Ways to incorporate technology into Kindergarten.

Many people feel that five year olds are too little to do anything of value on the computer. This is completely untrue. Five year olds can do anything that you teach them. They can log onto computers, open websites, save documents and much more.

One of the most important parts of teaching children technology is the modeling. You must model before you ask a child to do anything. If you just give instructions and then send them on their way they can become frustrtated and give up. This can hurt their feelings toward technology for a long time. Many computer labs have a teacher computer that is hooked up to a projector. These are excellent resources to enable you to model for your students.

It is also very important for you to be well prepared when you are taking young children to the computer lab. You cannot teach a child a lesson while you are learning the software or website. You must be thoroughly aware of how the program works before you ever allow your students to open it.

Rules and routine are an essential part of participating in technology with kindergartners. Ground rules must be set before you ever step foot into the lab. They must know when they are allowed to talk, how to get your attention and what to do if they are having trouble. You must also let them know what they are allowed to do on the computer. The best policy is to tell them that they are not allowed to do anything unless you have given them permission.

Proabably the most important part of taking Kindergartners and any students to the computer lab is making sure that they have permission to be on the internet. It is very important that you do not let a student on the internet unless their parent has signed a permission slip allowing it.