Don't despair... computers aren't always out to get you???

When 'geeks' use computers in the context of genuine interest it gets everyone on board!

Learning stories using the internet: Onehunga-Cuthbert Kindergarten

Onehunga Cuthbert Kindergarten research.... Here's some more NZ research from ece educate. Probably the only area I have never heard a wide range of conflicting views about is using the internet for research alongside children. Here's a kindergarten exploring this aspect of researching.....

Mayfield Kindergarten Home Videos

Lots of wonder project teams have been dabbling with movie making and digital capture using photostory 3..... It's ben great to see learning documented in a different way that resonates with children as well as connects with families. Here's some NZ research done by Mayfield Kindergarten specifically around getting involvement of families in the learning........a great way to get multiple perspectives into learning documentation.... here's the link to a user friendly thumbnail version of this 3 year project from the ece educate site... http://www.educate.ece.govt.nz/learning/spotlight/MayfieldHomeMovies/WhatWeDid.aspx?p=2

Developing community through ICT | EDtalks

Developing community through ICT | EDtalks

This is another efellow working in Kindergartens. The team from Botany Downs Kg were Centre of Innovation some time back and here one of their number talks about recent ICT work. Their focus is using ICT to build community. An interesting point she makes that some of us will resonate with is approacing the ICT community as an older person ..... but is confident that we are all learners here!
click on the link above for this clip.

Authentic apps in the early years | EDtalks

Authentic apps in the early years | EDtalks

I've Chatted with this teacher off and on over the years since my days in the ECEICTPL - probaby best known in ece circles as one of the Manaia Kindergarten team who brought kindergarten blogging to many people's attention. Here she talks about ipads and apps that are useful in the programme to promote learning. ( click on the link above). I'm convinced...... let me at them!

Photography in early childhood education | EDtalks

Photography in early childhood education | EDtalks

here's a perspective of an efellow working with infants and toddlers and keen to use ICT to share learning journeys.

blogging or skype connections

There's a bit of a buzz after our project hui about skyping and why you might do it.  Teams have talked about skyping each other, skyping Senior Teachers, skyping the new entrants class of a school they feed to, skyping experts in an area of interest with child oriented questions, skyping families who are overseas to keep them connected, or skyping those who go overseas or out of the area in 'off seasons'. The same functions can be done with blogs.  here's a link to an article about a blog in the states who developed a relationship with a NZ kindergarten and spent lots of time a few years ago comparing climates and wildlife...

Check it out here....


we had a post earlier in the year  ( check it out by clicking on the archive tab for August) about two NewZealand Kindergartens at opposite ends of the country who developed the same sort of relationship with skype.... and a clip about schools using skype to connect with an expert.

The reindeer orchestra.

http://interactiveboardresources.wikispaces.com/Interactive+Christmas+Activities

Here's something that is seasonably supportive. Great on a big board-  but ok on a smaller one with good mouse control....  here's a screen shot below and a link above.

 It's on line so choose your moments. The idea is to click the reindeer nose of the reindeer that the number above the reindeer says.  A nice introduction to the notion of  written musical notes that we follow to make a tune.... 

Lessons we learn

I was reading a blog from "EduTech' which has a post telling about Worst Practice in ICT use in education. It holds warnings for us in Education- those we can all use whether we have started our ICT journey in any meaningful way or if we are only considering it.

 Here's the highlights for me - somewhat paraphrased with my own thoughts:

•  DO NOT- Dump hardware in schools or ece and expect instant miracles. The responsive teacher and a decent planned ece/primary programme surrounding the hardware is vital. so teachers- step up and become familiar so you are knowledgeably part of the planning about how ICT should support the existing curriculum - and be technically able to be a learning partner with children.
•  DO NOT - take a model of operation from an entirely different culture and transplant it lock stock and barrel. This never works even if we aren't talking about ICT. Take aspects that fit with your centre and develop your own processes. 
• Do NOT - only think about what you are trying to achieve until after you have rolled out the hardware. This doesn't mean you should not rethink this philosophy later on.

