The Launch in 5 Blue

Today in 5 Blue, we had a 40-minute "iPad discovery" session.  Students in groups explored the iPads to see how they might be helpful in learning at school.  More than half the class had used an iPad before.  Seven students out of the class of 26 use one regularly at home.  A small group of students had never used one at all.  The students were grouped according to their prior experience.

We used a Backchannel, Today's Meet, to allow groups to share their thoughts by recording comments, discoveries, wonderings and worries.  People asked great questions as they explored.  Others gave great answers too and shared what they learned as they went.

Some of the questions that were recorded during the session are listed below in Red.  The responses that were discussed with the whole class, following the "Discovery" time have been added in Blue:


Is there something like word or excel?

We have Pages which is a word processor.  You can save your documents as pdfs or ePubs which means they can be accessed on the iBook shelf and read on the iPad.  We would have to sync them to all the iPads though.

Does it have the internet?

Yes, the iPads connect to our school wireless.  Safari is the internet browser but some of the other apps use the internet as well.

Are there any educational games?

Games can be very good for learning, depending on how they are used.  There are very many games installed already but if you need others, say, to help you learn your tables or spelling rules, then we will search for others to help you.

Can you get photo booth on the iPad?

Yes, you will find PhotoBooth on the Home screen.

Here are some of the discoveries people shared during the session today:

• I think it's a touch screen [not heat sensitive] because if you put them in front of heater nothing will happen!
• cut the rope helps for maths
• we learnt that the ipad has apps for free and apps that you buy
• did you know the ipad has a compass
• We learned that you can play many games without using the internet
• there are files [folders] which have smaller things [apps] inside them.  
• If you are having trouble finding some apps go to the Search screen [swipe left from the Home screen] and search for the app

What a great session Year 5BLUE!  Thanks very much and I look forward to seeing you again next week (and 5 ORANGE on Wednesday!) Next week: We will have a brief session to learn about the camera and other common apps we can use to create with images, sound and text.   We will learn how to email or send what we create to a teacher.   We will learn how to turn the iPads off to save the batteries as well as how and when to charge them to keep the batteries working well for longer. We will discuss what rules we should have to keep the iPads safe and working well for us.   Please add a comment if you have ideas about iPad Rules already!