Monitoring the Use of iPads and iPods in the Classroom – a List of

Successes

English:

  • Year 5/6 ch used dictionary app and asked children to use the thesaurus/synonyms to generate powerful words for use in creative writing. Compared words generated with paper thesauruses
  • Year 5/6 ch used Philips recorder app. Children made oral sentences in pairs about the rainforest. They used a variety of sentence starters and powerful words generated from dictionary app thesaurus. Excellent sentence level work resulted. Ch then listened to the sentences again and wrote them in books. Used headphone socket and listened to sentences in plenary. Note: headphone does not fit into iPads due to protective covers. Intend to combine sentences on Podium with rainforest sound effects to make a class ‘poem’.
  • Often used by different classes as a reference tool to research a topic. Children can add information found straight to a keynote or pages document. The ‘instant on’ feature means access to the WWW is instant (without log-on delay)
  • In a journalistic writing unit children in year 5/6 used Philips recorder to act out a role-play as reporters and eyewitnesses. Interview was recorded on device, then transcribed into writing
  • During a rainforest topic – children in year 5/6 used iMovie to make rainforest survival guides films which were edited and produced on iPad/iPod. They used the news reporter theme to dramatic effect. The films were sent to iDVD in assembly and watched by parents.
  • Foundation Stage have used phonic games to support Letters and Sounds.
  • Foundation Stage have used drawing app to practice letter formation.
  • Year 2 children in Lerryn class have used the iPads to record a film using iMovie to persuade people to become pirates. Sent to iDVD and shared in assembly
  • In Lerryn Class, SEN children have used the various phonics programs to support their learning.
  • A child on the SEN register in Lerryn class enjoyed using the alphabet app to support his learning.
  • In Lerryn Class, children with poor handwriting used a blunt ‘rubber’ end of the pencil to trace letters and numbers to support the formation of letters
  • Kenwyn – use of iPads in guided reading to access excellent website. Children’s motivation and interaction fantastic as a ‘moving’ book offered a whole new layer for discussion
  • SEN children able to rehearse writing using voice recorder quickly, efficiently and confidently, to then be typed up by T or TA. Enables them to get started on the planning and then writing the opening to a story in a much shorter space of time than may otherwise be possible
  • When creating our own picture books, and examining various viewpoints, whole class were able to record visually at one go – like having a class set of cameras, which then could go on to manipulate and add effects to
  • Used Storywheel with Year 1/2 class. Ch collaborated to tell stories in turn. Not a resounding success as a one off, but with a sequence of lessons leading up to it, it would have provided a great learning outcome
  • Y5/6 Used an online etymological dictionary in a spelling lesson about roots, prefixes and suffixes to good effect. Children generated some excellent words and extended their vocabulary.
  • Y5/6: in a unit of work about playscripts and radio plays, children used Philips recorder to orally rehearse the direct speech for their radio play before writing. Other group members used safari to search for sound effects. Final outcome of work was a Radio Play recorded using Podium on a PC, including sound effects and backing music. (audio network, free sfx, found online).
  • Used a free app called ‘The Raven’, an interactive poem by Edgar Allen Poe. Amazing lesson with some very deep thinking stimulated by the rich audio and visual resource.
  • Used VDownloader to download youtube at clips home to use in the classroom setting in a unit of work on the Highwayman. In same unit of work, used Philips recorder to make oral descriptions of characters from the poem
  • In Tamar Class, used Audioboo to record children’s persuasive advertisements about Haven Holidays. Very quickly published to Twitter and the internet for instant wider audience.
  • Label it app for identifying features of texts

Reading

  • Rainforest topic – rainforest encyclopedia. Ch could find info from e-book, and copy it into pages or keynote doc. Children could use screen capture to easily capture images
  • Used The War Of The Worlds interactive eBook with year 6 children. Very engaging and inspirational.
  • Used ‘If Poems’ to look at poetry in Guided reading
  • Kenwyn children are more confident about reading aloud thanks to a weekly "reading and recording" guided reading activity, with children rehearsing a piece of text and then recording it on the iPad video. The children have an improved understanding of what good reading aloud looks like and the preparation required.

