New Focus

5 Critical Mistakes Schools Make with Ipads

This is a really good article and has helped me Think about my next step focus for Term 4.  Having a student in for 4 weeks will allow me to set up small groups and projects for these groups.
  I will use

• poppet lite for reading and Kaupapa, displaying data to share on the blog and with the class.  
• Animation with a group of focus box with high needs- to engage them, give a purpose for writing and sharing with the class.  
• Voice thread to record themselves read and reflect on where to next for themselves and begin peer feedback
• Class video to our quadblogging classes
• Story kit for reluctant writers
• Toontastic and puppetpals for year 3 projects ( during swimming time)

We will use some of the ideas from posts about 1:30 ipad use in the classroom.

Term 3

Well we have begun with a look at inquiry across the curriculum.  This has made me rethink how the ipads are incorporated into this learning and the children owning the use of them for THEIR learning.

I have to plan in the ipad with what they will be used for, some sessions on how to video and take photos as well.

Some groups have used 'showme' in maths and it worked well more so with the lower groups than the higher ones.

Documenting our day and the amazing things we do is really important.  Taking them through the picassa programme in small groups will allow them to manipulate photos taken by them to add to the blog and share.

Some of the  programmes that we use on the computer are coming out with apps to support the mobile device like vocab city, spelling city.  I have to look at how to access studyladder on here as well.  The class are able to access this well on their own and because I can track the learning it works well.

I am going to focus on the chn just below standard that need a few gaps filled to reach standard and see how I can use the ipads to help in this way.  To begin with I will guide the learning using a variety of applications like ibooks, book creator and show me.

This will fit in well with the inquiry across the curriculum and how I can help these chn through our school inquiry in maths.

Week 7-10

Class Activity
Ideas from Allannah King

- checking blogs, reading, commenting
- put up certificates for comments - photos of chn holding them
- taking photos around the school and uploading to comic life in cartoon
- build your wildself.com - chn build themselves and then print it and then write about it
- daily news - audio via divshare
- using audiopal for people to leave voice messages
- using puppetpals and chns photos to record reading
- using book create to share work
- using talking tom to copy us reading poem (making dominan sounds)
- spelling city
- lunchbox wiki collaboration

Some ideas to think about incorporating into Term 3's programme.  Some of the posts on the VLN have talked about how 1:30 can work with an ipad and I have started to do some reading around this.  Also how they shouldnt be used as a game centre for the class but used in a way that children have to problem solve and use ICT creatively to learn.

I have to rethink the goal I set out with was to engage special needs children in learning.
A review would say YES I have definitely met this goal, these particular chn are able to access apps that they can work on their own, enjoy doing this.  Often all areas of the day are hard work for this group.  Writing because of poor motor skills and the requirements to form a sentence make this daunting.  Maths is a lot or work and with the basics not solid can become very repetitiave.

The ipad has allowed them freedom to own and be empowered to learn at their pace and be independent which for most of the day doesn't happen.  They either have me, an aide or a peer support. 
So yes I met my goal and YES these chn have seen growth in all areas, letter and sound knowledge, reading and writing ability.  Also orally they are beginning to articulate in a clearer way what they want. 

Where to next?......watch this space!!!!

Week 3 - 6

Week 3
I have managed to put the ipads and Activboards into literacy and numeracy rotations.  Now Im just making sure the apps are ones that will practice important concepts and being able to monitor this.

Week 6
All ICT integration is going well. 
Who uses the ipad in each rotation is driving me a bit crazy - have turned it back onto the children for them to sort this themselves.
I am now waiting on a VGA OR reflection app that will reflect whatever is on the ipad onto the activboard.  It will be wireless.  I need to look into which will be the quickest and most useful in my classroom.
I would like to use this class viewing to introduce apps, review ones and get class discussion going so that WE as a class can decide what is best for US, not just dictated by myself.
Apps need to look into:

- multitouch maths
- morris lessmore
- ibooks
- learn your first 1000 words
- blogger
- pages
- scribblepress
- mee genius
- smarty pants school
- puppet pals
- sonic pics
- sock puppets
- soundnote
- comic life
- oxford owl

Term 2 Week 1

My Goal this part of the year was to get my Activboard, ipads involved in all areas of the day.  How I was going to do this will definitely be trial and error.
I find the VLN a great resource for getting my head around this, but at the moment it is very focussed on the roll out of ipads in schools and the technical side of this.
Things I need to consider
- do I pick the applications that the child do on their own or let them pick?
- how do I monitor this and ensure that its about what they need to focus on?
- are those high needs children engaged and using this tool the way I intended?
- can they do this on their own or do they need more teacher/ aide support?

Findings so far
- all children are engaged
- Mr I able to access all applications independently and use them to practise essestial skills.  I find he is responsible and if I guide him to specific apps then he will work on these without straying.

So far so good!!!

More Conference Apps and Websites

We heard all about the Manaia Kalani project and the 1-1 netbook scheme they have.  What an amazing oppurtunity for those children.
If you get the chance check out their blogs, they are amazing.
http://www.ptengland.school.nz/index.php?mid=6

Some sites we were given
http://ipadeducators.ning.com/
http://slidetolearn.ning.com/
https://ipad.redlands.qld.edu.au/
http://www.ipadsforeducation.vic.edu.au/
http://www.ipodsibilities.com/iPodsibilities/SpEd_Apps.html

Art Apps
 Artrage

Junior Apps
Magnetic Aphabet - This is good, you will need to pay to get the extra scene sets.  Good for motivation, crearing story scenes for writing.