The gaming 'Devils advocate' rides again...

Here's an interesting clip looking at engaging boys in learning and the role gaming might have in the social or cultural context of school as a learning place. I still have conversations with myself on this topic. I am particularly interested in the notion of the gamer culture and the way negative teacher attitudes affects your sense of self and your ideas about the relevance of school to you. I'm still coming down on the side of using their 'culture' and skills as a power for good.......at the moment!

looking at current work on ipads in ECE...

http://www.educationreview.co.nz/pages/section/article.php?s=ICT+%26+Procurement&idArticle=24665

Here's some ideas from the wider 'powers that be' about using ICT in our programmes... I was particularly interested in the ipad angle after helping Maraeroa Kinderagrten get their ipad out into everyday kindergarten life recently.

Petone Kindergarten is live and on line.... !

Greetings teams... It was great to hear your perspectives on our hui where lots of teams shared their thoughts, anecdotes or journeys.  Here's a link to a Kindergarten blog in our association where the team are exploring the use of a blog to communicate learning programmes and to engage the participants.  It's all new and support would be appreciated.....

http://petonekindergarten.blogspot.co.nz/

heading towards christmas....

sometimes we communicate things we really didn't intend to our tamariki!hey ho it's the silly season!

latest project news

Open publication - Free publishing - More ece

struggling with powerpoint?

You might sympathise with this then..... and no- wonder project teams this is not a subtle way of telling you that you have to make a power point for our open hui on the 6th!! :) Shall we check the Senior teachers next presentations and offer them friendly critique? Hmmmmm Perhaps not! Just Joking guys!

supporting transition to school...

Well done to the team at Parsons Ave Kindergarten who are exploring how digital media might support transition to school. Here's a copy of the clip made by Tyler- Jay, with the support of Ann, Anne, the staff of Levin East school, and his mum about going to school - we all went on a school visit together and Tyler showed us around and explains his ideas about school visiting processes and what happens at 'his' school. Some of his topics of photograph were interesting and we enjoyed spending time looking at the images and sharing them with his friends. His voice over was great - the first time he'd tried something like this. The idea for this clip is to have it available on the children's computer for easy access when children choose to investigate. Tyler- Jay's mother reports all visitors to his house get to watch his DVD! He was certainly keen on sharing it with our Kindergarten friends and explaining some more! We also have several copies of it on DVD so we can share this with other families of children going to this school. Next steps- lets see if children  who weren't part of the making of the DVD find this information useful.....and lets make one for other feeder schools!

digital technology can't do everything!

Don't expect computers to do everything for you! teachers remain the most important part of the process! both as educators discussing what is on the computer with children and accessing peripherals to maximize engagement, as participants in the decisions about what should be on the computer, and continuing to capture the teachable epiphany in the format most accessible to the learner, her peers, and her family. Here's the challenge!

One of our hundred languages?!

Kudos to Paremata Kindergarten for supplying this work..... and Cerys and her whanau for letting us post to the blog. The team are very clear that what happens on their two adjacent children's computers will reflect the planned programme - ero noted this particularly. Having a hearing challenged child with a very able teacher aide means that work in the programme reflecting this is also represented in the digital material easily accessed by children. Here's a clip of a child ( not the deaf child) accessing a clip showing us the sign for the national anthem that the teacher aide had participated in making. Way to offer opportunities to be inclusive! Great work Cerys in setting yourself a learning challenge and showing us mastery with practice of our national anthem in sign. The digital component allows her to practice to her hearts content and not just when a team member can support her. Maybe you'll teach it to me Cerys when I visit this week? I've included the clip that she was looking at too.....

