Thanks to the generousity of our PTA, funds have been approved to purchase 6 iPad2s for the Kindergarten/Pre-K quad.
An intial meeting with a Kinder team rep (aka: the techie Akiko), the following things have been decided:
- A separate iTunes account will be created for each team: Pre-K Team & Kinder
- The EdTech Accounts department will purchase credit for the iTunes account so that Paid apps can be purchased (spending can also be tracked through this department)
- Purchase audio splitters (so that 2 or more students can listen to audio on the iPad2 at the same time)
- The iPads will travel in pairs (so that 3 classrooms can have access to the iPads at any given time)
- Before the end of the year we will try to purchase 3 iPad2s (they are currently sold out in Thailand) so that all of the team members can “play” with the iPad over the summer. (Teachers are meeting each other during the summer at various Professional Development courses & will swap iPads over)
- The focus areas will be Literacy & Math
- Technology & Learning Coach (me) will:
- pass on a collected list of iPad apps & recommendations (from PLN) to the team to trial
- set up an Action Research in Literacy & Math to measure the impact of the iPad2 on student learning (with the plan to get approval for the purchase of more iPads – 6 per classroom)
- Visit schools in Hong Kong (& Japan – hopefully) to observe how iPads/iTouches are being used in the classroom (with the plan to get approval for the purchase of iTouches for Grade 1)
Apps To Get Started: PreK-K Team
iReading – Stories Collection I lite (Free)
AppleTreeBooks™ has been inviting some of the best illustrators from across the world to create illustrated stories for us. Exquisite pictures, vivid narration as well as animation and interactive features bring you and your children wonderful stories and a brand new reading experience. We have carefully selected various stories, including well-known classic fairy tales and new original stories, to give you many options to find the ones you love. Additionally, we will continuously update the books on our online bookshelf, so that you can read our illustrated stories at any time. AppleTreeBooks™ will enables you to experience a new kind of reading and the fun that comes along with it.
Tom is your pet cat, that responds to your touch and repeats everything you say with a funny voice. Excellent for those kids who are reluctant talkers, or for beginner EAL students learning to say words or phrases.
It is a fun way for kids to practice basic math: 6 pairs of bubbles with numbers float on the screen above beautiful backgrounds. Each bubble contains a number, like 7 and 3+4: pop the right pairs! As you progress through levels, numbers increase. End of levels greet you with your time for that level, a message personalized to your performance, and the number of mistakes you did. This free version is limited to additions. The full version PopMath features additions, subtractions, multiplications and divisions, including the choice to practice a given operator for even better drills. It also contains many more background images for more fun.
1) ALPHABET LETTERS: Write the Capital and Lower-Case letters and learning the letter recognition along with the sound.
2) WORDS: Hear the animal name, write the animal name, and learning the spelling in the process.
Realistic page turning – Swipe your finger or click on a corner
Read to Me – The Book reads aloud with professional narration and music
Read with Pause – The reader turns the pages and can read along with the narrator
I Can Read It – The reader reads the book all by themselves
Glossary – Readers can select the glossary on pages to learn the meaning of difficult words through simple explanations
Clickable Search & Explore – On certain pages, kids can click on the animals that they find to hear the names of the animals read aloud.
Fun Facts – Filled with fun facts about the Grand Canyon that will educate and amaze your child. There may even be things that the parents don’t know!
Fully Produced Song – Listen to the entire Grand Canyon song as song by the award-winning ABCMouse.com team at the end of the book.
1. Choose Images/Videos
2. Record Story
3. Upload to YouTube or Email to friends
Word Magic is designed keeping preschooler and kindergarten kids in mind. It is very ideal for kids between the ages 3 to 6. It is an excellent application for kids to have fun with words and their spelling and learn them. A picture is shown and the kids should select the missing letter for the picture. The picture for the word will be read out. There are three flavors. Based on the kids level, you can choose missing letter at the beginning or in the middle or in the last.
Links to Others’ Recommended Apps Lists
TeachWithYouriPad I love the way this wiki has been set out! Clicking on the link above will transport you to an entire page of suitable K-2 apps. There’s a blurb about the app & the cost – they are also listed in curriculum areas.
iPads as Research Tools for Kindergarten
From Zoe Page – Kindergarten Teacher at YIS using iPads in the classroom
iPad Apps for Primary
From Fraser Spiers’ blog
10 Top iPad Apps for Kindergarten
From 1:1 in Practise blog
iPad Apps for the classroom
From One Thought Ahead blog
50 Educational Apps for the iTouch
From Keri-Lee Beasley’s blog: Tip of The Iceberg – most of the apps listed are suitable for the iPad too.
iPad Sharing #1
From Allanah King’s blog: Life is not a Race to be Finished – A list of her favourite apps for the iPad so far.
10 Top iPhone Apps for Kids
Wait! There’s More: Another 10 iPhone Apps for Kids
From Travel Savvy Mom (even though these are iPhone apps, they can be played on iPads too).
Note: Most of the apps recommended on these blog posts are paid apps.
Can you help?
Given that our focus is Literacy & Math apps – what K-2 apps do you recommend?
How do you know iPads in the classroom impact student learning?
How do you collect the data?
My friend & fellow educator, Marcello just sent me an email. She’s been looking at some writing/Storytelling apps. So far she likes Alphawriter ($4.99); Toontastic ($3.99); PuppetPals (Free); and Drawing Pad ($1.99) – worth adding to the list!
The apps we have found most useful can be found at
http://yiskg.weebly.com/
Talking Tom cat, kids love it but it has limited applications (maybe encourage children to speak?. SUGGESTION turn OFF the violence setting. The thing they liked most was hitting Tom till he feel over!
Hearing good things about Tunetastics, from reviews.
Thanks Zoe! I listed your Kinder blog as a “go to place” for our Kinder Teachers! I hope to tack YIS (and your class!!!!) onto a trip to Hong Kong at the beginning of October. Fingers crossed! I’d love to see the iPads in action with your kinders!
I would like to recommend Word Wall HD (99 cents), My Numbers (English)- 99 cents, ABC numbers ($1.99), and Number Sense HD (99 cents)
Thanks Nicola! Will definitely check those out.
Hi Chrissy, thanks for sharing this! Here at American International School of Mozambique, we have also purchased a handful of iPads for next year. Thanks for sharing your strategies and the apps – I have already passed these on to my “tech team” as well. – Sharon Peters
You’re welcome Sharon! Would love to hear about AISM’s learning journey with the iPads next year!
Toontastic and puppetpals are great apps for kinder, grade 1 & 2: used for creating and sharing original stories.
Thanks Reece – have added both of those apps to the “need-to-check-out” list!
I recommend leveled readers by Learning A-Z. Go to iTunes store and put in LAZ reader or LAZ leveled Library. These match the projectable and printable forms that match the apps at http://www.learninga-z.com.
Thanks Kathy! The Kinder teachers will be pleased to know about this app!!
My class loved Rocket Math Free — this is a great app for reviewing math skills plus the students get to build and launch their own rockets. They also loved Sock Puppets Free. They made some great puppet shows! They would share their puppet shows with each other.