Interact on iPads
RENFREW — Standing at the front of her kindergarten classroom at Connoquenessing Elementary School, Nichole Moore leads a rhyming lesson with her 20 students.
The wide-eyed 5-year-olds, sitting together in small groups on the floor, follow along with the lesson through five iPad tablets they share. Using an app called Rhyme Time, several groups of images are displayed, and the students determine which images rhyme.
One group of pictures includes a chair, a kite and a bear. Moore tells her students to give two big thumbs up if they believe bear rhymes with chair.
Several small thumbs dart up.
“It's a really great tool to have,” said Moore, who signs out the devices a few times a week through the principal's office.
She was initially apprehensive about using iPads in the classroom because tablets are too often used for games or become a distraction. But she's found in her classroom, the iPad programs enhance what kindergarteners learn.
“Being able to see it, read it, write it, hear it, really helps,” Moore said.
She has used several apps, reinforcing letter writing, reading and other early education lessons. Her class is among several in the school that use the iPads.
The tablet can be a varied learning tool, used for spelling, reading and math lessons. For older students, the tablets can be used to create quizzes, collect data and create multimedia projects.
Moore said many of the apps can be adjusted to tailor to a variety of skill levels, too.
“Once you really learn the apps, it's amazing how much the kids benefit,” she said. “They love to use them. They get so excited ... It's mixing old school with new school.”
Connoquenessing Elementary has had the five iPad tablets since the beginning of the school year, thanks to the school's Parent Teacher Council.“To find another way to engage them is amazing,” said Josh Hundertmark, principal at Connoquenessing. “It's another way to access what is taught.”Kelly Stefanacci, a first-grade teacher at the school, also signs out the iPads to use on occasion. She said her students always look forward to using them. She does remind them the iPad is a tool, not a toy.“I've been teaching for 20 years, and we've gone from floppy discs to this,” she said. “I'm always willing to learn.”Connoquenessing is among several schools in the region that are implementing the devices in the classroom and in many different ways.For instance, at Northwest Elementary there a few iPads in use in several departments: in autistic support, multi-disabilities and general student use.Jack Ratica, Northwest principal, said he hopes to get up to 30 more tablets within the next year or two.“We're experimenting with different ways we can use them,” Ratica said. “When they get here, it's going to be purposeful.”The special education department has used apps that help with autistic students, particularly those who have difficulties communicating by more traditional means.Also, the television station at Northwest Elementary has used a shared iPad to record videos, such as commercials and public service announcements, for the daily, student-run video announcements.At Butler Junior High School, David Andrews' students received a couple of Samsung Tab tablets for the classroom after becoming a finalist in a national Samsung STEM contest in November.Andrews said they are using the devices for collecting and storing water- testing data from nearby streams, as well all information for Andrews' Trout in the Classroom program.
