Technology is so prevalent in today’s society that it is found in stores, our homes, the workplace, and has even made its way into our children’s classrooms. Chalkboards are being replaced with smartboards, books by e-books and paper and pens by tablets and laptops. School districts are pushing classroom technologies to better prepare students for the rapid technological innovations in the world. By the time a five year old child enters kindergarten, they are expected to participate in class through the use of some type of technology.
The Private Industry Council of Westmoreland/Fayette, Inc. recognizes this expectation and has answered by preparing our children in Head Start of Fayette County, Head Start/Early Head Start of Beaver County, Pennsylvania Pre-K Counts, and child care partner sites for a world full of technology. Just recently, PIC added additional educational technology devices by purchasing iStartSmart Tablets, iStartSmart Computers, and WePlaySmart Multi-Touch Tables from Hatch Early Learning company. Hatch began as a company supplying normal components of a classroom such as chairs, tables, and cubbies, but understood the necessity of introducing our youngest learners with different technologies and began supplying technological devices to classrooms. The Private Industry Council’s classrooms not only come equipped with these technologies from Hatch but also smartboards or touch interactive displays and iPads. This is to prepare our children for the expectations held in kindergarten and first grade. Through these educational devices, preschoolers will learn 18 core skills found within these 5 skill families: Phonological Awareness, Alphabet Knowledge, Language Development, Numeric Operations, and Logic & Reasoning.
The devices by no means will replace the value and essential role of a preschool teacher but are used as tools to enhance the effectiveness of classroom instruction through another means of engagement. The Private Industry Council, with the use of technology, is here to help provide the children in our preschool classrooms with an equal opportunity to be kindergarten ready and prepared for their educational years to come!
