Dual-Language Instruction (1)

Este es mi video resumen sobre la instruccion del modelo dual en Houston ISD.

En futuros posts hablare sobre otros puntos sobre "dual language instruction"

Si tienen preguntas, por favor me pueden dejar comentarios.

StarT Contest in Finland (Europe) - 1000 Papercrane Challenge Project - Ninfa Laurenzo ECC - Houston...

World Wide Project of Peace & Hope “1000 Papercrane Challenge”

by Ninfa Laurenzo ECC

“Put a desire in your heart and let it fly with a paper crane.

It will come true when you count 1000 paper cranes”

The Japanese legend

This is the project for the StarT Project Contest in Finland, Europe. Crossing fingers!

With the Peace Project we intend to involve the parents so they develop consciousness of the values and take part in the formation and education of their children by participating in activities that will take part as family events. These events and projects will involve developing tolerance, solidarity and respect for other’s values. These qualities are the pillar for living in a just and peaceful society that extends from the school to community and from community to our society as a whole.

What is #1000papercrane project about? 

Our Peace Project at Ninfa Laurenzo Early Childhood Center (Houston, TX, USA) was initiated with the desire to promote values of peace, respect, tolerance and love. These values represent the base of a free and just society and are the actions that come from the citizens. Our Education Center is located in a community that is made up of citizens from different nationalities, as are many of the communities in the United States. Generally the community is characterized as having a peaceful environment, yet on occasions there are situations lived which are not very positive or peaceful. The current climate worldwide has many instances which are taking us away from a Peaceful World. Educational Institutions are charged with the responsibility to teach values of peace and respect, thus supporting the initial teachings that come from the home so that we can live in a civilized, peaceful community. We are seeing the need to strengthen our teachings and plant the seed in the future generations beginning with the youngest ages.

Our School Context

Ninfa Laurenzo Early Childhood Center is a school where the curriculum includes variety of techniques for the development of emotions, feelings and behavior. All the teachers have been trained by Houston Independent School District with the program Conscious Discipline, which includes techniques and strategies for teachers to use to help children focus on negative emotions and practice self-control with the use of breathing and breathing. In addition we include other strategies such as mindfulness, yoga, Tai-Chi… Due to family circumstances and cultural behaviors there are some students that demonstrate aggressive behavior towards the teacher and peers when their ideas are not respected or tolerated. These students have poor capacity to manage their emotions in a positive manner.

Our story

Our journey began when we found that there was a need to promote values of peace, respect, tolerance and love. We mentioned before that these values represent the base of a free and just society and are the actions that come from the citizens. Our school is located in a very diverse community, like Houston and our entire country, United States of America. Our Education Center is located in a community that is made up of citizens from different nationalities, as are many of the communities in the United States. Our community suffers from several situations that are not very positive nor peaceful, plus the current climate worldwide is not an example of a peaceful world. This is why our school is really concerned and we have take responsibility to teach our students values of peace and respect, promoting a peaceful community.

We have implemented several initiatives the last two years that have impacted profoundly the lives of our students. Last year we implemented yoga classes in the classrooms which resulted in the reduction of office referrals and the overall improvement of students behavior. During the year school we also included in our daily schedule a guided meditation with the students, which combined with yoga resulted in better behavior and students more relaxed throughout the day. This year we lost our school counselor due to budget cuts, which was a great loss to our center due to the excellent rapport that our counselor had with our parents who needed helped. Combined our yoga, guided meditation and other mindfulness activities helped us address our loss of our counselor and encouraged us to keep looking for more ideas that can help us to improve and promote coexistence, tolerance and peace. This project help us broaden our current initiatives and we became more encouraged to transition our commitment from our classrooms and our center to our community, and the whole world.

The following information can be read in the wikispace page of this project: https://1000papercraneschallenge.wikispaces.com/World+Wide+Peace+Project.

Este obra cuyo autor es http://maestrousero.blogspot.com/ está bajo una licencia de Reconocimiento-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 4.0 Internacional de Creative Commons.

Thank you all!

This post is dedicated to everyone who has supported me to become the person and the professional of education that I am. THANK YOU ALL!

