Blended Learning for Young Children

Vinci Learning features digital devices and programs for early childhood learning. The devices are 7” Android tablets specifically designed for our youngest learners. Apps for the tablets include Play and Learn studies in mathematics, science, and language arts & literacy. While playing with Vinci apps, student profiles are developed; learning activities are recommended based on the assessment. Information about the suggested activities is sent to teachers and parents, and teachers can adjust the program, as needed. This cloud-based analytical tool follows a blended learning approach that is structured to differentiate learning to fit individual needs.

Everyone’s Favorite Tiger: Daniel

If you are a preschool or Pre-Kindergarten teacher, you may want to recommend this PBS app to parents who are having difficulties getting their children ready for school.  The app, Daniel Tiger’s Day & Night, which includes eight games, helps children with their night and morning routines. Morning games target getting dressed, eating breakfast, brushing teeth, and putting on shoes. Good night games are: Bath Time, Brush Teeth, Pajama Tim, and Bedtime Story. The app ($2.99 at the iTunes Store) is the second in the series, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.

Wonderful, Wanderful Books Now Available for iPad and Android Devices

Harry and The Haunted House, Arthur’s Teacher Trouble, Ruff’s Bone, and other children’s digital classics are now ready for Android devices. The series, which has until now, only been available for the iPad, includes thirteen apps, eight of which are for the U.S. market and have story content in English and Spanish.  Other apps are available in UK English and in French. iPad apps for the books can be found at the iTunes App Store; Android apps, at the Google Play Store. If you haven’t tried these delightful apps, you’ll want to download the Wanderful Storybook Sampler to enjoy some very special pages from these very special interactive digital books.

Critter Corral for Math Understanding

Stanford Research Associate Kristen Blair was the leader of a team that developed the early learning app, Critter Corral. What makes Critter Corral special is that it is designed to help students understand math. Using this app, children aren’t just counting; they are connecting ideas about quantity and developing a basis for math learning in the future. The numbers in Critter Corral are presented in different ways, and children learn to “fix” answers that aren’t exactly right. In addition to being a great game for young students, Critter Corral is helping Stanford researchers learn more about how children solve problems. You can download Critter Corral free at the iTunes store.

Helping African-American Students

In order to improve the academic progress of African American students, President Obama signed the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans. The President hopes that the initiative will help African American students “so that every child has greater access to a complete and competitive education from the time they’re born all through the time they get a career.” Tenets of the plan include helping the students get into early childhood programs that get them ready for school studies, making sure that African American children are not placed in special education programs unless they need these programs, addressing the numbers of suspensions and expulsions of black children from their schools, and offering the children the chance to “access rigorous courses and effective teachers” so that they can be ready for the future.

Octopus Planet for Early Math

The iPad app Octopus Planet 123 ($2.99) takes children ages three and up on a trip around the world. While on the trip, they learn about animals, habitat, and number systems. Children have fun as they take on comparing, taxonomy, sequence, matching, shapes, ordering, classifying, adding, and counting. The app is available in the iTunes Store in fifteen different languages.

Octopus Planet 123 LITE is free and offers a good way to try out the app.

Keep Your Classes Focused before Holidays

We know that it’s not easy to keep kids’ attention on studies just before holidays. Should you give in and just show movies, play games, and have parties those last few days? Not a great idea, because you don’t want to waste their time in the classroom. Perhaps you might structure some of your lessons with the holidays in mind. Think about engaging students in research about the origins of the upcoming holiday, creating a spreadsheet showing presents purchased with costs, writing holiday feel-good stories, creating holiday poetry in the foreign language they are studying, planning a project to help others—you’ll think of lots of other ideas. TeachHUB lists 10 Ways to Stay Focused Before Holiday Break that contains good advice for all of us. The list includes the topics: Stick to Your Structure; Plan and Engaging Project;  Keep Expectations High but Appropriate; Don’t Be a Grinch wit Classroom Decor; Add Holiday/Seasonal Cheer to Themed Lessons & Activities; Use Movement to Get Kids Focused; Keep Your Countdown Quiet; Spice Up Your Instructional Game; Dedicate Time to Short, Fun Activities; and Beat the Holiday Stress Through Efficiency.

The Wonderful New PBS Kids Math Games

In October, PBS Kids added 40+ new games for children ages 2-8. The games, some of which feature Curious George and Sid the Science Kid, are available free and can be accessed through computers, mobile devices, and interactive whiteboards. The games tackle critical math skills to help students find success in their schoolwork.  In one game, for example, Curious George tries to train two dogs to balance biscuits on their noses and must figure out how to give the same number of treats to each dog.  Correct answers result in fun stickers. The content follows the PBS math framework, “which maps out the key building-block skills such as numbers and operations, shape attributes, and data collection and analysis....” Some of the games make use of Webcams and microphones.

Leaders for Change in Our Schools

Question: Who is the best agent for change in a school? 

Answer: An enthusiastic teacher with a good idea. Take technology, for example. One teacher asks for an interactive whiteboard and starts talking about how her students are using it. Not long after, other teachers are requesting the technology, and a group of teachers are exchanging ideas about what works for them with the boards. Some offer after-school sessions to help colleagues. On school professional days, teachers ask to lead their own sessions rather than invite in a speaker or go somewhere for a workshop. What happens is often contagious. Although administrators, professional development experts, and workshop leaders may plant the “seeds” of change; these “seeds” won’t grow without teachers taking ownership.  Grassroots change works.

Teachers Matter!

Stanford President, John Hennessy, says that education reform is a Stanford priority and a national imperative. In his column in the November/December 2011 issue of Stanford, Hennessy describes the importance of providing students with good teachers. According to Hennessy, “If every student had a highly effective teacher for even three years in a row, we could nearly eliminate the achievement gap between student groups.” In other words, in the education of students, Teachers Matter! The university has set up multidisciplinary centers to provide research and tools for improving teacher performance.  One of these centers, CSET (Center to Support Excellence in Teaching), has already worked with over 1200 teachers and school leaders in an attempt to discern what schools need to do with professional development in order to provide more effective classroom teaching. Instead of concentrating on student test results, Stanford is looking at what cost-effective reforms are needed. Part of the CSET program has been the development of its own online PD courses, which are now being used by school districts and universities. You can download the White Paper: Investing in Professional Development.