MY PRIMARY CLASSROOM BLUEPRINT
The Early Childhood environment for age three to six unifies the social, physical, and academic functioning of the child. The important task of this environment is to provide students with an early and general foundation that includes a positive attitude toward school. Children will learn to develop inner security and a sense of order, pride in the physical environment, abiding curiosity, a habit of concentration, habits of initiative and persistence, the ability to make decisions, self-discipline, and a sense of responsibility to other members of their class, school, and community. This foundation will enable children to acquire more specialized knowledge and skills throughout their school career. One special teacher strives to create the ideal classroom.
In Ms. Mary’s classroom, the Montessori Method of instruction is an integral part of the classroom infrastructure. As a Montessori guide (teacher), Ms. Mary and her bilingual assistant Ms. Rocio provide individual lessons as well as small group lessons on an array of developmentally appropriate materials. Students choose their work from the self-correcting materials displayed on open shelves. Over a period of time, the children develop a sense of Independence, Concentration, Coordination, and Order (ICCO), which evolves into a normalized community, working with high levels of concentration and independence with few interruptions. The classroom curriculum includes five distinct areas of instruction which constitute the carefully prepared environment.
The Practical Life area has materials that enhance the development of task organization and cognitive order through care of self, care of the environment, exercise of grace and courtesy, and coordination of physical movement. Practical life materials support fine motor skills such as puzzles and gross motor skills such as walking the line. The Sensorial materials help to develop discrimination abilities, enabling the child to order, transfer, classify, and describe sensory impressions in relation to length, width, temperature, mass, color, and pitch. Sensorial materials support visual and tactile discrimination such as the constructive triangles and trinomial cube, plus chromatic and auditory discrimination such as the color boxes and the sound cylinders. The Mathematics area makes use of manipulative materials to enable the child to internalize concepts of number, symbol, sequence, operations, and memorization of the basic facts of arithmetic. Basic skills in number recognition are developed through the use of the sandpaper numerals 1-10. The materials aid the student to understand and develop the concept of numeration, the decimal system (place value), linear counting, squaring, cubing, fractions, time, and money. The Language Arts area includes oral language development, written expression, reading, the study of grammar, and children’s literature. Basic skills in writing and reading are developed through the use of the sandpaper letters A-Z and the movable alphabet. The Language curriculum is phonics-based with an emphasis on the children’s whole language experience. The Cultural Studies area exposes the children to the basics in world geography, global history, and life sciences (e. g. plants, insects, fish, animals, humans). Music, art, and movement education are also part of the cultural curriculum. The materials used in this area develop the concepts of art media and design, art history and appreciation, music history and appreciation, plus musical style discrimination.
As an added benefit, a foreign language program is offered. In the Spanish Immersion classroom, the Montessori lessons are presented entirely in Spanish. Ms. Rocio will assist Ms. Mary in the classroom to provide instruction in both Spanish and English. In this class children are free to speak their native language. This enables the children to learn a second language in a natural environment and take advantage of their critical period for second-language acquisition.
There are many types of computer hardware for Ms. Mary’s classroom. The setting, purpose, and developmental stages of the children using the technology will decide the best choices for the classroom. Ms. Mary has carefully chosen the following computer hardware: Digital cameras will be used to record children’s performances and presentations on video to share with the class and their family. They can tell a story in pictures or words. Portable keyboards will be used to allow children to type in text without being distracted by graphics and such. The text can be transferred later to a computer for graphics and formatting. TV/DVD players show recordings of class activities the children are engaged in. Digital microscopes will be used to allow children to explore and investigate the world around them. The images the children find are magnified and displayed on the computer screen. Touch screens make it easier for children with motor skill difficulties to access application functions that a keyboard would be used to do.
Ms. Mary will have students save their files and work on a personal CD or flash drive to avoid overloading the main computer hard drive. Students can then take their work home and access it later. Saving students’ work on a CD, DVD, or flash drive can keep files from getting lost or tampered with. This helps to avoid potential viruses and spam being passed to the main computer system. Memory chips, magnetic disks, and hard disks can also be used to store student data and their work.
