iPads are for Learning!

We have been using our iPads in class for a few weeks now and have done many different kinds of activities with them!  

We have ebooks to read in RAZ-Kids.  Students can listen to a story, then read it on their own, and then take a short quiz.  They will learn soon how to make a recording of themselves reading and turn it in to me!  We will meet with Mrs. Beruman soon to learn how to use Mackin Via for more reading books.  Students can always use these ebooks to read at home, too!

We have reading lessons in iStation and take a monthly quiz to monitor their progress.  This year iStation has math lessons, too.

Students work on Zondle in our class mostly for math practice and assessment.  Because I have created sets of questions that are specifically about our math topics that get gradually harder, students can review an easier level or move up to a more advanced level as they are ready.  There are games on Zondle they can play the questions with at home, but we often just use the "quick quiz" feature in class so they are doing the math without the games.

We have used Spelling City to practice spelling words.  We have also just written spelling words using a drawing app during group activities.

Students use the camera all the time to record something they have built or created and take pictures of work to share electronically.

We have used several different math apps to model numbers.  Right now we are working on numbers up to 50.  We have built our numbers using Number Pieces, Number Frames, Number Racks, and Number Line.  See if your child can make a number like 42 or 29 in many different ways.  Later this week we will put together a number project using all those apps in another app called Pic Kids.  Pic Kids is a great app for combining photos and text for a project.  Look for an example soon on your child's blog!

Which brings us to blogging! We have started our student blog pages using an app called Weebly.  We will use the blog to share examples of work we do, things we build, and what we have learned.  You will have a record throughout the year as your child's writing skills increase!  We will learn lessons about being good digital citizens through our writing on our blog and through reading and commenting on other student blogs.

We are also connecting to other classes through Twitter on a weekly project called Math Talk for Grade 1 (#mtgr1 on Twitter).  Each week we will respond to the math photo of the week and see what other classes come up with.  If you are not on Twitter, you can still follow our account by texting "follow Norwood1st" to 40404.  To follow the parent Twitter account, text "follow NorwoodCAN" to 40404.  You should get text messages of our class or parent Tweets.

Currently we have used to coding apps, Kodable and Lego Fix the Factory, to begin some coding skills.  We will add an online coding class from code.org soon to continue building the skills in planning, sequencing, and problem solving that coding develops.

Of course we do have some apps that are more game-like to practice skills also.  Many of these are great apps to spend some extra time on at home.  Kids can use Sight Words to practice electronic flash cards.  They can practice spelling words on Rocket Speller.  They can practice combinations the make 10 on 10 Frame Fill or Make 10 Plus and putting numbers in order with Line 'Em Up.  These apps can make practicing skills like this a little more fun and engaging and keep the kids working at it longer, but they are really not the things we spend much time doing in class.

As you can see, we do a lot of learning and showing what we are learning with our iPads, but that is not all we do in class!  We read good old paper books and write most of the stories and compositions on paper.  We play math games and solve problems with hands-on manipulatives and pencil and paper, too.  We practice handwriting on paper and take spelling tests on paper.  In our big engineering projects, we may make a plan on paper, build with real objects, and then record our results by taking photos and reflecting on our learning on the blogs.

We are all grateful to have these wonderful tools for learning every day!