How wonderful that the team recorded this and communicated it to her very appreciative family - a great way to collaborate on a learning journey the child has chosen for herself.... They used photostory so that the soundtrack of the clip she was looking at was part of the revisiting process for all the stakeholders in Cerys's learning journey. ka pai to mahi!

The hundred languages...

Here's an old and well known philosophy- but a goody. I have to say that when this was written originally - if there was 100 languages then there are at least 150 now! great to see this digital way to get across your philosophy for the school.... definitely a great exercise for a teaching team to be involved in.

Games can lead the fight against boring teaching....

Ok- this is something we know well in early childhood. I am being a bit of a devils advocate here- this link is to an article by a secondary english teacher advocating gaming to embed english skills. Not the sector you would expect this in perhaps? so if we are historically  better at delivering learning through play curricula- shouldn't we be continuing to lead the charge at learning through play in the 21st century? click this link to interface magazine.....Games can lead the fight against boring teaching.

Storytelling and ICT

Here's a topic that quite a few teams have thought about this year. Some have introduced digital cameras for children to use and once comfortable, encourage children to use these images to voice their own stories - either digitally or printed. One has children creating stories using images based on their interests. Some have digital files on their children's computers of favourite stories and a range of props such as books, puppets, magnets etc to aid engagement in the process. One has these files to feed into dramatic playscripts that are current alongside literacy outcomes. Here's some ece research that backs up the benefits I have seen over and over where the digital storytelling has been implemented consistently and well.... click the link to see the research.. Storytelling: Keeping it Complex- Keeping it connected by Jo Colbert of NZ 

Here's a PowerPoint child's story ( or two!) done in this association some time ago... A new feature of PowerPoint is the ability to turn the finished one into a movie... yay!

 Here's a child's voice hard copy story using publisher with child's photo of their work and transcribed voice on the spot....also this association a while ago.....click on it once to make it a bit bigger if you like.

and here's a few examples of children's stories.... involving making their own and others images into a movie documenting interests of the moment.( photostory)

 

 

thinking ethics....

http://www.teachersandsocialmedia.co.nz/guidelines Here's a useful site- the NZ Teacher's council has had a reference group looking at ethical issues around use of social media. In terms of this project the most obvious applicable areas might be image sharing, blogging, video sharing etc. We as an association prefer to keep the useful nature of facebook to more housekeeping and notice based uses rather than teaching and learning partnerships.... I quite liked the videos they have put in the resource tab as examples of things to talk about.

ICT to make learning more complex.....

here's a synopsis of some of the research results undertaken by the then team of Pukerua Bay Kindergarten into ICT, teaching and learning. These are the signposts the kindergarten identified as common behaviours in their learning stories showing some ICT inclusion in some part of each episode as contributing to better learning outcomes.... a result not to be sneezed at. Self review with qualitative data....

putting yourself into stories.....

I have been a fan of jibjab from way back- some of you might be more familiar with the 'elf yourself' holiday ecards. I remember using this with a group of 4 year olds keen on dance genre and the experience of putting themselves in a dance sequence of differing genre not so easily found at kindergarten such as square dance, disco, and swing, was a great addition to the 'strings to our planning bow'. Now the founders of jib jab are parents and have started a storybots site where you can put children into stories etc. In my view this isn't useful unless the children are a little familiar with the story??? but another way for children to interact with literacy. take a peek at this.... I like stories!

Kindergartens today....

Here's a very recent DVD that creates a thumbnail picture of Kindergarten - where we came from and in today's world... This is a case in point about the use of media to communicate your philosophy and wider programme to the learning communities you are working in partnership with- or potentially working with. On the same train of thought....It was interesting to read the latest book from Margaret Carr and Wendy Lee " Learning stories: Constructing Learner Identities in Early Education' referring time and time again to either DVD or the use of image or digital files and ways to cross boundaries between contexts.

end of term? for computers and help desk 'guru's :) too...

this sounds like learning through play to me.....alongside the experiences Kindergartens would deliver in this area as a matter of form.... and literacy learning is generally very widely recognised.

echo reading...

