journals in kindergarten

The Power of the iPad in Kindergarten

/ Kristi Meeuwse / 11 Comments

Technology won’t replace teachers, but teachers who don’t teach with technology will be replaced. -unknown

Last week, our school iPads were replaced.  We were very excited to exchange our iPad 2’s for the new iPad Air.  Our old iPads served us well but were suffering from frequent app crashes. The replacement took about a week…no small feat when you are talking about over 800 iPads. The excitement over the idea of new iPads was suddenly replaced with the knowledge that we would be without iPads for a few days. My kids quickly realized this and asked, “Um, how will we do our work with no iPads?”  I responded, “I’m not sure…maybe we will do some worksheets.” Puzzled, the kids responded with, “What are worksheets?” You see, they had never completed one before.

It was definitely like going back in time and I’m certain I don’t ever want to teach again without having those devices. My students were used to having choices about their day and about demonstrating their learning. I was used to personalizing their learning and serving as a facilitator while they directed themselves. Student-centered and student-directed learning is one of the keys to educational change.

So, now we have our beautiful new devices and the kids immediately went to work. Their work. We have been working on number stories in their math journals. Even though I’m providing the number stories, there is still choice. For example, Sam had 7 buttons.  Some were blue and some were yellow.  How many of each were there?

Here are a couple of samples from my kids:IMG_0004

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One was being a wise-guy, but still got the right number of buttons. By making these number stories open-ended, students have the ability to use multiple pathways to get to the answer. Another student and a partner, worked together to create what we call an “incredible equation”. One of the students was stronger in math (clearly, as he is able to multiply and divide at age 5) and the other was working on grade level. Together they made this:

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By letting my students work where they are, and not where a worksheet forces them to be, the sky is the limit. The iPads give my students the freedom to move on, to move up, and to be in charge of their learning.

So, yes, I am thrilled to have our iPads back. We saw first hand the power of the iPad in our classroom. Even though we have only 22 school days remaining, we are going strong to the end!

Today we will do exciting new things. Let’s get to it!

Digital Storytelling in Kindergarten

/ Kristi Meeuwse / 7 Comments

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. -Confucius

I’ve been trying to find ways to incorporate more photography in my classroom.  It is a recent passion of mine and I think there is a lot of value in incorporating pictures into student work and writing… not my pictures, but their own.  After all, young children have a unique perspective on the world.  Their pint sized view lets them see things from different angles than adults.

Their iPads have cameras and they love using them to photograph everything from a spider in the room to their left nostril.  We have used the iPad cameras to document their work and their learning. For a change, we used my Olloclip on my iPhone.  You can check out the Olloclip here and here.  I’ve been using it to take several macro shots of foliage, but the fisheye lens was very intriguing to my students when I showed it to them.  After a few days being cooped up inside with rain, we took to the outdoors to try out a few shots.  I put their pictures in Showbie and they downloaded them into their PaperDesk Pro app.  This is a great app for journaling.  Once their photos were downloaded into their notebook, they wrote about what they saw.  Here are a couple of samples:

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Screen Shot 2014-03-19 at 12.53.03 PMThis takes a little while so we are doing a few each day until everyone gets a turn.  Because it was different from our usual writing workshop, the kids were excited to write about their picture.  They wanted to take more pictures and write about them.  Because we offer choice in our classroom, some children are taking screen shots of their creations in Blokify and are importing them into Paper Desk Pro and writing about them.

While some young writers struggle with traditional literacy, using digital storytelling engages students and encourages them to employ different kinds of literacies to complete their final product.  The PaperDesk Pro app allows you to add voice notes so students who have difficulty writing can dictate their story, or students who want to read what they have written may record themselves doing so.  Simply generating text can be daunting to a child.  Incorporating images, speech, or even music enables students to create in a way that they couldn’t otherwise.  The technology allows us to redefine the way we learn.

As we move into the final 45 days of school, I want my students stretching and exploring, learning and creating.  We will be app-smashing, building, photographing, experimenting, and continually redefining what it means to be literate in today’s digital world.

Today we will do exciting new things.  Let’s get to it.  

Doodle Buddy and Science Drawings

/ Kristi Meeuwse / 2 Comments

Touch a scientist and you touch a child.-Ray Bradbury

October and November are great months in the South.  Fall and cooler weather are a nice respite from the stifling hot Charleston summers.  It is also a great opportunity to explore fall and harvest in science.  There are many ways to create science journals on the iPad.  You can use Pages, whiteboard apps, or any number of drawing apps.  We’ve been using Doodle Buddy.  It is a free drawing app.  My students can create a drawing and save to their photo roll.  Once created, they can then import the drawing into their writing.  We like to import into Pages as well as Book Creator.

Here is an example of one child’s science journal.  We were discussing pumpkin life cycles.  After reading a book, From Seed to Pumpkin, many students wanted to draw the life cycle in their Doodle Buddy app.  From this, the child can type directly on the drawing with the keyboard or he can import it into Pages or Book Creator.  Each stage of the life cycle could be broken down into one page each, with this image above being used as the culminating page.  This is a great sequencing activity as well.

When I introduced Doodle Buddy, I connected my iPad to the SmartBoard and demonstrated how to use the app and how to save the drawing.  It is very simple to use and my students caught on immediately.  It always amazes me how engaged they are when they are creating on the iPad.  Their language was rich with inquiry and science vocabulary.  After creating, they love to share.  When they create, they are more likely to internalize important concepts.  Critical thinking is occurring.  There was no doubt in my mind after looking at their diagrams that they understood this plant life cycle concept.

By having these drawings on their iPads, they are also able to re-visit their work and add to it if interested.  Learning is extended and interest is maintained.  Even though it is still early in the school year for these young scientists, their enthusiasm for science is evident.

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