The Benefits of Computer Technology in Kindergarten By: Laura Beck Holy Family University EDUC 509 Computers in the Elementary School Summer II, 2003

Content Objective Benefits Literacy Skills –Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Activities Math Skills –100 Day Celebration Activities Art Lesson –Red, Yellow, Blue…What Can You Do! –Color Wheel Ornament Resources Final Thoughts

Objective To familiarize kindergarten teachers, parents, and administrators with practical and effective ways to integrate computers into the curriculum. To educate kindergarten teachers, parents, and administrators about the educational value of incorporating computers in the Kindergarten classroom.

Benefits For Socio-Emotional Development: Work cooperatively with others. Take responsibility for one's own work. Develop perseverance. Take pride in one's accomplishments. For Cognitive Development: Identify and sort objects by attributes such as color, shape, and size. Learn sequencing and order. Develop early reading skills. Understand cause and effect. Extend creativity. For Physical Development: Develop fine motor skills. Refine eye and hand coordination. Improve visual skills.

Students gain the maximum benefits from technology in the classroom when the following occur: 1.The lesson or project is directly connected to the classroom curriculum. 2.Technology is applied to real situations for a real purpose. 3.The technology supports students to actively learn and discover at their own pace. 4.Computers are part of classroom activities, rather than set apart in a separate room or lab.

Language Development and Emerging Literacy Tape recorders and computers are resourceful for developing language and literacy skills. For example, students can : · Listen to stories being read & record their own. · Create stories on the computer with the help of an adult, using word processing software. · Draw a picture (on paper or on the screen), then dictate a story or caption to an adult or older child to type into the computer. · Build and create a masterpiece, then use a digital or video camera to take pictures of the creations and display them on the computer. Children can write or dictate or record captions for these photos, or use voice recordings to tell about their work.

Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom These trees were made by painting each child's hand green and wrist brown. When they dried, the students glued Alpha- Bits cereal letters to them. After the students constructed the torn paper trees, each child attaches the letters he/she knows. The teacher evaluated each child's ABC recognition with these trees.

Emerging Math Skills Patterning: Children can use patterning or drawing software to practice seeing relationships and predicting what comes next in a series, helping to build a concrete understanding of math. Many programs can be used in conjunction with building blocks, patterns in music, or math manipulative such as pattern blocks or tiles. Classification: Learning to identify and sort objects by their attributes is basic to both science and math. Classification software encourages children to group objects by attributes such as size, color, and shape as well as to create groupings of their own objects. Seriation: Objects can be manipulated on the screen in much the same way that physical objects can be ordered by size in the classroom.

Emerging Math Skills Continued… Numerical Relationships: Software programs can help children master the concepts of “more than,” “less than,” and “the same as” and learn this necessary skill for understanding mathematics. Calendar: The daily calendar is part of many kindergarten classes. Some children's software includes a template for making a calendar, and provides an additional way to build awareness of how time is measured in days, weeks, and months. Graphing: Build a graph in the classroom with objects, such as shoes or candy wrappers, and then put the information into a spreadsheet or graphing program. This helps children make the connection between the physical items and the symbols, and to reinforce the concept of graphs as visual information.

100 Day Celebration Day Hats 100 Day Necklaces Counting 100 Fruit Loops

Art Red, Yellow, Blue… What Can You Do! “Believe it or not, there are only three simple colors! All the other colors you can think of are made from mixing these three colors together. Different recipes will make different colors. These three simple colors are red, yellow, and blue. They are called the primary colors. Primary means first, or beginning.” To get three more colors, just mix two primary colors together. If you mix red and yellow together, you'll get a new color ­orange. If you mix yellow and blue together you'll get green. And blue and red will make purple. Now you have three more colors. These new colors; orange, green, and purple, came second. They are called the secondary colors. These six colors can be painted in a circle, or wheel. It's called a color wheel. Each color has a certain place on the wheel, depending on its recipe. Green sits between blue and yellow on the wheel because it is made up of these two colors. Artists think about the color wheel a lot. Where each color sits on the wheel is important. Computers.html

Color Wheel Ornament What you’ll Need: Crayons or color markers: (6) Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple ScissorsGlue stick Printer with black ink2 pieces of Ribbon(1long & 1 short) Hole puncher Computer paint program, such as Kid Pix (or pattern from this page) What To Do: 1.At your computer, open a painting program such as Kid Pix, ClarisWorks/Paint, or Windows Paint. Draw an 8" x 4" rectangle on your screen. Draw two lines, up and down, to divide the 8" width into 3 sections. Draw another line down the middle, from left to right. You'll have six small rectangles. Another Option: Print a copy of the pattern that is provided.pattern 2.Decorate each rectangle with a design. Don't color your art on-screen. You'll add color after it's printed. Print one copy. 3.Use crayons or markers to color each square with its correct color. Be sure to put each color in the right spot. 4.Make 1/2-inch accordion folds (like a fan), starting at one of the narrow ends. It will be either a yellow/green or red/purple colored end. 5.Tie the accordion with the small piece of ribbon. 6.Snip one corner off each side of the folded bundle. 7.Fold the bundle in half and join the edges together as shown. Glue the edges. 8.Punch a hole in the top and tie the large piece of ribbon.

Valuable Resources Student Website The Little Animals Activity Center Research Websites on The Benefits of Computer Technology in Kindergarten What is a Good Kindergarten Curriculum? Computers and Young Children Early Connections: Technology in Early Childhood Education Teacher Resources The Learning Leap An Alphabet Book On-Line Crayons and Computers Teacher’s Net Alpha Index ABC Teach

Final Thoughts Kindergarten is often the first school experience for many children; therefore, it is the perfect opportunity to introduce computers to children. This early experience with computers will ease students into personal exploration of computers that will help lead students to success in our computer-driven society.