iPads, iPod touches, and Macbooks at BBS!

The pilot program has begun at Brainerd Baptist School!  This week so far, we have introduced an iPod touch lab in 5th grade (I didn't help with that one), used iPads with K4, and taken a mobile Macbook lab to K5 and 4th graders. Today, the mobile lab will go to 1st and 5th grade too.

The first day of iPads with K4 was a huge success.  Each group had about 15 minutes with the iPads and the time flew.  They loved it and took to it just as intuitively as I thought they would.  One little girl said it was like her daddy's iPhone but bigger. (I knew that some of them would have already been playing games on Mommy and Daddy's phones.)  We did the app called Make Shapes.  It was really good to begin to introduce the pressure with which the students need to push on the iPad in order to make it work.  The app has students trace shapes in one level, trace shapes in the appropriate color in the next, and make pictures out of traced shapes in the last.  Then, there is a free draw page.  When the students complete a shape in the free draw page, the program fills it in so the students can see that they drew a shape.  The program includes bright colors, animations, and encouraging comments (like "Great shape!"  "Great line!").

One interesting thing is that the boys tended to start off by pushing down too hard with their fingers and had to learn to adapt to using a lighter touch.  Also, the girls tended to enjoy tracing the shapes and getting the positive feedback on that whereas the boys liked the free draw.  Overall, a great experience with no problems. 

The K5 and 4th did very well with the MacBooks.  The fourth graders were about to pop out of their seats and explode - they were so excited to get their hands on a laptop!  We spent a little time talking about the differences between laptops and desktops, the use of the touchpad, and the fact that we would be going to the Internet on Safari instead of Internet Explorer instead of Firefox.  When I asked how many of them had used a laptop before, one class had all hands up and the other had all but 3 in the air.  Less than half had used a Mac before.

The biggest time consumer was getting the laptops out in groups of 3 and then putting them back.  Each class ran over because the putting up took longer than I thought (about 6-7 minutes).  I know that they will get faster as the year continues. 

I must say that it is an exciting year at BBS and I am so glad to be a part of it.  Being on the cutting edge is fun!