Desert Sands offers tablet-based Head Start

By Charles King, Special to The Desert Sun 11:34 a.m. PDT May 17, 2016

Olga Perez teaches her preschool class from a large format display.(Photo: Submitted)

To ensure that all children acquire the skills necessary to succeed in their lifelong learning process, the Desert Sands Unified School District offers an Early Childhood Education Program (ECE). One of the 10 ECE locations that are served by the district is the state-supported Head Start program at Herbert Hoover Elementary School in Indio.

To help prepare her students for their upcoming kindergarten experience, teacher Olga Perez has piloted a tablet-based program.

"The tablets help children with exposure to a variety of concepts such as letter recognition, fine motor skills, pre-reading skills, rhyming words, matching games, sequencing, number recognition, memory games, and incorporating technology to their daily activities," Perez said.

The use of tablets in the classroom provides an opportunity for the youngest of the district's students to experience interactive adventures in language, basic math, science, art, and a host of other educational topics, in a friendly and engaging manner. These programs are designed to perfectly match the age and interests of these new students, and give them just the right step-up to prepare them for a lifetime of learning experiences.

Some of the software and applications used on the tablets are:

Brainpop - short movies about science, English, math, health, arts and music, with quizzes about the content.

Soccer Math: presents addition and subtraction problems in the context of a soccer field, scoring goals when the correct answer is provided.

Run Marco - teaches the basics of computer programming in ways that are meaningful to a young learner, using graphics and animation, and promptings for sequences.

There are 17 pre-school students in the program with Perez. Each has come to discover that learning is accessible through the use of electronic tablet technology, managed and provided by the school district.

A preschool student uses a tablet to write the letters of the alphabet. (Photo: Submitted)

"It motivates me as I see the difference I am making on their development on a daily basis," Perez said. "For example, the love for literacy, play, routine, socialization, independence, self-esteem, rules, respect for others, teamwork, and specially the passion for learning. As a preschool teacher I know how important it is to build a strong foundation for their academic life."

As Desert Sands makes a difference in the lives of its youngest students through the use of tablet-technology, having teachers like Perez as project facilitators makes it all that more useful and rewarding to the students. The students experience an interactive way to learn the skills they need to succeed in kindergarten. As one district administrator said, after taking a tour of the Hoover classroom, "The pilot program with the tablets is amazing."

Charles King is the manager of computer network services for Desert Sands Unified School District.

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