Maths

  • During AST outreach work, CW demonstrated engaging nature of iPads and iPods to head from Blackwater School by setting up a variety of ‘stations’ with different maths apps to be used. All children engaged and learning independently.
  • Year 5/6 ch used fraction number line app successfully in a lesson about ordering fractions on a number line
  • Year 5/6 ch used Tangram and Zentominoes after visit by happy puzzle company so children could play similar problem solving games
  • Foundation have used the dot-to-dot app to support ordering nos.
  • SEN child in Tamar uses Math Bingo and Math Party on the iPads regularly as an early morning skills building activity
  • In a problem solving lesson, Year 5/6 ch arranged the digit cards 0-9 to make multiplication and division sums. They used the camera function of the iPod to record what they done before moving onto another set of numbers
  • Children in year 2 use several of the maths apps regularly with children such as eggs on legs and Wipeout, which the children enjoy, in part of a carousel of activities.
  • In year 2, less able children used ‘Show Me’ to record a method and then repeat it as they needed to at their desks
  • In year 2, an SEN child uses Maths programs as reward after completing tasks
  • Using ‘Quickfire’ app in pairs. Children race against eacch other in teams to solve the problem within the time. Element of competition combined with use of technology really engaged children for a long period
  • Foundation stage used Maths 3-5 in a small group, making patterns, recognizing colours and ordering sizes
  • Children used Educreations to make screencasts to demonstrate their learning of concepts in maths (eg, how to find a fraction of a number). These were then embedded into our website under a heading of ‘How to guides’.
  • Used ‘Infuse Learning’ for a mental oral on ratio. Ch responded through drawing to questions such as: show me a ratio of 2:3 and a proportion of 2/5. Discussed drawing on smartboard
  • Bee bot app for directional work in maths
  • Children in Helford use Online maths games everyday to support numeracy
  • TallyPad app for data handling

Science

  • When investigating shadow length and direction using a shadow stick in the playground, children used the Compass app on the iPad to record the direction of the shadow. They took a picture of the shadow with the camera and recorded the length of the shadow using Numbers spreadsheet app. They could then see their data pictorially and in spreadsheet and graph form.
  • Used ‘Keynote’ to plan and record a science investigation on pulse rate. Ch could video themselves orating their planning and prediction, meaning dyslexic ch were especially included. Ch very engaged by use of iPad in this way and found the whole investigation process less ‘boring’ through its use. I felt that the investigation was more thorough as a result, as ch had to discuss much more before committing themselves to adding plan, prediction, conclusion… to a home screen. Use of insertion of table for results worked very well. Some ch used online stopwatches for measuring pulse.
  • Jumbo stopwatch comes in handy on numerous occasions
  • In a science unit on healthy living, children made a sketch about the circulation system. Used iMovie to record and produce a film of it and uploaded to vimeo. Film was on the website within hours.
  • When learning about microorganisms, pupils used iPads as a visual dictionary to support their understanding of concepts such as fermentation. The process came alive because they were able to instantly see a range of images that decode difficult vocabulary. The children loved it. The teacher just has the ensure that the words that the children search for will provide appropriate images ie in this case they would search for "wine fermentation" not simply "fermentation".

ICT

  • In Lerryn Class, children used the iPads to record their own pirate dialogue, which they shared with the class using Philips Recorder app.
  • In Lerryn class, some of the higher ability children explored and used several of the film creators.
  • In Lerryn Class, children used the beebot app as an on-screen extension of their learning with floor robots
  • Children in year 5/6 used the silent movie creator app to make some brilliant films in iClub. These were sent to DVD and shared with parents in assembly.
  • Children in year 5/6 made animations on I Can Animate and then imported them into ZU3D software on a PC.
  • In a unit of work called ‘We Are Photographers’, children used camera and photo apps to add creative filters to their photos, eg, black and white, tilt shift, sepia…
  • During the snowy weather recently, children used the camera function of the iPad to take digital photos for a ‘snowy photo competition. Back in the classroom, the children used photographic apps to crop their photos and apply creative filters using snapseed. The winning pics were Tweeted straight away. Apple TV was used for the whole class to view each other’s entries..

PSHE

  • Transition films – children in year 6 used iMovie on iPods and iPads. Used iMacs to produce further. Sent as DVD to head at Penryn
  • Children in year 3/4 used iMovie to make films about personal hygiene by ‘remaking’ ‘Some of Your Bits Ain’t Nice.’ The film was sent to iDVD on the iMac and shared in assembly
  • Children in Tamar used iPods and iPads to make e-safety films. In 40 minutes, they each made a 60 second film, which was then transferred to iMovie on the iMacs and then sent to iDVD for viewing in safer internet day assembly. This speed of production could not have been achieved without children editing and producing their movies on their mobile devices.
  • Children love to use ipad/pod as reward for good behaviour or achieving targets. For the children I am impressed how they regard it as both an education and a fun tool in equal measure, and have no trouble moving from one application to another.

