What?
· For this week the reading I chose to look at
that was related to literacy was Handy
Manny and the Emergent Literacy Technology Toolkit (Hourcade, Parette,
Boekmann & Blum, 2010). I chose to look at this reading as over the past
couple of weeks in my class, we have been looking at toddlers and infants
learning to use technology and how technology can be used to help young
children’s literacy development.
· The reading that I chose to read that was
related to numeracy was Math is for
Everyone: Strategies for Supporting Early Mathematical Competencies in Young Children
(Notari-Syverson
& Sadler, 2008). I chose to look at this reading for this week as I wanted
to further look into how early childhood educators can support mathematical
competencies in young children and how children can learn mathematical concepts
in the experiences they are provided with in an early childhood centre and at
home. I found this article very interesting and resourceful as it gives many
suggestions of how educators can support numeracy development in young
children.
So What?
The main arguments I found to be important from Handy Manny and the Emergent Literacy
Technology Toolkit (Hourcade, Parette, Boekmann & Blum, 2010) are:
· This reading discusses the use of a technology
toolkit which helps to support emergent literacy in early childhood education
and it discusses the types of technology that can be used in early childhood
settings.
· The technology toolkit was created based on
children’s television show called Handy
Manny which is a show about a character called Handy Manny who uses
different tools to be able to accomplish tasks (Hourcade, Parette, Boekmann
& Blum, 2010, p.483). In an early childhood setting, the teachers would be
the ‘handy men’ who would be helping to develop and enhance emergent literacy
skills in young children (Hourcade et al, 2010, p.483).
· Using a technology toolkit, educators are able
to have a collection of different types of technology that they can use to help
support children’s literacy development.
· Types of technological hardware such as computers,
laptops, IPads etc can be used to support literacy development as children are
able to explore using these technologies and they are able to take part in
different activities that will help them to be able to spell and read and communicate
(Hourcade et al, 2010, p.484).
· Digital cameras are also a useful tool to have
available for children to use in early childhood centres as children are able
to take pictures and create stories using the printed pictures (Hourcade et al,
2010, p.484). Children are also able to explore using digital cameras and they
are able to capture their perspective of objects that they see.
· It is up to early childhood educators to be able
to know how to be able to best use different technologies in early childhood
centres to support children’s literacy development.
The main arguments I found to be important from Math is for Everyone: Strategies for
Supporting Early Mathematical Competencies in Young Children (Notari-Syverson & Sadler,
2008) are:
· It is important to know that everyday children are
able to gain important knowledge and learn mathematical concepts if they are
given the opportunities to learn and use the skills that they have gained (Notari-Syverson & Sadler,
2008, p.3).
· Experiences that teachers can provide to help
children learn about numbers and operations are counting experiences such as
getting children to count different objects that they are presented with and when
eating children can be given opportunities to count how much of a food that
they have and how many is left every time they eat one piece of the food (Notari-Syverson & Sadler,
2008, p.4). Children can also learn subtraction and addition through different
experiences if they are shown how to add or subtract objects by one (Notari-Syverson & Sadler,
2008, p.4).
· Geometry can be used to teach children about
shapes and children can be taught how shapes are seen in objects they use every
day (Notari-Syverson
& Sadler, 2008, p.4). Children can also learn how shapes still look the
same even if they are in different positions and sizes (Notari-Syverson & Sadler,
2008, p.4). Spatial sense can also be taught through experiences that help
children to learn about the properties of objects in space (Notari-Syverson & Sadler,
2008, p.4).
· Through providing experiences related to
measurement children can learn about sizes or objects and learn about the
properties of measurement such as width, length and weight (Notari-Syverson & Sadler,
2008, p.4). Measuring tools can also be provided for children to learn such as
measuring cups, rulers and clocks (Notari-Syverson & Sadler, 2008, p.5).
· Algebra can also be taught to help
children learn about patterns and how to create patterns using numbers and
colours etc (Notari-Syverson & Sadler, 2008, p.5).
· When supporting children’s numeracy
development, teachers need to be aware of how children are learning about
mathematical concepts at home so they know what they can do in the early
childhood centre to support their learning (Notari-Syverson & Sadler, 2008, p.7).
· Parents and early childhood educators
can help support children’s learning through helping them to develop good problem
solving skills through asking questions and giving suggestions (Notari-Syverson & Sadler,
2008, p.7).
· Experiences involving clay, puzzles, water, sand
and blocks can also help support children’s numeracy development as they are
able to learn different mathematical concepts through these experiences (Notari-Syverson & Sadler,
2008, p.9).
Now What
The implications I have been able to make from Handy Manny and the Emergent Literacy
Technology Toolkit (Hourcade, Parette, Boekmann & Blum, 2010) are:
· As an educator I can supply different types of technologies
for children to use in the early childhood centre. I could create experiences
for children to use these objects so they are learning while they are also
having fun.
· I can support children’s literacy development
through letting them take pictures using digital cameras and then printing the
pictures and getting them to create a story using the pictures. Even if they
are unable to write, I can write what they say for them.
· I can have different activities on an Ipad or a
laptop that I can use with children to be able to develop literacy skills in
spelling and communicating.
· As an educator, to be able to use these
different technologies effectively, I will need to understand how to use these
technologies and understand how they can be used to teach children effectively.
The implications I have been able to make from Math is for Everyone: Strategies for
Supporting Early Mathematical Competencies in Young Children (Notari-Syverson & Sadler,
2008) are:
· As an educator I can help to support children’s
numeracy development through providing them with many different
numeracy-related experiences that will support children’s numeracy development.
· I can help children to be able to use
mathematical concepts through including mathematical concepts in daily
activities so children will be able to know how to use these concepts in their
everyday lives.
· I will need to know the types of experiences
that children are provided with at home so I will know what types of
experiences I will need to provide for each child to support their numeracy
development.
· Throughout the day I will need to be able to
offer experiences and opportunities for children to learn mathematical concepts
so that they are learning all day about mathematical concepts.
· I need to create experiences that are enjoyable
for the children as if experiences are enjoyable and interesting then they will
be motivated to learn.
Hourcade, J. J.,
Parette, H. P., Boeckmann, N., & Blum, C. (2010). Handy manny and the
emergent literacy technology toolkit. Early Childhood Education Journal, 37(6),
483-491. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10643-010-0377-1
Notari-Syverson, A., & Sadler, F. H. (2008). Math is for everyone: Strategies for supporting early mathematical competencies in young children. Young Exceptional Children, 11(3), 2-16. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/964185182?accountid=10910
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