Dear Park Shore Families,
I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxing February break, and that this note finds you well!
February was a LOVELY month as we prepared for Valentine’s Day by creating fun and beautiful pictures on the computers and iPads.
We focused our attention on numbers as we reached the 100th day of school. Kindergarten did a great job working with the 100 number chart game that we played on the SMART Board through abcya.com, as well as slightly more advanced adding games using the Slate Math iPad app. The PreK and 3 year-old classes also worked on number order games using abcya.com.
Kindergarten also worked on a wonderful coding app called Kodable, which helps to introduce the concept of coding and critical thinking, while learning the basics of directional programming. We will continue to work on this with both the Kindergarten and Pre-K classes in the months ahead.
Most classes have completed, or are on their way to completing though the letter Q, with our fun learning videos such as “You can’t have Q without U!”. Later this week we will celebrate Dr. Seuss’s Birthday with great learning videos about his life and online rhyming games, as well as wonderful coloring apps that bring his books to life!
**Puzzles, puzzles, and more puzzles! Through puzzles, young children can explore visual perceptual concepts, and refine hand manipulation skills. Please work with your children on the basics of jigsaw and board puzzles! Although we use various puzzle apps on the iPads and computers, and the teachers use them in their classrooms, nothing can replace the learning a child gains through trying to fit a puzzle piece on a board, and the concept of knowing to complete the boarder and corners of a jigsaw puzzle first. It is clear who works on puzzles at home and who does not. This is a valuable skill which introduces critical thinking at a very young age, and reinforces shapes and colors. Please do not replace this skill with technology, but enhance or reinforce it once they can complete puzzles on their own. **
A list of the websites and apps that we use in the classroom is detailed below, and are grouped by the average age for usability and reference. I gladly welcome any suggestions or recommendations that you may have based on applications your children have used and enjoy at home.
Thank you for sharing your children with us every day! Enjoy the remainder of the winter season and I look forward to bringing you exciting Computer Room updates next month!
Sincerely,
Miss Samantha
Park Shore Computer Science Specialist
Learning Websites
- abcya.com
- abcmouse.com
- brainpopjr.com
- code.org
- education.com
- highlightsforkids.com
- nickjr.com
- pbskids.com
- scholastic.com
- starfall.com
- softschools.com
- sheppardsoftware.com
- thecolor.com (coloring)
Tablet / iPad Applications
Toddlers
- 22 Learn – Animated Puzzles
- 22 Learn – Bubble Learning
- Fisher Price Baby Color Paint
- Baby Chef
- Toonia Color Book (Coloring)
Shapes, Colors, Classifications & Concepts (These games are appropriate for ages 2 through 5+)
- Tiny Hands Town Center
- Tiny Hands Sorting 3+
- Tiny Hands Sorting 2+
- Tiny Hands Sorting 1
- Tiny Hands Towers 2
- Tiny Hands What’s My Pair
- Tiny Hands Arctic Birthday
Interactive Learning / Classroom Reinforcement
- ABC Genius
- 123 Genius
- Phonics Genius
- ABC Tracing
- ABC Order (ABCya)
- ABC Magnet Land
- Kindergarten Bingo (ABCya) (letters, shapes and color recognition)
- Slate Math K-1
- IXL Math Practice
- Montessorium Intro to Math
- Superhero Dolch Site Words
- First Grade Learning Games
- Sight Words 1
- Spelling Bug
Creative / Puzzles/ Just for Fun
- Puzzingo
- Toca Hair Salon ME
- Toca City
- Bamba Burger
- Bamba Ice Cream
- Strawberry Shortcake Dreams
- Kitten Pet Baby Jigsaw Puzzles
- Puppy Pet Jigsaw Puzzles
- Caillou House of Puzzles
- Lego Juniors Create and Cruise
- Lego Duplo Trains
- Lego Duplo Food
- Lego Duplo Ice Cream
- Toca Boca – Toca Town, Fairy Tales, Toca Monsters, Robot Lab, Toca Hair, Toca Nature
- Sonya Paz – Pop Art Program
- Paint My Wings (Toca Boca)
- My Play Home (PlayHome Software)
- Marco Polo Weather
- Strawberry Shortcake Bake Shop (Budge Studios)
- Strawberry Shortcake Sweet Shop (Budge Studios)
- Kids Coloring Doodle
- Symmetry Lab Basic