First of all to my colleagues at Ninfa Laurenzo ECC to choose me as the Teacher of the Year 2016/2017, last year I was the Beginning Teacher of the Year 2015/2016. My email to them:

Thank you very much my NLECC family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really appreciate your support!!!!

This is the second year you trust on me!!!! I don't know how to show you all my feelings of gratitude for that.

It's an honor and a real satisfaction to be recognized by my dear colleagues, who teach me every day to be a better person and professional.

Thanks to the whole school staff, and thanks to Ms Rogina and Ms Tovar for letting me do new things... without your trust nothing of it could be possible.

Thank you a MILLION!!!

I consider that everyone in the campus deserves to be named as a Teacher of the Year, because they contribute to the whole community and I am learning a lot from them, every day! The real recognition is the one of the students and our community. Together we can get better and greater results!

Besides, all my contributions to HISD community have been valued by other professionals: teachers, principals, administrators,... Above all with all the invitations to participate on different chats, and the HISD Multilingual Department with the interview as the "Top Story of the Week": From Sevilla to Houston, fulfilling a dream.

How to create a comic with basic tools

The next comic has been done with basic tools:

- Camera to take pictures.

- Paint to modify the pictures.

- Word processor to add titles, bubbles and other comic characteristics.

First of all, a design of the story is strongly recommended, I mean, what story your students want to tell. You, as teacher/parent/educator, can help them with the topic of the story.
One idea is to ask for some topics they are interested in and the do a survey with all your students. In this way you encourage them to participate as well as they feel motivated. Once your students have decided what to tell, it is time to organize the story. In my case, I teach them that every story has three mainly parts, remember that it is focused on PreK students: beginning, middle and the end. And please, try to help them with examples of stories they already know (and even better, the most recent stories told in classroom) and let them identify each part.
The story decided to tell is about the recess time, since today it had rained early in the morning and some parts of  the garden were wet. I tried to help them by asking them how we usually prepare to go to the outdoor learning area. Then, one by one started to tell me how: they are in a line, the students in charge of the doors go to their positions,... other students wanted to share other ideas to use in the story. After that, I looked through the window and everything was wet, my next question was what would happen if you were in the garden. Again, help them, please, with connections to their experiences... until some of them can say something to add to the story; indeed, they gave us some ideas for the story. And eventually we got this amazing story with my "champions".

Recreo o no recreo by Paco Usero on Scribd

If you have a tablet with an ebook reader app you can download this file https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4elwj35ibmYNm9mLVFmX0hkMzQ/view?usp=sharing and they can read it.

Comic Patio Mojado

Publish at Calameo

Calameo is a free web that sets your documents as a traditional book. When you and your children finish your comic, you can save it as a .pdf file, then upload it on this web. There, you can have more options to choose and share it with your friends.

If you prefer to do it by using an app with music, you can use Adobe Spark Video. Open this app and add the pictures that you and your children have selected to create a comic. Besides, you can add some music.
Have you seen how easy it is? Do you think you can do one comic with your children? If so, it is going to be a good time to enjoy creating a story together.

If you want to share your beautiful and awesome story, please, leave a comment with your file.

By Mr Usero.
Comic-Creator Project.

PreK and PBL

Early Childhood Education

PBL - Project-Based Learning

21st Century Skills Learning in PreK

The time has finally come for our annual EXPO, a time in which a school wide topic or theme is chosen and broken down by classroom. In the past we have done everything from life cycles, animals, countries, wildlife, etc. This year our school EXPO at Ninfa Laurenzo ECC will focus on Community Helpers.

In my classroom the students were interested in learning more in about a Comic Creator-Designer. The students with the help of their families, brought comics to discuss with their classmates and identify the parts of a comic: comic strip, bubbles, shapes, and characters.

This article comes as a summary of what our project entails, the process in which we form our project, and the final outcome  

Are your students interested in learning? Are the topics adapted to their learning process? Are they active participants in their learning process? Do you take their opinions into account when planning? These questions are some of them that any teacher should ask to enhance participation and motivation.

What is PBL?

