Kindergarteners & First Graders Need Another iPad Mini!

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My Students

My 27 urban kindergarten and first grade students are learning how to read, write, count, and how to get along in a social group setting, which is especially important since many of my students did not attend preschool.

Our small, Title I school is located in an urban, high-poverty neighborhood in northern California.

At least 81% of our students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, and many of them are English language learners. My 27 kindergarten and first grade students are eager to learn and full of energy. Many of my families are unable to take their children to the library or provide access to lots of books at home. Most do not have access to computers or tablets at home, and they are eager to learn about technology.

My Project

I am requesting an iPad mini with a protective case and a multi-headphone splitter, so that my urban kindergarteners and first graders will be able to practice with a partner using various literacy apps while I work with individuals or small groups of students. There are a tremendous number of free literacy apps available; furthermore, students would be able to listen and read along with free audiobooks available from our city library. We need a multi-headphone splitter so that we can access the audio available from selected websites for book titles I own. This year we will have a class subscription to Speakaboos!, an interactive e-book website, so having another iPad mini would be crucial. We would be able to photograph or videotape student events or experiments to share with parents at conferences. I am hoping to eventually have several iPad minis available for my students to share, since I have 27 students.

It is critical that my urban kindergarteners and first graders have the chance to develop beginning keyboarding and technological skills, as well as traditional academic skills, since they will be taking high-stakes, computerized academic tests by 4th grade.

iPad minis are a space-saving and relatively inexpensive way to meet our technological needs. I can easily store the devices securely, compared to a traditional desktop computer and monitor. Now is the time to develop the love of literature!