ICT Skills

I've found some really good information on the subject of ICT in the Foundation Phase in Carol Elston's book using ICT in the Primary School. It has made me reflect on how i view ICT in the Foundation Phase and how i can best support the children. Her book focus's on each year from Foundation through to year 6 and has a handy guide in each one that suggests what we should be encouraging the children to do. For the foundation phase she states that developing chidlren's ICT skills will come from us encouraging the children to:

• Use ICT resources independantly  - Easier said than done in Nursery but i do try
• Use a mouse to move around  - Yes, but need to consider getting a left handed mouse for our left handed children
• Use a mouse to select, drag and drop an object - Encourage them to do this but some of the hands are so tiny they have difficulty clicking the mouse button.
• Click on an icon to view a picture - have given them the opportunity to do this
• Insert a CD ROM into a drive - unable to do this as broken due to little hands and little toys!
• Use the basic functions on a cd recorder - yes, the children love taking charge of the music at tidy up time
• use a digital camera with assistance - yes, they have done this on several occasions recently

Unfortunatly i don't feel we spend enough time on ICT in Nursery. That isn't through any fault of the teacher but with everything else that is required to be done ICT often takes a back seat. Especially as many of the ICT resources need adult support and often this isn't possible.