Choosing appropriate learning software for Ms. Mary’s classroom is essential for optimum learning for the students. Integrating software into the classroom can help to advance this teacher’s personal and professional goals by adding different learning aids and tools to the learning environment to meet the academic needs of the students. Interactive Technology Literacy Curriculum Online offers multimedia authoring software which allows students to integrate a variety of functions (e. g. animation, sound, text, video, graphics, and images) into a story or software program. The software is adaptable to the child and the Language Arts curriculum when implemented by the teacher. Authoring software can be used to tell a story based on meaningful experiences of the children in class. The children create their own stories using family photos, adding sound and sound effects to describe the photos, with corresponding speech to match the text. The children can then take their finished product home on a CD or DVD to share with family and friends.
Essential Skills Software Program was developed by teachers for students in K-6th grade and the students love the activities offered by the program. Essential Skills aligns its lessons with state standards to reinforce the academic strides necessary for each grade level. Through Essential Skills, the components of English Language Arts (phonics, spelling, vocabulary, writing), Mathematics (numerations, measurement, problem solving, geometry, probability), and Reading (comprehension, language development, vocabulary) serve as a fundamental program for students to be independent and successful in its use. The program provides graphics, plus a system of monitoring success and feedback for both correct and incorrect answers. The students complete the program skills twice in order to master (pass) the specific lesson. Students work independently on the lessons at their own pace and comprehension level, thereby allowing both remediation and enrichment progress.
JumpStart Learning Systems software (2007) encompasses an educational world of fun across subjects and the confinements of standard curriculum in schools. JumpStart software programs provide practice drills to develop skills in Reading, Writing, Science, Math, Social Studies, Art, Music, and Critical Thinking to students in Preschool to 6th grade. This program is perfect for small group instruction. The program helps to differentiate instruction because it allows children to work at their own pace and developmental level and not be left behind. It also allows gifted students to excel to a higher level of learning. The program can be an asset for tutoring in Math and Reading.
Wireless and wired networks in Ms. Mary’s classroom can be secure as long as they are set up properly. Proper encryption and password protection must be set up correctly on wireless and wired networks. Both wired and wireless networks require routers to share files, resources, and a single Internet connection. The same authentication is necessary for both networks because the ether provides the bandwidth to the classroom. Wireless networks make web surfing and file sharing convenient, and can eliminate excess cables which cause clutter in the classroom. This is especially important in a classroom full of active learners. There would be less stress on the students and teacher because there wouldn’t be any cables or cords lying on the floor. Wireless networks are the wave of the future. Wireless laptops are becoming popular with students and teachers. The benefits of wireless networking include increasing mobility, simple and flexible installation, and easy scalability. Wireless networking is the preferred technology source for Ms. Mary’s classroom.
Between the ages of three and six, children typically begin to develop language, literacy, and math skills. The curriculum should drive technology. In Ms. Mary’s classroom students with early literacy skills are learning that print has meaning and words and letters have sounds. Technology can enhance the process of learning these skills by allowing the children to tell a story and use a computer to animate their story. For math, software can help teach patterning skills, numerical relationships and simple addition and subtraction. The program will have flexibility for different learning styles. Books and manipulative items are included in the computer center to link the content of software programs. For example, small geometric blocks are a concrete representation that may facilitate the creation of a structure that can be re-created on the computer screen. Ms. Mary’s students can experiment with the software program by arranging shapes in graphic patterns that can be re-created using this software.
Finding hardware for the Early Childhood classroom is important to ensure a successful learning experience for the students in Ms. Mary’s classroom. Computer hardware allows the students to interact with the data and information inside the computer’s system. Age appropriate software helps to build students’ cognitive and social cognitive skills as well as developing their fine motor skills. Proper implementation of the computer hardware enriches the classroom experience and enhances the learning opportunities for Ms. Mary’s students and opens new teaching avenues for this teacher to explore.
