Blogs I've commented on!

Elsie's blogs posts:
http://fangelsie.blogspot.com/2011/08/cherry-bytes-childrens-laptop-labs.html?showComment=1313966405175#c3827858135398430837

http://fangelsie.blogspot.com/2011/09/fathers-day-gingerbread-man-and.html?showComment=1316379537225#c5116418118811384413

http://fangelsie.blogspot.com/2011/09/laptops-and-cameras-as-tools-to-enhance.html?showComment=1316381726868#c488949044889094122



Nina's blog posts:
http://ninalovesjesus.blogspot.com/2011/08/construction-technology-in-early.html?showComment=1313967213859#c6452169534752953940

http://ninalovesjesus.blogspot.com/2011/08/childrens-learning-in-food-preparation.html?showComment=1314674056694#c6004586883433105053

http://ninalovesjesus.blogspot.com/2011/08/information-and-communication.html?showComment=1314674554138#c5086773515533566933

Luana's blog posts:
http://unknown-luanasspot.blogspot.com/2011/08/digital-technology-in-early-childhood.html?showComment=1313963647517#c5588135152636992457

http://unknown-luanasspot.blogspot.com/2011/08/little-machines-that-help-us-clogs-and.html?showComment=1314673154940#c1592915728612556621

http://unknown-luanasspot.blogspot.com/2011/08/reflection-3-pulleys.html?showComment=1314673587032#c4269389845141043142

Rosie's blog posts:
http://rlandsberg.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-does-technology-and-ict-benefit.html?showComment=1314675301878#c3980325108099496859

http://rlandsberg.blogspot.com/2011/08/after-having-spent-week-at-my-centre-i.html?showComment=1314675902034#c4885154607412720880

http://rlandsberg.blogspot.com/2011/08/where-to-next.html?showComment=1314676396473#c3150824372292699144

Dancing Dynamite!

Music in many different forms and genres is a sound that you will hear through out my home centre. Whether it be the children singing, playing instruments or listening and dancing along to their favourite songs on the cd player outside. The strong interest that the children have in music, singing and dancing at the moment got the staff thinking at our team planning meeting. After much discussion we offered the children the opportunity to be videoed while they were dancing. Te Whaariki (1996) states that children need to have the opportunity and confidence to develop their own perspectives and the capacity to gain new skills and knowledge, to participate in this world.  I believe that this experience will help children to gain both this confidence and the capacity to gain new skills.

Some of the children were not keen on this idea at first while others seemed thrilled at the idea. One of the children even asked if I we could upload the finished videos to you tube! This statement made me stop and think about how much the children in the centre know about technology and how the world works in this day and age. Another child then told me that if they were going to put on a performance they would also need a stage to dance on and some different songs to choose from.

This was a stage of this process that I did not envision, so again I had to get my thinking cap on. We are lucky enough to have some very helpful families in the centre and in two short days a small stage was built, with the help of the tamariki of course. Looking back the construction of the stage was actually just as technology based as the music and videoing components. The children were helping people (one another) and solving problems, after all this is technology in it's simplest form (Smorti, 1999). I made a new cd with the help of the children that compiled the songs that they had chosen to dance to and we were ready to go...

The cd player was set up inside, next to the stage and the children and staff sat around the stage as the children who chose to participate got up and danced. The children were encouraged to praise their peers efforts and clap when they had finished. It was difficult to keep some of the children off the stage, especially the two year olds who just wanted to keep dancing!

The children all wanted to see their videos right away when they had finished, which looking back now would have been better. We did however burn their videos to a dvd, which the children enjoyed watching the next day.

There are a few things that I think could create a better experience for the tamariki. Linking the video player to the television would mean that the children could see themselves in real time and giving the children the opportunity to assist in creating the dvd would give them great ownership over the whole experience as well as a new skill that they could continue to build on and develop.

References

Smorti, S. (1999). Technology in Early Childhood. Early Education, No. 19 Autumn 1999.

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whaariki: He whaariki maatauranga mo nga mokopuna o                   Aotearoa.Wellington: Learning media.

Welcome to my Blog

Kia Ora and welcome to my very first blog!