 Can change setting to add vowels, consonants, long vowel sounds, can add sound or turn off.
 Little Speller - You can choose the word length
 Story Patch - Can create stories page by page.  Can change backgrounds, characters etc

Some more useful sites to browse.
NZ wiki quite good - http://ipodsiphonesineducation.wikispaces.com/
More info - http://www.tcgeeks.com/ipad-for-school/
Background info - http://edudemic.com/
All about best apps for kids - http://www.ikidapps.com/
Bit of a guru lots of good stuff - http://delicious.com/halenz

Holiday Conference

I was lucky enough to be able to attend 2 days worth of professional developement in Auckland over the Term One holidays.
Day One was a literacy course with the keynote being Murray Gadd.  As you can imagine this was a motivating day.  Included in the workshops was a tutorial about Google Docs and how to utilise this in the classroom  A great resource for seniors and editing.
Day Two was 'Mobile Devices in the Classroom' I was super excited about this day.  Workshops were run by teachers, as they say some teachers should just teach.  Presenting is a skill and you can see why the good ones get paid the big bucks.  Was a sharing session about how classroom teachers utilise this technology.

I tryed to get around to as many as I could
This is livesketch it is great.  Children can draw with a pen or their finger, teaches them about shading.  The slower you draw the darker it goes.
There are some examples of trees that my class did on my blog
http://room9rockets.blogspot.co.nz/


We looked at Draw free this lets you draw pictures, sketchs etc and then you

link into popplet (lite) you don't need the full version.  Great for big book, reading follow ups or working as a group on presenting information.


There were a number of special needs apps
  This was a very american sounding app, but has a number of screens for those children who can't talk.  They can push an icon and it say " I am Hungry" "Juice please"







 This is an app that lists all the apps that people use that have autism, so gives a bit more focus for this special need.

So busy.....

Well the term is flying by and working on the day to day running, having this project and then a student teacher turns up.  Has made for a busy term.  Confession also that I haven't had the time to put into checking out more apps.  On the plus side this blog has made me refocus and set some goals for the next few weeks.
The iPads have been used in class and all children get to use them.  The targeted group also has extra time with them 1-1 with a teacher aide, myself or by themselves.

Goals:
- trial the iPads in rotations all day
- draw up a roster with the apps I would like them to use during these times
- watch and document at the end each week
- get a "Best App' review from the students (first have to teach them how to review)

Wish me luck!!

How are we going?

I am still working on how to let the rest of the class have a go, while still letting my focus group use them.  My focus group is doing really well, they are able to go on and off and access the various applications.  I have set up one screen for maths, one for reading and one for writing.  This seems to work well.  They are asked to use the apps for the section of the day that the rest of the class are working on.  Engagement is high, next steps are to make sure they are learning, practising and not just playing.
I have been browsing a few sites and these seems to help.
http://www.vln.school.nz/ - joining the iPad/ iPod group was a godsend at the start, lots of little things that you learn.
Like how to make sure the apps can't be deleted while the children are playing.  That was a important as well as being able to control youtube and safari (internet) so I can monitor what they see.

http://exploringapps.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/itunes-u.html
This is a blog set up by Core Education and they review apps regularly.  I like this one as it is New Zealand based and trying to find that can be a long winded process.  As the reviewers also post in the VLN you know you are getting good up to date information.

Trial with the class

First week we were trying to use the iPads during all sessions of the day. They were the hot topic with all the children and we had a few that would loiter around the back of someone to get a look and enjoy it. At first I need to keep the boys close by to be able to monitor and teach the new games and to check which skills the boys need more apps for. Took a video of Mr D6 doing "ABC Tracer" it was awesome. He was so engaged, had the visual and the sound when he drew it incorrectly. Was oblivious to me filming while he was just giggling away at the programme. This app is so worth it for letter formation and high frequency words. It is proving to work exactly as I thought, boys can play educational applications without a lot of support from the teacher. This is all done independently and focussed, something I can't see them doing on their own.

They have arrived......

Well as of Friday 24th February Room 9 have been blessed with 2 iPads courtesy of the Board of Trustees and Helena Baker. This was all started as part of a professional project ' to see if mobile devices assisted special needs children in the classroom. During this project I will target a group of 6 children with varying needs and look at how their engagement in learning can be enhanced and structured time can be spent engrossed in educational applications (apps).  DAY ONE this involved a talk with the class about how to use the iPad and look after it. They were all very interested and treated them so gently. We were off to a good start. We tried videoing a big book response which may have been a bit adventurous but we had fun. I also taught then how to play the various apps that I had put on to start. The target students all got to have a go and seemed to really enjoy it, so this was a great start. Over the next few weeks I have played around with trying to utilise it throughout the day and how the ipad can best be used with guidance and also on their own. This is still trial and error. I have got a lot of good advice from the Virtual Learning Network and was even got Member of the week a few weeks ago. Very exciting.