Lessons 4 Little Hands

I have always been timid around social media, even on a personal level.  I'm not on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.  I finally dipped my toe into the world of social media when had to create a LinkedIn account in college and I ventured even further by getting a Pinterest account soon after.   At first, when I saw the heading for this module, I was a bit nervous.  I didn't think I would ever use social media with my students.  After reading and exploring further, however, I can see the benefits of using social media with, not only older students, but also younger students as well! I actually realized that I already use some of the listed sites and apps in my teaching.  Schoology is an app that our district uses for a variety of purposes.  Teachers can post alerts, message with students, assign projects and assignments, etc.  It is essentially like an elementary and secondary version of Canvas.   https://app.schoology.com/login?destination=h...

As a student, the most exciting multimedia presentation that I created in elementary school was a Jeopardy game.  I do not recall what the subject of the Jeopardy game was, but it was exciting creating an interactive presentation (via Powerpoint) based on one of my favorite television shows!  My classmates and I even had an opportunity to share our Jeopardy games with each other.    Now, as a teacher, I have found many different ways to weave multimedia opportunities throughout my school day.  Prior to the pandemic, I did not use technology to support my teaching as much as I do now.  While we were fully virtual, the teachers of our district collaborated to create multimedia presentations to instruct our students in a virtual manner.  We primarily used Google Slides, and within the slides, we integrated text, audio, clickable links, and videos.  As we transitioned to hybrid teaching, I continued to use our multimedia presentations for both my "roo...

I was really surprised with how many apps and online resources there are to aid students in the writing process.  I teach kindergarten, and a few apps stood out to me that I would like to use with my young students.  Handwriting is a really important part of our kindergarten curriculum, so I was really intrigued with the handwriting apps.  I definitely enjoyed exploring the app, iWriteWordsLite.  I found it more engaging than some other handwriting apps that I investigated.  It included fun sound effects, encouraging verbal cues, and immediate affirmation or correction to facilitate proper handwriting strokes.  Practicing handwriting via this fun app would be a fun and engaging way for kids to reinforce their paper-pencil handwriting skills.  This app allows kids to practice letters, numbers, and short words.    Tracing Letters was another handwriting app that I was able to explore.  I didn't like it as much as iWriteWordsLite because it...