August 31, 2013

Student Motivation: Technology!




It's that time again - linking up with Joanne over at Head Over Heels for Teaching to share the biggest motivation in my classroom these days.  

THE IPAD...

Everyday during silent reading and then again during workshop, there is a big silence as I announce whose turn it will be.  

The person chosen must have all their work completed to be able to take their turn.  

They must be on green or higher.

It's a big deal.  

Of course the wireless in my classroom hasn't been working lately (at all this year), so the only thing they can really do on the ipad are the many FREE apps I have found and uploaded.  


The front page (not shown) is all the basic stuff that I use in the classroom - the timer, class dojo, camera, etc...  Then it gets into the fun stuff.  I started out putting them into folders with the different subjects, but a bunch of folders isn't exactly eye catching.

So I moved the folders to their own pages, and started unpacking them.  Some of them have been mixed up, but mainly the first student page right now is Reading/Grammar/Spelling...


The next page is mainly all math.


Then the 3rd student page is Social Studies and Science...


And the fourth page continues on...

I haven't bought any apps yet.  It's all free stuff that my students are eating up.

The kids know they are all educational apps - that they will only get educational stuff from me.  They are loving the choices.  Right now it works out to being 1 or 2 students that get a chance during silent reading time (12-15 minutes), and then another 2-3 during workshop at the end of the day.  So yes, it's taking more than a week to get through everyone, but we're making due (and the kids aren't whining).  

Between the Ipad (skills), the nowboard (whole class), the 9 mp3 players (listening centers), the Kindle Fire (free kid books), and the 2 microphones (fluency), the classroom is a busy technological place.  :)  Love it!   

Also, wanted to shout out a STUPENDOUS Freebie over at Fifth in the Middle and Where the Wild Things Learn.  Everyone wins today!  


11 comments:

  1. Collaboration CutiesAugust 31, 2013 at 10:07 AM

    I can not tell you how thankful I am that you just did this post! My iPad Mini just came in from Donor's Choose and I have no idea where to start with apps!! Thank you so much for this!

    Amanda
    Collaboration Cuties

    ReplyDelete
  2. Elementary AMCAugust 31, 2013 at 11:38 AM

    I can imagine that your students are totally motivated by all of this great technology. I used our tablets once last year - at the end of June and did not spend enough time learning how to use them, so I had 20 little helpers shouting out suggestions and tips for me :). I love the way you have your pages organized - so smart!

    ReplyDelete
  3. SuzanneAugust 31, 2013 at 12:09 PM

    You can download the Kindle app to your iPad, and then the kids can read on it, too.

    Krazy Town

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jennifer LaffinAugust 31, 2013 at 1:37 PM

    What a great way to organize your apps and to motivate kids to turn in their homework and demonstrate good behavior! Love it!!

    Jennifer
    Mrs. Laffin's Laughings

    ReplyDelete
  5. Joanne MillerAugust 31, 2013 at 1:58 PM

    What a great post! Technology is always motivating to kids and you've given us a toolbox of apps! We have a class set at our school available for checkout-I'm going to share your post with my media specialist! Thanks for sharing and linking up friend!
    Joanne
    Head Over Heels For Teaching

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pinkadots ElementaryAugust 31, 2013 at 5:08 PM

    You organized your iPad in a brilliant way. I need to redo mine. Love the way you can rotate through your students!

    Theresa
    Pinkadots Elementary

    ReplyDelete
  7. Matt August 31, 2013 at 7:06 PM

    That's quite the list of apps. I'm not sure if if you're on twitter but TCEA always sends out FREE SALES for great apps at least twice a day. I've found that it is both iOS and Kindle Books for kids. Normally they have a ton of great picks and lot of the apps are really good (or brand new and the company wants to get the word out).

    Here is the link if you just want to follow this: https://twitter.com/TCEA

    Thanks for the screenshots, I'll be going through them and picking out more for my kids

    matt
    Digital: Divide & Conquer

    ReplyDelete
  8. Where the Wild Things LearnAugust 31, 2013 at 9:07 PM

    What a great post! Thank you for sharing :) So many great apps! Makes me wish even more that I had iPads in my room! I feel ya on the wireless. Drives me nuts when our internet doesn't work! Enjoy your long weekend and thanks for helping with our giveaway :)

    Amelia
    wherethewildthingslearn

    ReplyDelete
  9. Alison RoseSeptember 1, 2013 at 8:12 PM

    I like the way you organized your apps. I normally drop mine into folders for the different subjects, but have to have several of them for each subject. I might try this on my new mini that I got from Donors Choose. I see some apps on here that I'd love to add too!
    Alison
    Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'

    ReplyDelete
  10. UnknownSeptember 2, 2013 at 5:53 AM

    Thanks for sharing how you organize apps and motivate your kids using the iPads! Great ideas! I can't wait to get using ours again this year... They even motivate me!

    Smiles,
    Sarah @ Hoots N Hollers

    ReplyDelete
  11. UnknownMay 25, 2015 at 5:03 AM

    You have shared a wonderful post... Thanks for it...
    iphone apps development company

    ReplyDelete

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