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Technology in the lives of our children is here to stay. As a creator and developer, I am very pro technology. While there are many things to celebrate there are an equal number of things to be concerned with. My primary concerns are divided into 2 main areas: technology's impact on human to human interaction and the negative effects of shorter and shorter cycles of information, impacting our ability to focus our attention. Throughout of development cycle, we met with a number of parents. The number one thing everyone expressed was, wanting more time for themselves. Being a parent is exhausting and every one needs a break. What concerns me is the kinds of content, the kinds of experiences and fundamentally, the kinds of rhythms involved in those experiences. I don't want the digital baby sitter to over stimulate my kids or to weaken their ability to hold focus. Everything has a rhythm; every person, every moment, every place. As human beings, this is our primary relationship to our world and to each other. Providing parents with experiences that support their child's rhythm is key to the use of technology in the home. When seeking out digital content, I encourage parents to look for things that provide longer times of focus. Save the fun and flashy events for highly active time. Communicate to your child the quality of time as you make content available to them. its focus time - a movie, its fun time - a game, its quiet time - drawing. One of the things we've done with our digital book, is to provide a free downloadable coloring sheets. Every experience should not be digital. In fact, I believe strongly that facilitating the transition back to the analogue world is part of my responsibility as a digital content creator.

This blog is written by an early childhood teacher out of Australia. He uses it to share his experiences in his own classroom and offer ideas to other teachers or early childhood specialists from a Montessori perspective.

This is an example of a WordPress Blog written by a teacher from Austrailia who uses this to share his experiences in his early childhood classroom. This is a great resource for anyone working in a classroom because he offers great recipes to use in activity plans and shares his ideas on how an early childhood classroom should be run form a Montessori perspective.

Basic Science experiments that you can watch and try with students.

QR Codes, Young Learners, and iPads can be a great mix. Whether you have no experience with QR codes or fall into the advanced user category, this blog post will move you forward.

Tech on Deck - Volunteers Needed The Technology and Young Children Interest Forum is doing it again and we need your help! We are looking for TYC Interest Forum members to volunteer a little bit of their time during Thursday, November 19 and Friday, November 20 during the NAEYC Annual Conference to make Tech on Deck the most successful technology in early childhood event. About Tech on Deck Tech on Deck is a professional learning experience designed to help early care and education professionals learn about innovative technologies through hands-on experience and demonstrations at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Annual Conference. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in conversations on how technology and digital media tools can be integrated into their unique setting. Participants will also have the opportunity to share resources and join the Technology and Young Children Interest Forum (TYCIF).

"A Wetpaint website is built on the power of collaborative thinking. Here, you can create websites that mix all the best features of wikis, blogs, forums and social networks into a rich, user-generated community based around the whatever-it-is that rocks your socks. A social website that's so easy to use, anyone can participate."\n About Us. (2009). retrieved February 28, 2009 , from WetPaint Web Site: http://www.wetpaint.com/page/about \n\n Technology has become such a great assessment and device to drive and promote learning in the classroom. I believe that it would behoove teachers to take advantages of these new tools and incorporate them in the classroom. Technology has open so many new ways to allow teachers and students to collaborate while learning, and WetPaint is the way to go. By using WetPaint, Teachers can create blogs for their classrooms; which may include, syllabus, information, assignment, etc. The students of the classroom can join the bog and post new information, ask questions, work on projects, etc. WetPaint can be used in classrooms of different ages. The teacher can disable ads and other information that children may not need to see. Parents can also read the blogs. This allows a chance for parents to know what their children are learning and promote these ideas at home. WetPaint is can become child-directed, if the teacher is will to make it that way. If teachers allow children a chance to learn about and experience this in the classroom, WetPaint can become a very child-directed technology. The possibilities are endless with using WetPaint.

Carepages is a site that allows individuals undergoing a health care challenge to connect with others going through the same experience. Families are also able to create their own blogs and websites where they can share updates with family and friends. Carepages provides support, community, and resources for anyone needing information and help during these trying times.Teachers can use this site to gain knowledge of conditions that might be affecting their students as well as by providing them with a way to check in on a student who might be in the hospital.

Carepages are a great way for families and patients to keep family and friends updated both in and out of the hospital. They would also be a great way for teachers and students to stay in touch with a friend who is in the hospital and missing school.

A website that connects patients during a "health challenge." This site, like CaringBridge, is for ill children and families and has information, discussion boards, and blogging. Although useful for a certain segment of the population, does it belong on techhome?

Photos Story 3 is a way to combine photos, voice recordings, music, and writing . Children can bring their favorite stories to life or create their own. By creating photo stories in the class or at home, these stories can be shared to many.

that is a really great idea. That is amazing. Thanks for sharing

I actually downloaded this software recently. It was extremely easy to use and fun to play with. I created a couple of slideshows involving my siblings, and shared with my family via the email and they enjoyed it. I like how easy it is to share and how creative you can get with it. I feel that children could use this with some assistance, but they will be thrilled with the end result. Thanks for bringing this to our attention!

The ePals Global Learning Community is a network of interconnected classrooms around the world. It provides a safe environment for students and teachers for building and exchanging knowledge, using protected e-mail, blogs, translation tools, evidence-based curricula and authentic, collaborative learning experiences. ePals offers a range of services and features that are free for students in grades K through 12. One service is ePals SchoolMail. This is a multilingual electronic communications solution that offers schools and districts a protected, customized and collaborative environment. Another service is ePals SchoolBlog, an educational tool for creating unified Web-based platforms that administrators, teachers, parents and students use to achieve academic goals (hotchalk.com)

The ePals Global Learning community is a very useful networking, and collaborative tool. I found it very easy to use. It is easy to sign up and free to use. I have had no problems using this website.

Snapfish has a really neat way where teachers and parents can communicate with each other by posting thier pictures to a secure room. It is a really great way for parents to share pictures of their vacations, outings, or fun adventures they experience with the class. There is also a way that parents can take their child's artwork and turn it into calendars, purses, etc.

Snapfish is an online place to print, share, and create with your digital photos. Post and share your photos with a group, class, team, or club. All photos and students' work can be posted and published in one convenient room. This is a great way for teachers, parents, and students to get to know one another by sharing their photos, in a safe and secure room. There are also great tips and ideas for taking pictures, projects, and gifts.