While most kids have almost forgotten that Santa visited just a mere month ago, at the Chestermere Community Playschool, one of the treats Santa left behind is just now making its appearance at the school. The playschool is excited to be unveiling three new iPads as a supervised activity centre.
“Apparently, Santa delivered a lot of iPads this year, because we had to wait for ours to come on order,” laughed Tanya Fukushima, the playschool’s teacher. “We plan to use our new devices as one of our activity centres, where children will have the chance to use educational applications to work on skills like memory, counting and letters.”
The decision to go “high tech” was one the playschool made after much consideration. “As Early Childhood Professionals, we believe that children learn best through play, and we realize that children need to be active, interacting and establishing friendships, which made the decision to incorporate technology difficult,” said Jess Schildknecht, a teacher assistant at the playschool. “We will continue to encourage the children to develop through interpersonal interactions, but in a world where technology is advancing and becoming an increasingly significant part of our society, we also want to offer the children some of the new learning opportunities now available.”
The iPads will be used for a variety of age-appropriate educational applications, serving as a learning tool to enhance the lessons already being practiced in the classroom. “We believe that each child is unique and our preschool program provides a setting that recognizes children’s varied abilities, interests, needs and learning styles,” said Tanya. “Technology is another great way of keeping children interested in learning. It may seem as if they are just playing but in reality they are developing and polishing many skills they will need throughout the rest of their lives.”
To learn more about the Chestermere Community Playschool, or to find out more about registering for the 2013/2014 classes, please visit www.chestermereplayschool.com
