How to Use One Ipad in the Classroom

Many teachers have enjoyed having an ipad of their own to use. It is a great tool for teachers, but these tools can be used to enrich the classroom experience.

How can I possibly use just one ipad in the classroom?

One great way to use ipads in the classroom is to use them in small groups. Here are somethings that can be done in small groups with an ipad.

QR Codes
North Carolina QR Codes
You can create your own QR Codes at http://goqr.me/. You can create your own text or math story problems for students to solve. You can have your students scan a QR codes so that they can go to a website that you would like them to work on or research. You can copy the codes and place them on a worksheet for station work.

iMovie App
Cost: $4.99

IMovie is another great tool that can be used in the classroom. You allow students to create their own imovie trailor for a book that they recently read to encourage others to also read the book. The students can also be assigned a project showing their knowledge of the content through creating a trailor or movie using this app. As a teacher, you can create a trailor to get students excited about a upcoming project that they will be learning about.

Tools for Students App
Cost: $0.99

This app is a great help in reading instruction. It has many graphic organizers that can be used to help students practice reading skills. Some of the graphic organizers include: Cause and Effect, Compare and Contrast, Character Traits, Drawing Conclusions, KWL, Fact and Opinion, Making Predictions, Problem/Climax, Solution, etc. This can also be used during small guided reading groups. The students are able to type in the graphic organizer and then it can be emailed to the teacher. Teachers can also use this in a whole group setting and allow the whole class to share and add the the graphic organizer.

Make Dice Lite App

On each dice the teacher can create tasks for their students to complete. The students can shake the dice and whatever it lands on will be the task that they will have to complete while in their workstation. They can also use this while playing a math game to determine what number they will have to divide by, etc.

Real World Math

With our new Common Core Curriculum, we must teacher our students math that they can see in the real world. With that being said, our students need to be able to find the information they need through internet reasearching using the ipad. This is a great activity that can be used in a small group. Our students are planning to attend a field trip at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. I created real world math problem solving that ties with our curriculum. There are multi-steps and mult-processes that the students will have to use as they research staying at the inn, food prices, adult ticket prices, etc. They can also share what they learned through imovie, educreations, or their classroom blog.

Problem Solving Biltmore

Internet, Halloween, and Guided Math

Last night as I sat down to write this it was Halloween and my internet was not working. After long thoughts, I began to think it was the little ghouls in cyber space messing with me especially since I like to procrastinate. With all that said, I am safely at work now working on my post of many to come.

Since receiving the iPad Pilot classroom, life has been so much easier on me with great planning. In my guided math class, I begin each class where the students have 5 minutes to work on their facts using Mad Math Lite and Monster Math. These apps have helped the children improve on their multiplication and division facts. Once the five minutes have passed, we start Guided Math.

Here is a child working on Mad Math completing multiplication facts.

While at my station, I use various apps like: Alphabet Magnetic Letters, Nearpod, and Educreations. For example, we were working on multiplication a couple of weeks ago and I used a Nearpod Presentation on multiplication to engage students. They were asked how to solve a multiplication problem various ways, work out problems, and even answered a survey about how they felt about multiplication. I could easily see how they worked out their problems and how they felt about doing multiplication. There are so many possibilities to use the iPad in your Guided Math and I could talk about it for days but I will move on to my stations.

Example of survey given to students from my Nearpod Presentation.

During my guided math lessons, there are three stations that the children rotate through while I am teaching my group about the topic for that day or week. The first station I am going to talk about is the QR Code Station. At this station, the students are given the QR Code sheet and they are to scan the code using a QR Scanner on the iPad. After they scan the QR Code, they are to solve the problem on the sheet. The kids love the mystery about what the problem is going to say and are excited about working it out.

Example of a problem on the QR Code Sheet.

The next station that I have is the ScootPad Station. Here at this station they are practicing the skills that have been taught using this great app. ScootPad is an app that follows the new Common Core Standards and the students practice questions that could be on the end of year tests. Students are motivated by completing the standards and earning rewards that I have set up in the classroom.

The last and final station that the children rotate through is the skill station. Here the students are working on apps that go along with what I am teaching for that week or day. For instance, we have been working on prime and composite numbers. So the students have been working on an app called Astro Math. This apps allows the students to blast the meteorites that are factors the numbers of the bottom. They have to blast them until they become a prime number. The students master the level and move on by gaining three stars. After receiving the three stars, the students are then moved up to the next level where the factors begin to get harder. Below is a picture of a students working on Astro Math.

So far this year, Guided Math has been running smoothly and the students work harder now than they did before. They are more motivated because of the iPads and are learning just as much or even more. I enjoy looking for apps to supplement my teaching in Guided Math.

In the next couple of weeks, check back because I will be posting a blog about my students creating iMove Trailers to go along with our Traditional Literature Unit.