Using iPads with Kindergarten
You may be wondering how you could possibly use something as fragile and expensive as an iPad with a bunch of little teeny kids. Dennis taught an alphabet lesson recently with kindergarten students. The iPads were made for teaching any age and this video demonstrates that very effectively.
Teaching Kindergarten with iPads :) from HiTech Princess on Vimeo.
The app being used on these iPads for this Kindergarten activity is Learn To Write. Similar apps to use in elementary grades are:
- Letters A to Z
- ABC Pocket Phonics
- ABC Letters Tracing Lite
- I’m learning to write the alphabet
- iWriteWords
- I’m learning to write words and numbers
- ABC Cursive Writing Lite
- Doodle Buddy
If there are others you like to use with elementary students, please let me know and I’ll be happy to add those to this list!
March 8th, 2011 at 1:33 pm
I have a son with Autism. We use both the iPod & iPad for him. They are both wonderful tools. The important thing to do first is protect your device with a good case. Our son has thrown ours & it is still fine & working. I listed my website that has a page of apps & some PDF’s that list lots of great apps. There are so many free or very low cost apps for Kindergarten. I highly recommend using both the iPad & iPod with all kids. Feel free to contact me if I can be of any help. Depending on the child, iPrompts is great for visual schedules & there are several communication apps too. Good Luck!!!!
April 8th, 2011 at 10:00 am
Hi Lynne
Finally I caught up with you.
I just found your video on kindergartens and the iPAD. I almost fell of the bed as I finally found someone who believes in the creative nature embedded in the young child.
The idea of exposing the young child to science, technology, engineering and mathematics from birth to 6 years of old would give them a better handle on what they could do or imagine as they embrace “life” from 6 years on. The concept of ICUs – imagination/innovation and creativity units promoting STEM plus R reading – in villages, urban slums and other disadvantaged areas where billions of this demographic reside, has been a concept I have been developing for the past year. It includes exposing these kids to scientific and other equipment, including the iPAD and seeing where it takes them for who knows, we might be helping emerge the next generation of astrophysicists, biomedical engineers, nanotechnologists, software engineers from among these young creative minds usually overlooked or ignored.
I am developing a membership site = http://kidsinscience.groupsite.com – please sign up and I will send you an invitation to join the site.
When you have a moment get in touch. Or send me your phone number to contact you
Muriel Glasgow, MPH
Producer, The Yakkers Corner
Idea Generator – MG Associates, Inc
June 3rd, 2011 at 9:46 am
Hi,
I’m currently an early childhood education student who is going to be going down the path of play therapy. A good friend of mine and I are constantly debating the positive and negative effects of ipads in elementary classrooms. Typically I take the against side, but I also am open to the “for” side.
I guess that my argument here is that I would prefer to see these children doing this kind of thing on real paper with the option to use a variety of materials. Tracing a letter with their finger is not strengthening their fingers to help them learn to write/draw, and even though they get to pick their colors, all of the letters still look the same.
If this were a group of children drawing with markers on paper and had a strip of letters in front of them to find the first letter of their name, what if one child started turning their letter into a completely different drawing? Wouldn’t that be more creative?
I just don’t feel that this usage of an ipad is appropriate for this age group. I know that technology is heavily integrated into our lives today and it will be important for children to learn the proper use of it, but in terms of enhancing creativity and learning, I just don’t see this as the right tool.
I’m just playing devil’s advocate here and would love to hear another side of it if someone is out there to give it.
Thanks so much!
June 3rd, 2011 at 10:37 am
Thank you for your comment, Emily! I appreciate your perspective.
With ipads, as with any technology, I tend to take a conservative position of “wise use.” Using the ipad for any activity just for the sake of using an ipad just feels wrong (in the same way that taking a class on a field trip just because you can feels wrong). Technology use must be tempered with educational objectives, research and practice.
I love the tactile nature of the ipad and people of all ages really enjoy using it, as indicated by its popularity. This aspect obviously motivates the student to participate in activities that s/he otherwise might not feel inclined to do. Otoh, there is often a “laziness” factor inherently associated with technology (for example, using spell check or acronyms … like my “otoh” … instead of spelling out or writing the words).
