Tuesday 23 February 2016

Technology in the Primary Classroom

Tuesday 23rd February 2016

On my previous posts I have mentioned active participation and I have shared some examples of how I have used technology around the school. During the previous seven days I have used two new strategies when using iPads and have set up an 'internet start page'. Below I will explain how I created each one and what it has been used for.


A few days ago I was introduced to a website named '3x3links.com' and I have been extremely impressed with how easy it has been to set up. It is a website controlled by Google and enables quick and easy web searching. The picture on the left is an example of what the internet page looks like. You can add links to as many pages as you wish by adding folders. I have set it up for children aged 5-8, but it could be used for any age. I have created a link on all the desktop computers in the IT Lab, as well as setting the link as an icon on all iPads. The link has also been shared with the parents, so that the children can use the same system at home. It has saved a lot of time and ensures that we are using the internet safely. If you are a teacher and you haven't done this yet, I strongly recommend that you copy and paste the link and begin making your own internet start page. 

Kahoot.it is a fantastic website that allows you to create online, interactive quizzes for any subject area. Thousands have already been made that you have full access to for free. I use it at least once every two weeks, mainly for Maths and topic related activities. The attached picture on the right is an example of a question that I used this week. You can add pictures to the screen and ask the children to identify the correct spelling. 
The teacher creates the quiz, usually around 20 questions. The children open kahoot.it and follow the instructions on the IWB. Once they have logged in using the uniques number, the quiz is ready to begin. A question flashes on the screen (IWB) and the children have a set time (created by the teacher) to answer the question. The faster they are, the more points they receive. The child with the most points at the end is the winner. I also differentiate my quizzes by making my odd number quiz questions slightly harder and the higher ability students answer those questions only. 


Last week, I wanted to support my EAL students by using technology to aid their understanding of prepositions. My four EAL students worked in pairs and had six preposition cards each. They had to take turns recording their partner saying a sentence about their preposition card, whilst showing it on the video. The children could then play these videos during the independent tasks to aid their written sentence structure. This strategy worked very well for my EAL and catered for many different learning styles. 


All my planning and resources can be found at:

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/boltoncharlie

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Enjoy!

Global Teacher

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