It was a pleasure to visit Miss Hermans' Kindergarten class recently. Amy and Ms Nunn have a lovely group of enthusiastic kindergartners who helped make a video for you. Amy has been teaching for 21 years, the last 15 here at Hadley Elementary School. She has taught preschool, first and second grades as well as Kindergarten. When asked about her favorite part of Kindergarten, Miss Hermans replied, " I love to sing, of course." The interactive whiteboard and document camera are in use almost constantly and are blended seamlessly into the early childhood environment. Amy has been able to take all of her messages, calendars, charts and graphs and put everything in one place, where it can be projected for all to see. This also frees up other areas for learning as well. It is amazing to watch how the children and their teachers use this technology without a second thought. Dr. Jean songs stream from the media buttons on the whiteboard. Amy explained how the IWB technology is making it possible to easily use her media from cds without having to find tracks, switch back and forth, and worry that the media is wearing out or becoming obsolete. | |
One of the benefits Miss Hermans has seen as her kindergarten embraces more technology is that she can model more effectively for the children. For example, she can demonstrate how to hold a pencil or work on a math problem under the document camera to allow everyone to see exactly what she is doing. So far there have been very few glitches with the use of technology in K.
So, what's on the horizon? What else would Amy Hermans like to see for her Kindergarten class? She would love to see ipod shuffles used for listening centers. The old books on cassettes are wearing out and are tied to one corner of the room. Using something like the now relatively inexpensive shuffles could allow more freedom to move the center around and help move from an almost obsolete technology to a more modern one.
If you are looking for an exciting place to visit, check out Miss Hermans and Ms Nunn's room and enjoy learning with the Kindergartners.