Early years P - 4: Bright and enjoyable activities enhancing Literacy through technology

This program which concentrates on great ideas to develop your literacy program through the imaginative use of technology, will inspire you at the end of a busy term, and provide you with exciting ideas to take into 2010.

These four presentations are classroom focused and can be used directly back in your classroom and which you can share with your colleagues back at school.

Bring your own laptop and share in some of the exercises in a hands -on environment.

9.30 - 11.00 Workshop: Your Early Years Literacy program – are you using Comic Life?
Debra Hicks - WMR Ultranet Coach
Comic Life can be downloaded from http://plasq.com/downloads/ - Mac and PC
This is a great hands – on session which will allow you to gain confidence in this delightful program which offers so much in developing literacy outcomes.
Are you looking for an easy-to-use, inexpensive DTP to use in your literacy program? Then, Comic Life is the program for you! Available for both the Mac and PC, this program is so simple and easy to learn that everyone from the preps through to the teachers will be publishing top quality products in 10 minutes?
With a little more time, your students will be producing comics, movies and web page content that really brings their literacy understandings to life!
In this session, Deb will introduce you to Comic Life and share some of the many different ways you can use it in your literacy classroom. This wonderful program makes learning our language fun!. You will also explore a number of other avenues in the literacy program and the ways that comic life can support and enhance the students love of language.

11.00 - 11.30 Morning Tea

11.30 - 1.00 Workshop: Talking, visual and creative literacy software for early years teacher
Jo Evans Teacher and John Vincent Melbourne University
Wouldn’t it be great to see the possibilities in a workshop of a talking word processor which lets students write with pictures and words by using on-screen grids, as well as giving students instant access to words, pictures, sounds and video clips This session will be a mixture of a presentation and hands-on and you will explore the many ways that Clicker 5 can be used to enhance the learning in an Early Years classroom. Clicker 5 is a powerful, yet easy to use writing support and multi-media tool which is ideal for early readers and writers.. We'll look at a range of free existing Clicker 5 resources to support the standards in reading and writing at each VELS level as well as learning how to adapt and create new resources to meet the needs of all learners in your classroom. Jo will also be using an Interactive Whiteboard to demonstrate this program

1.00 - 1.30 Lunch

1.30 - 2.30: Cooperative learning strategies in the early years - great ideas for Literacy with ICT!
Tiffany Stephens, P-6 ICT Co-ordinator, Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak
The use of ICT provides students with new learning experiences.  Multiply the effectiveness of cooperative learning with stimulating and proven software, and you have the makings of an exciting classroom environment. In this session, Tiffany will explore strategies used in the classroom using software such as 2Simple, Photostory, Kidspiration, Kid Pix and Comic Life. She will show how these programs not only enhance cooperative learning but address virtually all the aspects of the VELS Thinking Processes domain. Support is also provided through the Web and one such site to be visited will assist in setting up cooperative roles such as timekeeper, note-taker, leader and Tiffany will share examples of the exciting outcomes that have developed from these strategies. Tap into "hug power":: the power that comes from a cooperative learning environment when two or more people connect with each other!

2.30 - 3.30: More fresh ideas for for your literacy program using ICT in the Early Years Classroom for 2010!
Christine Schiller and Andrea Leeder from Anderson Creek Primary School
Andrea and Christine will share ideas from their school that work! Come to this session for an array of fresh and new ways to integrate ICT into your Early Years program for next year. Sit back and enjoy this session while Christine and Andrea demonstrate how they use computers effectively in the classroom!
Andrea and Christine will present many adaptable ideas to suit any work program emphaasing Literacy whilst supporting a VELS curriculum. Take away with you a variety of whole class, small group and independent activities that can be used on a daily basis with a minimum of software needed.