I am going to Cherish these.

Chapter & Integration corner led me to a couple of sites which I found useful. The first site is SuperKids http://www.superkids.com/aweb/pages/reviews/criteria.shtml where many have come before to test the educational software following a carefully developed set of criteria. This site offers rubrics which the testers have shared about the software. Both adult and child responses in rubric form gives one all perspectives. The price surveys are a good source to save money in your classroom budget. The educational tools like math worksheets, I phone applications, logic games, and brain food.
The 2nd site which I visited was Ed.puppy.com. This all inclusive site wowed me with variety. It broke down school type, like public, private, universal Pre K or special needs. It offered lesson plans designed for specific educational backgrounds. Articles on a plethora of early childhood topics were linked as were opportunities to adjust employment opportunities to one's own educational belief system. I had no idea the PowerPoint could become interactive games for the children, but I found the how –to for a cost there.
I have acquired so many tools through this book and the link through course port. I pray I can still access it when I start my academic school year in two weeks. With what I have resourced , I believe this year is going to be a success.

My Old Buddy...

Chapter 6 Integration corner led me to an old ally in reaching young minds, http://www.perpetualpreschool.com/ I have used this site for at least the last 5 years of my career, maybe more. I can testify that if you need fillers for your early childhood curriculum or to start a curriculum from scratch you’ve struck gold with this site. Many teacher s from around the United States have contributed to this collection of educative ideas. The itemized themes provide many ways to reach the mixture of intelligences. The intelligences can even be explored more in depth, as well as methods to achieve skills based on specific intelligence. The answers are contained by this site through FAQ’s and links provided on such topic. I have implemented many of the songs along the years with great success. Some of these songs and ideas have become a classroom tradition for me. The sections range from songs, science, books, food, activities and related field trips, all with connected subject matter. They also, provide inexpensive workshops for the teacher in various topics. The web guide feature is something I tried just recently, and I found it extremely beneficial in aiding ideas for curriculum guides which I had to do for the 1st time this school year. All I can say about my opinion of curriculum guides is terrifying, without the right resources. There are discussion boards, discount supplies, education recertification links, and lesson plans galore.

Oh what a site!!!

Integration corner for chapter 5 led me to an all-inclusive site http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr142.shtml What I found at this site it not only spurred my intellect in my passion for early childhood education, but it gave me links to sites and articles which supported it’s development. Continuing education links where you could find accredited schools were there. If you wanted to get your on line degree or just take a virtual workshop, this site makes that available at a finger stroke. Organization in the space and mood of the room is afforded by links to professionals who postulate on class room set up which is reflective of positive behavior reinforcement. Classroom floor plans to space saving techniques are some tips given to help organize your classroom and reduce tension. Opportunities for Worldwide parental discussion board exist here. Here I found the how to of developing a web quest with step by step hand holding instructions. The site offered alternative assessment ideas and tools. The integration of technology area had many topical areas of interest and application which validated early childhood educational usage. There are many links to any causal topic in education through e-zines and e- newspaper. You can sign up to write your opinion and join the association of your relevant choice. Take time to check this out and you doubtfully will be disappointed.

Enchanted Themes for Learning

The site which rocked my world on the Integration corner this week was called enchanted learning. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/themes/
I love this site because it offers teachers the whole lot in imagination to contribute to their themes. The assortments in offerings are from dittos to hands on learning activities to related links of interest. While exploring the ocean theme, I found many useful ideas to capture the attention of preschoolers. To enhance the language aspect it offered rhymes for phonics and tongue twisters like ,”Sally Sells Seashells,” for pronunciation, silly chants which always connect fun with learning for the preschooler. Spelling sheets were displayed for the varying age levels from picture word matches to webbing word maps. Second language and cultural diversity is appointed by learning the themed words in various languages through visual and auditory discrimination. The area for crafts gave visual examples and supply list. All the crafts seem child initiated and age appropriate for construction. Many crafts were economical in design like the paper plate fish and Sand paper sea star necklace. The animal section on ocean theme was amazing. Geography is exhibited through maps. Biology represented through food chain charts. Zoology ranked high in it’s affiliation to other animals and ocean organisms. Each Vocabulary word in this area was represented with a picture and a definition. All these ideas are just a click away if you have the hunger to learn like these little ones do. Wow, what a site!