PBL stands for Project-Based Learning. PBL is an active methodology in which students carry out a research process to answer a complex question, a problem, or a change. Students have autonomy and decision-making ability in the development of projects. During taking so much time to create and complete the project, one might wonder how a project like this can be planned, designed, and developed to enable students to learn core content that align with the district guidelines. This methodology helps our students to develop the 21st century skills and create quality products and presentations along with working on skills such as collaboration, communication, and critical thinking. Through the project based learning, students learn to  work cooperatively and creatively.

In project based learning, the most important thing is not the product or final result, but the process of learning and the development of the different thinking-level abilities and diversity in the classroom. In order to have a successful project and to achieve the learning goals, teachers should let the students gear their learning in the direction of their interests.

A little bit of history:
It emerged in the United States at the end of the 19th century at the hands of educator William Kilpatrick, a collaborator of John Dewey.
The philosopher John Dewey insists that the best way to learn is "doing." Children have to become protagonists of their own learning and for that nothing better than offering them experiences that help them understand the world around them. The mission of teaching is not to fill the heads of content, but to help the student acquire a global and integral knowledge of the world.

Kilpatrick elaborated the concept and made it famous through "The Project Method".

Theoretical Framework
The Theoretical Framework of project-based learning is mainly composed of three
pedagogical foundations:
constructivism,
Learning by discovery,
and interdisciplinary learning.

In addition to these three, depending on the type of project to be developed, others such as Multiple Intelligences may be incorporated, for example.

Constructivism, based on Piaget and Vygotsky's ideas and works, tells us that knowledge is built as a process of interaction between the information that comes from the environment and the information that the student already has, and from which new knowledge is built by itself. The idea of scaffolding arises from this interaction in knowledge formation, which is the link that allows new inputs and previous information to generate new information or knowledge.

Decroly's idea is interdisciplinarity in learning. Learning concepts or units are learned together, not in isolation. Therefore, the learning units are formulated in different curriculum areas. It consists of focusing study topics on the students' interests, as their curiosity leads them to investigate and describe the parts of the whole.

Learning by discovery is Brunner's contribution. This type of learning happens when the teacher presents the learners with all the necessary tools to discover what they want to learn for themselves. Research skills development is put in the foreground and has an impact on problem-solving.

Basic requirements of PBL

As teachers, what do we plan to achieve with project-based learning? We hope that this type of learning fosters the interest and motivation of the students and therefore the desire to learn and do will be aroused. In addition, with this new methodology, teachers will innovate in their teaching skills by seeing how everything that is taught and created makes sense to students. From this learning experience, all students' skills and abilities will be improved and developed in an integral way.
As a teacher if you would like to have your students think outside the box and create a meaningful project then here are some steps to consider:

• Go beyond the old school

A project can not cover the same range of content, skills, procedures, and attitudes as other types of methodologies, on the contrary it allows students to  work more in depth into a particular subject and explore the subject thoroughly. Therefore teachers should choose the most significant content, objectives, and skills for the project, taking into account the curriculum and what is most important from their point of view.

Project-based learning arises from the need to present new alternatives, ideas or innovative experiences. The fundamental idea of this active methodology is to keep students engaged and motivated throughout the learning process, through research. In this way we enter into a learning that stimulates their cognitive, communicative, social and emotional skills, among many others, it is a cooperative learning full of challenges with an interdisciplinary approach.

• A driving question

Teachers can motivate this need to know new things and develop the project through an initial activity that arouses interest and gives rise to questions. It could be a video, a debate, a guest in class, a book … Once the situation has been raised, it is necessary to create a question to which the work is directed. It must be clear, have an open response and connect with the skills and knowledge that students must work and acquire. This element is basic and must always be present. An example. If we are working on a topic of contemporary literature: How could we share with our grandparents what we have learned about a book?

• Autonomous learning

During the work, the students have to be the protagonists: to decide, to choose and to make the decisions. However, it is necessary to adapt this general approach to the reality of the classroom. So different levels of "autonomy" can be established:

• Lowest level. Students can be told which subject to study and even how to design, create and present the final products.
• Intermediate level. Give a series of options (limited) to prevent students from being overwhelmed by the possibilities.
• High level. All decisions are for students, for example what product to do, what process to follow. They can even choose the topic and the initial question.

