Here It Is: The iPad
For Chrismukkah this year, I got the greatest gift ever: an iPad! As someone that loves technology and really enjoys using it with my students, I was thrilled with this present and so excited to use it in the classroom. I am a PC person though — this is my first real experience with a Mac product — so the learning curve was a steep one for me. I remember when I got an iPod a couple of years ago: I didn’t even know what an “app” was, and I spent hours fighting with my computer before I realized that I needed to download iTunes to do anything with the iPod. It was actually my Kindergarten students that showed me how to access the music and find the podcasts that I downloaded, and I was thrilled to learn from these four- and five-year-olds.
Now I hope that my Grade 1 and 2 students can teach me all about the iPad. Two of my students have their own and love using it at home, so I know that they will quickly become the experts. One of these students told me about the first two apps that I downloaded: Rory’s Story Cubes and Story Patch. I can’t wait to use both of them in the classroom, and think that the students will love creating their own stories with them!
After downloading these two apps, I then consulted @techieang‘s blog. She’s piloting an iPad Project in her classroom, and she shares incredible resources on her blog. I knew that I could count on her for some fantastic ideas, and I wasn’t disappointed! Now I have apps for everything from reading to writing to oral language to math, and I’m counting down the minutes until I can use all of them. Best of all, these apps really allow the students to create and problem-solve, and I think that this higher-level thinking is so important.
With all of this iPad excitement, I just had to come up with a plan for tomorrow. What was I going to do first? I thought that it would be fun to use the Talking Tom app to have students record their oral reading, and I wanted to use the Twitter for iPad app as part of my daily microblogger project. This daily microblogger will get to make regular updates throughout the school day on what is happening in the classroom and what we are learning. It will be a great way to get students writing in a meaningful way and allow students to reflect even more on their learning too. Yeah!! I can’t wait!
So now I’d love to hear from you: how would you use one iPad in your classroom? What are your favourite apps for primary students? I hope that you’ll share your ideas here so that we can all learn together!
Aviva
My kids really like Pop Math to practice basic facts. We also like Glow Doodle. You use your finger to write, and then make it glow. I teach 4th grade, so a lot of times we are using Google Docs or our class wiki. For older kids, Stack the States is a popular app in our room. Pages is a good word processing app. Have fun with the iPad. I have the use of 10 and while I have sometimes been frustrated with the them, the kids love them.
Thanks for the suggestions, Barbara! I have Glow Doodle and Pages on mine, but I’ll have to check out Pop Math. I really appreciate you sharing what you do! Can’t wait to try out the iPad with my students!
Aviva
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I can’t wait to see how your class uses it! Keep us posted on twitter. Hopefully one day I will have one and we can compare notes!
I thought you already used Evernote on an ipad or was that on something else?
Thanks for your comments, Carol! I just started using Evernote on the iPad over the Break. I used Evernote before, but just on my computer. I’m really excited to start using the iPad in the classroom, and when you get one, I hope that you’ll share what you do too. Thanks again!
Aviva
I am excited to learn more options of having only one ipad. I wish I had more. I also use a appt to record my students. Another way I use it is with the ibooks app. I have my story that I read aloud to them on it. I project the words up on my smartboard for the lids to follow along with. I also use it to teach mini lessons on various reading comprehension skills.
Thanks for your comment! The one thing that I really haven’t explored is iBooks. I may need to look into these more. I know that I love reading on the iPad too.
Aviva