Thursday, September 20, 2012

Kids for Pads

So, my students decided they wanted to weigh in on the request for funding for a second cohort of our iPad Academy. They used Google Docs to write collaboratively...They also discussed the ability to chat within Google Docs...Here is their letter.

Dear Board Members,

We are Students in Mrs. McConnell’s & Monger’s ⅘ combo class. We are writing to you because we think that more classes in the Cambrian School District should have iPads. We also think that it isn’t fair that only a few classes get to have iPads. We get to have a lot more fun technology and a better learning experience than the classes that don’t have the iPads. We can learn and get smarter in a fun and educational way. Could other classes have them?

On the iPads, we learn where states and capitals are. We also learn a lot of history by studying the states. We practice cursive and we practiced writing and learned how to publish a book in ScribblePress. We’re learning more about addition, subtraction, fractions, decimals, division & multiplication, and parentheses all from the apps. Finally, we learned how to make movies with iMovie which we can use for projects in Science, Social Studies, Language Arts, Math, and all sorts of things. The iPads should be available to other classes because it is a great learning experience. Kids in 5th grade might want iPads in middle school, too.

We think it would be a great idea for the district to have more iPads so we can learn in a different way. More classes should get iPads. They are educational and a fun way to open our minds. The iPads might be expensive, but they are a great way to learn new things. It is a very helpful tool for researching for reports and can hold a lot of school related material like A.R and Vocabulary/SpellingCity. Vocabulary/Spelling City is very helpful for spelling tests and practicing spelling. Having the A.R. tests on the iPads is useful because then we could all take an A.R. test at the same time, instead of having to wait for a computer; it’s much faster that way. Most of the apps are very fun and useful. The iPads can be a much quicker way to get to the internet and it’s also more fun with a touch screen, though sometimes it takes a long time to load things. The iPad is an awesome, fun, and educational tool just like the computer.

Thank you for the fun & educational - fun-ducational iPads. We hope that you can buy more iPads for our school district. Thank you!

2 comments:

  1. So, as a parent of a Cambrian District child, where would I send a letter of my own on this subject?

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  2. I am sure you could send a letter to the school board, like they did. See our district web site for board information.

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