Module H - Health and Safety

Kaboose (http://www.kidsdomain.com/safety_kids.html) is a useful website that tells children about internet Street-Smarts by providing a list of rules that kids need to follow to be safe while using the internet. This list of rules would be useful to parents to help them talk with their kids about internet safety. There are 8 rules that every child must follow while using the internet. The rules include never to give out personal information on the internet and not to download anything without a parents permission. The website also includes numerous parenting guides on subjects like the cold and flu guide that helps parents determine if their child has a cold or the flu. There is also a healthy eating guide. Kaboose provides a fruit and veggie food calculator so parents can see what fruits and veggies their children need more of on a weekly basis. More helpful guides include a potty training guide, bedwetting guide, and immunization guide. There is also an ages and stages page that provides helpful information for every stage in a child’s life. I found the information on dealing with toddler tantrums to be extremely useful. This website is good for all parents to keep on hand as a reference when it comes to their child’s health and safety.

Module G Integration-Kindergarten Resources

I discovered a website created by California State University, Fresno Henry Madden Library that is geared toward kindergarten teachers http://kindergarten.lib.csufresno.edu/. The website directs you to different WebPages depending on what you are looking for. If you click on worksheets you will be taken to a page with links to , www.teach-nology.com, www.schoolexpress.com, and www.kiddyhouse.com, just to name a few. The links take you directly to the worksheet index where you can pick a category such as handwriting, shapes, counting, matching, or nursery rhymes. I found the school express worksheets to be extremely useful in teaching kindergarteners the basics. If you click on the health link you could be transported to www.dole.com or www.kidshealth.org where they provide information and games for kids that encourage eating right and being healthy. Kids Health provides videos on how the body works, which would be great for a science lesson. If you click on physical education you could go to www.gameskidsplay.net or www.familyfun.go.com. Both sites encourage kids to stay active by playing various games. The websites list instructions for each game listed. You can find videos on Thanksgiving crafts and recipes on the Disney Family Fun website. Under the music section you can go to Mrs. Jones’ Sing Along Songs http://www.mrsjonesroom.com/songs/alphlist.html where you can learn spelling songs to a familiar tune. The Henry Madden Library links you to a wide variety of useful resources that would be of great interest to elementary school teachers and not just kindergarten teachers. I put this website under my favorites because you can find whatever you are looking for conveniently linked to this website.

Module F Integration-Kindergarten Technology

I read an article titled “Using Technology With Kindergarten Students" by Chris Gathers.  The article is a testimonial about how a kindergarten teacher uses technology to enhance teaching in the classroom. The teacher has three computers in her classroom and access to a computer lab. In the computer lab, she uses a program called Mouse Practice (Apple Computer, Inc.) that teaches the children to click and drag. Once that skill is mastered she introduces another program called Kid Pix Studio Deluxe, which has many different learning activities and allows students to use their imagination. For example, she has the children use the pencil tool to draw a self portrait at the beginning and end of the year to see the improvement in their work.
The students are able to use the classroom computers during free play, rest time, and when their work is finished. Each child uses the computer at least 10 minutes every other day. During this time, the students can practice what they learned in the computer lab or play educational games. Chris Gathers also uses technology in the classroom by finding web sites that correspond to the lesson, which helps to get the children excited about learning.
I found this article useful because I want to teach kindergarten and did not know the extent of what a kindergartener is able to learn on a computer or how to use classroom computers when you only have two or three available. I was surprised to find out that a kindergarten teacher has computers available in the classroom to use. I would assume that the computers would be given to the higher grade level classrooms. You should read this article if you need to get ideas on how to integrate technology into the kindergarten classroom.

