Educreations in Kindergarten!

In the past I have mostly worked with grades 2-5. I was extremely excited when I learned that this year I would be able to open up my services to K/1 teachers and students. I was looking forward to seeing how younger students would tackle creation apps. Wow, was I blown away with kindergarten & first grade classes as to how quickly the students pick up, navigate, and create with Educreations. I think that Educreations is one of the most versatile tools for any grade and subject matter. Plus it is simple enough of a tool to use without tutorials. Students can demonstrate their understanding of any concept, explain their thinking, and share their knowledge. Best of all students love using Educreations. They are so excited to hear their own voice and especially thrilled when their work is projected for the whole class to view. I have embedded some examples from one of my kindergarten classes. I am so amazed with their work!

Tips for working with younger students… 1. Have the students work on the app immediately after a quick intro, then when it is time to save the teacher can log into the account. 2. Stay logged into Educreations on iPads that stay in your classroom. 3. Make the password simple when you create your account if you want your students to eventually sign in on their own. 4. Use one teacher account for all of the iPads in your classroom.

 

iPad Tips and Tricks for Quicker Navigation and Management

iOS7 has included some wonderful time-saving features that will help managing a classroom set of iPads less time consuming or working with an iPad quicker. Plus I listed a couple overlooked helpful features from previous iOS versions.

1. For automatic app updates: settings > iTunes & App Store > Updates on (Green with white dot to the right. See Photo.)

2. Newish - came with ios6 update, if you have one Apple ID for your class set of iPads, new purchases can be pushed to all iPads: settings > iTunes & App Store > Apps on  (Green with white dot to the right. If you are sharing an Apple ID with other classrooms, you may not want to use this option because any apps other teachers purchase will be pushed to your iPads.)

3. Searching for apps can be done from any page now: Put a finger near the top row of apps and rub your finger downwards. Type in the first couple letters of the app you are searching for and it will appear. Click on it and the app will open up. If your finger starts off too high on the screen, you will pull down the calendar instead.

4. Double clicking the home button always brought up a list of recently used apps, but now they are displayed in a larger icon that you can easily flip up off the page to reset the app or disable them from running in the background.

5. If your battery does not seem to be holding the charge like it used to, plug the iPad into a computer, back it up, then restore the iPad from the back up.

6. With a finger at the very bottom of the screen on your iPad, slide your finger upwards. This will open up the control center for quick access to volume, wifi, a timer, the camera, your Apple TV, and a few other controls that you may want quick access to.

7. Not new, but worth the mention, there are settings that can be turned on so that any highlighted text will be read by the iPad. See video below.