Integrating Technology In Math

I am again joining up with I Teach 1 to1 and posting about technology integration. This week's focus is how we integrate technology into math. This is a great topic, as technology assists the class in math exploration daily in our classroom.

When I think about math, I do not think about curriculum or textbooks, especially in kindergarten. We use math to talk about what we see in the world and math also helps us understand what we see. Rather than repeating patterns in a book, we find patterns in the world and snap pictures of them with our iPads. Rather than just counting images and writing numbers in a workbook, we put together collections and edit them via Skitch, which allows us to annotate our pictures. We can also record our thoughts on math concepts to share on our blog or on Twitter. Technology supports the inquiry and project-based classroom and promotes real-world application of math concepts.

Our school has adopted Daily Five for reading. In efforts to keep things simple and routine for my kinders, I use the same format for small/independent groups in math. We practice five main areas (geometry, measurement, numbers, graph and sort, money and time) just as we do in reading. The children can move through activities in these five areas on their own as well as make up their own project that promotes the understanding of these concepts. The iPads have been a wonderful addition to this portion of our day. The children have numbered folders corresponding to the five areas of math. They can choose to work within these folders (which also include IXL), if they like. They can also choose manipulatives, games, or a project they have designed. Through all of this, we are using our math vocabulary and solving real-world problems. Technology has been a perfect addition to our math explorations as they promote understanding and documenting of our learning. I meet with learners individually or in small groups each day to talk about their learning and assist as needed.

I look forward to gaining insight from others this week. I hope to add more tools to our collection of resources.