References

Reference List

Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., Farmer, S., (2008).               

         Programming and planning in early childhood settings (4^th ed.). Victoria:     

        Thomson

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te whāriki:  he waariki mātauranga mo nga

mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early childhood curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.

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

Talay-Ongan, A., & Ap, E.A. (Eds.). (2005). Child development and teaching young          

            children, Southbank, Victoria: Thompson social Science Press.

Blog 4 - Yummy Yummy Pizza!!!

Blog four – Yummy Yummy Pizza!!!!

18/4/2011

Today in my centre, children made pizza and baked it in the oven for their lunch. In modern life using oven for baking and cooking is one of the easiest and time saving technology for cooking. Children were active in cutting tomatoes and sausages and spreading them on to the top of the pizza base along with grated cheese. During the process of preparing pizza, children explained their own experience with their parent when making pizzas at home. ‘K’ said “I don’t like chicken sausages”. “My mummy makes chicken pizzas at home” said ‘G’. It was a very lovely cooking time for children in the centre by talking, sharing and turn taking to fill the pizza base. Te Whāriki says that ECE settings should be like a home away home (Ministry of Education, 1996). Centre provides children the same routine and experiences in their daily learning. Smorti says that process of cooking is a technological activity or system developed, used and adopted by early childhood services to meet children’s needs (P.6).

When pizza is ready for baking, I heated the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. For the safety measures and according to the centre philosophy, children are not allowed to the kitchen. So I opened the kitchen door so that children could watch what was happening in the oven. I put pizzas into the oven. I told children that it takes 10 minutes for the pizzas to get ready. I used digital alarm clock for the children to see the timer to count the minutes for the pizzas to get ready i.e. approximately 10 minutes.

It helped children to learn simple counting up to 1-10 minutes by reading off the time from the alarm clock. It enabled children to experience some of the technologies (eg- cooking oven) and resources for mathematics (eg- digital alarm clock). From this cooking experience, children developed their fine motor skills through cutting, grating and spreading ingredients on the pizza base. It helped children to gain knowledge of science on how the oven heat can help to cook food to eat, learn simple mathematics by counting minutes from 1-10 and it also developed interaction and communication with each other.

Blog3-Lamination

Blog3-Lamination                                                                                                                       contd- 12/04/2010

Next day when I came to the centre, ‘D’ rushed to me and asked me for his pictures from the previous day. I was surprised because he still remembers his work from the previous day. I showed the pictures to him.  He became very happy and excited when he saw his pictures. Then he showed these pictures to his friends at the centre. I asked him whether he liked to laminate his pictures. He suddenly asked me what lamination was. I explained him that it is a process of covering his pictures with a plastic coat so that the cover protects them from being damaged. He agreed to do the lamination and in the afternoon, I told him that we could do the lamination then. Few other children also followed us to see the lamination. 

Firstly, I showed the plastic sheet and told them that it is called the ‘pouch’. Then I turned on the laminator and I asked the children to wait for some time till the laminator gets hot so that the plastic sheet will be melted and coated on the pictures. For the children’s safety, I asked them to sit down and reminded them not to touch the hot laminator and warned them if they do, their hands will be get burnt. Children patiently waited for the laminator to get hot and ready. I kept his pictures inside the plastic sheet and put them into the laminator. After a couple of minutes, the laminated pictures came out from the laminator. Children touched on the laminated pictures and said to me that it was thick. I told them that it enables us to keep the pictures more safe and the plastic coating will protect it from being damaged.  ‘D’ was very happy and he told me that he is taking them to home to show them to his mum and took them to home. Te Whāriki says that “using many materials for different purposes enables children to recognize that different technologies may be used in various places and settings (p. 95). From this technical experience, children got an opportunity to understand about how technologies can help us to keep things more durable and keep them for long time. Children could learn a new technology and gained more knowledge about the science which is useful to keep materials more durable.

