MILLSTONE — The 15 iPads provided through a grant from the nonprofit Millstone Township Foundation for Educational Excellence are becoming an essential part of daily classroom learning for third-graders.
Teachers Lisa Kennedy, Jennifer Kohn and Michelle Williams at the Millstone Township Elementary School received the grant in March for the iPads. The grant was one of six grants that the MTFEE awarded at that time to Millstone Township schools, totaling $24,036.
The teachers say the iPads are already giving their students in advantage in technology and literacy.
”The students and I have been using the iPads that MTFEE granted pretty much every day since they were recently delivered,” said Ms. Kohn, third-grade teacher at Millstone Elementary School.
”Even though I was expecting they would quickly enhance my daily lessons and engage all my students, which they do, I was blown away by the immediate impact they have had in my classroom,” Ms. Kohn said. “My students are truly excited and are already comfortable using them.”
The children are using literacy applications, such as the Clicktionary app, to enhance their vocabularies and word decoding skills. They are able to record themselves reading and then have text read back to them with apps such as Sundry Notes or iBaldi.
”Not only are we using the literacy apps as I planned, but I am also using (iPads) to enhance our Virtual Zoo project,” Ms. Kohn said. “The ABC Wildlife app allows them to read fun facts and view You Tube videos on an array of different animals.
”I also found an app that streams live videos from zoos around the world,” Ms. Kohn said. “As a result, we are even going to create a virtual diorama using a Drawing Pad app.”
• Develop reading comprehension by allowing students to simultaneously take notes, draw visualizations and record their own audio while reading a book in any of the notepad apps like Penultimate, Notability or Chalkboard.
• Give immediate feedback of student work through the eClicker app, which allows teachers to take quick polls of the students in the group to see how they are progressing throughout the lesson.
MTFEE is the first organization in the district to fund the use of iPads in the classroom, but it’s not the first time the MTFEE funded an innovative pilot program when the district lacked the funds.
Other examples include funding the first SmartBoard in 2002 before this technology became the norm in classrooms; the first mobile lab for the language arts program in 2003; the first mobile computer lab for the math department in 2005; and first mobile music lab in 2007.
Grants are awarded in spring of each school year. Once applications are received and compiled, the grant committee — which consists of the trustees who are nominated to that committee — has an opportunity to review them individually and then discuss them as a group before making recommendations to the MTFEE board for final approval.
The committee utilizes a grading system, similar to a rubric teachers use, during the review process to fairly evaluate the applications.
Since 2002, MTFEE has awarded more than $410,000 in grants to its schools. For more information about MTFEE or becoming a trustee, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.mtfee.org and become a fan on Facebook.