I really like ebooks as a support to a literacy programme.... these apps help the largely non print oriented reader.... sound familiar?

Using ICT to communicate.... blogging.

children's voices......

This clip is a few years old now- but I uploaded it for a number of reasons. Chrissie was working with the Foundation for the blind and is an extremely talented educator to support visually impaired children and adults. She is very innovative and reflective about what works for the learners in question. The Kindergarten she talks about is one I know well ( having been there when she discovered voice thread) and we as a team rose to her challenge to use ICT to give the kindergarten child a voice as well as her extended family and support network. Not only did this child have a blog where all the players could view interpreted data and primary data and put their own lens of interest on it... but the voice thread tool let them articulate it with audio, video or text so the learner could be engaged. I wish I could show you the voice threads themselves but I don't have permission for this. Here's a demo of the tool to see what I mean about using it for multiple assessment opportunities..... if you want to take a peek click on the coloured text to check it out

rewinding the learning...

Here's a link to some artwork a 4 year old was kind enough to have sent me from one Kindergarten - together with a message ( name removed ) - "This is .....'s picture about a girl inside a present - who is .........! There is an......who is 6 who is going to open it!!! I like my picture". Receiving this means the art work process gets revisited by a whole range of stakeholders in the learning- it has the potential to be assessed by the child, the teachers and the family.....offering opportunities for multiple voices in the learning process as well as perhaps the documentation. check it out!

Now here's a way to supplement your puzzles without clobbering the budget! a range of sites have puzzles where you can choose images and select levels of difficulty... a nice way to show a bit of progression. This is Jig Zone - but there are others. Be aware of being on line - policy dictates we don't leave children on line unsupervised and sometimes this sort of site has add pop ups that will take you away from where you meant to be....

Transitioning...

Transitions in and out of Kindergarten are something we are all continually grappling with. A few of our project Kindergartens have been chatting about the role of ICT to assist transitions into Kindergarten- with a view to maximising child wellbeing, family reassurance and buy in. Here's a link to a site that discusses Trengrove Kindergarten's work with transitioning children into the Kindergarten sending digital cameras with new children to get pictures they could talk about together. They were particularly interested in the resulting positive impact for ESL families. They often made photostories with the pics alongside the children. Magic! have a look at what they did and the identified learning outcomes...

The curriculum document for ICT

Foundations for Discovery Here is the ICT curriculum framework that we were all issued several years ago and is generally on our yearly administration checklist to find. In case you have mislaid your copy I have uploaded it for you. Its a fairly easy to read comprehensive outline of the Ministries vision and expectation of ICT in ECE. There is a longer version too if you are feeling particularly energetic in this field!

skyping with ipads.

this is a wee bit long winded- but a key message I noted was that ICT can give the children a wider audience for their work - and a reason for doing it....

a little light reading.....

Prensky - Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants - Part1 This article is old now... .but the sentiments are still current ( mostly). a more recent view might realise that lots of immigrants over come their accents and adapt to their new environments!

Multiple ways of knowing....

I had occasion to hear Julia at an Auckland Conference a few years ago- she delivered a full day programme that was truly inspirational and has a lot to say about leadership. Here she has a lot to share about learning being trans-formative for teachers and children if they own it. This is of particular significance for us in our project - if there is only one or two teachers leading anything (ICT included)then the potential for it to fall over is significant. Team approaches rule! I also like her thoughts about ICT adding another way of knowing...... children express their interests and investigations in many ways if they can if our learning environment and routines timetable is conducive..

Kindergarten 'skypers"

animated drawing...