Blog2 – Memories Are Forever

Blog2 – Memories Are Forever

                                                                          Date: 11/04/2011

Since 20^th century, the new revolutionized digital cameras hold a very important part in every person’s life to keep their memories alive. In early childhood centre, photographs are very useful media for communication because educators could share the activities done by the children in the centre with children’s families by using photographs. Walters(2006)  says that photographs help staff and children to communicate children’s learning to families as they can be easily understood by family members who have little English language knowledge and those who are not confident with literacy  and assist children to communicate their experiences(cited in Arthur, Beecher ,  Death, Dockett & Farmer, 2008).

'D' trying to capture his drawings on camera

This morning, I noticed a four year old boy, ‘D’  who was drawing a picture of ‘the sun and the moon’  by using  felt pens. It was a very beautiful picture. I appreciated his art work and decided to take the photo of his drawings so that he could keep it with him and show it to his parents. I asked him if he had used a camera before. He said ‘No’. I suggested him to take a snap of his work by himself. He was very excited to use the digital camera and I gave him the camera. I taught him how to use and      focus the camera towards his picture and to press the ‘click’ button when he was ready. He captured two snaps of his drawings. I think this experience will help him to develop his self confidence and self worth. It also enabled him to learn a new skill on how to use the camera. Te whariki says that children’s view and abilities are to be respected and valued (Ministry of Education, 1996)

Two other children were watching him while he was taking the photos and they also wanted to take pictures of D’s drawings. I allowed them to use the camera. Te Whāriki also states that in order to participate in this world, our children will need the confidence to develop their own perspectives as well as the capacity to continue acquiring new knowledge and skills (cited in Smorti, 1999). Usually, teachers take the pictures for copying children’s learning in to learning stories. I suggested ‘D’ to take print outs of his drawings, but unfortunately the printer was not working. He was very sad and I assured him that I will take the printouts for him from my home printer and that I will bring them to the centre the next day. He became happy upon my suggestion. But he missed an opportunity to learn the process of printing. By using the camera, ‘D’ gained a new skill and knowledge to take photos and also it enabled him to develop his skills such as concentration and focusing on the objects and it also helped him to develop his personal worth and confidence.

Blog 1 - Tech Kids

                               Blog 1 - Tech Kids

In modern world, people commonly use computers and internet as the most powerful media for gathering information. It enables us to communicate directly by chatting and send messages by emails to any part of the world. Talay-Ongan(2005) says that the “use of technology in ECE settings enables teachers to easily tailor the curriculum to meet individual child needs”(p.227). Using computers in ECE settings, children can get an opportunity to learn a new skill of modern technology(ICT). In the beginning of this year, my centre installed a new computer for children to gain skills in  technology. J, L, P and A showed keen interest in playing computer games. They are very confident to scroll the computer mouse and they choose their favorite games and activities to play in the computer. Sometimes, children bring their own favorite CDs to the centre and use them to play in the computer by sharing and turn taking with each other. Some children learn to write their own names by using the alphabet games and save it in the computer. This experience helps children to recognize the letters and to use softwares appropriately. Talay-Onegan (2005) says that “using computer in ECE setting; it will help children to integrate the use of software in their learning”.

In this blog, I talk about ‘R’, a three year old girl, who showed interest in using the computer lately. Initially, she did not show much interest in using the computer but  later she watched other children who used computer to play games. Two weeks before, she came to me and said “Liby, I want to play on the computer”. I was happy to hear this from ‘R’, so I decided to help her. We went to the computer corner and I turned it on for her and asked her which activity she wanted to play. She did not say the name of any game in particular, so I asked her if she wanted to play ‘I Spy’ game. She replied to  me with a yes. The activity she chose in the game requires us to sort and to form groups of animals and vehicles. She started to sort and formed groups of animals and vehicles separately. At times when she was confused, other children helped her. I noticed that physically she showed the skills in handling the mouse and to scroll the mouse and drag the cursor up and down to move the objects and placed them in the correct position.  ‘R’ became happy and more confident in using computer. Smorti  says that educators in early childhood setting will enable children to broaden their understanding about technology when ever they needed. This computer activity enabled ‘R’ to develop her thinking skill by sorting and grouping. This also helped her to increase her fine motor skills and hand and eye coordination.