CTAP 295 Teaching with Technology FINAL PRESENTATION Kellie Dunham Happy Valley Primary School The Solar System

My name is Kellie Dunham and I am currently a kindergarten teacher at Happy Valley Primary School. My web site is My is This is a kindergarten science lesson. It addresses numerous California State Science Standards for kindergarten. (1.a., 3.b.,4.d. and 4.e.

How to put a lesson on a web site To enhance my computer knowledge with colleagues Create a lesson to be used in my classroom To become more proficient in multiple uses of the computer To learn Excel Expectations

I learned the following: Lesson development utilizing California State Standards Web page creation in Netscape Composer Linking pages and projects Power point Excel Downloading and uploading techniques Outcomes

Successes Web site accessible to kindergartners A new method of instruction Interest in topic A standards based lesson High interest of students

Shortcomings Children needed an adult to help gather information Time needed for students at computer Lack of adult help Only one computer in classroom

Student Data I did not administer a pre-assessment to the kindergartners. I based their prior knowledge on the whole-group KWL chart. As a class, they knew very little about the planets and their order in space initially. Most students demonstrated a significant improvement in their knowledge in this area at the end of the lessons.

Revisions The kindergartners enjoyed the activities in this lesson. The stories, songs and activities all allowed for optimum success among the students. The activity utilizing the computer was the greatest challenge. In the future, I would provide the children the color book that goes along with the information they hear on the web site. The information is fairly complex. The “Planet Rap” song did help to reinforce the characteristics of each planet. It would be very beneficial to have access to multiple computers.

Summary I am basically a self-taught computer user. This is my first formal computer class. I have learned to utilized the computer on an “as needed basis” mainly to fulfill requirements for other classes I have been taking at the University. This class was a huge learning curve for me. I was exposed to many aspects of computer literacy that I had not encountered in the past, to include the PowerPoint presentation.

I had also not had the opportunity to closely examine the California State Science Standards in the indepth way that was necessary to develop a lesson plan. This part of the activity was extremely beneficial and practical. I was exposed to the vast uses for the computer, beyond word processing and ! I feel more prepared to utilize the computer as another learning tool within my classroom.