Module E Integration-Crayola Creativity

In the Chapter 5 Integration Corner I discovered Crayola Creativity Central. The Crayola website has many creative activities for use by parents, teachers, and children. There is a Crayola for Educators link where you can search for lesson plans by keyword, grade, subject, theme, or product. Crayola provides multiple craft ideas on any subject. They provide a list and pictures to explain different art techniques to use with crayons, dough, and paints. And of course, crayola provides numerous coloring pages organized by subject that you can either print or color online. The color online feature allows you to choose if you want to color with a marker, crayon, colored pencil, or paint. It also has a card and certificate maker, online games, outdoor game ideas, and a calendar. You are able to click on a holiday on the calendar to discover coloring pages, crafts, ecards, and lesson plans that relate to the holiday. There is also a story studio where children can be the main character in the story and make choices in order to develop the story. They can print and color the pages upon completion of the story. Crayola also has a play zone with fun activities for the kids to spark their imagination. For example, they can create their own coloring pages by uploading photos. I found this website to be user friendly. You will find this website useful if you are looking for craft ideas to spark your child’s creativity.

Module D Integration-Busy Teacher's Cafe

I discovered the Busy Teacher's Cafe in the early childhood integration corner for Chapter 4. The main topics include themes, strategies, printables, and resources. The printables page provides printable worksheets for reading, writing, language arts, math, management and forms, seasonal/holiday and Spanish. The math section includes worksheets on addition and subtraction, multiplication, time, money, and word problems. The seasonal section includes worksheets on creative writing, holiday word searches, and words that relate to each month. The writing section includes a journal calendar for every month with a topic for the students to write about each day. These printables would be great as classroom exercises or homework. The themes section has many different activities listed for the class. The activities are divided by topic such as money, election day, and pumpkins, to name a few. I find this website useful because I wouldn’t need to come up with all the ideas on my own. It is nice to have a guide to go off of when planning a lesson. There is also a strategies section that includes strategies for teaching and classroom management. The classroom management section provides ideas in order to make the class run smoothly. It even provides suggestions on how to organize the classroom. I find this page extremely useful and I think it is necessary to have a daily routine so the students know what to expect throughout each day. I think that all new teachers will find this website useful in helping to develop an organized classroom and a daily routine, as well as providing teachers with ready to use worksheets.

Module C Integration-Discovery Education

I found a useful website in the Elementary corner of the Chapter 3 Integration Corner called Discovery Education http://school.discoveryeducation.com/.  Discovery Education has many excellent features for teachers, students, and parents. It includes lesson plans, a puzzle maker, homework help, and worksheets.  
The lesson plans are divided into three sections for grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. They are listed by subject and are easy to follow by giving step by step instructions on how to teach the lesson. Discovery Education also has a puzzle maker web page where you can create many different types of puzzles. I also found an emergency preparedness section that gives you a checklist and information on different types of natural disasters. There is also a homework help section for students that helps them with a specific topic through the use of videos. There is also a worksheet section where you can have your students complete worksheets on various topics. I also discovered a Think Green section which assists in teaching students about conservation. There are also different technology tools on the website including a virtual frog dissection. This website is beneficial to anyone who is planning on teaching K-12. It is easy to navigate and provides detailed explanations of the lesson plans. I found the website to be useful in teaching students through the use of technology.

Module B Integration-Virtual Books

I explored the Early Childhood Corner in the Chapter 2 Integration Corner. I discovered a few websites that have virtual books to help children learn to read. Storybook Online (http://www.storybookonline.net/) tells a story with audio while the words are on the page. The child could follow along while the narrator is reading the text. There are numerous books and poems to choose from.


I found the “Between the Lions” website (www.pbskids.org/lions/index.html) the most beneficial for assisting children with their reading. They have a stories link on the homepage where you can choose from a list of stories to view. The book comes to life with animation and character voices. The words in the book are highlighted as the characters are speaking. This helps students recognize the visual spelling of the word while it is being spoken. There is also a link for games. All of the games are focused on teaching basic English skills such as, definitions, opposites, pronunciation, and letters. This website is fun for kids while assisting them with their reading skills. It also has a link for parents and teachers that gives suggestions on teaching children about letter sounds and other basic English skills. This website is important to me because I believe that teaching children to read is the most important lesson they will ever learn. I plan on introducing this website to my children when they are old enough to start reading and also integrating it into my classroom. This website would be interesting to anyone who has young children or who plans on teaching children how to read.