Yesterday my new crew of kinders logged into their @Acer CBs 4 the 1st time on their 2nd day of school! R11 device is nice! #gafe4littles https://t.co/sMK5j4KUcA

— Christine Pinto (@PintoBeanz11) August 20, 2017

Kinders Log In on the 2nd Day of School

Guest Blog Post by Christine Pinto

The new school year is HERE and I decided to continue the tradition of having my kindergartners log into their Acer Chromebooks on the second day of school. Those of you who work with our youngest learners KNOW that the beginning of the year is all about building relationships and establishing routines. Be sure to include the procedure of how students will access digital resources and even obtain their devices into your beginning-of-the-year plans. Why make our students wait to start creating with technology until October? They are capable of producing NOW.

Summary of Kids Logging In on the 2nd Day

I had my students login in during our center rotations. I always have easy-going centers at the beginning of the year: puzzles, drawing, Legos, dramatic play, etc. One of the centers included having the kids log into their Chromebooks for the first time. A group of 5-6 students rotated to my center. One kid would grab his or her Chromebook and login card and modeled the login process for the others. Then, the other students would login, and of course, I was there for coaching the kids as necessary. As expected, the time amount for centers did go longer than usual. Each center was about 20 minutes.

Technology Integration in Pinto’s Classroom

I enjoy bringing new ideas and current tools to my kids’ fingertips. Technology integration is seamless in my classroom. I am blessed that the admin in my district believes in the kids being CREATORS with technology and that we have a Chromebook cart that lives in the classroom. There are days when I will be driving to work and completely change my plans. Often times, those new plans have some kind of digital activity in store for the kids. There is no “once a week” technology activity in my class. Activities are interwoven with the kids’ learning goals as often as I come up with ideas. There is ALWAYS a learning objective or rationale to go along with the digital activity we are doing, but shouldn’t that always apply with every activity our students do? Technology integration does not need to be some isolated idea. Think of it this way: In general you learn from others in your PLN and explore new ideas; it becomes natural to implement these ideas into your plans with your students!

Resources and Tips for Getting Started

• Introduce the device to your students. Don’t take for granted that the kids have vocabulary like screen, keyboard, and trackpad established. Consider creating a brace map to teach kids about the various parts of the device and their functions. Learn more about how I introduced Chromebooks to Littles in this blog post.
  
  
• Reach out for support! Ask a TOSA, admin, parents, even an upper grade class to come assist with the initial login process, or even with digital activities throughout the year!
• Check out my infographic and blog post about Getting Started with #GAfE4Littles. It includes some strategies for assigning kids devices, creating login cards, and first activities.
  

Christine Pinto is a Kindergarten teacher who blogs at christinepinto.com and tweets at @pintobeanz11 She is the co-author of the soon to be released book “Google Apps for Littles.”