We Need to Incorporate Technology into Our Literacy Centers!

My Students

My favorite thing about first grade is how motivated students are to become stronger readers. With hard work, you can witness that "light bulb" moment when reading starts to click. In order to make this happen, we need access to technology that students can utilize during independent work time.

We have been working diligently to incorporate differentiated instruction for our literacy block in order to get our students to meet the end of the year standards.

Fortunately, we have students who are excited to learn. I have sixteen students in my first-grade classroom. Our school has 42% of English-language learners and 57% of students from low-income families. Our school has over 500 students and only has kindergarten through second-grade. This allows for a variety of opportunities for collaboration among teachers and grouping students for guided reading groups. The majority of my class is below grade-level for reading and needs intensive reading intervention in order to get them up to speed! I'm very lucky that my students come to school wanting to learn; I just need the resources to get them to where they need to go.

My Project

While teachers are meeting with reading groups, the rest of our students work on another literacy activity either reading to self, reading to someone, working on writing, listening to reading, or sight word work. Fortunately my students are growing up in a technological age where there are many engaging apps that support literacy learning. Students will have the opportunity to use the iPads during their independent work time to utilize their time working on letter names and sounds, as well as sight words and listening to stories. It is sometimes difficult to ask a first grader to practice their letter sounds or read independently. With iPads, students will be motivated to complete their independent work using apps such as iStorybooks, Tumblebooks, Word Magic and Story Kit. As a teacher, it will be a relief to know that students are doing their best work with all of their learning time.

As a teacher, it is sometimes overwhelming to look at all the progress that your students need to make in order to reach the grade-level standards.

However, this task is made much easier when the appropriate resources are available and the kids are engaged and excited to utilize the material. I thank you for supporting my students developing their love of reading to make a better foundation for their lives.