iPad fun :)

So I have an ipad this year to use in my classroom and I am LOVING.IT.  I know there is a ton of potential that I have not even begun to explore yet, but here are a few of my favorite things about using it so far in my classroom.

One of the 2nd grade teachers at our school told us about this app called Too Noisy. It is a noise level gauge that is a great visual for students to see when they are getting too loud. We use it all day long in my room.

 

If they really get too loud, the "glass breaks" and an alarm goes off. Then the gauge resets itself and the sunny skies come back out :)  My ipad case is magnetic so I can hang it up on my whiteboard for all to see but many times I use my AirPlay feature on my computer and project the image up on the screen during work time so it is nice and big for them all to see (more on that later in the post).   I also really love that in the pro version, there are preset levels that you can choose like "Class" "Group" "Quiet" and "Silent" and then within those levels you can adjust the sensitivity yourself.

 The only downside to this is when I forget that it is on and then I stand right in front of the iPad and "break the glass" myself. The kids always get a kick out of this. We have a chain link compliment system in our room for whole group compliments. When we break the glass too many times we lose a link but if we make it through the whole day without breaking it once we get 5 bonus links (it's only happened once so far so it's a VERY exciting goal haha).

My other favorite feature of my ipad is using Airplay which connects my iPad to my computer screen. I have been using it this week during math journals as a way to share. I set up the Airplay feature, turn on my camera, and hover my iPad over my student's work. They can explain their thinking from their desk and everyone can look up on the screen and see it nice and big :) The kids LOVE this and it is a great way for everyone to get a good view of each other's work. I am excited to explore this idea as the year goes on. This is a fuzzy picture that I took myself (holding my phone in one hand and my iPad hovering over a math journal) but you get the idea :)

 Now I will be honest, I have no idea how the Airplay is set up because we have PC's in our rooms (I always thought it was an Apple thing), but somehow the iPad's can be connected. Greg over at Kindergarten Smorgasboard had a great video post explaining another way to connect your iPad to your computer so it can be projected on your screen and I'm sure there other ways to do this that I haven't discovered yet.

What are some of your favorite ways to use your iPad in your classroom?

I hope y'all have a great long weekend. I have some exciting news coming up next week so stay tuned :)