Rachel Raines

Mrsrainesprek.weebly.com
EDU-225
October 6, 2015

Raft Card Example:

ROLE (student)
Row 1

AUDIENCE

FORMAT

TOPIC

A DJ of a science

Your favorite

An informative

Have you ever

radio station

radio station

podcast report

wondered what a

listeners

drop of water feels

like as it travels
through the water
cycle?

Objective:
You will be able to describe how a drop of water travels through the steps of the water cycle.
Student Role:
A DJ of a science radio station
Audience:
Your favorite radio station listeners
Format:
An informative podcast report
Topic:
Have you ever wondered what a drop of water feels like as it travels through the water cycle?

Directions:

1. Visit The Water Cycle: A Guide for Students to learn more about the water cycle.
2. Use a storyboard worksheet to map out your script.
3. Type your script so it is easy to read.
4. Practice reading your script aloud until you feel you can read it fluently and with
expression.
5. Create a Voki at Voki.com. Build a suitable avatar for this project.
6. Read and record your script as the Vokis voice.
Resources:
Websites to visit:
Water Cycle Diagram
http://earthguide.ucsd.edu/earthguide/diagrams/watercycle/
Water Education
http://www.watereducation.utah.gov/watercycle/water_cycle.asp
The Hydrological Cycle
http://www.sciencecourseware.com/eec/GlobalWarming/Tutorials/HydrologicalCycle/
The Water Cycle
http://studyjams.scholastic.com/studyjams/jams/science/ecosystems/water-cycle.htm
The Global Hydrological Cycle
http://bcs.whfreeman.com/thelifewire/content/chp58/5802001.html
Assessment:
Prepare a 1-minute script for a radio segment to explain how a drop of water travels through the
steps of the water cycle.
You will receive up to 25 points for each of the following: written script, storyboard, Voki, and
recorded script.

Raft Card 1:

Row 1

ROLE (student)
Learning Letters

AUDIENCE
Mrs. Raines and

FORMAT
ABCmouse.com

your small group

TOPIC
What Letter is
This?

partners.

Objective:
You will be able to recognize each letter in the alphabet.
Student Role:
You will play matchmaker and matching letters together.
Audience:
Mrs. Raines will be your audience to ensure it is being done correctly.
Format:
ABCmouse.com will be the website we use to match letters.
Topic:
You will be exploring letters and making matches with the same letter.

Directions:
Student will log onto ABCMouse.com and locate the letter game Fish Food Alphabet.

Resources:
ABCmouse.com

Assessment:
Working through the game I will watch and make notes of the letters that are known and the
letters that still need to be worked on. There will be a score of 1-4 given, 1 being mastered with 4
meaning needs improvements.

Raft Card 2:

Row 2

ROLE (student)
Learning Numbers

AUDIENCE
Your small group

FORMAT
Animal Math

TOPIC
Learning

with Ralphie

members

Games on Ipad

Numbering
Sequencing

Objective:

You will be using Ralphie on the math game for number sequencing.
Student Role:
Showing Ralphie how numbers go in order.
Audience:
Mrs. Raines will be watching you and Ralphie and cheering you on.
Format:
This will be done using the I-pad and Math Games app.
Topic:
Students will be working on numbering sequencing to show understanding of numbers.

Directions:
You will turn on the I-pad and start the Animal Math games app. Then find Ralphie and work
through the number sequencing game.
Resources:
Animal Math Games for I-pad.
Assessment:
I will watch students work through the games and give them a score of 1-4 as they complete the
sets. 1 being mastered and 4 being needs improvements.

Raft Card 3:

Row 3

ROLE (student)
Learning Sight Words

AUDIENCE
Mrs. Raines and

FORMAT
Sight Words Gear

TOPIC
Reading Sight

your small group

game for Ipad

words for Kinder

members.

Objective:
Students will be putting the gears together on the Gear Sight Word game to see how the gears
turn.
Student Role:
Students are matching the sight word to the gear on the game.
Audience:
Mrs. Raines is going to be your cheerleader for learning sight words.
Format:

The format used will be the I-pad game Sight Words.

Topic:
Students will be learning sight words to help prepare them for reading in Kindergarten.