The Early Childhood environment for age three to six unifies the social, physical, and academic functioning of the child. The important task of this environment is to provide students with an early and general foundation that includes a positive attitude toward school. Children will learn to develop inner security and a sense of order, pride in the physical environment, abiding curiosity, a habit of concentration, habits of initiative and persistence, the ability to make decisions, self-discipline, and a sense of responsibility to other members of their class, school, and community. This foundation will enable children to acquire more specialized knowledge and skills throughout their school career. One special teacher strives to create the ideal classroom.
In Ms. Mary’s classroom, the Montessori Method of instruction is an integral part of the classroom infrastructure. As a Montessori guide (teacher), Ms. Mary and her bilingual assistant Ms. Rocio provide individual lessons as well as small group lessons on an array of developmentally appropriate materials. Students choose their work from the self-correcting materials displayed on open shelves. Over a period of time, the children develop a sense of Independence, Concentration, Coordination, and Order (ICCO), which evolves into a normalized community, working with high levels of concentration and independence with few interruptions. The classroom curriculum includes five distinct areas of instruction which constitute the carefully prepared environment.
The Practical Life area has materials that enhance the development of task organization and cognitive order through care of self, care of the environment, exercise of grace and courtesy, and coordination of physical movement. Practical life materials support fine motor skills such as puzzles and gross motor skills such as walking the line. The Sensorial materials help to develop discrimination abilities, enabling the child to order, transfer, classify, and describe sensory impressions in relation to length, width, temperature, mass, color, and pitch. Sensorial materials support visual and tactile discrimination such as the constructive triangles and trinomial cube, plus chromatic and auditory discrimination such as the color boxes and the sound cylinders. The Mathematics area makes use of manipulative materials to enable the child to internalize concepts of number, symbol, sequence, operations, and memorization of the basic facts of arithmetic. Basic skills in number recognition are developed through the use of the sandpaper numerals 1-10. The materials aid the student to understand and develop the concept of numeration, the decimal system (place value), linear counting, squaring, cubing, fractions, time, and money. The Language Arts area includes oral language development, written expression, reading, the study of grammar, and children’s literature. Basic skills in writing and reading are developed through the use of the sandpaper letters A-Z and the movable alphabet. The Language curriculum is phonics-based with an emphasis on the children’s whole language experience. The Cultural Studies area exposes the children to the basics in world geography, global history, and life sciences (e. g. plants, insects, fish, animals, humans). Music, art, and movement education are also part of the cultural curriculum. The materials used in this area develop the concepts of art media and design, art history and appreciation, music history and appreciation, plus musical style discrimination.
As an added benefit, a foreign language program is offered. In the Spanish Immersion classroom, the Montessori lessons are presented entirely in Spanish. Ms. Rocio will assist Ms. Mary in the classroom to provide instruction in both Spanish and English. In this class children are free to speak their native language. This enables the children to learn a second language in a natural environment and take advantage of their critical period for second-language acquisition.
There are many types of computer hardware for Ms. Mary’s classroom. The setting, purpose, and developmental stages of the children using the technology will decide the best choices for the classroom. Ms. Mary has carefully chosen the following computer hardware: Digital cameras will be used to record children’s performances and presentations on video to share with the class and their family. They can tell a story in pictures or words. Portable keyboards will be used to allow children to type in text without being distracted by graphics and such. The text can be transferred later to a computer for graphics and formatting. TV/DVD players show recordings of class activities the children are engaged in. Digital microscopes will be used to allow children to explore and investigate the world around them. The images the children find are magnified and displayed on the computer screen. Touch screens make it easier for children with motor skill difficulties to access application functions that a keyboard would be used to do.
Ms. Mary will have students save their files and work on a personal CD or flash drive to avoid overloading the main computer hard drive. Students can then take their work home and access it later. Saving students’ work on a CD, DVD, or flash drive can keep files from getting lost or tampered with. This helps to avoid potential viruses and spam being passed to the main computer system. Memory chips, magnetic disks, and hard disks can also be used to store student data and their work.
