In an age where technology is rapidly expanding, many classrooms are still using outdated teaching tools. I would like for my students to stay current and become comfortable using an iPod while working quietly in our listening center, rather than using an outdated book on tape.
My school is located near a military base so many of my students' parents proudly serve our country.
Many students at my school move within a few years or have a family member that is/was deployed. It is a very large school with about 900 students. It is not a title I school so there is not a lot of funding for new classroom materials. I would like for my students to be excited about learning and have the opportunity to experience more technology.
My Project
My students would use these iPod shuffles daily during our reading block. I would like to incorporate Boushey and Moser's Daily 5 into my classroom next year. One of the five components is a listening center. (The other four are read to self, read with a buddy, writing, and word work.) As I reflected on how I implemented the listening center in the past, I was dissatisfied with the bulky headphones and outdated cassette tapes. On pinterest I happened upon Erin and Leslie's First Grade Fanatics Blog, where I saw this wonderfully creative new take on how to organize the listening center. What I liked best is that it is kid friendly and it will expose my first graders to more technology. I will have a tub of books color coded to each iPod. When it is the student's turn at the listening center, he/she will grab a colorful tub with the books and the iPod and find a cozy place somewhere in the room to relax and read.
Your donation will not only help my students become better readers, it will also expose them to another form technology.
The more comfortable the children become using these different types of tools, the more technology literate they will become (which is necessary in our society).
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