Geography

  • Used National Geographic world atlas app to show areas of rainforest. Quick interchangeability between physical and political maps produced good discussion about maps
  • In Lerryn Class, children looked at the Google Earth app, and searched for different places in the world following input in the lesson
  • Tamar Class used the iPods on a geography field trip. They made videos and took photos of their field studies. They used the calculator app to find averages of water depth over the length of a river. They took pictures of riverside geographical features, eg, confluences, estuaries...
  • KS2 children took iPads and iPods to the Eden Project for a Jungles workshop. They were asked to use iMovie to make short films about their learning journey throughout the day

Music

  • Year 5/6 ch used apps such as: Sounddrop, Loopesque, Loopy… to make looped background tracks over which to play accompanied percussion instruments and tuned instruments
  • Year 5/6 ch used Philips recorder to record and playback their musical compositions

Creative

  • Ch used I Can Animate to make stop motion animation films based on their space topic
  • Foundations have used the drawing program to make pictures for a variety of topics.
  • Children in Tamar used the Create a Car app to design their own vehicle for a Penryn College transition project
  • Children in Hleford used the Create a Car app to support their drawing during a DT topic on moon buggies

Environment

  • Ch in year 1 used ‘Labelbox’ to take photos of school garden and label parts of plants etc
  • Children in eco club explored the Birds of Britain app while learning about the variety of birds in our locality.

SEN

  • Year 2 children have used and enjoyed crazy copy, which supports a child’s memory and recall. Children have seen it as a challenge whereby they try and improve on their previous score.
  • Year 2 children with poor fine motor skills, I have used the Plane Control app as well as angry birds to improve their precision.
  • An SEN child in Tamar Class was motivated by an iBook about planes after reading a paper book about planes. He enjoyed zooming in and out of pages
  • A child wiyh learning difficulties uses the iPad often, as a reward and as a valuable learning tool. The audio recording function allows him to develop his speech and language. The camera and video function, combined with iMovie, allows him to record his speech, watch it back instantly and then improve it
  • By enabling ‘Speak selection’ in the iPad’s general settings, children no longer need to struggle to access text on the iPad. They can highlight text from anywhere, eg, a webpage, and the iPad will read it to them.
  • To record sentences so children can play them back and then write them (SEN)

RE

  • Kenwyn and Tamar classes took iPads and iPods to church in lesson about understanding the history of the village throughout evidence within the church grounds. Ability to record in voice and visually gives them a focal point for their research which they can respond to personally, an assistant for discussion and a freedom to take from the church what means most to them. Then can read through much more material in the 30 min session than would otherwise be available to them.
  • KS2 pupils used the iPad to explorewho is the 11th Sikh Guru.The books in the pink topic box had no information presented in this way to link with the previous 10 Gurus. The iPad solved the problem of resources as a targeted search enabled an extension for the able pupils that also worked as a motivator for all.

PE

  • Children in Kenwyn Class used record and playback video facility. This allowed children to watch body shape in dance and sports drills and see for themselves how and where to improve. Very powerful self-assessment tool
  • Filming class performances in dance and story telling to share and make changes to before performing to an audience...play back and compare differences

French

  • Used voice recorder app to record children practicing oral French. Children were able to listen to themselves speak in French, using the recording to improve their accents. Speaking was shared at end of lesson by plugging the headphone jack into the device
  • iTranslate app is useful for oral practise

History

  • Children made great fire of London models and made stop motion animations in the scene.
  • Children use iPads and netbooks a lot in history and geography (especially in Tamar) for research purposes - usually as a paired activity. For example, in history, children used iPads to gain instant access to historical documents. Ch ildren were very motivated to try and copy signatures of Kings/Queens promoting discussion. Jude Carroll, Chris Page

Comments from Staff at CPS

“Generally, children love them and anything to do with them! Instantly engaging.”

J Hitchens, Lerryn Class

Using iPods and iPads ‘in the outdoors’ is powerful and engaging.

‘iMovie is such a powerful application. The learning opportunities are endless…’

A lovely comment about the power of iPads from our year 3/4 teacher whose oldest child goes to our school:

‘Barney (age 5) asked me if I had the story telling app that you showed them when you taught his class. I had no idea so logged onto iPad and he found it and showed me how it works and then continued to explain it all to Bo!’

‘My TA is always picking up the iPad to find out answers to questions that the children raise. Within seconds, she is on safari and has found an answer. The iPads have really empowered the TAs in my class to be even more directly involved in teaching and sharing information. ’

Classdojo is a powerful assessment tool made even more powerful by the portable and instant on nature of the iPad. Class dojo used by TA in Helford to monitor homework and classroom behaviours daily

I’m so excited about using Twitter with my class. The iPad seems such a logical way to do this, as accounts can be set up so that children do not need to use a password to Tweet, meaning there is no danger of children misusing their class Twitter at home. Using Twitter on the iPad has revolutionised the way that we communicate about what we learn to parents and our followers.