With the keen emphasis on revisiting learning and the opportunity to share what you were thinking about and how you might have achieved this.... we could consider animated drawing sites. SItes such as art.com allow children to create art work with the added bonus of an 'undo' and 'do over'. it also allows them to replay how the painting was constructed. You can email the finished painting to anyone... home or the office for keeping. I am not great at drawing with a mouse... I like using my pen tablet for this ( or I bet it's great on an interactive whiteboard). art tools not as great as art rage... .but the replay advantage could be great. try out tate paint,slimber, or art pad. ( there are others too ) This sample is from artpad take a peek....

Getting started- digital microscopes and blogging...

This clip really resonates for me- having been part of the project Tania talks about in this clip and also needing an interpreter at uLearn Conferences in the beginning! I haven't blogged in a Kindergarten as this team did( and still does even when the teaching team has changed ) but the rest could have been a snippet from the team I was in at the time re: magnification and learning outcomes. Their blog has been going for many years now- take a peek... http://manaiakindergarten.blogspot.co.nz/

to facebook or not to facebook....

This is an area I am interested in.... I don't like facebook myself as a personal tool but recognise it's market share as a social media tool. Is it a good way to get 'housekeeping' info out there? It seems to be. What else does this connect you to though? How do privacy settings work for the friend of a friend? Is it useful (bearing in mind that Facebook is not for children) as learning support mechanism....

philosophy, good teaching, vision - alongside the tools...

photostory how to

Photostory as a way to assess and articulate...

Here's a photostory covered under Permissions from the Ministry  ECEICTPL project  ( 2006-2009) where a group of children revisit some representational artwork they did after some exploration. After  using books, internet and digital microscope photography to document their interest in small creatures, they used art media to experiment some more, and then used photostory to express/revisit the process they followed. 

Kindergarten blogs

Yay! One of the few ece efellowes

microsoft research auto collage

this might be useful! auto collage is something that transforms a folder of pics to a collage. might be useful for quick displays! try it out - microsoft auto collage....

3d sculpting on an ipad?

http://ictece.blogspot.co.nz/search/label/ipad%20apps%20for%20young%20children

Here's a link to a Kindergarten teachers blog from up north as she explores ipad apps for Kindergartens - it's hard to imagine using an ipad to sculpt! check it out!

Discovery artists....

Thanks to the team at Discovery Kindergarten who have allowed us to put a photostory into our blog showing a group of 4 year old children using their Mimio interactive whiteboard. Today they have been using 'Artrage' free demo software to create large scale work.

check out the digital learners in action! This is way pricey equipment.... unlikely in our budget.... but check out collaborative and confidente use of it!

Our learners need to be tech- ready it seems! check out this clip of a year 2 classroom using ipads!

Imagined possible selves...

http://www.core-ed.org/sites/efellows.org.nz/files/2006flipbook/carol.html

Try this link out- it takes you straight to an on line 'flip book' of some NZ ECE research done in a Kindergarten about the use of ICT to support and extend dramatic play. The researcher was Carol Marks  who was an ECE 'eFellow'. She was working with a team and children exploring this topic over an extended period of time. This book is easy to read  and supports the assertion that blending the tools in an everyday session helps children to plan, revisit and extend the play in a whole range of ways. Check it out!
 For the record.........I notice it ( just as this blog does) runs better if you are using Mozilla Firefox browser rather than internet explorer.

macrons....

sometimes when making efforts to create bicultural documentation the tools cramp your style! Thanks to Lou for telling me about 'Te Taurawhiri Macroniser". Looking at this website showed me that I didn't need to download anything exotic for my computer. Windows 7 can do this easily if you fiddle with the keyboard settings.......http://www.tetaurawhiri.govt.nz/english/resources_e/download/keyboardwin7.shtml. It has instructions for XP and Vista too...... Yay!

using the tools as the vehicle for exploration as well as reflection

Well done to Plimmerton Kindergarten...... using video clips from the digital camera to create video footage that allows a group of dancers to revisit what they have been involved in as well as plan new adventures.....Thanks also to the parents of the children for allowing this clip to be shown. After the original clip documenting children's interest in hip hop dance genre was made, they revisited it on the children's computer and chatted at length. Some of the children began journeys choreographing dance sequences. It was great to be able to show the clips of themselves on a big screen dancing to their favourite songs to be able to provoke further engagement . It certainly provoked more dance!  It seems the interest is performance art- the choreographic work supports this supposition and also the joy in using a microphone to support this exploration.... I look forward to what  the future of this planned project brings...... Here's some of the documentation..... and a disclaimer that we don't have any rights to the soundtrack the children are dancing to and 'covering' in song.....