Directions:
Open up the Sight Words app on the Ipad and locate the Gears games. Then follow directions
given from the game.
Resources:
Sight words for I-pad.
Assessment:
I will be using a system of 1-4 for assessing the knowledge of sight words. 1 being mastered the
sight words and 4 meaning needing improvement on sight words. I will keep these records to
know who needs to work on sight words as the year goes on.

Entry 3: Differentiating Instruction through Technology

Introduction (4-6 sentences)
No child is the same as the next and no child will learn the same as their friend. Teachers are
learning more and more how to associate more technology in the classroom to help
accommodate the way that children learn. With todays technology educators are able to help
differentiate instruction for children that may need a little extra help throughout class time. This
helps educators be able to adapt learning for children based upon the students background and
learning process (Walkington, 2013). Being able to use technology to differentiate instruction in
a classroom can help students in areas they struggle, provide extra support for educators and give
parents a chance to help enhance the students learning outside of the classroom.
Technology to Differentiate Instruction (300-400 words)
ABCmouse.com
In a Pre-K setting sometimes it can be hard to find tools that can help with being able to
provide other forms of instruction for the students. One form of technology that can help to do
this is using applications that can be used on things such as I-pads. One application that is used is
ABCmouse.com. This tool helps to provide instruction for children that are having a hard time
with making connections between letters and sounds. Using software tools such as
ABCmouse.com can help students improve reading skills of children in all age groups and skill
level (Cobb, 2010). With the ISTE standards this is connected with the standard 3d.
Sight Words for I-pad

Another great technology tool that can be used in the Pre-K classroom is Sight Words for
I-pad. This tool is something that parents can even use at home to help students who are learning
to read and having a hard time with learning the sight words. This tool can be tied with the ISTE
standard of 2b by children learning the proper words when trying to communicate with people as
they speak in conversation. Being able to provide learning support for students outside of the
classroom will help these students be able to build the skills need to become ahead in the
classroom. This types of technology tools also help to supply extra help for students that are not
learning as fast of as other students.
Animal Math Games for I-pad
Animal math games for I-pad are a great way to add variety of different learning
opportunities for students. This helps provide more active ways for students to be able to have
hands on learning for areas that they may struggle. Showing that there are other ways to learn
math and numbers through technology gives students the ability to become more fluent in math,
as to where they may have struggled before. Using Animal Math Games ties back to the ISTE
standard of 1a because it helps students to be able to learn new processes to solving math
problems.
Pros and Cons
Technology to help differentiating instruction helps students be able to find new ways for
them to help learn. Teachers knowing how to present content in different ways and how students
can process this material helps teacher be able to find ways to present the content to the students
in ways that they are able to learn better (Griess & Keat, 201). There come many pros to being
able to present in different ways through technology. It can help provide students learning

alternates than just the normal lectures. Technology can provide help to students who struggle to
read, there are programs that can read for the student which will help to boost the childs
understanding.
Although, technology is a great asset to the classroom, there comes many setbacks to it as
well. Should there be a fail in the technology system being used to help learning, then there is a
chance of learning being lost. Another setback that would cause a learning problem in using
technology is if the child does not have a clear understanding of how the technology works. If a
student does not understand the way technology works then they will not receive the benefit of
what the differentiating instruction
Concluding Paragraph
Technology being used to differentiate instruction becomes important for students who are
having a hard time with the traditional ways of teaching. Using technology to help differentiate
instruction helps parents provide learning for students outside of the classroom, provides help in
areas that the student is struggling in and provides extra help for the teacher in learning areas.
While students will continue to learn in different ways technology can help differentiate ways
that students learn. This providing more learning for each child and a chance to get a head.

References:
Cobb, A. (2010). To Differentiate or Not to Differentiate? Using Internet-Based Technology in
the Classroom. Quarterly Review Of Distance Education, 11(1), 37-45.
Griess, C. J., & Keat, J. B. (2014). Practice What We Preach: Differentiating Instruction and
Assessment in a Higher Education Classroom as a Model of Effective Pedagogy for Early
Childhood Teacher Education Candidates. Journal Of Early Childhood Teacher
Education, 35(1), 98-109.
ISTE (2015). ISTE Standards: Students. Retrieved from: http://www.iste.org/standards/ISTEstandards/standards-for-students
Walkington, C. A. (2013). Using adaptive learning technologies to personalize instruction to
student interests: The impact of relevant contexts on performance and learning outcomes.
Journal Of Educational Psychology, 105(4), 932-945. doi:10.1037/a0031882