During mat-time we discussed who was in the photograph, what
he was wearing, where he could be and the children noticed that he had a
haircut. This led to a discussion about the children wanting their friend to
come back to their room and play with the toys; the discussion carried on
further about how they could let him know that they wanted him to come and
visit. A few children said they could call him at home, some said they will see
him in the weekend and others said we could send a letter.
Later that afternoon, a group of children who wanted to write
the letter sat with me and I wrote word for word what they wanted to tell their
friend on a piece of paper. Once the letter was finished, we discussed how
their friend was going to get it. One of the girls said we could post it
through e-mail and that was followed by someone else saying we could take it to
the post office. I thought it would be a good idea to ask the children to type
the letter on the computer so we could send it via email as well as posting it.
The next morning all the children who wanted to took turns
typing the letter on the computer. Once the letter was finished they wanted to
make it pretty, so I showed them how to change the colour of the words and they
chose a boarder to put around it. We printed it off and they all wrote their
name at the bottom of it using a coloured pencil of their choice. We then sent
it via e-mail and since the centre is in a shopping mall we all took a walk
down to the post office to put in it in the post box.
During this whole process the teachers and myself were asking
the children open-ended questions as they usually provoke and invite the children
to share their thought processes, theories and understandings of the social
world around them (MacNaughton & Williams, 2009).
This process took a long time as a lot of the children had
never typed on the keyboard before, but it was totally worth it for the
children’s learning and development, as their knowledge and understanding of very
common ways to communicate grew. In addition to that they developed their social skills with their friends in the class as they were encouraged to learn with and work
alongside each other as well as take turns and help their friends if they
needed to (Ministry of Education, 1996).
This learning experience links to the Communication strand in
Te Whāriki when it suggests that children should
have experience while using communication technologies such as pencils and
computers (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 97). When they were using the
computers they were practicing their letter recognition which was a bit tricky
as the letters on the key board were all uppercase. They learnt about and when
to use the space bar key, the enter key and the backspace key; as well as how
to send an email and how to print their work. The children also learnt about
stamps and putting a home address on the envelope of the letter so that the
post man knows who to send it to.
How cool to write an actual letter. I would have thought that most children in this day and age wouldn't know about writing a letter and email would be more regular in their lives.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that you gave them the choice to post and email. This covered both letter writing types and the children would have learnt about what it takes to write a real letter.
The child receiving the letter would feel really special getting something in the mail too.
Heya Jac :)'
ReplyDeleteNice reflection! I'm getting some great idea's to implement at my centre. I really enjoyed reading how you brought this boys experience into your centre and created an awesome experience with all the children :).
Smorti states (1999) Technology is a creative and purposeful acitivy aimed at meeting needs and opportunities though the development of products, systems and environments, (pg.5). In this activity experience I liked how you gave each child the opportunity to write a letter and send it off.
I think their parents would have been proud of what the children dod with you. Keep it up
From Jess :) x
Hi J
ReplyDeleteReally nice reflection. I like how the friendship between the children at the centre and the new child who had gone off to school was able to be maintained through the use of technology.
Ministry of Education (1996) states that technology can be a growing experience in solving problems together and children learn how technologies can help themselves and others. I saw this in your reflection how the children talked about how they would communicate back to their friend and they learnt how technology was helpful for this.
I also like how you assisted and supported thier learning when using the computer and you allowed them time to do this activity.
Just something to think about, spell check does not pick up on some things like boarder instead of border so take some time to proof read before you publish :)
Hey Jac,
ReplyDeleteFrom reading your reflection it made me think about how we use the laptop in the mornings to sign in. We have typed all the letters in a recognisable front size and in comic sans font, this is so the children can recognise the letters in lowercase.
Perhaps you could try this in your centre? We just glued the paper onto the keys, we also have a separate sheet which explains to the children the process of typing – for example they look for their name letters, followed by a space (which is represented by a smiley face sticker) so the children become familiar with the different keys by recognising the stickers and what they are for.
I think it is great how you are supporting the children in communicating with a child who has already left your centre. This could be an interest you can extend on, and all the different aspects of mail communication (email, post), the children would love receiving a letter back.
This idea of exploring the interest of replying and sending mail and letters is supported by Ministry of Education (1996) which suggests that through technology, children develop knowledge and understanding particular to technological enterprises and environments and understandings of how and why things work.
Chanelle :-)
Hey Jac
ReplyDeleteWhat a good idea, technology definately is a broad term. Lovely idea to send the child a letter through post and email, a great way to continue that childs sense of belongs and community with him and his family. I can see that this was a very social activity, all children contributing their ideas. Smorti 1999, talks alot about using the process approach to technology "in early childhood the design phase may involve drawing plans, but is more likely to involve talking about the problem and possibile solutions" (pg 6). I think this is how you went your letter writing, the children wanted to talk to their friend so you discussed how they could do this and taking their ideas of what they wanted to say to him. Writing it down as a draft then typing it up.
Awesum experience for the children!
Chloe