• 21st Century skills

These skills are: collaboration, communication, critical thinking and use of new technologies. They must be taught explicitly (giving guides, advice, materials) and also offer opportunities for students to put them into practice through the tasks and activities proposed in the project. That is to say, to create a virtual resource (a map for example) we can give the students a tutorial on how to create them but also our project should contain a task in which the students create a digital map that serves to present contents, support some exhibition , Perform a collaborative work ...

• Explorers and discoverers

Real research takes place when students follow a process like this: they raise their own questions, seek resources and respond to those questions, they generate doubts and question, review and draw conclusions. This research brings with it real innovation: new questions, new products and new solutions emerge.

The new doubts that arise must be incorporated gradually. It is all about promoting the generation of doubts, criticism and collaboration.

• Review and feedback

While working, they review each other's work by reference to the rubrics and examples.

It is necessary to teach students to evaluate the work of others by reference to rubrics. We can even use external experts and collaborators to evaluate the work. For example, if we organize an exhibition on health Why not invite medical staff from the medical centers in the area?

• Show and Tell

Once you and your classroom finished the project, you should present it not only to teachers and colleagues but to a general audience. It can be done to an exhibition (with the aid of a presentation, a video) in the classroom but also to create a web page or to make an exhibition of works to which are invited parents, students of other centers ...

PBL and Bloom’s Taxonomy

Once we put a challenge we can ask so many questions about the development of our students’ skills and learning process. To overcome the proposed challenging task, the students have to find the information, process it, elaborate it and share it. In addition, the students have to apply all this information to the solving part of the problem or challenge. Therefore, all the process will be significant and has a purpose for our students, improving their motivation, attitude and participation.

If we compare this way of learning with the traditional one, we can find more ways of treating the information and our relationship with it, that is, our students can go beyond understanding and memorizing concepts. Indeed, with this active method that implies exploring and discovering, our students will work out their skills to find out information and its source, they will be able to choose, discuss, apply, make mistakes, correct them,... This can be a good opportunity to understand other ways of interacting with their learning process, a more active one.

Types of learning styles in PBL

Everything will depend on the characteristics of the class groups with which we work. PBL is effective in all levels and subjects. It is applicable in regulated education but also in other forms of education and training.

-          Meaningful learning

This type of learning is characterized by the fact that the individual collects the information, selects it, organizes and establishes relationships with the knowledge that he already had previously. In other words, it is when a person relates the new information to the one he already has.

-          Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is a type of learning that allows each student to learn but not only, but with their peers. Therefore, it is usually carried out in the classrooms of many educational centers, and groups of students usually do not exceed five members. The teacher is who forms the groups and who guides them, directing the action and distributing roles and functions.

-           Collaborative Learning

Collaborative learning is similar to cooperative learning. Now, the former differs from the latter in the degree of freedom with which the groups are constituted and functioning. In this type of learning, it is the teachers or educators who propose a topic or problem and the students decide how to approach it

-          Emotional learning

Emotional learning means learning to know and manage emotions more efficiently. This learning brings many benefits mentally and psychologically, as it positively influences our well-being, improves interpersonal relationships, promotes personal development and empowers us.

-          Observational learning

This type of learning is also known as vicarious learning, by imitation or modeling, and is based on a social situation in which at least two individuals participate: the model (the person from whom one learns) and the subject who observes of such behavior, and learns it.

-          Experiential learning

Experiential learning is learning that results from experience, as its name implies. This is a very powerful way to learn. In fact, when we speak of learning mistakes, we are referring to the learning produced by our own experience. Now, experience can have different consequences for each individual, because not everyone will perceive the facts in the same way. What brings us from simple experience to learning is self-reflection.

-          Discovery Learning

This learning refers to active learning, in which the person instead learns the contents passively, discovers, relates and reorders the concepts to fit their cognitive scheme. One of the great theorists of this type of learning is Jerome Bruner.

This information has been translated into English, adapted and selected from this article about the ways of learning..

