Main Topics

Introduction Basic Assumptions Literacy Rich Environment Managing the Classroom Environment Technology Integration Interactive Commercial Software Adaptations/Customization Assessment of Literacy Skills Performance Indicators Emergent Literacy Site Map

Designing a Literacy Rich Environment -- Classroom Management

Sub-Topics (Click on topic you wish to see) Labeling Reading Center Writing Center Art Center Technology Center Classroom Management

Classroom Management

KidDesk is a desktop management program. (Check the Edmark website for availability). Not only does the program provide maximum hard disk protection, it also allows children to independently access software on the computer.

Many of the desktop accessories encourage the development of emergent literacy skills. Children can:

• read environmental print when choosing the accessories or software programs on the desktop
  
• develop concepts of word and story when sending e-mail to a classmate
  
• communicate with family members when producing notes and calendars
  
• “read” messages from friends when opening their own electronic mail

	Management of the Computer Center- eMERGing Literacy and Technology: Working Together- p. 11-17
	“Supporting Literacy Skills with KidDesk” from ACTTive Technology

Computer Sign Up

One strategy that has been used to manage computer time and promote emergent literacy is the computer sign-up. Within our various projects at the Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood, the sign-up has been used in either a sheet or book format with similar results. The sign-up sheet or book is an essential management tool in a child-centered computer environment. Young children sign up for computer time to facilitate the turn taking process. Not only are children writing their name for a real purpose, they are recognizing and learning to read other names. They also manage their own time at the computer and are aware of whose turn it is according to the sign-up.

Sign Up Sheet

This version of the sign up includes children's pictures along with their signatures. The sheet is kept next to the computer, providing a great way to manage computer time and help children increase literacy skills. The sign-up sheet is geared toward classrooms with young children or those who have disabilities which prevent them from holding and using writing tools.

For those children who are unable to hold a pencil or marker to write their name, a laminated picture of the child can be used. An adult may even want to assist the child in holding a writing tool to form the letters of his name.

Sign-up Book

The sign-up book can be made simply and inexpensively. Bind 30 pages of blank paper (this can be scrap paper) together. Use one book for each month. Put the date at the top of the page and place the book along with a pencil next to the computer. Each day open the book to a new page and date it. As children sign on the page, the teacher can place numbers by the names to indicate the order of the children. Children will begin to see that having their name toward the top of the page means they get their turn quicker.

Another variation of the book is to put lines on the pages and numbers down the side so that children can sign their name by a number. Children learn that print is read top to bottom and left to right and that there is a sequence.

The sign-up can be carried over to the next day when many names were on the list and only a few children had a turn. A large clip can be placed on the beginning name for that day so that children will know who has a turn. Another method of carrying over the sign up to another day is to turn to a new page and have the children who still have a turn coming sign up again; then others can sign after them.

Children's progress in emergent writing skills can be seen over time through a collection of sign-up sheets kept during the school

Technology Integration