The most valuable tips that I collect are the ones that help me make my students more independent. So today, while I join in on this amazing Bright Ideas Blog Hop, I want to show you one of my oldest, tried and true ways of creating independence when my students use technology.
It all begins with three little bottles of nail polish. Now I’m not quite sure that I would use these colors on my nails ever, but for the purpose of identifying buttons as GREEN-Go
YELLOW-Pause
and
RED-Stop (or Don’t)
these are perfect shades of nail polish. Bright and durable enough to last.
It all started when a needed a way to get my kinders to efficiently use their personal CD players for ‘Listen to Reading’ during Daily 5. They just didn’t get the arrow buttons on the player. I needed something that would be bright enough to stand out on the play case and that wouldn’t rub off after they had been touched a couple of hundred times. FINGER NAIL POLISH. So perfectly perfect!
No more, “I can’t get it to work” or “I don’t know how” or more importantly, no more jammed buttons from little fingers that think ‘if I push harder, it will work.’ This little system worked like a charm.
And you know what else? It work on computers too. I use it on my classroom mouse. No more “Mrs. McGuire, something’s wrong with the computer.” The know that they need to click on the side with the green button. It works on keyboards too! So grab yourself some cheap nail polish (these were about $2.00 each) and get painting. You’ll be surprise at how independent your kiddos will get and how many interruptions you’ll be able to avoid.
If you are interested in another great tip, head over to my pal Mandy from A Special Kind Of Class
for her great idea.
“Why didn’t I think of that!” Thanks for the tip. Jayne
Smart Kids
ABCs of Reading
Great tips! Especially on the mouse!! Our computer lab uses stickers, but they tend to wear off. I am guessing the nail polish would withstand a little more wear and tear? Thanks for sharing!
Little Literacy Learners
That is just SO smart! Thank you so much for a great tip. I have to use that in my room for SURE!
Kinder-Craze
Such a great idea! I am learning so much from this hop! 🙂
…andtheyallfalldown…
This is amazing and truly is a “Why didn’t I think of that?” type of post! Thanks so much for sharing.
Chris
Autism Classroom News
A Special Sparkle
So simple! Thank you for sharing!
Aloha,
Corinna
Genius idea! I will use this with my little one at home as well! Thank you!
What brand of cd players do you use with the kids?
Great tip! Thanks for sharing!
I’ve done that, but with paint markers…never polish! How smart!!
Jennifer
First Grade Blue SKies
Who knew we would use nail polish in class?! Great idea to help the kids be more independent!
Lori
Conversations in Literacy
I usually use stickers, but they eventually peel off. I love this idea!!!
-Lidia
Kinder Alphabet
So very smart!