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IT's Elementary! Integrating Technology in the Primary Grades Review by Christy Sensenig

By Boni Hamilton
International Society for Technology in Education
175 West Broadway, Suite 300
Eugene, OR 97401-3003
800-336-5191
http://www.iste.org/

IT's Elementary! is a resource for classroom teachers, administrators and technology facilitators. It provides insight on an inclusive model for integrating technology into the classroom. The book describes a school that is currently using this model and how the faculty and staff were challenged to make it part of their daily educational experience. Subjects include strategies for planning and implementing a technology makeover in your school, integrating technology into the elementary classroom, managing the classroom with one computer, and national education technology standards.

This book is written for elementary classroom teachers, school administrators, and technology facilitators. The goal is to integrate technology and subject content in order to facilitate a successful learning environment for the students. The belief is that the integration of technology improves student achievement. Suggested activities include such things as word processing, desktop publishing, presentation software, databases and spreadsheets, web design, blogging, and using the Internet and email. These activities could be incorporated into any homeschool environment.

I personally enjoyed this resource, even though it is not written with the home educator in mind. We found some of the information to be beneficial, including the various activities and the resources cited for acquiring software programs pertaining to the subject matter. However, since the cost is $37.95 and since much of the book would not be useful to the home educator, it probably would not be worth your time and money. I would love to see a similar resource specifically written with the home educator in mind.


Product review by Christy Sensenig, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, September 2007

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