TechKnowledgey inTechgration

So, I am looking at what is left to cover in Media/Tech class for Kindgergarten thru Second grades.  I come to the following skills, Super 3 research.  First graders are currently learning about animals.  So I began with my first class by having students answer the following 4 questions using the website Enchanted Learning and writing them down on paper.

1. Animal name
2. Where does it live
3. What does it eat
4. What it looks like

Problem

Now, I only see students once every 6 days for 50 minutes.  I kept the question short so students could finish, or so I thought. Class was over and students were not finished. I spoke to their classroom teacher about the problems they had (copying from the screen to paper, being able to read the words).  She polled her class later and came back to me with the top three reasons

• There was not enough room to write on the paper
• Too much to read
• The words on the screen were too small to read.

Ideas

I have looked on the web for other examples to teach this skill and found sample lessons on the Big 6 site.  I have looked for tools on the web to assist with reading aloud text on the screen and found the addon FireVox/ClickRead. Today, I came across the subsciption based website, PebbleGo in the recent issue of LMC.

PebbleGo looks like a better way to assist K-2 students with research.  Features include -

• more than 200 animal articles correlated to life science standards,
• animal audio and video,
• carefully leveled text,
• educational games,
• innovative read-aloud capabilities
• Subscription price per year is $395 /building.

I am wondering though, if there are free sites that offer similar features.  Any thoughts?

Each year there is always a few kindergarten students who are anxious (to put it nicely) when it comes to using computers.  I start the year asking how many have used computers at home, and more hands go up each year.  With the increasing expectation from state standards (see Michigan’s Tech Plan site), students are required to learn certain skills by the end of 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 12th grade.

There are a few students that are reluctant when it comes to using the computer.   I see K-4th grades once every 6 days for 50 minutes.   There are approximately 25-28 kindergarten students in each class (I teach 4 sections).  Some classes have a parent volunteer, while others do not.  The ones that it is just me in the room can be a challenge just to make sure students stay on task and to keep the computers from locking up.

I am seeking input from other kindergarten computer teachers out there to see how you manage and encourage students to use computers.  What types of lessons, activities, websites and/or assessments do you use to determine whether they have acquired a skill? What do you do for the students who are anxious to make it less stressful for them?

Any comments would be of great help, thanks!