iPads for 1st Graders

Because my job allows me to be in not one, but four 1st grade classrooms, I have the opportunity to work with and help a lot of students, especially the ones that need the help.  Two weeks into the school year, a new student joined one of our classes.  He was a sweet and quiet boy who seemed a little bit scared of what was to come in his new 1st grade classroom.  It was obvious that my job for the week would be to work with him and find out what he knew and what we needed to work on.  

The first day I worked with him, I instantly knew that he would be my "special project" for a little while.  I knew this right when I said "Can you write the ABC's for me?" and he couldn't do it.  When I wrote the letters and asked him to tell me what they were, he couldn't tell me.  It was heartbreaking, he was so lost and so confused.  After working with him for a few days using numerous strategies recommended to teach ABC's to children, he began to get upset that he was being pulled away from his class so often.   I knew what I needed to do at this point.  Use the iPad.  

The next day, I came to pull him from his class to practice number and letter recognition with my iPad in tow.  When I called his name to come work with me, he dragged his feet and walked over to me.  When we got settled to work, I pulled out my iPad and told him that today, we would practice our letters, numbers, and counting in a new and fun way... on an iPad. His face light up with excitement and he couldn't wait to start learning.

We used an app for the iPad, Kiddie Flash Cards that has digital flash-cards of numbers, letters, and images to count.  The app can read the letter to you if you aren't sure what it says.  We switched back and forth between numbers, letters, and counting flash-cards on the iPad and practiced saying both the name of the letter and the sound the letter makes.  

We had worked for a week with manipulatives, flash-cards, writing on whiteboards, singing songs, and several other activities for him to at  least recognize the letter and he was still struggling to get it.  After 2 days with the iPad, he was able to tell my the sound and the name of each letter, and almost all the numbers.  He no longer drags his feet when it comes time to work with me, instead he asks me what we can do with the iPad today!

I am thrilled that he is so excited and eager to learn after just a few days of working with the iPad and I can see a great future of continuing to use the iPads with more students in first grade.

Next we will work with the app Doodle Buddy, an interactive whiteboard where we will practice writing the letters and numbers, and move on to working on writing addition and subtraction equations. 

iPads in the Classroom

Increasing the use of technology in classrooms is the latest push with high hopes of increasing student engagement and students taking responsibility for their learning, and ultimately raising performance levels in the classroom and standardized test scores.

Photo Credit

It is a great way to engage students in their learning as they are excited and wanting to use new and innovative ways to learn.  One of the greatest tools to use in a classroom for students of all ages and abilities, is an iPad.  

Photo Credit

iPads have been distributed to many schools across the country to enhance student learning and the use of 21st century skills.  Each iPad has an "App Store" where there are applications for teachers and for students of all ages and abilities on the iPad that are available to download for free, and even more that you can pay for!!  From flash-cards to touch-screen white-boards, to iBooks, to games where students can practice their skills, iPads have the amazing ability to motivate and engage students as well as teachers.   

Some of the best apps for elementary school students in grades Kindergarten through 2nd Grade include:

• MeeGenius   

         

  A digital story reader for children who can read along with the story as it is read to them.  A fun and engaging way for students to learn to read or practice their fluency. 

• Doodle Buddy

An interactive whiteboard that provides different color pens to use, stamps of images,        backgrounds, or self-uploaded images.  Students in 1st-Grade love to practice writing number sentences using this inter-active, touch screen white-board.

• Show Me

Another interactive white-board that not only engages students in their learning, but also allows for teachers  to teach a lesson and record everything they write on the iPad and say.  The recordings can later be uploaded to the Show Me website to be viewed by other teachers or students who missed out or need a re-teach.

• UnderSea Math

                               

This app is a great way for students to  practice simple addition problems.  Students are given a "board" of tiles, each tile contains a different addition problems.  There are also tiles along the side that contain different numbers that are potential answers.  Students must drag the answer onto the addition problem.  If the answer is correct, a piece of a picture will be revealed.  When all the problems have been solved, a whole picture will be revealed!

Value Added Assessment

Value Added Assessment Systems allow for school systems to analyze the performance levels of students and the impact the teachers had on their performance levels.  EVAAS is the system that is used in North Carolina School Public Systems.  

Evaas can be very helpful to teachers and administrators if they are appropriately trained and understanding of the exact process and purpose of EVAAS.  

  With proper training like seen in the Moorseville Graded School District, and a common understanding of how to use EVAAS, this tool could be a beneficial resource for teachers.   It can help teachers find what is needed for each child so that they can make progress and become successful.  EVASS can analyze student data so teachers know who is performing at what levels in comparison to previous years.  Students who are performing below average may need to opportunity for tutoring or some one-on-one teaching, while other students may need the extra push to succeed.  EVASS is greatly beneficial to the students of the public school system, as it provides the teachers with the information to help them excel. 


Learning to use new programs is challenging for teachers as many feel they have enough on their plate.  It also may make some teachers upset that it will tell them whether they were effective or not for a particular student, however, in the long run, it will be worth it for the children, and that is all that matters.  We are teachers to help children learn, EVASS helps us see how we can do that.