Roles in PBL

In opposition to the traditional methods of learning, the role of the learning components change:

• The students don’t have a passive role, but an active one. They don’t wait for the teacher’s speech, they participate actively on high-level thinking like problem recognition, information research, comprehension and interpretation of data, making connections and associations, drawing conclusions and critical revision of their ideas and believes.
• The teacher is not the source of information, but a facilitator, is a mediator in the learning process, who guides students. He/she can help students solve some situations and difficulties, control time, and observe, assess and evaluate his/her own work, students’ work and the project.
• The information and knowledge is not a possession of the teacher that the students wait to be transmitted. Within PBL information is searched, must be understood as part of the learning process. This information and knowledge are elaborated by the students by their questions and conclusions.

7 Steps to Create a Project

How do we create project-based learning? First of all we must put aside the textbook and immerse ourselves in the wonderful world of research and experimentation. The concerns and interests of our students will be the engines of their own learning, in which they will acquire knowledge and skills in a motivating way.

1. Selection of the guiding question.

Part of real situations or that reflect reality.

Lean on personal or real experience.

Use sources such as audiovisual media, newspapers, magazines, to get ideas.

It involves the educational community: teachers, families, students, …

The more involved they are in the selection of the project, the greater their motivation and participation.

2. Specify the curricular objectives.

When designing, be clear with the objectives, skills and knowledge that you want to develop.

From news or cases to design the project.

The project can be very motivating and at the same time it updates the curricular contents.

3. Contextualize the project.

Relate the project to reality

Where does the idea of ​​the question guide come from?

Why is it important?

4. Establish the curricular areas involved.

The more areas or subjects, the more enriching the process and the more complete the end result.

Add an intercultural and multilingual dimension to your projects.

5. Final product with brainstorming

Collaboration, collaboration and collaboration: key to the success of the PBL.

Coordinate with other teachers and experts from the areas you are going to develop.

Develop a mental map that serves to debug and consensus the project, activities, criteria and evaluation tools and the definition of the final product.

6. Sequencing of the 4 phases: analysis, investigation, resolution and evaluation.

It elaborates a project timing, specifying what resources, references, activities and digital artifacts will be used in each phase of the project.

Give meaning / purpose to all activities and prepare the way to the final product.

7. Critical analysis on the quality of the project.

Self-reflection and critical collective reflection on the success of the project and on whether it conforms to the principles of the PBL:

Does it motivate and appeal to students?

Is it based on a real situation?

Is it appropriate to the cognitive and emotional level of the students?

Are your multidisciplinary goals holistic?

Does it cover the didactic objectives of the subjects involved?

Is it well structured?

Do digital activities and artifacts make sense and provide something necessary to reach the end product?

Will it require group collaboration?

Translation into English of the 7 steps to create a project,

Written by Francisco Usero Gonzalez

Edited by Angelica Saenz

Benefits of Technology in a PreK classroom

 Benefits of technology in the PreK classroom

Technology opens windows to other people’s experiences and knowledge, what enriches our learning process. Besides, the possibilities of communication are bigger than with multimedia since everyone can interact with each other and can build new knowledges.

Technology can have a drastic impact on the learning and education of a child. Based on the concept of Cone of Experience (hierarchy of experience) developed by Edgar Dale, his concept prioritized the intensity of different learning styles and the diverse ways of learning in the classroom. Most of our students show more qualities towards the oral/auditives and visual learning styles. Today there is still no scientific evidence of the depth of each learning, but the experts in neuroeducation (the discipline that studies how the brain learns), states that to acquire knowledge you need to be excited and interested in what you are learning . Technology is transforming the way we learn in classrooms and many colleges are becoming interested in technology, re-imagining 360-degree scenes that allow students to feel content rather than simply reading or listening to them.

Digital devices as part of the 21st century student’s academic life

There are many advantages to using technology in the PreK classroom. Some of the benefits in doing so is that it enriches and broadens their horizons and lets them experience learning in a completely different way. In my classroom I have seen that it allows students to focus more, and as a result the students enjoy learning in a new format. A perfect example is when we use the tablet to introduce letters and sounds with the apps already installed. This allows for the students to be engaged and motivated to participate. They become familiar with using the apps and they become more engaged with learning their letters and sounds. Another important factor is that they enjoy the way concepts are presented with bright colors and sounds and they are able to interact with the content presented. Their curiosity is sparked because it focuses more on their likes and interests. During an observation focusing on the class during this time, the teachers also detected that those students who did not normally participate in class, were encouraged to do so with the use of tablets.

