my first grader was torture. It still isn’t where I’d like it to be, but it’s a work in progress. It will be a gradual change.
Homework is the same every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I believe I know what my child needs a little extra help with. I really wish I could focus her “homework” time on creating scenarios and problems for her to solve, as a way to connect what she is learning to the real world. I wish we could invest that time together to Blog more, make movies, write digital stories, or even create our own games. For now, her homework is what it is, a way to reinforce what she is learning in the classroom.
On Mondays and Tuesdays my 6yo spends about an hour and a half completing homework. She must write her spelling words (8 in English and 8 in Spanish) 3 times each, complete a math work sheet (front and back) and read a book that is sent home with her. These books usually include her spelling/vocabulary words, but are not challenging for her. The stories don’t have a plot and are not exciting. You literally have to make up what your favorite part would be by looking at the pictures. They are not stories that encourage my child to love reading.
(I’m human) After raising my voice at my child saying, “focus”, “do your homework,” “stay on task,” “I don’t want to be here all night watching you write your words,” and hearing my daughter tell me, “I HATE homework,” I knew we needed to talk with her teacher. I emailed her and scheduled time to meet with her after school. I wanted to kindly inform her about what was going on. My daughter and I were frustrated.
Asking For Change
I wondered if her teacher would allow me to modify my daughter’s homework. After all, I do work with my child at home. If she was going to spend that much time on homework, I wanted her to have the opportunity to create something.
After kindly sharing my concern, I explained that I would like the opportunity to switch things up a bit. I told her I would never ask her to provide extra materials or provide different homework. I know how hard she works and how many students she has. I told her that my passion includes technology integration and allowing students the opportunity to create things that they are proud of. I said, “I’d like to begin using technology with her to study and learn during homework time.” Her teacher said that would be okay. I promised to email evidence or send a note on the nights we modified homework.
First Change
A few weeks ago, I asked my daughter if she would like to try something different with her homework. I set my laptop down at her homework desk. We substituted handwriting her spelling words for typing her words three times each. I loved teaching her how to change the font style, font size, use the “tab” key, and print a document.
The following night, my daughter asked if she could print her homework. “Print, NOOOOOO”, I thought. I was sure she wanted to hand print her spelling words. Oh no, she had her heart set on, printing her homework on the printer. Tuesday night spelling words are completed pyramid style, as requested. That evening, she learned how to center her words to make a pyramid.
Since then, she has learned how to use the character keyboard on the MAC
to accent letters when typing her Spanish spelling words. She is doing
this independently now and wants to learn how to type without looking
at the keyboard. She wants to learn! She wants to do this homework.
Typing is still new and exciting to her.
What’s Next
My
next step is to begin brainstorming more ideas that will keep her
engaged while practicing her spelling words. I want exciting and fun
learning experience for her. Will we create a spelling game? Will we
write a song together? Will we make a spelling movie? Who knows, but
anything is more exciting than writing spelling words 3 times each.
Parent/Teacher Conference
During the actual parent/teacher conference at my daughter’s school, her teacher said that my daughter secretly handed her a note I had written when she turned in her homework typed. My daughter was scared to turn it in. She reassured us that it was fine. :) She really does have a wonderful teacher. I’m so glad I asked her if we could modify the homework.
I have seen what students can do with technology. What is a mother to do when opportunities to create with technology are not all over your child's classroom? I begin to sprinkle it in to spend time with her and share with her teacher.
My daughter does not attend a school that I work with. I'd like to keep it that way. I don't want to be a helicopter parent. When she was 4, she would passionately talk about wanting to go to "Spanish school." She would tell me she wanted to speak Spanish. I sought out a public dual language school that could help make her dream happen. :)
In the back of my mind, I wondered what my little girl would create. I wondered if she would use the computer. I wondered what she would learn. I also knew I was not her classroom teacher. Nope, I have a "one up." I'm her Mother, her first, and most important teacher and role model.
