Day #2/366: New Mail

Day #2/366: New Mail
Originally uploaded by BarbaraLN

When I got to school on Monday, these were in my mailbox. We were all pretty excited.

Photo #293/365: iPad Writers

We had to take a school district writing assessment this week.  While most kids in the school did theirs the traditional way with pencil and paper, we did ours on-line.  I set up a Google Document for each person.  I borrowed iPads from other classrooms, so we would have enough for everyone.  We had a few problems, getting all the documents to load, but once we got going, it worked out well.  Between iPads and laptops, we did a lot of writing.

Photo #227/365: A Table Full of Technology

This was the scene in my principal's office when I left school today.  She was in the process of syncing our brand new iPad2s as well as the first generation iPads that we already had.  The process seemed to be a slow and tedious one.  I asked her if she was planning to spend the night.

This table full of technology is a pretty exciting scene for those of us who will get to use these.

Photo #173/365: Read With Red

On Monday afternoon, Jacci, Mom and I met for tea at Gong Fu. This was Jacci's first outing since her knee surgery. Wherever we go, Jacci and I usually bring our technology or something to read. I love her brightly colored red case, so I snapped this photo of her iPad, iPhone and eye glasses sitting on the table.

Photos #21, 22, and 23: Celebrate!

Photo #21: New iPads



These photos are unrelated, but I'm doing a little catch up with this post. Photo #21 is a shot of our new iPads. Our building recently purchased 24 new iPads to be dispursed to classes in the building. I am still housing the original ten iPads that we purchased last May, which means my class gets to use them most days.

Photo #22: Staff Celebration




December is such a busy time, that our staff waits until January to hold a get together. This year we had dinner at Okiboji Bar and Grill in Ankeny. We had a good turn out and lots of fun. Unfortunately most of my photos were too dark, but this a great shot of two of our kindergarten teachers. Our third teacher returned from maternity leave on Friday, so she was more interested in getting home to her new baby than hanging out with us. I can't say that I blame her.

Photo #23: Oatmeal Raisin Cookies




I've been wanted to bake these Oatmeal Raisin Cookies for awhile now, and I finally got around to it this morning. This recipe is from Angela Pritchett (my cousin-in-law). This recipe is from her Mom, who recently passed away. Angela is remembering her Mom by sharing her recipes and memories through her blog. You'll find the recipe at Recipes from my mom.

Photo #347: iPad Bloggers

When we first got our ten iPads I was rather lukewarm to them. I was frustrated because there were so many things we could not do with them, that we could do with the laptops. It turns out that a lot of our problems were being caused by the school district's filters. After changing the settings, we can now access our class wiki, and our Kidblogs, and now that Google Docs can be edited on the iPad, they are so much more versatile. Later this week, I will write more on my Day In the Classroom blog about the ways we are using the iPads in our classroom.

Today we started using them to blog. It's interesting to see how the kids get comfortable with their iPad. Some like to lay them flat on the desk, others use the case to prop them up, still others are lap bloggers.

Photo #259: iPad Sad

I see lots of articles and blog posts about how wonderful the iPad is, and my students would definitely agree. Our school acquired ten of them at the end of May, and I had the use of one for the entire summer. So far this school year, I have had almost exclusive use of all ten of them. We have used several of the apps. Today we used the Glow Doodle to practice spelling words, and practiced math facts with Pop Math.

Last week I had the kids use the Pages app to write sentences. We had two goals: first to practice sentence structure and spelling words, and second, to get experience using a word processing program. Each student will have their own blog soon, and they are building skills toward being able to do that. Unfortunately I have yet to discover how I can print the work they did on the iPad, or even e-mail it myself, so that I can have their work in one location.

I learned quickly that any website that uses flash does not work on the iPads, so this rules out some of my favorite websites, like SpellingCity.com and Storybird. I wrote about this a few months ago on my Prospecting for Treasure blog, in a post titled Getting to Know the iPad.

The limitations of the iPad are compounded by my school district's filters. Almost everything I tried to do today, was blocked. I tried to access Delicious, it wouldn't let me put in my password to see my own account. I tried to visit our class wiki, ReadtheWeb, it wouldn't let me. I tried to put Dropbox on it, and it wouldn't do that either.

There are some things I really like about the iPad. I like how portable it is. I love reading my Google Reader on it. I like the fact that you can easily enlarge things. Photographs look fantastic on it, though I can't figure out how to put any on for my class to use.

To tell you the truth, I am still not loving the iPad. My frustration led me to take this photo.

Photo #239: iPad Joy

My school purchased ten new iPads at the end of the last school year. Today I introduced them to my class. While I worked on problem solving with the rest of the class, students rotated through the iPad stations. We used only the four math apps that we have installed. You could not hear a peep! They loved it. Each child had just ten minutes today, but I managed to put an iPad in the hands of all 28 kids in my class. They did not want to stop.

Photo #180: My Acer Netbook vs. the IPad

The dailyshoot for today: What's your favorite device to access the Internet? Make a photograph of it today.

My school purchased a ten pack of IPads to be used in the classroom. I checked one out for the summer, and I have been trying to work with it as much as possible. A friend told me that I would fall in love with it the moment I touched it, and I want to love it, but I just don't yet.

I love the ease of carrying it with me. It is thinner and even more lightweight than my little Acer netbooks, so it can easily slip into my bag. At this point in time, I still find my netbooks easier to negotiate. But the familiar is always easier, so I have forced myself to use the ipad, and through use, things are definitely getting easier.

I do enjoy reading my Google Reader on it, and if I had any good books downloaded to it, I’m sure I would enjoy that. One thing I can tell you, even though I may have mixed feelings about the Ipad, the kids will love it. Twice now I have had people approach me at Caribou Coffee, my favorite hangout, and ask about the Ipad. I put it in the hands of a fifth grade girl who came over with her mom, and she absolutely lit up.

The design you see on the IPad is the Glow Doodle app, which is kind of fun. I'm getting to like the IPad better, but the little Acer is still #1!