Thanks to Dr. Grant for coming to speak to our class Saturday.  It was a very informative session on Google Docs.  Google Docs are brand new to me.  In a nut shell, Google Docs are FREE programs offered through Google that allow you to make spreadsheets, documents, forms, etc.  All you have to do is set up a free account.  The programs seem to be very user-friendly!  The really cool part is you can "invite" other people who are also signed up to work with you on a project at the same time.  It all happens instantaneously in live time. 

     Dr. Grant showed us how we can use Google Docs in the classroom. A teacher can create a quiz or a chart, and the students can insert their information online immediately for the teacher to view---VERY COOL! As one of my projects, I have created a reflection form.  

     The reflection form is a follow-up for the alphabet trail that I created through Trailfire.  My students are not yet reading, but they would be able to answer and reflect with the guidance of an adult.  I have set up five questions on the form. When the answers are entered in, they automatically go into a spreadsheet for me to view.  Feel free to try out my ABC reflection form on the "Quiz" page!

Do I like voicethread?  Yes, I do!  You may be wondering what is voicethread?  Only a week ago I was, too!!  Voicethread is a 2.0 tool on the Web that allows a person to upload pictures and then record their voice to correspond with the picture.  It is so much fun to explore!  The options of how one could use this site are endless!  Today I watched a voicethread of a little girl getting a haircut.  She described in the cutest ways about each stage of her haircut.  Very cute!  
I have been assigned to make my own voicethread as part of an educational technology class that I am taking.  The assignment is to take sequential pictures of a lesson that I would teach at school and then describe, using voicethread, what is taking place in each picture.  This type of voicethread could be beneficial for three main reasons:
1.  If a student is absent, he or she could watch the voicethread and catch up on what he/she missed while out.
2.  If a student is behind, he/she could use the voice thread as a reinforcement.
3.  A parent could watch the voicethread to know how to help their child at home.
I have enjoying learning about the voicethread process.  It has been fun to browse and see what other people are doing.  Actually making my own was a fun experience as well.  I did encounter some bumps along the way.  It took my computer a while to upload each picture to the site.  I also had some technical difficulties with taking the pictures.  Using voicethread itself was fairly simple.  I would like to try it again for personal and professional use.  I think it would be neat to have my students illustrate pictures and then tell about them on voicethread.  The parents would love seeing and hearing their child's work.
The voicethread that I have made this time is to give an example of how to blend together a word.  It seems like a pretty simple skill, but a very important skill if you are five and learning how to read.  I hope you enjoy my voicethread!

Well.......what a week it has been.  I was really excited to try a site new to me called Trailfire.  This is a site where you can tag a website and place an online sticky note on the page.  The goal is to make a "trail" of sticky notes for the user to follow.  Each sticky note leads to another and another and so on.  As a teacher, I can place questions or comments on each sticky note indicating to the student what I want them to do or learn at each site.  GREAT IDEA to whoever thought of this!
I decided to make my trail an alphabet trail for my kindergarten students.  I chose this standard for several reasons.  One, learning letters and sounds is the foundation to almost all reading skills in kindergarten.  We are continuously working on the alphabet in some form or fashion all year long.  Second, I thought choosing sites to learn about the alphabet would be a great home activity for parents to review with their children.  Some parents did not grow up learning to read with sounds.  These websites are good for those parents who are unsure of how to help their child with phonetic skills.  Third, my students cannot yet read.  I wanted to set up a trail that would be interactive and fun and still reinforce Tennessee state standards.
I found some wonderful sites that cover various alphabet skills, such as, listening to letters and sounds, matching capital and lowercase, sorting beginning sounds, ABC order, and watching a video that has sign language for each letter.
Here is the downfall.  I so eagerly go to school to try out my alphabet trail on my students.  I have the trail set up so that an adult guides the students through it.  When I try to pull it up on the school internet, it is BLOCKED! The positive side is parents can still do it at home.  This is especially good for those parents who really want to help at home but do not know where to begin.
Setting up the trail itself was a relatively smooth process after I got the hang of the icons and learned how to edit.  The most difficult part for me was that it was time consuming.  It just took trial and error, marking sites then trying the trail out to see if it worked. 
Hopefully, all my marks are working.  If you get to a site and do not see the sticky note, look for a little 'h'.  Put your cursor over the 'h' and the sticky note might pop up.
If you are interested in trying out my alphabet trail, it is so much fun.  It is interactive and great for young children.  Click here for an ABC adventure!

This is a journal article that I have reviewed.

Journal:  Montessori Life, Issue 1

Publisher:  American Montessori Society

Title:  Assistive Technology for Every Child

Author:  Barbara Foulks Boyd

Date:  2008

According to the article, Assistive Technology for Every Child, early childhood classrooms should incorporate assistive technology into the learning environment.  Assistive technology is usually defined as a piece of equipment to aid those with disabilities, but it can also be used to assist young children in their learning.  With computers becoming part of everyday life, it is important for early childhood teachers to incorporate technology into the classroom.  The article is geared for Montessori classrooms where each student progresses at his own rate, but the information on assisted technology can be applied to any early childhood class.

Literacy and language are the first two areas mentioned that can include technology.  Young children need to learn the relationships between spoken language and print.  Using a computer paint or drawing program, a student can make a picture and then dictate a story or phrase about the picture to the teacher.  The teacher can then type in the words for the student.  This activity helps the student make connections between spoken language and written language.  Literacy can also be assisted through computer programs.  With a program like Dragon Naturally Speaking, made by Nuance,  the child can speak and the words appear on the computer screen.

In addition to literacy and language, the young child can also improve his math skills.  Specific skills such as predicting, graphing, creating patterns, and sorting can be assisted with software like IntelliTools, Kidspiration, and Kidpix.  Other subjects that can incorporate technology are history, geography, and science.  Taking virtual field trips to the White House and museums can allow children to experience unique places and become interactive with them.

There is also a special keyboard that can be used to assist fine motor skills.  It is called BigKeys Keyboard. It is made with one-inch keys, is brightly colored, and has easy to read labels. The vowels are color-coded in yellow. “BigKeys makes finding the keys on the keyboard easy, allowing children to focus on their work.” 

Young children can be assisted in virtually every subject area with technology.  From tools to help develop literacy to a keyboard for little fingers, there are many options out there for teachers to assist students using technology.  Assisted technology can be used to greatly enhance the learning of all children.  In the process of using assisted technology, the students are also gaining important life-long computer skills.

I am very pleased to learn how I can incorporate technology into all subject areas.  I have never considered the term “assisted technology,” but after reading the article it makes sense to use technology to assist students in what I am already teaching.  I am very interested in further researching some of the software mentioned that I may be able to use in my classroom.  The math software and the BigKeys keyboard especially intrigue me.  Even if I cannot purchase the BigKeys keyboard, it gives me the idea to color-code the vowels on the keyboards that I already have.  I am also excited to take my class on a virtual field trip—it’s free!  What kid wouldn’t want to see the inside the White House?  Using a computer drawing program to create a picture and dictate a thought gives journal drawing a whole new prospective.  I am refreshed with these new ideas to explore in my early childhood classroom.