First Day With The Students

After I got all of the organization down (for now!), put some apps onto the iPads, it was time for the kids to begin using them.  They were so excited and many of them had experience using their parents iPads but I found that this was not really a benefit.  Let me explain.  These are first graders and they all want to show what they know and they want to show it now!  They are very impulsive and their listening ability shuts off.  Add to this that I have many kids that had never seen an iPad and they decided that their friends were the ones to listen to and not me. I didn't expect the chaos that resulted from this and knew I had to get them all focused or there could be dropped and broken iPads.

 I told them that we needed to go over a few safety rules that would help us protect ourselves and protect the iPads and they needed to close the iPads and look up at the big screen.  I have a dongle that allows me to project my iPad for the kids to watch and follow along.  I've read a bit about Apple TV and would LOVE!!!!! to have this in my room, but I'm happy with what I have.  At this point I decided to have them work in pairs on one iPad between the two.  This really did help cut down on the crazies I had earlier that day.  We talked about how to handle and walk with the iPads and then we practiced this.  I told them they needed to have the 2 hand hold and that I want to see their thumbs on the top of the iPad.  They also practiced how to put them gently down on the tables and how to open up the covers and close them.  The covers I have are pretty cool and when they close there is a clicking sound, so we practiced to make sure we heard the click.  So as you can see, I took them slowly, modeling all of the way each step in the handling of the iPads.

The other thing that I found from the kids that use their parents iPads is that they use them totally different than how I want to use them.  With their parents iPad, it's a toy and they play games all of the time.  I want them to be product oriented and I don't plan on having any games put on if possible. The good side was that they already knew about swiping and sliding and pinching.  I went through all of the iPad terminology with the kids and we practiced all of them taking turns in their pairs.

The final thing I wanted to go over and really emphasize with the kids was that the only iPad they can touch is their own.  No one can touch or swipe, etc any one else's iPad.  This has proven to be a hard one to learn.  Again, the impulsiveness of the age group.  This is a really important rule, especially when we are  working on a project, they need to respect each others work.

We then made iPad rules together and here is what we came up with so far.  We decided that the rules can change if we need to.

1. Make sure your hands are clean
2. Hold the iPad with 2 hands, thumbs up when getting it from a teacher
3. Walk slowly and carefully back to your seat
4. Place the iPad gently down on the table and away from the edge
5. Use gentle taps when opening up apps and using your iPad
6. Raise your hand for help
7. Do not walk around with your iPad
8. Only touch your own iPad, do not touch your friends iPads
9. Save your work, ask for help if needed
10. Tap the "Home Key" when finished and close the cover: listen for the click

This was an eye opening start for me, but it was a very fun time watching the excitement from the all of the kids.  Our next step is practicing taking pictures!

Getting Started

My iPads arrived and boy am I excited.  I need to say here that I do not have my own and have never used one before except to play Bejewled Blitz on my friend's iPad.  I've used iPods a lot last school year so I just thought these were bigger  and probably pretty much the same.  So, when the 20 arrived I took one home and started to "play" with it.  I set up an iTunes account under my own name and began downloading apps on to it.  It has been so much fun trying out apps and seeing which ones I could come up with valuable instructional activities to use them with.  This was hard only because my brain was going a mile a minute and I wasn't writing down all of my ideas.  I took a step back and decided that I needed to work out the organization of how the iPads were going to be housed and charged.  Part of my grant was for 2 sinking/charging trays but they have not arrived yet.  I let the iPads sit in the boxes for a week (bad idea) and then decided to work something out so they could get into the kids hands.  Below are pictures of the process I went thorough.  It's working out pretty well.  The only problem is that the iPads need to be charged during the school day and then that keeps them out of the kids hands. The reason I can't charge them at night is because they need to be housed in my closet so they can be locked up when I am not in the room.  They can't be charged in there, it just won't work.  Not a very good thing, but thank goodness the iPads hold a charge for pretty long.

The boxes of 20 new iPads!!!!

I decided that since we are a First Grade classroom, the iPads would need to be protected, so I bought 20 covers from Solidmate for about $8.00 apiece.  They are really good for the money and pretty solid without being too heavy.  Then I numbered each iPad both on the device itself and on the cover.  My intention is to have each kid use the same one each time so they can keep any of their work or projects housed on their "own" iPad.

I needed to figure out how to store them while I wait for the sinking trays to arrive.  The boxes that they were sent in from Apple had these slotted trays that each iPad fit in.  I took these trays, numbered them and then cleaned off my shelf in the classroom closet so they would fit.

The final thing to figure out was how to charge the iPads.  I couldn't charge them in the closet because there isn't any power in there and it would get really hot for them anyway.  I went out and found some power strips and bought a heavy duty extension cord.  I set up several stations that allowed space for the iPads to charge and not have them be in our way.

So, we are off and running!  The kids are very excited to see the iPads and can't wait to use them.  As soon as they are charged we will be ready to go.

Welcome to My Newest Blog!

Hello everyone, I hope you will enjoy the journey we are about to take.  Let me give you some background as to why I'm blogging about my classroom.  Last Fall, I wrote a grant and was awarded 20 iPads to use in my First Grade classroom.  I am so excited.  After a bit of a wait, I finally received them a week ago.  I've spent time looking at apps, watching YouTube reviews of apps and downloading many and I feel that I am now ready to start using several of them in the classroom.  My goal here is to not only show my students progress and learning with the iPads but to also talk about the different apps that I use with my First Graders.  I love to hear feedback from others and encourage you to leave comments whenever you feel like sharing any info with me and others. So, welcome aboard on our journey.  Let's start iPadding along.