Choosing appropriate learning software for Ms. Mary’s classroom is essential for optimum learning for the students. Integrating software into the classroom can help to advance this teacher’s personal and professional goals by adding different learning aids and tools to the learning environment to meet the academic needs of the students. Interactive Technology Literacy Curriculum Online offers multimedia authoring software which allows students to integrate a variety of functions (e. g. animation, sound, text, video, graphics, and images) into a story or software program. The software is adaptable to the child and the Language Arts curriculum when implemented by the teacher. Authoring software can be used to tell a story based on meaningful experiences of the children in class. The children create their own stories using family photos, adding sound and sound effects to describe the photos, with corresponding speech to match the text. The children can then take their finished product home on a CD or DVD to share with family and friends.
Essential Skills Software Program was developed by teachers for students in K-6th grade and the students love the activities offered by the program. Essential Skills aligns its lessons with state standards to reinforce the academic strides necessary for each grade level. Through Essential Skills, the components of English Language Arts (phonics, spelling, vocabulary, writing), Mathematics (numerations, measurement, problem solving, geometry, probability), and Reading (comprehension, language development, vocabulary) serve as a fundamental program for students to be independent and successful in its use. The program provides graphics, plus a system of monitoring success and feedback for both correct and incorrect answers. The students complete the program skills twice in order to master (pass) the specific lesson. Students work independently on the lessons at their own pace and comprehension level, thereby allowing both remediation and enrichment progress.
JumpStart Learning Systems software (2007) encompasses an educational world of fun across subjects and the confinements of standard curriculum in schools. JumpStart software programs provide practice drills to develop skills in Reading, Writing, Science, Math, Social Studies, Art, Music, and Critical Thinking to students in Preschool to 6th grade. This program is perfect for small group instruction. The program helps to differentiate instruction because it allows children to work at their own pace and developmental level and not be left behind. It also allows gifted students to excel to a higher level of learning. The program can be an asset for tutoring in Math and Reading.
Wireless and wired networks in Ms. Mary’s classroom can be secure as long as they are set up properly. Proper encryption and password protection must be set up correctly on wireless and wired networks. Both wired and wireless networks require routers to share files, resources, and a single Internet connection. The same authentication is necessary for both networks because the ether provides the bandwidth to the classroom. Wireless networks make web surfing and file sharing convenient, and can eliminate excess cables which cause clutter in the classroom. This is especially important in a classroom full of active learners. There would be less stress on the students and teacher because there wouldn’t be any cables or cords lying on the floor. Wireless networks are the wave of the future. Wireless laptops are becoming popular with students and teachers. The benefits of wireless networking include increasing mobility, simple and flexible installation, and easy scalability. Wireless networking is the preferred technology source for Ms. Mary’s classroom.
Between the ages of three and six, children typically begin to develop language, literacy, and math skills. The curriculum should drive technology. In Ms. Mary’s classroom students with early literacy skills are learning that print has meaning and words and letters have sounds. Technology can enhance the process of learning these skills by allowing the children to tell a story and use a computer to animate their story. For math, software can help teach patterning skills, numerical relationships and simple addition and subtraction. The program will have flexibility for different learning styles. Books and manipulative items are included in the computer center to link the content of software programs. For example, small geometric blocks are a concrete representation that may facilitate the creation of a structure that can be re-created on the computer screen. Ms. Mary’s students can experiment with the software program by arranging shapes in graphic patterns that can be re-created using this software.
Finding hardware for the Early Childhood classroom is important to ensure a successful learning experience for the students in Ms. Mary’s classroom. Computer hardware allows the students to interact with the data and information inside the computer’s system. Age appropriate software helps to build students’ cognitive and social cognitive skills as well as developing their fine motor skills. Proper implementation of the computer hardware enriches the classroom experience and enhances the learning opportunities for Ms. Mary’s students and opens new teaching avenues for this teacher to explore.