Incorporating Technology into a Half-Day Kindergarten Program

By: Sarah Pappo, Graduate Student Intern in Early Childhood Education (ECE)

During this year I have interned in a half-day kindergarten program. It is difficult to get everything done in a 2 ½ hour day. There are days where we don’t even have enough time for writer or reader’s workshop. So how do we incorporate technology into the classroom? 

Technology is a necessary component for students to learn and explore new things. Technology is integrated into our curriculum in many different ways. One of the ways is providing students with an opportunity to use the iPads or the Chromebooks during centers.

In the classroom I have been incorporating technology more and more through my instruction. 

For example when we are learning about upper case letters, the app Wet Dry Try (Handwriting Without Tears) allows students to practice these letters before they do them in their workbooks. I think that technology should be used, and it can be used to support students. Reading Rockets suggests many different apps to use that can help students practice certain skills such as print awareness, phonics, or comprehension.

I also use an app called Count to 100 to support children in using one-to-one correspondence when counting. This app reinforces students to touch one box on the grid at a time while seeing and even hearing the number they are touching.  This App can also be used for students who need additional support with transitioning to the tens (8, 9, 10…18, 19, 20). This app could also be used for students who are ready to be challenged by counting by 2s, 5s, 10s, etc.

In a half-day program I think that it would be important to have students use these apps a few times a week so that they can practice and improve some of these skills. It can be difficult to incorporate technology into the curriculum, but it is necessary in order to reinforce the skills being taught in the classroom.

Here are some of the Apps that we use in my internship field placement and some that I would want to use in my classroom.

Reading Eggs 

Count to 100

Splash Math

About the Author: I live in Concord, MA. I have been working with children for a very long time. I started babysitting at a young age and then decided to take an early childhood course in high school. It was then that I discovered my love for children and my passion for teaching. I am continuing to earn my Master’s of Education in Early Childhood Education at UNH.