In my 20 percent project, I choose to revamp my calendar routine to keep my students interested. The calendar routine is completed almost every day and is one very important part of students learning in my classroom. First of all, I decided to add an interactive temperature page. This way students can be engaging in questions about temperature and reinforcing math concepts about larger and smaller. Second, I added activote(individual voting devices) questions after each main part of the calendar routine. This way I can ask questions some days, and get a general feeling of the students understanding of concepts. It also keeps them a little more engaged as they have to actively participate. Third, I created a binder calendar to aid students in following along. It is basically the Flipchart pages printed off, then put in a 3 ring binder. This binder can be completed sitting with the other students and following along with the on screen activities. Fourth, I created a screencast of my calendar routine to help all students and especially to help the new student in my classroom. The screencast is a little complicated as of now, but I hope to be able to complete it on the ActivInspire software but may need a larger, class sized microphone to do so. I also need to know how many minutes I can record for. I used Screencast-o-matic for my video example. I intend to sccreencast the calendar routine and then post in on my website.
Recreating my calendar routine allowed me to incorporate more technology into my kindergarteners’ day. I use various web based resources to reinforce concepts and to keep the students engaged.(youtube videos, interactive number grids, links to websites) These resources are at my fingertips when I use the Promethean board for the calendar routine. It also allows be to be flexible on a daily basis and to leave things out sometimes, or add things in based on the students’ interests. Using the Activote to let students answer questions also increases their engagement in a routine activity like Calendar. They answer questions after every activity, and then as a whole class we analyze the responses. As a teacher, I can quickly see if the students have a basic understanding of what we are doing. To go even further, I could assign individual devices to each student and then track his/her progress throughout the year.
To help the students better understand weather, and temperature, I have added a temperature recording sheet. On this page, we click on the internet link and it brings us directly to the temperature for Edina that particular day. Then we record the temperature. In doing this, we can see what the temperature was the day before, make predictions, and then talk about larger and smaller, hotter and colder. It is a great way to engage students, differentiate, and to talk about real life information. In using technology, I feel that I have grown as a teacher. It forces me to constantly revise my teaching to better meet the needs of all my students. It allows me to add new content in very engaging ways as well. (example, adding a new alphabet song on a youtube video when students get tired of one).
Examples:
Thank you to the following websites for information and suggestions.
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