..

Thinking about ... ICT to create or display art!

I've had lots of discussions with teachers this week about art and ICT- ICT to create art or record the process of making the work, ICT to reflect on what happened and create stories about it. I see Botany downs Kindergarten has recently created a blog just to display art. Great idea! click the link below.... http://bdownsart.blogspot.co.nz/ I have also been reading an article by Lisa Terreni about art and Interactive whiteboards that was interesting... I like using a really good digital art programme but haven't spent much prolonged time with the whiteboard. Here's a link to the article on line... http://education2x.otago.ac.nz/cinzs/file.php/8/Terreni.pdf

Turning your pictures into a movie clip......

Have you ever used Photo story 3 to make video? Here's a quick tutorial. Really great tool in a Kindergarten for children to create their own stories.... or to review events or specific learning they have been involved in in order to consolidate their learning or plan new adventures....  click on the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtB6_D_toVQ

Try out some art programmes....click once on the entry to make it bigger....

rewindable learning

These ponderings are about a keynote at a 'learning @school' conference e by American Kevin Honeycutt... check it out here... I  liked Kevin's discussion about 'rewindable learning'. Through a series of stories about himself, his students and of his own son, Kevin talks about the value of technology in enabling a much more personalised approach to learning. He cited his own experience in learning the guitar, having to hide it from his father, and of learning it one note at a time as he memorised music in sections from the sheet music in the music store – eventually teaching himself to play Les Zepplin's Stairway to Heaven. He then told of his son who wanted to learn to play the guitar, but declined to have his father 'teach' him. Instead he locked himself away in his bedroom and learned the same tune from a 6 year old who had posted his videos on YouTube. The key to this learning here was being able to re-wind the learning, to watch the one piece over and over, with no criticism or judgement, until mastery is achieved.  Once teachers ( and for us programme highlights ) are rewindable, children can make decisions to be involved in the 'rewindable experience'   and by so doing get as many chances to learn as they need.


He calls himself a 'digital dumpster diver'  as he sifts and sorts and decides on useful ICT tools  to help teach children - and isn't a techy- telling us he is a '12 o'clock flasher'  ( sounds dodgy!) - which means all the technology in his house is flashing '12' over and over because he can't set it.  But he is keen to emphasize that learners for the now need to be able to learn, unlearn and relearn.... not what we did which was learn once and perhaps know because knowledge and jobs wouldn't change for a really long time.

....................................rewindable learning is something I have seen time and time again in ece where the ICT set up is accessible to children and they have agency over the equipment ( within reason!). Not at the whim of  teacher who can get the computer out of the office during the day at times suitable to them...... the amount of children who ( for example) have revisited a favorite story using digital clips to supply soundtrack and visual cues as well as props to support this investigation such as puppets and books.... over and over until they are satisfied and have explored using a whole range of strategies! I've also seen it at home when I found three of my four sons lined up in front of you tube reminding themselves step by step how to tie a tie for a formal family occasion....! :)

Below is an article written by Ann Hatherly- the leader of the research project investigating the use of ICT in ECE. This was made public for download on the Ministry Website. I find it pivotal to the 'heart' of the matter'. I've seen lots of techy oriented people who don't 'get it'. The people wielding these neutral tools ( ict) need to be teachers. Not only teachers but GOOD teachers.  The tools have 'seductive qualities' ( Hatherly) and are tailor made for ece as they are highly visual and oral... potentially.  They rely on the teacher 'getting' what the interest is for the child ( or group of children) and being responsive. So what sort of ICT you use doesn't mean that with the biggest 'bling' factor... just that which will be likely to communicate the best - or bring the gap.

