Tech Resources for Early Childhood Educators

Tech Resources for Early Childhood Educators This is a self-guided tour of useful resources for early childhood educators to encourage thinking about how technology can be used in purposeful ways with young children. For a digital handout that accompanies this tour, please click here.   Examining the Possibilities with Kindergartners and Technology Here are three fun videos related to using technology in early childhood classrooms. Miss Nelson is MissingiPad Artwork Inspired by Peter Reynolds The DotIntegrating Technology in a Kindergarten Classroom Next, explore these sites for other ideas. Note that these teachers are using technology with students to create and publish. They are not using tech at lower levels on Blooms Taxonomy. Young children CAN do more sophisticated work!   The Connected Kinders: Turning iPad Experiments into Adventures in Innovative LearningGoing on a Bear Hunt Using QR CodesHow Kristi Meeuwse Teaches with an iPadTalking Animal ReportsEdutopias Resources for Using iPads in Grades K-2 Exploring iPad Apps iPads are amazing devices for content creation, not just consumption! Ideally, educators should strive to provide opportunities for student voice and choice, designing lessons and projects that allow students of all ages to create content. Heres a collection of apps are more focused on creation than consumption and if you havent seen Osmo, check out this device that using iPads to create really innovative learning games for kids.   Other places to find high quality ed tech materials: AppolearningGraphiteKindertownKinderchat Symbaloo Publishing with Young Children Publishing should be a universal activity in all early childhood classrooms. Check out the following iBook examples:   The Adventures of the Monkey and the Cat by KinderPris Ridge International SchoolConnecting Classrooms: Activities to Promote Global Collaboration by Ben SheridanFamily Time with Apps by the Joan Ganz Cooney FoundationGlobal Book: Schools Around the World by Kristen PainoGlobal Book: Shelters Around the World by Kristen PainoA Global iBook by Meg WilsonInspired Young Authors by Jane RossMy Pet Monster by Jason Sand and Others Building Your Own ECE Personal Learning Network Use social media to enhance your own learning and to connect to others. Here are a few suggestions to get started with connecting to other educators and learning from their best practices. First, join Twitter, and start following other ECE educators and organizations. Then, start participating in Kinderchat, a Twitter chat where kindergarten teachers come together to discuss relevant topics and share resources. Finally, start finding ideas for your classroom by perusing the following blogs and pinterest boards. Blogs Enabling EnvironmentsiTeach with iPadsPassion for EYFSTechnology in Early Childhood Pinterest Augmented RealityKid World CitizenKindergarten - iPadThe Kindergarten SmorgasboardPlayful Learning Investigating Making and Tinkering The Maker Education movement is growing within US schools. What does this look like in early childhood classrooms? Starting points for further exploration may include TinkerLab. Some early childhood classrooms are also exploring the possibilities of digital making through robotics and coding. Check out Bee-Bots, Dash and Dot, Kinderlab Robotics, and Sphero.   Connecting Globally The first step to connecting globally is to get connected yourself. Use social media to meet other teachers, and youll find that project opportunities will organically happen. Projects tend to be more successful when professional relationships are established first; people just seem to be more invested if connections happen first. If you are new to global projects, youll want to get to the point where youre co-designing experiences for students with virtual colleagues. In the meantime, join existing communities and projects in order to get a feel for the project design process. Below are a few starting points and exemplars: The Global Classroom ProjectHello Little World SkypersProjects by JenSkype in the ClassroomiEARN USA Thinking About PD and Additional Resources   Face to face professional development opportunities also an ideal way to participate in professional development. For early childhood specific events, we recommend the NAEYC Annual Conference and the Leveraging Learning  conference. For general ed tech information, think about attending ISTE and if youre interested in creative uses of technology and the Maker Movement, consider attending Constructing Modern Knowledge.   Also, the  Chicago-based Erikson Institute has a site devoted to the role of educational technology in early years classrooms.  This site is a unique resource dedicated to helping early childhood professionals and families make informed decisions about tech. Finally, weve curated a massive list of ECE resources in an Evernote notebook. Well be continuing to add to this, and are welcome to browse our collection!