Now the main problem is the mobiles. In schools there is terror to the use of mobile, in most centers is prohibited and is even badly seen that teachers bring them to the classroom. Idea of school with no use of tablets, iPads or smartphones, and parents...

The use of mobile phones by minors is an upward trend. One in three children aged 10 years has one; 80.4% of those aged 13 years and 95% when they exceed 15, according to data from the National Statistics Institute. Although in the USA there is no official data on how many schools use the phones in class compared to those who Prohibit, if it is known that each year many  teachers are trained in digital skills.

The immersive experiences manage to extend the time of attention of the students and improve the abilities to work in group, according to the study Virtual Reality. The next step in the future of education, prepared by the University of Gothenburg. Integrating virtual reality experiences into academic programs can help children with difficulties withholding textbook information to better process content, the study said.

We can highlight the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) integration in the learning process and some of the main points of its role playing to get the learning goals:

• Positive environment since it is a requirement to create a positive atmosphere that invite students to participation and learning together, in which the promotion of positive values of respect to others is a key concept.
• Improvements in the learning process.
• Consistency. The use of ICT should be part of the daily learning process.
• Philosophy of teaching of the school: innovation, communication and diversity, new opportunities of learning, new scenarios, respect,... many specific conditions must be taken into account.

New ways of learning with digital devices

According to some experts technology by itself does not produce learning,however those facts depend on the learning goals. For example, if one student uses a computer without knowledge or experience, then that student will not progress unless taught how to do so. ICT devices, in comparison to paper or audiovisual devices, can be manipulated by students, which in turn offers them possibilities to interact with the knowledge and the processes of learning, and can connect students from different places around the world at the same time.

It is important to make clear some ideas when talking about technology and education. As we said above, it is important to put a purpose of learning, technology by itself doesn’t produce learning. Teachers and educators should have formation in educational technology and its use in schools in order to provide students better possibilities of learning. Dealing with differentiation, technology can cope with the different ways of learning. Technology in education help students to get digital skills and competences, compulsory for their future as part of a global world. In relation to the previous idea, technology offers different ways of work: individual (cognitive skills development), collaborative (enhances communication), creativity (creative/higher level of thinking), active (enhance significant learning and offer opportunities to learn to learn)...

Technology and Family

For many families technology is a big window opened to the academic life since most schools offer many digital connections with parents, most of teachers have blogs and use social media to inform parents about the academic situation and news.

Technology at home can serve as a new opportunity of learning where the same resources and tools as at school can be used. It is a different context, a new scenario to study as in school with the support of their families. Technology goes beyond because if offers students and families to connect knowledge and learning process with different and familiar things, a new way of organization of education that should be coordinated with the one in the school.

Multiple ways of learning are offered when at home. Activities can be done in other parts, not school-centered, that broaden the students’ habits of learning, as well as those of their families. The way of interaction of different components in their learning process enriches their development since the context of learning is more opener, more flexible, more motivating because it goes beyond the walls of their school facilities. It offers new possibilities of learning responsibility, individual work, social work, social skills, leadership, decisions, problem-solving.

Technology and languages at Early Stages

The possibilities of learning that technology offers our youngest students are great in quantity and quality. According to the evidences of Neuroscience, language development takes place highly during the first six years, that is when all the linguistic system is getting formed because of the neuronal connections. Children, if they are exposed to native or native-like ways of communication in foreign languages, above all the oral skills (listening and speaking), can get them easily.

(full infographic: http://visual.ly/truth-studying-foreign-language)

Nowadays, there are many sites with storytelling apps, videos in youtube and other digital programs that offer this kind of formation. Being exposed to other languages increases our cultural background since languages can not be learned isolated, socio-cultural aspects are necessary to communicate successfully. Positive attitudes are promoted with the use of technology and the exposure to other languages and cultures, since children learn about other lifestyles, different from the ones they have but that help it expand them.

Technology with the little llamas at Ninfa Laurenzo ECC

• QR Codes for daily news

Ninfa Laurenzo ECC is informing families and parents with the easiest way just by scanning a big poster with a QR-code and they are informed. We recorded a video to show parents and families how to access to it. Once the code is scanned, they are leaded to the section of “News” of the official web of the school.

