We won 1:1 iPads!

We did it! We won a grant for 1:1 iPads for the boarding school in Guatemala where I work. This was the best teacher appreciation gift I could receive-something for my students (haha!).

Our goal is to provide first class education to children in these multi-age classrooms in a school where teachers have little access to materials. The iPads should make it easier for teachers to individualize learning.  I can't wait for the teachers to fully implement the iPads.  No more trying to create teaching materials with simple paper and marker and no more trying to teach an entire class with one 8.5x11 workbook!

I ran a pilot program with one iPad in the Kinder/First grade class. I brought in my personal iPad loaded with bilingual educational apps.  I selected three students to join me at a table and I handed one of the girls the iPad.  I then began to take photos.  She tried to get me to teach her how to use it once, but I encouraged her to try to figure it out.  Within minutes she was deep in concentration and fun learning animal names in English and Spanish.  Within the space of an hour, the students explored about half a dozen apps.  It wasn't long before I had almost the entire class around the table observing and begging for a turn.

My students' favorite app is "Kinder Add" which they have nicknamed "quesito" (little cheese) because the app gives brain breaks which involve the students solving a maze for a mouse to his cheese.  Each student has their own profile on the app.  Students solve a series of addition problems with the app guiding them through varying solving methods (counting on, using a number line, etc.) in the beginning.  The app even gives single question exams periodically.  My students love this feature!  They also love when they level up in the app.  I love that the app tracks data on the skills students are working on.  I can see their progress and areas where they need more practice. 

My students get to watch one movie a week at the boarding school.  On a rare occasion we give them an extra movie, usually for a reward or party day.  One day they got a surprise movie, but rather than watch the movie I had three little kids begging me to let them play the addition "game." Now the students ask daily to use my iPad for educational apps.  (Did I make a mistake letting them use my iPad?!)  Thankfully they should each be getting one to use in the school very soon.

To get the grant, I wrote up (more or less what I wrote here above) about the pilot program.  I also included research on the educational benefits of iPads in third world countries.  Kids in rural Africa are learning English by simply being given a tablet!  We priced out the iPads and accessories and their availability here in Guatemala.  I attached some photos of the kids with my iPad. My grantwriter wrote the formal ask and confirmed with me a budget based on the amount she thought we could win.  Well, she worked her grant magic and we won!

Now the real work begins of purchasing, installing, and implementing the iPads.  I plan to give the students an iPad boot camp to teach them some of the ins-and-outs.  I will also be giving some professional development technology courses to the teachers.  Implementing 25 iPads seems like a big project!

Do you have any recommendations for implementation?  Great apps?  Especially for Spanish speakers?  Any and all iPad related advice is appreciated.

Reaching Students Through Music

The thing I miss most about teaching preschool is the little kid music. (I may be the only teacher that listens to kiddie music to relax when I'm alone.)

This year I am teaching three multi-age English Language classes.  My little ones (K-1) love my little kiddie music (Yay, that I can now listen to it as "lesson planning!").  It has been trial and error finding the music they like and are willing to practice their English with by singing along. We were stuck with the ABCs and "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" for the longest time. Though it was cute catching them singing in English during free time!  I finally got desperate for a change and started singing other content to the tune of "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes."  I really made them laugh the first time when I started singing the ABCs while doing the motions of "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes."  We chanted our numbers and colors to the tune too. 

I noticed that what really engaged my students was the movement.  (They do spend most of their Spanish language day seated doing worksheets.)  So, next I went in search of a great "Hokey Pokey" track.  I tried a few, but the ones my students like most is by Dan Zanes & Friends.  They love the way he plays with his voice in the song.  Low and behold, after the first few times of just me singing, students started chiming in playing with their voices as they sang English sounds.  Success!  It has taken many months (due to being in a Spanish environement) for my students to break out of the silent period and start trying out English.

I have tried so many other songs repeatedly.  My students have enjoyed almost every one and learned with each one, but I was still struggling with getting students to sing along.  Then I tried CJ Handy's "5 Little Monkeys." 

This song holds a very special place in my heart as it was one of my PreKs favorites.  My Preschoolers loved the song so much, that we went to the University video production lab and made our own music video for the song!  (One of the many perks of teaching at a University lab school!)  I was so happy to see my ELL students singing along to this song.  We are still working on the exact wording, but right now each students gets a huge bravo for trying to speak English!  I also caught them singing it after school hours!  I really won them over with this song by incorporating motions (jumping, shaking their finger, etc.) and also with the fun voices CJ Handy uses.  Now I know my students' weakness!  I am on the lookout for other great movement and vocal play songs.  Suggestions welcome!

For my middle schoolers and high schoolers, I am enduring some Justin Beiber and One Direction.  Singing their favorite songs are huge motivators for practicing pronunciation and trying to extract meaning from the lyrics.  I also use my crazy teacher skills to find examples of good and bad grammar.  I am always amazed how I can tie it all together!

There you have it, all three classes (K-12) engaged by music!

Student Inquiry of the Week

I love when my students ask questions!  I can not always figure out the train of thought and I do not always have the answer, but it sure is fun to explore the topics my students are interested in.  This week I had a little girl ask me about the reason behind the shape of snakes' tongues. (Totally random!)  I do not like snakes and do not know much about them other than that they shed their skin and some are venomous.  (The hardest part is admitting I do not know!)  This little girl of course asked the question at a busy transition time, so I directed her to search the kid's encyclopedia computer program during afternoon computer time.  She was not able to find the answer there (though she learned a lot of other interesting snake facts!).  I googled the question and found some interesting webpages for us to explore.  The kids favorite was a youtube video of different types of snakes sticking out their tongue.  The joy of teaching in a mixed age classroom is that the older students were teaching the younger ones the names of the different varieties of snakes.  I learned a lot too! 

So, why do snakes have a split tongue? 
          Snakes use their tongue as their main sense to learn about their environment!
          (I debated putting a photo of a snake here, but I just can not bring myself to do that!)

While I was not wild about spending the afternoon looking at photos and videos of snakes, it sure was fun to see the children light up with excitement and learn so many new facts.  We built our vocabulary and communication skills as we described how a snake's tongue is shaped.  I, of course, tied this in to our study of shapes!  A snakes tongue is a rectangle with two triangles on the end.  We also worked on spelling the word snake.  It went perfectly with our study of the letter s!  Don't you love when it all comes together!  I am so proud of my inquisitive little English learners!

Check out their cute shape people!  (You can see the difference in their developmental levels.)

"Shapes come in all sizes" -A. (5)

"Don't forget the shorts!" -A. (7)

"Round head, long legs" -S. (5)

"Folded arms" -D. (5)