As technology expands and improves, younger children are becoming more tech-savvy. As a result, it is becoming more difficult to reach children in the classroom without incorporating some degree of technology into your lesson plans. There are many ways to include technology in your teaching to make your lessons more engaging to students.

Web Activities
There are many different group and individual activities that your students can complete on a variety of Web sites. A report about a current event no longer requires a newspaper but can be done at the beginning of class with a Web site. Many sites provide simple quizzes that your students can take, including the National Geographic Bee. Try sending your students on a Web scavenger hunt created by you or others. You also can divide your students into groups and ask them to research a specific topic using the Web and report their findings at the end of class.

Virtual Field Trip
Using the Web, you can take your class on a virtual field trip anywhere they want to go. Attach a projector to your laptop and select your destination. You can visit a museum Web site like The Exploratorium in San Francisco or the Franklin Museum in Philadelphia. Click on a video tour of the museum and your students will have the opportunity to experience exciting worldwide attractions. You also can go on a safari, hang out in a space station or visit the middle of the ocean with streaming video and an Internet connection.

Fun with Digital Cameras
There are several ways to use digital cameras in your elementary-school classroom. You can have immediate photo evidence of science experiments students work on. You can practice counting and multiplication by taking pictures of numbers of children or items in a certain place outside or within your classroom. You also can take pictures or take videos of class presentations or activities and send them to students who were sick so they can experience class from home. Have a photo contest with any theme you desire and watch the creativity flourish.

Learning Software
There are many computer programs that can be integrated into your units, some even provided by the makers of your school's textbooks. Mary Scroggs Elementary School in Chapel Hill, N.C., has added computer software to their technology in a big way with wireless laptops in each classroom accessing learning and design software every day. Each year, new educational software is created for a variety of subjects, allowing your students to learn in other ways than from a book and a blackboard.

Presentations and Games
Using software like PowerPoint, students can create a group presentation with ease. Incorporating pictures, videos and their ideas, your students will be able to present information to their classmates both verbally and visually. They also can create review games using word processing and presentation software. It is relatively easy to make a Jeopardy-type game that allows them to compete and review material at the same time. If your students are not quite able to create their own game, you can create a Jeopardy game for them to help them review for upcoming quizzes.