Like it or not, technology is here to stay, kids are already using it outside of school, and as teachers we attempt to promote educational and responsible use of the technology that is available. The most effective use of the ipad (as with any technology), I believe, is in conjunction with conventional methods of teaching the same content. Different people learn differently and education has always been about impacting each individual learner as much as we possibly can.
June 14th, 2011 at 6:15 pm
Introduce the scientific method to preschoolers with our app and lesson plan. Preschoolers instinctively observe and ask questions.They also think outside the box because they are unaware of what’snormal or obvious. Have you given a preschooler a toy and watched them use it in numerous ways it was never meant to be used? They are naturally creative and innovative. This is why we think this is the perfect time to introduce preschoolers to the scientific method. It encourages creativity and critical thinking.
http://www.dylanmonkey.com/lessonplan.htm
August 5th, 2011 at 11:44 am
I can’t tell which app this is… Can you tell me? Also, I love your ‘finger in the air/hair’ song!
August 5th, 2011 at 5:33 pm
Hi Sue! Great question! It’s Learn To Write. I amended my post above to include this link as well as other iPad apps that you can use for letter recognition and handwriting instruction.
August 23rd, 2011 at 12:32 am
Hi,
Selection of article was fantastic and good explanation.nice one..specialy last part of the blog…
September 6th, 2011 at 9:00 pm
Great video! I love to see teachers who are not afraid of using technology with kindergarteners. I respect Emily’s view and see its merits. With that being said, this was an appropriate use of the Ipad. This was not meant to be a creative art lesson. In kindergarten children must learn to form letters appropriately and need practice to do so. I can verify that most students don’t want to just use paper, pencil, or markers anymore. So students will make a letter or two and be done. The ipad app gave them the example to trace and obviously made them motivated to continue practicing. I’m sure paper/pencil activities are also used in this classroom but I appreciate the fact that these kindergarten students are given opportunities to utilize technology as well.
October 7th, 2011 at 1:19 pm
I too have mixed feelings about Ipads in the elementary school. I like how engaged the students are in this video when using this app to learn how to write letters. I believe they could spend a lot of time tracing without getting bored. I believe that many students today are not learning how to form their letters correctly because it isn’t specifically taught as much as it used to be. This program would really help them learn.
On the other hand, I have a few questions and concerns with this particular app for writing letters and also about Ipads in general for the elementary class.
First of all, I teach preschool, and when watching the kindergarteners in this video, I wonder… without continual supervision, would students perhaps end up spending just as much time changing the colors of the letters and background screen as they would actually spend learning how to write their letters? Personally, I have such a short amount of time each week with my students, I don’t know if I would want to use it to supervise their technology play when it is something that could be recommended that they do at home or perhaps the public library. I understand that many students’ families can’t afford the technology, but can our school systems afford it when it so quickly changing every year? Do the benefits of student engagement justify the high cost when students can learn how to write letters in many other ways that aren’t all boring (shaving cream, finger paint, sand, etc.)? What is our global responsibility as stewards of money when there are students who don’t even have books to read or paper to write on, let alone students who don’t have food to eat in order to be able to think and learn? I apologize for playing the guilt card, but I honestly think that we need to look at the big picture and not just to ourselves, which is such an American way to think.
Besides thinking about the cost of such technology that can be easily broken or can break down, I believe today’s students do need a lot more time strengthening their fine motor muscles in classroom “play” by using play dough, crayons, scissors, clay, etc. Every year the students entering my preschool class seem to have more and more trouble grasping a pencil and cutting with scissors. Students seem to be getting plenty of time using technology at home, but are lacking in activities like cutting, gluing, painting, coloring, as well as focusing on things that aren’t as entertaining as video games, etc. If they are not getting this instruction in the home, I feel that it is even more my responsibility to give it to them in the classroom.
April 25th, 2012 at 5:09 pm
I think iPads are extremely useful in educating young children. One app I found really useful in teaching my kids about music is A Jazzy Day app. Many kids find apps like this more fun than traditional education methods, and it is just as effective.
http://www.themelodybook.com/a-jazzy-day