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iPads in the Classroom

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It's Friday night and boy am I tired. I'm writing this post as I eagerly wait for the pizza delivery guy to ring the doorbell. It's a pizza, movie, and pajama kind of night. I deserve it though because it was the first week back. I meant to write a post earlier in the week, I really did. As you guys know, I love DonorsChoose.org It has saved me so much money over my 5 years of teaching so far. I have received resources I would have never been able to afford on my own. Over the winter break I got eight projects funded!! I will be posting more about each one as they come. I want to share the most exciting one with you.

 An iPad 4!!! Well, I'm not sure if it's an iPad 4, but it's a 4th generation iPad and I love it. We already have three iPads in our classroom, but they have to be turned in at the end of the year. I was sad to find out that iPad 1's do not have the capability to connect to projectors so that's when I decided to ask Donors Choose for one. I love the fact that I have an iPad that I can use for instructional purposes and I can now allow my little darlings three iPads to use instead of just two. Update, this year we don't have any class iPads. Thanks to Donors Choose, by future students can still benefit from having technology in the classroom. 

Have you used iPads in your classroom? If so, what apps do you recommend; either for the class, planning, scheduling, anything you find most useful.




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  1. EmilyJanuary 11, 2013 at 9:02 PM

    Donor's Choose is awesome! I just had my first project funded and the books were delivered today. Do you have any tips to make the thank you process easy to handle?

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    1. JenniferJanuary 12, 2013 at 9:36 AM

      I like to use the materials right away that way my students are able to write their thank you notes. The sooner, the better. I have left thank you notes until the last second and I realized that the students weren't as excited to write the letters as they would have been if I had them write them sooner. If you would like, I can make a post all about Donors Choose thank you letter process because I was a little lost until i got my system down.

      Delete
  2. Kate PeilaJanuary 12, 2013 at 6:55 PM

    Wow! Congrats... I tried a Donor's Choose project once, but I didn't have much luck. You've inspired me to try, try again. You should do a little series on effective Donor's Choose projects- great proposals, thank you process... etc.

    ❀ Kate
    Purely Paperless

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    Replies
    1. JenniferJanuary 12, 2013 at 8:10 PM

      I didn't have very much luck in the beginning either. I noticed that the closer you stay to $100, the easier it is to get a project funded. Also, once you start getting donors, the same people usually come back and donate again since they know your class a little better after receiving thank you notes. I will definitely do some sort of Donors Choose blog posts and maybe even some videos. :-)

      Delete
  3. Mrs. CockrellJanuary 13, 2013 at 1:06 PM

    That's wonderful! Congrats! Donor's Choose is so great. I'm very fortunate to work in a place where our PTO does Matching Funds, so we now have an iPad cart for every hallway!!! It is really amazing to be able to use them regularly. Our hallways is shared with 3rd grade, so we just use them every other day, but they are fabulous.

    I noticed your student is using Hungry Fish, which I love! Have you tried Show Me or Educreations? They are great for a student explaining his/her learning. I'll link to a post I did--
    http://mrs-cockrells-class.blogspot.com/2012/03/showing-what-we-know-with-ipad.html


    Also, Sock Puppets is awesome for the same thing but way cute!
    http://mrs-cockrells-class.blogspot.com/2012/04/sock-puppets.html

    Have fun and I'd love to hear about any new great apps you find! I'm always looking for new ones.

    Oh, my kids love Sparklefish if you haven't tried that one.

    :)
    GAYLA
    Teach On.

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    1. JenniferJanuary 14, 2013 at 7:03 PM

      That's amazing that your PTO matches donations. Our PTO just started meeting on a regular basis last year, so they're quite a ways away from matching donations. Thanks for the app suggestions and I am definitely on my way over to the link you provided.

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