• ReadyRosie

HISD is providing parents with a FREE subscription to ReadyRosie, an interactive tool that provides daily activities for adults to do with children ages 0 to 6. The activities are simple, take about two minutes, and help prepare children for success in school.

All the teachers of this pre-K school emailed an invite to parents. However, any HISD parent or guardian with a child or children ages 0 to 6 can register for ReadyRosie at www.readyrosie.com/register.

The registration process will ask parents for their child’s elementary school. If a child is too young to be enrolled in school, parents or guardians can enter the name of their neighborhood HISD elementary school. To find the name of your neighborhood elementary school, go to www.houstonisd.org/findaschool and enter your home address.

We recorded a video to help parents with the registration process.

• MyOn

HISD will use myON as part of the district’s Literacy By 3 Movement and summer reading program. myON’s in-depth reporting functions will be used to track progress for all student users to make sure that their reading levels improve over time. myON’s wide array of Spanish and bilingual titles will be useful in supporting the growing number of English language learners (ELLs) in the district.

Since the district first started using myON in March 2015, 212,663 users have spent 103,834 hours reading more than half a million books—totaling more than 14 million pages.

This file help students and families log in out of the campus.

• BrainPop

BrainPop provides various resources supporting many areas of the curriculum. The products in the subscription are BrainPop, BrainPop Jr. and BrainPop Espanol. Login is required for school and home access. Contact your campus librarian or Sofia Darcy to get the username and password. This resource is funded by the HISD Special Education Department.

• CLI engage Parents

The Children’s Learning Institute (CLI) designed this Pre-K digital learning tool to help young children develop literacy and language skills (vocabulary, letter identification, and phonological awareness). It also includes scales for mathematical skills (numbers, counting shapes, and operations) and social-emotional skills.

• FrogStreet

Frogstreet has a blog with lots of resources, articles and amazing activities to do at home.

Other webs like starfall, blogs: ninfalaurenzoecc or Mr Usero’s blog , social media sites like pinterest, and apps for tablets and iPads help our students develop their digital skills, so necessary to be a successful citizen in the 21st century. They are being prepared to life from their foundation.

Other apps suggested to Early Childhood Education:

https://sites.google.com/site/toptechtoolinfographic/

Virtual Field Trips to Integrate Technology

Technology offers us many opportunities to learn outside the classroom, because it open windows to other parts of the world and giving our students new possibilities of learning by making connections with what surrounds them. For examples, when we were learning about animals, in my room (#8) at Ninfa Laurenzo ECC we could do a virtual field trip to the Houston Zoo using their webcams and activities.

Looking for more information and experiences about the use of technology and field trips I found this one: “Another way to integrate technology with literacy is to create a virtual field trip to meet the Common Core Standard of asking and answering questions. A virtual field trip is a way to have students explore one or more designated websites while purposefully reading for information. As a teacher you will need to set a purpose (for example, visit Sea World to learn about ocean life) for your virtual field trip as well as a list of questions based on what you want the students to visit. I use open-ended questions to check for understanding rather than short, one-word answers. I create questions according to my students’ abilities.

You can see an example of a virtual field trip form by clicking on the image on the right. The virtual field trip my students love is a trip to San Diego Zoo. They have live webcams and a kid section including audio for non-readers as well as games. This form is a Word document that you can customize with your own questions.

Some of you might ask how I manage a virtual field trip in my classroom. I have students in pairs or small groups to work on answering questions. Every day, a few groups of students use the computers during literacy block time. I have bookmarked the website they are to use and modeled how to use the Internet and the website. With the younger grades, I only have the students use one website with links from that website. For instance, I use kids.sandiegozoo.org, where there are no ads for the kids to accidentally click on and many links to navigate.”

http://ncaee.blogspot.com/2014/01/help-i-have-to-use-technology-with-k2.html by Laura Candler.

This is another benefit of technology and education. Your knowledge and experiences can help others grow.

If you are interested in getting more information of how to implement technology in Early Childhood Education I will be pleased to help you.

Written by Francisco Usero Gonzalez.

Edited by Angelica Saenz.