Technology+ +a+Teacher+Mind.+Ann+H

moving with the times

Okay- I'm not suggesting we are all as good as Joe Sabia at manipulating our machinery- but its a bit of a comment on how different generations of learners tell the same sorts of stories in very different ways.  It's our job to get on board with their learning experiences and styles to keep them excited and engaged in their learning. Joe uses an ipad as a tool to  tell his story.

Moving with the times...

Kaitiaki o kaupapa Maori

Huge thanks to the lovely Lou (our Kaitiaki o kaupapa Maori for the association) for helping me site this project comfortably within our Biculturally oriented national world view. She shared with me with some concepts that link the project's essence and aspirations with appropriate kaupapa Maori. This helps me finish the logo for the project and add these whakaaro to our vision. "ICT is used to capture the moment in whatever program you use. So, He whakamīharo ngā mahi a te tamariki.The works of children are wonderful". " He hao te takitaro .......Capture the moment!" Thanks Lou for your contribution!

Snowing in Wellington

Ok- old news now. But as I moved from Kindergarten to Kindergarten last year - Everyone had documented something about the snow. It captured the teacher's sense of wonder and this communicated itself to children and was fed by families. It should have been a case in point to us in ECE circles how using wonder to drive a project or support a teachable moment can work. I might be slightly biased on this front ( having co written an article on wonder in ece ) but also am speculative about what happened next - did the teams capture this rare moment of shared understanding and run with it? Here's a clip from Wellington that encapsulates wonder in the snow.

Capturing wonder...

The Day It Snowed In Wellington from Ro Tierney on Vimeo.

Connecting with families

I've been chatting with a team of teachers today about ways to make group planning visible and accessible- often a topic of discussion these days in Kindergarten circles! Below I've posted a video from the Ministry of Education's website from the ECEICTPL project around using the technology to connect with families... hmmm food for thought

Connecting with the learning community....

Heres a link to ponder... Isla the storyteller... click on the orange title

"Peeling An Onion Blog"

Roll over Peter Jackson!

I've been cruising the various blogs I follow.Many of the blogs are from teachers involved in  day to day teaching, and some were involved  in the Ministry Funded ECEICTPl project ( 2006-2009) and are continuing their journey in the area of using ICT to communicate. Above is  a link to a blog from Margaret May who is the Head teacher from Greenhithe Kindergarten in Auckland who shows us in an October 2010 post a very small friend totally in charge of digital storytelling- using stop motion animation. I had a wee journey with a group of children at Pukerua Bay Kindergarten who were using props to make their own movies..... however we were guilty of being 'digital tourists' ( trying something out for novelty value but not embedding it into everyday practice. We never got as independent as Isla did! ka pai to mahi Isla! I must tackle that again one day.....
Meanwhile  Margaret is one of a few ece teachers who have been able to access an ' E- Fellowship' to take this work yet further. Congrats Margaret! Feel free to follow her ICT adventures in later posts on the blog... the archive is on the right of the blog.

Here's a hearfelt plea that we all might utter sometimes when working on computers.... I don't know who wrote it though... does anyone know?

Here's the original article...... make it bigger by clicking on the bottom left button of the 'scribd' box.

Wonder Article

New Beginnings...

So where did the idea for this project come from...?  It's based loosely around the framework used in the Ministry Of Education Funded research Project 'ECEICTPL' between 2006 and 2009. This action research project was looking at the delivery of the curriculum document "Foundations for Discovery" ( Ministry of Education 2005). Part of the requirement for teams who were in the project was dissemination of aspects of their findings. This article was one from one of our Kindergartens who were at the time working with children and ICT. Perhaps you can see where the project name sprang from!