Software Succeeds in Setting the Pace in Education

Finding the digital crave while exploring the easy -to-use links to educational software gave one teacher a plethora of new ideas for reaching the masses. The importance of understanding how your child learns and what stimulates their development most are critical assets in successful education. http://earlychildhood.com gave parents several activities to enhance their child’s cognitive development through sourcing their child’s learning style. The software honed in on the multi-intelligences which were dominant and produced activities to enrich their weak areas. The software also, explained the domains of learning in everyday language. The software had educational opportunities for the educator’s edification online. Another site which had great software and I found to be essential being the novice I am at education was http://children'stechnologyreview.com. This site rated the best software on the market. Professionals in the field of technology, educators in the field, and parents who care all, and children serving as game testers participated in the review of each product. I found this to be the Consumer Reports for child technology. It provided a place for children to have a voice, post feelings and to be heard by the public about educational software. This site provides a variety of software of such vast importance while allowing others less comfortable with technology peace.

Surfing for ABC's

Integration Corner led to a website which was so influential on the incorporation of technology aspect in the classroom because it linked language development in a way I would have never imagined could be done. Surfing for ABC’s is one of the most amazing websites for alliteration and comprehension which I have ever come across. It fully integrates technology with academics in a way children hunger to receive information. This site allows children time to explore their new learning tools. Children need time and hands on practice with new skills and this site reinforces manual reflexes because the information is entertaining and interactive. The site is set up alphabetically and demonstrates beginning sounds. Each letter of the alphabet has hyperlinks to topical information with movies, pictures, and extensive informative topical data. Teachers and students set up the site as a class project. The children used yahooligans to look up links. These type of projects connect the teacher and students. The children build self esteem and perseverance through problem solving. Students get extremely excited and tell their parent which increases overall connectivity in the classroom environment. Educational systems could only benefit by creating educational products which spike students interests and holds their attention because they had a part in creating the whole.

Course Port gives us skills through Intergration Corner

The textbook website Courseport fosters technological pioneering for education. Integration Corner is an inventive division with extensive ideas on how to do it. One consideration which was useful to the early childhood classroom is a link to a website called http://www.kaboose.com/ . Using this site could be beneficial to parents, teachers, and anyone with a genuine interest in child welfare and family issues.
Many parents don’t have a clear idea how to determine their child’s intelligence. This site offered educational academic achievement measurement tools for varying ages and stages. The site offers video tutorials in how to teach assorted topics led by experts in the field. The site has countless ideas for hands on activities and printable worksheets. Parents and teachers find a plethora of resources at their finger tips.
Since our country has the highest obesity rate of children in the world an important feature of the site is the section on health. Kid friendly exercises are illustrated through power point presentations which promotes good form. The nutritional section offers caloric counters for food, foods for moods, how to get kids to eat healthy, and weight /height predictors. The site has links to music which promote healthy habits. Ingraining healthy habits is made easier and more applicable with these fun ideas.

Ways blogging can benefit early childhood educators

There are a few ways I believe blogging can benefit early childhood educators. In the area of curriculum I could post links to websites for determining which learning style a child may be prone to. These sites give techniques for improving cognitive development through focusing on the child's multiple intelligence. A teacher could post ideas to practice at home to reinforce the area of skill development. This could serve to strengthen the home-school bond. I believe blogging could be the most efficient way to communicate with parents and administration. Parents or administrators could log on to the blog to be informed of current theme, academic approach, and events. Parents could vote on upcoming field trips, snack ideas, or party ideas. Teachers could poll parents to get an overall sense of how controversial topics might be accepted or approached. Currently, I write a parent letter, each family recieves one and a calendar of events, and I post reminder notes. I have all this information posted on my door. Still information is forgotten and communication brakes down. The answer to this conflict could be blogging. Blogging is conveniently accessible due to most people possessing laptops for their careers and wireless internet.