Kindergarten Students and Computer Literacy

When planning kindergarten technology projects, we have to remember that in most cases, our kindergartners are coming into our classrooms with some impressive technology skills.  I have seen toddlers effectively manipulate apps on an iPod touch and heard preschoolers share that they skype with their grandparents.  Our kindergarten students are ready to jump in and use technology, but where should we start with them (technology-wise) in a formal educational setting?

This fall, I collaborated with kindergarten teachers, and we decided to begin with "computer literacy."  It is listed on the wordle at the top of my blog, but just what does it entail?  NCREL (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory) states that computer literacy is the "ability to accurately and effectively use computer tools such as word processors, spreadsheets, databases, and presentation and graphic software." I see computer literacy as a foundation for many of the other literacies listed on my wordle. 

Our technology planning session started with the focus of letter recognition.  We wanted the students to be able to name and recognize the letters of their names and create a project that would be displayed in a class book. Chunking the curriculum at any age is important, but especially so with five and six year-olds.  We broke down our lessons like this:

1. Introduction to KidPix:  Students were introduced to the pencil tool, erasing options (Uh-Oh guy, erasers, and firehose) and the paint bucket. Keep in mind that planning some exploration time for kids is just as important as the modeling/demonstration of the software. 
2. Self Portrait:  Students created a self-portrait using the pencil tool and paint bucket.  The classroom teacher and I were amazed at the students' ability to manipulate the mouse (some did choose to use the trackpad) and the creativity they tapped to design their portraits.  We weren't sure what the final portraits would look like, but trust me-they really looked like people!  Only a few students needed some hand-over-hand assistance with the mouse. 
3. In our final session, I introduced the animations and showed students where to find the alphabet.  A template of a palmtree was provided and students used the paint bucket to fill in the tree and background. To complete this Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom project, they used the animated alphabet to place their names down the coconut tree's trunk.  Note:  The students had created a paper copy of this project as a literacy center prior to this technology lesson.  We did have a handful of students use the paper copy as a guide to spell their names, but most did so independently. 

When reflecting on this experience as a curriculum technology partner, a few things come to mind. No matter what techology lessons we are planning with teachers, we need to remember to:

•  keep curriculum as the focus
•  plan well in advance
•  chunk the curriculum that we need to present
•  allow kids to explore and be creative!