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Tech Tool Review

Pinterest in the Classroom

This week we are checking out Pinterest! I've loved Pinterest for a long time but I've just created an account dedicated to my passion for learning and teaching. It's for Early Childhood content, curriculum, activities, and classroom ideas. I always learn from Pinterest and I'm hoping that you will be able to as well. It's other people like us posting ideas to help you/your classroom flourish. What I learn every time I get on Pinterest is that it is so many creative people in the world and so many ideas outside of our own. As a teacher, I use Pinterest ALL THE TIME! I use it to help lesson plan, to decorate, for cute snack ideas, etc. Pinterest definitely has its strengths such as it is so accessible, easy to use, plenty of content, and it makes more creative teachers and people! Some of the challenges with Pinterest is it is easy to become dependent on the app. When Pinterest doesn't have what you are looking for it is so easy to panic but STOP! Teachers are always coming up with new ideas and posting them to Pinterest so you can help the next educator. I love Pinterest and if you haven't given it a try then make an account now! I'm excited to see how it pushes you forward into your adventure as a teacher/educator/person.

https://www.pinterest.com/ohthatmisslexi/boards/

Khan/Koller Review

Khan Review:

When I visited the Khan Academy site, I was impressed by how organized and easy to navigate it was. I think when I was in high school it would've been extremely helpful. I struggled with math so seeing so many math courses offered was refreshing. I would even use it today to refresh my memory on the things that slip our minds because we don't get to use it as often. I would definitely encourage students to use it for a couple of reasons that include being accessible, free, and allows them to move at their pace. I watched a couple of videos to get a feel for how easy it would be for students to follow. I was very impressed. I believe that they set it up so that it was in an easier dialect and like listening to an intellectual friend explaining what they know to help. I think that students will rely on this more in the future and this will become the next wave. Time was coming for this transition which us having digital natives in the classroom it is the most sensible way to connect with the target audience.  This way is more accessible but we have to factor in the students that are low income to make sure that they have the resources to allow these free online courses to be able to make the impact that is necessary.

Koller Review:

When I was exploring the Coursera courses offerings I was the most drawn to their social sciences courses. It was a course called 'A Life of Happiness and Fulfillment' and I thought how cool! I think that one of the coolest things about the entire idea is that so many schools were willing to participate. I went to look on my school's website and unfortunately, it did not look like they accept Coursera credits yet. I think that the Coursera courses look more challenging and more interesting which is a good mixture because that typically means that you will get more out of it. I think that professors will always have an effect on how an experience is for you though so if you experience one professor you don't connect with maybe give it one more go! I do think that MOOCs (massive open online courses) are the wave of the future because this opportunity opens doors for people that would not have had these opportunities beforehand. At the end of the day, it's learning that is accessible and lifelong!

Exploring Standards-Based Lesson Plans

Hi guys! The grade/age level for the lesson plan that I will be writing about is focused on Infants/Young Toddlers. I have the pleasure of working with this age group every day so I've used the Early Learning & Development Standards to outline a standard lesson plan and throw in details that are used daily in the classroom. I'm hoping to also add a little experience in the post for how my children typically react. My class is expected to do this lesson every day. The repetition helps them to be able to remember the material better. The lesson is on body awareness since the age difference is from birth-18 months in my classroom it is different from the Infants to Young Toddlers. They are expected to be able to look and recognize some of their body parts.

The Common Core standards that this lesson meets is under the domain Physical Well-Being and Motor Development. The strand is Physical Well-Being, the topic is Body Awareness, and the standard statements are to show awareness of own body and point to basic body parts when asked. My lesson plan for this happens during circle time in my classroom. We have a lot of books to cater to this learning topic. The kids' favorite book to teach this is Where is Baby's Belly? by Karen Katz. It holds the kids' interest well due to it being a lift the flap book and it allows time to ask questions. It meets the standards for both the infants and young toddlers by being able to show or wiggle the infants' body parts that they are referring to and asking the young toddlers to point to their feet, nose, eyes, etc. This is one of the many ways that this topic is taught by lesson plan in my class.

How would I implement this lesson? I told you how I implement the lesson daily but it is many other ways to do this in the classroom. I often revisit it during diaper changes to hold the attention by asking questions like "can you show me your ears?" This can even be brought up during play with baby dolls or teddy bears asking them where are certain body parts makes them more aware. Some toys cater specially to this learning topic. The most difficult task at this age level is to gain their attention and keep it. This is why I believe that repetition is important along with implementing lesson plans in more than one way throughout the day.


Ohio's Early Learning & Development Standards






The book used in circle time




















A toy that can be used to further learning independently

http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Early-Learning/Early-Learning-Content-Standards/Birth-Through-Pre_K-Learning-and-Development-Stand/ELDS-Physical-Well-being-and-Motor-Development.pdf.aspx