Getting started with iPads in the intermediate classroom

My grade 7/8 classroom is fortunate enough to participate in the Rainbow District School Board's CODE program for iPads in the mathematics classroom. Hurray.  This means that I now have 15 iPads for use in my classroom.

Exciting news, for sure.

This means that we no longer have to scurry around the school to try and find the iPad that has someone's saved iMovie, or worry that someone has accidentally deleted files or photos that were part of a work-in-progress.

We began by creating an anchor chart of classroom norms for iPad use.  Since we have been using them in our school for the past 4 years, this was just a quick review of the expectations while using this technology.

My students are very used to using iPads in many subject areas, including Language, Science, History, and Geography. Using them in math will be a new area of exploration, other than the simple math game apps that they used in previous years.

Explain Everything, Show Me and Educreations are currently being explored by the students to explain and show their mathematical thinking. In the simplest form, it replaces paper and pencil. Some of the students have gone beyond already and are importing images, taking photos and recording their explanations.

For more reading, here is a guide to iPad apps for Intermediate and Senior grade students.

Ipad apps for high school students