iPads In The Library

[John Wellcome]

Is anybody else besides me checking out iPads in their library?

[Dana Tunick]

My school is thinking of buying a few tablets for the first graders next year to use in their classrooms as a part of "center time". 

For those of you who have them in your library, how long are students allowed to check out the iPad for? Do you have different ereader books on there or just educational games?

 I'd be afraid to send a student home with a school iPad, for fear that I may never see it again like some of our books! 

[Katie Ball]

At our school, only teachers are allowed to check out iPads and the students use them in their classrooms (not take them home). Teachers have 2-8 iPads in their room at all times (depending on grade) which they use during small groups and centers. They can check out an entire cart (up to 30 iPads) for whole class activities. Right now, the teachers decide what apps they want to use because we don't have our school-wide account set up quite yet. They use mostly reading and math apps (games). A few of them use iBooks and download free books which students can read. I'd love for us to be able to use them as e-readers eventually.

[Ashley Fetterolf]

How are your teachers using the iPads in their classrooms, particularly in with the higher grades? Our high school will be supplying teachers with iPads by the end of the school year and I'd like to offer as much support to teachers as possible. Thanks!

[John Wellcome]

The technology teacher and I decided to stop checking them out to students and check them out to teachers of K, 1st grade, and 2nd grade.  We did this because our 5th and 6th graders have their own laptops, and our 3rd and 4th graders have a mobile Mac lab.  So far our primary teachers have used the iPads in centers as a means of boosting reading skills by using apps designed for this purpose.  The teachers who have used them so far have reported that they really like having the iPads in centers, and that the students really enjoy using them during these times, too!