After her first day of Kinder, we created a Blog together. It was also my project to begin blogging myself. I also wanted to have a portfolio of my daughter's learning. We didn't do much with it last year and we are starting all over again. :)
This year, we decided it was time to give it another shot. We worked on a project together. When we were finished, we sent an email to her teacher to share her work. Friday, I received a message back. Her teacher played the Puppet Pals video we created and posted on her blog for her class.
Last night, before she went to bed, I showed her that she had 587 blog views (in the history of her blog). She smiled very big and asked, "Does everyone like it?" Then, she repeated, "587."
She's my daughter and student. I love her and am going to help her be a 21 Century Learner. Check out her blog, Kaylee Shares, and leave her a comment.
Two days ago, I was very excited about the AutoRap App by Smule. This app can turn an ordinary person into a rap star by mixing recorded phrases to create an instant rap. Last night, my daughter tried to record a new song and I discovered this "Free" App only allows the user to create and share one free song. I was incredibly disappointed.
I wasn't sure that creating one free song hooked me into shelling out 2.99 for 60 plays, or 5.99 for an infinite amount of plays. The price isn't really bad, but I wasn't ready to pay for it.
I continued to explore the app and discovered that you can earn additional "Free Plays" within the app. I took a tour of they app and earned 10 more plays and watched an advertisement to earned 1 more play. This gives me more time to try it out.
The "Free Plays" allow you to record AutoRaps with the included "free style" music. There are 3 songs to choose from. There are also premium packs that include many beats from popular artists.
My 5 year old daughter and I have been using apps at night to make reviewing her day in Kindergarten fun. Last night we laughed our heads off, as she used the app AutoRap App by Smule. She sang the Months of the Year Song she learned in school. AutoRap turned it into a rap. I think I'll be hearing a lot of creations by Kaylee in the car from now on.
I'm very excited about all the different ways this FREE app can be used in the classroom. If students use 1 to 3 sentences to review a historical event or summarize a story, they'll enjoy listening and singing to their new rap song. I also see this app being used for science and reading vocabulary.
My only recommendation is to allow students the opportunity to create their own songs using AutoRap. If they are given the opportunity to use their own voice to define a vocabulary word, sing a song, or summarize, they will have a great time learning with this app.
Here are 5 great iPad/iPhone apps that I am using with my preschooler to practice letter sounds, phonics, and alphabet writing.
ABC Letter Tracing Free
Enjoy free, letter tracing, practice while learning to recognize the alphabet.
Letter Lab .99
Have fun tracing letters. This app allows the user to choose a pink or blue crayon to write. Practice writing and listen to the letter and word with the beginning sound being pronounced.
iWriteWords 2.99
Be entertained while learning how to write letters. Drag a cute crab through a sequence of numbers. After, listen to the letter pronounced and drag or fling the letter into a vortex before moving on. This app includes practice for capital letters, lower case letters, words and numbers. When your child has finished practicing, press the play button to see how they did.
Dora's Sky Writing Adventure 3.99
Feel some excitement with this writing adventure game. Help Tico fly his nutty plane by collecting nuts to fuel it. Drag Tico's airplane to collect nuts and write a letter. Listen to the beginning letter sound as you collect each nut. Students will also enjoy the kinesthetic game of moving the iPad to help draw an object with the beginning letter sound. Add up to 4 players, use the report card to view the completion of upper
case, lowercase letters, and combined upper/lowercase letters.
Montessorium Intro to Letters 4.99
Nice app with 5 different ways to learn letters. Listen to the letter sound, place finger on the arrow and write lower case, upper case or phonograms. Listen to letter flash cards or record your voice while learning letter sounds and phonograms.
All 5 apps are wonderful apps that I have added to my iTunes App collection. From free to 4.99, I have saved money and paper as my 4yo has practiced and enjoyed learning to write. Her favorite app today is Dora's Sky Writing Adventure, because "it's cool." My 18 month old enjoys repeating letters and sounds as I record him with Montessorium Intro to Letters. He giggles when I play it back for him.
