Early+Years

=**__ Early Years __**=


 * __ Utilising Cameras and Photo Story 3 __**

In my previous role as a Kindergarten Teacher at [|Manaia Kindergarten] in Whangarei we explored the benefits of integrating ICT into teaching and learning for children and their whānau. An incredible tool was a digital camera. Children very quickly learnt to respect a digital camera as a tool and became very professional photographers. //**Let your child take** photos **and the opportunities for what next are endless....**//

I would recommend downloading [|PhotoStory 3]- FREE for PC's.

Use PhotoStory 3 to encourage your child's storytelling skills. An incredible way of building oral language and of finding out what is important to them, their skills, knowledge and interests. Here is an [|example of a 4 year old using Photo Story 3] to tell a story.



**__ Literacy Ideas __**

[|Wordle] - Another FREE and fun tool. //"Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently////in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends."//

Work alongside your child to make a wordle. Choose a topic of interest and find all of the words they can think of about this topic. Your child maybe interested in dinosaurs - how many words can they think of about dinosaurs? Build their vocabulary and learn lots about letters and words as you work together.

**__ Websites to check out alongside your child __**

Children can have lots of fun exploring the world wide web and many of these sites are very interactive and full of learning opportunities. A great way to be involved in conversations with your children.

http://discovery.com/




 * http://www.suzy.co.nz/suzysworld/**


 * http://www.buildyourwildself.com/**

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/




 * http://ldd.lego.com/**



__Free Software for Children__

 * __Creative Art__**

[|Art Rage] - Is computer art software. You can download a FREE starter edition that has no time limit or the full version fo a 30 day trial. Can use with both Mac and PC. Click [|here] to download.

[|Tux Paint] - Tux Paint is FREE computer art software for children. Again can be used on Mac and PC. When downloading you need to download tux paint and then the stamps. Click [|here] to download.

[|Tux Type]

[|Tux Math]